The Builder's Verdict

What job management software costs in the UK (2026)

BV-G-004Cost guideDesk assessed

By Jake WalkerCommercial links disclosed below

The short answer

Budget £32 to £45 per user per month ex VAT for mainstream per-user tools (or £28/month flat for Powered Now's single-user entry plan), £0 to £269/month flat for job-volume pricing, or quote-led contract rates for larger firms. The sticker price is the easy part; the real cost differences hide in per-user creep, expiring job credits, US-dollar billing and which tier your must-have feature sits on. Figures are source-dated rather than stamped with one blanket check date: Tradify and ServiceM8 were re-checked 19 September 2026, Powered Now 12 September, Jobber 22 September, Fergus and Commusoft were re-checked 24 September.

Desk assessed: We checked current UK pricing against official vendor sources, read the official documentation and terms, and weighed public user evidence. Some records also include clearly bounded trial spot-checks, but not enough first-hand workflow evidence to earn the Trial account used level.

What that doesn't mean: That we've run the product on live customer work over time. Long-term reliability, mobile field use and support quality stay unverified unless the record says otherwise.

The price picture at a glance

What you'd pay: verified UK price ranges

Per user, per month, ex VAT. Flat or capped entry plans are excluded from this shared per-seat axis; source check dates are listed on the page.

Powered Now
£32£40
Tradify
£34£44
Fergus
£39£45
£01020304050

ServiceM8 is deliberately not on this axis. It prices by job volume, not headcount: free to £269/month for the whole team, however many people log in. Plotting the two models on one scale would mislead; divide your monthly jobs by your headcount to see which model is priced for you.

Verified monthly price ranges per user: Powered Now £32 to £40; Tradify £34 to £44; Fergus £39 to £45. ServiceM8 uses per-job pricing at £0 to £269 per month for unlimited users.

The verified price list (2026)

Per-user tools, ex VAT: Powered Now £32 to £40 per user/month for a team (Professional/Premium), or £28/month flat for its single-user Business plan (annual billing gives two months free). Tradify £34 to £44 per user/month. Fergus lists £39 to £45 per full user/month, with timesheet-only seats from £12/month and contractor users at £2/day. Job-volume pricing: ServiceM8 from £0 (30 jobs/month, single user) through £25, £59, £119, to £269/month at 1,500+ jobs, unlimited users on every paid plan. US-dollar billing: Jobber's standard annual pricing page now uses team-size bands rather than a simple per-user multiplier through 15 users: Core is $29/month for 1 user; the pricing page shows Connect from $99 to $299, Grow $149 to $399 and Plus $399 to $529. Jobber's Help Centre separately says Connect supports up to 5 users, so we do not treat the larger Connect price bands as settled product eligibility. A promotion live on 22 September temporarily reduced the annual figures to Core $21; Connect $70/$105/$161/$210; Grow $105/$161/$210/$280; and Plus $280/$315/$371 across the pricing page's published bands. Treat those lower figures as promotional, not the long-run baseline; sterling cost still depends on the exchange rate on your billing date. Contract pricing: Commusoft, quote-led with no public price list, 12-month term, aimed at firms with six or more staff.

Hidden cost #1: per-user creep

The per-user model is transparent for a sole trader and sneaky for a growing firm. Hire an apprentice, add an office parent doing the books, bring in a subbie for the summer, and each login is another monthly fee. A three-person Tradify Pro setup is £111/month ex VAT; add a fourth and you're at £148. None of that is dishonest, but nobody budgets it on day one. If your headcount is heading up, do the maths at your two-year size, not today's.

Hidden cost #2: credits, overages and add-ons

ServiceM8's job credits expire monthly, so unused credits from a quiet month are gone, so you size for busy months. Its overage rates are at least published: 15p/job past the top-tier allowance, 5p per SMS beyond bundles. Jobber's optional add-ons (a marketing suite and an AI receptionist) stack on top of the plan price, so a low headline figure can land far higher once configured. Check which of a vendor's headline features are actually paid add-ons.

Hidden cost #3: the tier your feature lives on

Vendors advertise the bottom-tier price and hold the feature you probably came for on a higher one. Real examples from the source-dated 2026 plans: Tradify's AI tools live on Plus (£44); Powered Now's VAT submission starts at Professional (£32) and auto-chasing at Premium (£40); ServiceM8's job costing starts on Premium (£119). Before comparing prices, write down your three must-have features and price the tier that contains them. That's the real comparison.

Hidden cost #4: your own time

Every one of these systems demands setup: customers imported, price lists built, templates written. User evidence is consistent that businesses which skip this either abandon the software or limp along using 10% of it. Budget a realistic day of setup time, and note that Powered Now includes setup and training free on all plans, which is worth real money if you'd rather not do it alone.

VAT on the software itself

The published prices above are ex VAT (where the vendor states it). If you're VAT-registered you'll generally reclaim it as input tax; your accountant will confirm. If you're not registered, add 20% to every ex-VAT figure to get your true monthly cost.

Questions people actually ask

Do I have to pay for every user on job management software?

No. Pricing models differ sharply. Tradify charges per user, Powered Now has a flat one-user Business plan then per-user team plans, ServiceM8's paid plans include unlimited users and charge by job volume, while Jobber uses team-size bands. Price the software at the number of people who actually need logins, not just the headline monthly figure.

Is per-user or per-job pricing cheaper for a small trade business?

It depends on the shape of the business. Per-user pricing can be cheap for a busy sole trader because one seat handles lots of jobs. Per-job pricing can be cheaper for a crew where several people need access but the monthly job count is modest. Compare both your headcount and your normal busy-month job volume before choosing.

Where to go next

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Evidence & sources

  1. Tradify UK pricing £34/£37/£44 per user/month

    Tradify (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  2. ServiceM8 UK pricing £0 to £269/month, with unlimited users on paid plans

    ServiceM8 (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  3. Powered Now pricing: £28 flat single-user Business; £32/user Professional; £40/user Premium

    Powered Now (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  4. Fergus UK pricing £39/£45 per full user, £12 timesheet users and £2/day contractor users

    Fergus (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  5. Jobber standard USD pricing by team-size band, time-limited September promotion and 14-day no-card trial

    Jobber (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  6. Jobber Help Centre states the Connect plan supports up to 5 users

    Jobber Help Centre (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

  7. Commusoft no-public-price model, 12-month contract, flexible rolling/daily licences, 6+ staff positioning and contact-led free-trial CTA

    Commusoft (vendor) · checked · vendor/commercial source

Prices and terms change. If a source above no longer matches what we've written, tell us via the corrections page and we'll fix it.