Best Quoting Apps for Tradespeople Compared (2026)

If you are a tradesperson looking for an app to help you create professional quotes, you have no shortage of options. The problem is that most of them were built for large field service companies with multiple employees, complex scheduling needs, and deep pockets. For a sole trader or small team, they can feel like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut — and the monthly bill reflects it.

In this guide, we compare the most popular quoting apps for tradespeople in the UK, break down what each one actually does, what it costs, and help you decide which one is the best fit for your business. We have also included QuoteSmith in the comparison — and we will be upfront about where it fits and where other tools might suit you better.

What to Look for in a Quoting App

Before we compare individual tools, let us establish what actually matters in a quoting app for tradespeople.

Ease of use: If it takes longer to learn the software than it does to write a quote by hand, it has failed at its primary purpose. You want something you can pick up and use on day one.

Quote quality: The finished quote needs to look professional. A branded PDF that impresses customers, not a basic template that looks like it was made in Excel.

Speed: The whole point of quoting software is to save you time. If it still takes thirty minutes to produce a quote, the software is adding complexity without adding value.

Content generation: This is where most quoting apps fall short. They give you fields to fill in — line items, costs, customer details — but the actual writing (scope of work, descriptions, terms and conditions) is still on you. As we explain in our guide on why professional proposals win more work, the written content is often what separates a winning quote from a losing one.

Price: For a sole trader or small team, software costs add up quickly. The tool needs to deliver enough value to justify its monthly fee.

Jobber

Jobber is one of the most well-known field service management platforms. It is a comprehensive tool that covers quoting, scheduling, invoicing, customer management, and payment processing.

What it does well

Jobber excels at managing the full workflow of a service business. You can create quotes, schedule jobs, dispatch team members, track time, send invoices, and take online payments — all from one platform. The customer portal is polished, letting clients approve quotes and pay invoices online. The mobile app is well-designed and works reliably on site.

Where it falls short

Jobber is expensive. Plans start at around thirty pounds per month for a single user, but the features most tradespeople need — like quote follow-ups, online signatures, and multiple users — are on the Connect plan at around sixty pounds per month or the Grow plan at around one hundred and fifty pounds per month. For a sole trader who primarily needs a better way to send quotes, that is a lot of money for features you will never use.

Jobber's quote builder is functional but basic when it comes to content. You fill in line items, add an optional note, and send it. It does not write your scope of work for you, generate a timeline, or create terms and conditions. The quote you produce is only as good as the text you type in yourself.

Best for

Trade businesses with three or more employees who need a full job management platform, not just a quoting tool.

Tradify

Tradify was built specifically for tradespeople, particularly those in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. It focuses on job management, quoting, and invoicing for small trade businesses.

What it does well

Tradify is simpler than Jobber and feels more tailored to how tradespeople actually work. The quoting interface is straightforward — add line items, set your markup, attach photos, and send. It integrates with Xero and MYOB for accounting, which saves double-handling of financial data. The mobile app is decent, and the pricing is more reasonable than Jobber.

Where it falls short

Tradify's quotes are essentially itemised lists with an optional description. There is no AI content generation, no automatic scope of work, and no terms and conditions builder. You are still writing the important parts yourself. The interface, while functional, can feel dated compared to newer tools. At approximately thirty-five to forty-five pounds per user per month, it is still a significant cost for a sole trader.

Best for

Small trade businesses with one to five employees who want a simple job management system with quoting and invoicing built in.

ServiceM8

ServiceM8 is an Australian-built field service app that has gained a following in the UK. It focuses on job management, quoting, scheduling, and client communication.

What it does well

ServiceM8 has some clever features that other platforms lack. The automated quote follow-up emails are useful — the system will chase customers who have not responded to your quote, saving you the manual effort. The "Quote Acceptance" feature lets customers approve quotes online with a digital signature. The badge system that shows your ServiceM8 rating to customers is a nice trust signal.

Where it falls short

ServiceM8 was originally built for iOS and it shows — the Android experience is noticeably weaker. The quoting interface, while functional, produces quotes that look like forms rather than professional proposals. There is no content generation — you write everything yourself. Pricing starts around fifteen pounds per month for the basic plan but climbs to forty to seventy pounds per month for features like automated follow-ups and online booking.

