Both started here, both are good, and the choice comes down to one trade-off. Tradify is the easy one. Fergus is the one that tells you what each job actually made. Pick on that, and you'll be right more often than not. One thing that has changed since most comparisons were written: Tradify was bought by the UK's Access Group in October 2024, in a deal reported at more than NZ$100 million. Fergus is still New Zealand owned. That matters to some people and not to others, so it is stated here rather than argued.
Quick disclosure, because it matters: I build custom tools and I don't sell either of these. What follows is what Kiwi tradies and reviewers report, with nothing riding on which one you pick. If one of them fits you, go buy it and skip the rest of this page.
The one-line answer
If you're a sole trader or a small team and you want something you can pick up in an afternoon, Tradify. If you're growing, running bigger jobs, and the number that keeps you up at night is margin-per-job, Fergus. That's the whole decision for most people. The detail below is for when it isn't.
What 3, 6 and 9 people pay each month
Tradify charges every user the same tier price; Fergus charges a plan price plus a lower price for timesheet-only seats. That difference decides which is cheaper for your crew more often than any feature does. NZD, from each vendor's NZ pricing page read on 30 September 2026.
| Crew | Tradify Lite ($48) | Tradify Pro ($52) | Tradify Plus ($62) | Fergus, from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 people, all in the office or on the app | $144 | $156 | $186 | Basic $53 or Professional $75, plus any extra seats |
| 6 people, 4 of them field staff on timesheets | $288 | $312 | $372 | Basic $157 or Professional $179 ($53 or $75 plus 4 timesheet seats at $26) |
| 9 people | $432 | $468 | $558 | Professional and timesheet seats; Fergus quotes custom from 10 staff |
The Fergus figures are entry prices, so read them as a floor and confirm your seat mix on their page. The Tradify figures are exact because the price is the tier times the number of users. Across a year, the 6-person crew is $3,744 on Tradify Pro against from $2,148 on Fergus Professional, a gap of about $1,600 that gets smaller the more of your crew needs a full seat.
Which plan has which feature
| Feature | Tradify | Fergus |
|---|---|---|
| Timesheets | Pro ($52) and Plus; not in Lite | Basic and up |
| Progress invoicing | Pro and Plus; not in Lite | Not confirmed on the plan page |
| Job costing and bill tracking | Pro and Plus; not in Lite | Built around it; deeper reporting on Professional |
| Reports | Plus only (job service reports, staff activity history) | Professional |
| Purchase orders, job phases, checklists, GPS | Not listed on the plan page | Professional |
| Hazards and SWMS pack | Not listed on the plan page | Professional only |
| Xero sync | Every tier | Every plan (also QuickBooks and MYOB) |
| Trial and contract | 14 days, month to month | 14 days, no card, no lock-in |
Three NZ crews, three answers
- Three electricians, callouts, quote and invoice: Tradify Lite at $144 a month, $1,728 a year. Nobody needs timesheets or job costing, so paying for either is waste.
- Six-person plumbing and drainage firm that wants margin per job: Tradify Pro at $312 a month ($3,744 a year) or Fergus Professional from $179 ($2,148 a year). The deciding question is how many of the six only log hours.
- Nine-person builder on staged work with a health and safety file: Fergus Professional, because purchase orders, phases and the SWMS pack are on that plan, and Tradify Plus at $558 a month does not list them. Plan for a custom quote once you reach 10 staff.
Where they differ
Ease of use. Tradify wins this one in nearly every review. Gentle learning curve, clean mobile app, fast to get a crew onto. It's the most widely used job management tool in NZ trades, and being easy is most of why. Fergus does more, so there's more to learn.
Job costing and reporting. This is Fergus territory. It's built around knowing your costs, your progress claims, and your profit on each job. Reviewers consistently rate its reporting above Tradify's, which gets described as fine for the basics but light once you want to dig in.
Price. Closer than it used to be. Tradify runs around $48 per user per month on its entry plan, and Fergus starts from around $53/month for its base plan, not a per-user rate, with add-on costs for timesheet-only users. Both climb with team size, so do the maths at the headcount you'll run rather than the one-user sticker price. The full tier-by-tier breakdowns live in the Tradify pricing post and the Fergus pricing post.
