Free job management software UK: genuinely free plans for trades (2026)

A free trial is not free software. For this guide, a product only counts as genuinely free if the vendor says you can keep using a no-cost edition after the trial period, without a mandatory paid subscription. That immediately rules out several familiar UK trade products: Tradify, Powered Now and Fergus all advertise time-limited trials, then paid plans.

The limits still matter more than the headline. A free plan that allows one user and 30 jobs can be perfect for a sole trader and useless for a five-person team. A plan with 20 users can look generous but still cap the number of appointments and invoices. Read the limit that matches how your business actually works, not the word 'free'.

ServiceM8's current UK pricing page lists a permanent £0 plan for one user and 30 jobs per month. It also lists 10 AI uses per day and 5p per SMS. The vendor explicitly says the free plan is completely free for solo operators and includes the essentials for creating jobs, sending quotes and invoices, managing clients and scheduling.

The catch is scale. The free plan is the only ServiceM8 tier with a one-user limit. Paid plans start at £25/month and switch to unlimited users while increasing the monthly job allowance. ServiceM8 also remains Apple-first: it supports Android for core field work, but the vendor still recommends iPhones/iPads for the fullest field experience. If your business is Android-heavy, test that exact workflow before building around the free tier.

Zoho FSM's Free Edition is genuinely free forever. Its current documentation allows up to 20 users, 30 appointments and 30 invoices per month, with work-order management, invoicing and mobile access among the basic features. When a trial ends, Zoho explicitly gives the option to continue in the free edition rather than upgrade.

That makes the headline user allowance unusually generous, but it is not the same proposition as a UK trade-specific app. Zoho FSM is a general field-service platform, so do not assume UK trade details such as CIS handling, certificates or your preferred accounting workflow are covered simply because the user count fits. The free plan is a strong no-cost way to test the core job/appointment workflow; the UK-specific fit needs checking separately.

Fixallo currently states that it is 100% free with no card, subscription, per-user fee or paid feature tier. Its public pages describe a UK-trade-focused workflow covering jobs, customers, quotes, invoices, costs, time, notes, reminders and voice capture for sole traders and small teams.

That is materially different from a limited free tier, but Fixallo is also newer and has a much smaller independent evidence footprint than the established platforms. TBV has asked for a clean editorial testing route so we can verify the actual quote-to-job-to-invoice workflow and the limits behind the '100% free' claim. Until that hands-on work happens, treat the feature set and free business model as current vendor claims, not a promise that the commercial model can never change.

Tradify currently offers a 14-day trial and then paid UK plans from £34/user/month. Powered Now offers a 14-day no-card trial, then a £28/month flat Business plan for exactly one user or £32/£40 per-user team plans. Fergus advertises a 14-day no-card trial, then £39/£45 per full user/month. Those trials can still be useful for a buying decision; they simply should not be described as free job-management software.

This distinction matters because a search for 'free job management software' often lands on pages that rank trial-only products beside permanent free plans without saying what happens on day 15. That is the first thing to check before you move customers, templates or active jobs into any system.

One person, fewer than 30 new jobs a month: ServiceM8 is the clearest established free option if its Apple-first workflow suits your devices. Several staff, still under 30 appointments and invoices a month: Zoho FSM's 20-user free allowance is the standout on paper, provided the more generic field-service workflow covers what you need. A sole trader or small UK trade team wanting a simpler trade-specific system with no published paid tier: Fixallo is worth testing, but its newer evidence base means you should verify the workflow rather than taking the marketing claim on trust.

If your business is already beyond those limits, 'free' can become false economy. Rebuilding your customer list and templates twice costs more than a modest subscription. Use the free plan to prove the workflow first, then compare the paid cost at the headcount and job volume you expect in twelve months rather than the business size you have today.