Best for

iPhone users who want a solid all-in-one job management platform with automated follow-up capabilities.

Fergus

Fergus is a New Zealand-based job management platform that has expanded into the UK market. It is designed specifically for trade businesses and covers quoting, scheduling, job costing, invoicing, and financial reporting.

What it does well

Fergus's strongest feature is job costing. It tracks your actual costs against your quoted costs in real time, so you can see whether each job is profitable before it is finished. This level of financial visibility is valuable for businesses that want to understand their margins properly. The reporting tools are more detailed than most competitors, and the integration with accounting software is seamless.

Where it falls short

Fergus is one of the most expensive options on the market. Plans start at approximately fifty pounds per user per month, with the full-featured plan costing significantly more. For a sole trader, the cost is hard to justify unless you specifically need the advanced job costing and reporting features. The quote builder itself is standard — line items, optional notes, PDF output — with no AI or automated content generation. Use our profit margin calculator to check whether your current margins justify this level of investment.

Best for

Established trade businesses with employees who need detailed job costing and financial reporting alongside quoting.

QuoteSmith

Full disclosure — this is our product. We will be honest about what it does and where it sits in the market.

QuoteSmith takes a fundamentally different approach to the tools above. Rather than being a full job management platform that includes quoting as one of many features, QuoteSmith focuses on doing one thing exceptionally well: turning your job details into a professional, well-written PDF proposal as fast as possible.

What it does well

QuoteSmith uses AI to write your quotes for you. You enter your line items, costs, and a brief description of the job. The AI then generates a complete, professionally written scope of work, a realistic project timeline, and a full set of terms and conditions — all tailored to the specific job. The output is a branded PDF proposal that looks like it was prepared by a project manager, not a template with blanks filled in.

The speed difference is significant. What takes thirty to sixty minutes with a traditional template or quoting app takes under five minutes with QuoteSmith. You can see examples of QuoteSmith proposals to judge the quality for yourself.

QuoteSmith also offers a free first proposal with no credit card required, so you can try it before committing. After that, pricing starts well below the monthly cost of the full job management platforms listed above.

Where it falls short

QuoteSmith is a quoting tool, not a full job management platform. It does not do scheduling, time tracking, dispatching, or invoicing (though our free invoice generator handles basic invoicing needs). If you need a comprehensive system to manage a team of employees across multiple jobs, the all-in-one platforms above may serve you better.

Best for

Sole traders and small trade businesses who want to produce professional, detailed proposals quickly without the cost and complexity of a full job management platform. Especially strong for builders, kitchen fitters, roofers, and any trade where a detailed scope of work is important for winning jobs.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Here is how the five tools compare on the key criteria that matter most to tradespeople:

AI-generated content: Only QuoteSmith writes your scope of work, timeline, and terms automatically. All other tools require you to write the content manually.

Time to create a quote: QuoteSmith takes under five minutes. The other tools take fifteen to sixty minutes depending on how much detail you include.

Monthly cost (sole trader): QuoteSmith is the most affordable option. Tradify and ServiceM8 sit in the middle. Jobber and Fergus are the most expensive.

Full job management: Jobber, Tradify, ServiceM8, and Fergus all offer comprehensive job management features. QuoteSmith focuses purely on quoting.

Quote quality: QuoteSmith produces the most detailed and professionally written proposals. The others produce clean but basic documents.

Learning curve: QuoteSmith is the simplest to learn. ServiceM8 and Tradify are moderately easy. Jobber and Fergus have steeper learning curves due to their extensive feature sets.

Which One Should You Choose?

The right tool depends on what you actually need.

If you are a sole trader or have a very small team and your main pain point is producing professional quotes quickly, QuoteSmith is the best fit. It solves the quoting problem better and more affordably than any of the full job management platforms.

If you have a growing team and need scheduling, dispatching, and time tracking alongside quoting, look at Tradify or ServiceM8. They offer a good balance of features and cost.

If you run a larger operation with multiple crews and need detailed job costing and financial reporting, Jobber or Fergus are worth the investment.

Many tradespeople actually use QuoteSmith alongside another tool — using QuoteSmith for producing quotes (because the AI-written content is dramatically better) and a simpler job management tool for scheduling and invoicing. This combination often costs less than a single subscription to one of the premium platforms.