Xero. Both sync to Xero so your invoices don't get typed twice. That's table stakes now. The common gripe with both, separately, is that the sync and reporting stop exactly where your business gets specific.
The third name you'll hear: ServiceM8
If you're a service trade running a high volume of smaller jobs (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, callouts and maintenance), ServiceM8 is worth a look over both. It's field-first, good at dispatching staff to jobs, and priced by job volume rather than per user, which suits that shape of business. It's Australian-built, and the per-job pricing can bite if you do lots of low-value jobs, so check the numbers against your month.
Staged residential builds, invoiced in progress claims rather than as one-off jobs, sit outside all three. That's NextMinute or Ascora territory, and I've written both of those up separately: NextMinute or Tradify for the general split, and Ascora or NextMinute if you're weighing the two staged-build specialists against each other. If you're migrating off GeoOp instead, the GeoOp alternatives guide covers where NZ crews are landing.
When neither one fits
All three share a limit. They're built for the average trade business, and in the setups I've scoped they fit about 70% of how a business runs. The missing 30% is the part that's specific to you: the way you price, the checklist your crew runs, the report your accountant keeps asking for, the second app you bought to cover the gap.
When that gap costs real hours every week, there's a path the comparison sites skip: have the tool built around how you work, on top of the Xero you already pay for. I did exactly that for my own business. I built an overnight pipeline that finds and scores Canterbury leads while I sleep, one run turns 1,579 businesses into 355 worth calling. Yours would be scoped around your process, but the economics are the same: a bigger cost upfront, then no monthly fee climbing every year and a fit instead of a workaround.
How to decide today
- Want easy and cheap to start? Trial Tradify.
- Care most about profit per job? Trial Fergus.
- High volume of service callouts? Trial ServiceM8.
- All three keep almost-fitting and the gaps are costing you hours? That's worth a conversation before you sign up to anything.
I'm Christchurch-based and the last one is the work I do. Book a free 30-minute call and I'll give you my read. If it's "just use Fergus", that's what you'll hear.
For the full priced field beyond just these two, see Fergus alternatives for NZ trades and Tradify alternatives for NZ trades.
Questions I get asked about these two
Is Tradify easier to use than Fergus?
Most reviews say yes. Tradify is known for a gentle learning curve and a tidy mobile app, which is why it is the most widely used option among NZ sole traders and small teams. Fergus has more depth, and with that comes a steeper climb.
Is Fergus better for job costing?
Fergus is built around job costing, progress claims and profitability reporting, so if knowing your exact margin per job matters, it is usually the stronger pick. Tradify covers the basics but reviewers describe its reporting as lighter.
How much do Tradify and Fergus cost in NZ?
Tradify starts around $48 per user per month and Fergus from around $53 per month for its base plan, not a per-user rate. Both scale with team size, so compare the cost at the number of users you will have rather than the entry price.
What if neither Tradify nor Fergus fits my business?
If both products only fit about 70% of how you work and the gap costs you real hours every week, that is the point where a tool built around your workflow, on top of the Xero you already use, can be worth more than another subscription.
Which Tradify plan has job costing?
Job costing and bill tracking start on Tradify Pro at $52 per user per month, with timesheets and progress invoicing. Lite at $48 does not include them. Reports beyond that sit on Plus at $62. All prices are NZD from Tradify's NZ pricing page, read on 30 September 2026.
Does Fergus charge per user like Tradify?
Not as a flat per-user rate. Fergus sells a plan from $53 (Basic) or $75 (Professional) per month, adds timesheet-only seats from $26 each, and moves to custom pricing at 10 or more staff. A 6-person crew with 4 field staff on timesheet seats is from $157 on Basic or $179 on Professional.
What does a 6-person crew pay for Tradify or Fergus?
On Tradify, $288 a month on Lite, $312 on Pro or $372 on Plus. On Fergus, from $157 on Basic or $179 on Professional if four of the six are timesheet-only. Fergus figures are entry prices, so confirm your seat mix on their pricing page.