There is no single best one. Which app wins depends on two things: how many people need to log in, and whether you issue gas or electrical certificates. On price alone ServiceM8 is hardest to beat, at roughly £119 a month for a ten-person firm against £290 for a per-user product like ours. On certificates, Tradify covers the most ground. So this page ranks by category rather than crowning one winner, because crowning one would be the wrong answer for most of you.
We are not neutral. Gafferly is one of the seven and we publish this site. That is why every verdict below is tied to a figure from that vendor's own page, dated, and why Gafferly wins two of the seven categories. Check our working. Oldest source check: 2026-08-26.
| If you are | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Best for a sole trader watching every pound | ServiceM8 | ServiceM8 publishes a free plan covering one user and 30 jobs a month, which costs nothing at all. |
| Best for a team that keeps growing | ServiceM8 | ServiceM8's limit is jobs per month, not seats, so office staff, apprentices and a bookkeeper cost nothing extra. |
| Best certificate coverage | Tradify | Tradify's own feature pages list EICR, EIC, Minor Works, Danger Notice, PAT, emergency lighting, fire alarm, solar PV and EV charger certificates, alongside more than ten gas forms. |
| Best for a firm doing both gas and electrical work | Gafferly | Gafferly ships CP12 and EICR at £29 per user with no VAT added. |
| Best free trial | YourTradebase | Thirty days and no card required. |
| Best if your business is not VAT registered | Gafferly | Powered Now and YourTradebase both state that VAT is added on top of their listed prices. |
| Best for a larger, process-heavy operation | Joblogic | Once you are past about fifteen people with planned maintenance contracts and subcontractors, the products built for small firms start to strain. |
ServiceM8 is cheapest at every size above one user because it charges per job rather than per seat. Per-user products separate sharply as the team grows: at ten users the spread runs from about £119 to £340.
| Monthly cost | 1 user | 3 users | 5 users | 10 users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ServiceM8 | £0 | £59 | £59 | £119 |
| YourTradebase | £29 | £59 | £89 | £164 |
| Powered Now | £28 | £84 | £140 | £280 |
| Gafferly | £29 | £87 | £145 | £290 |
| Tradify | £34 | £102 | £170 | £340 |
Entry tier for each product, list prices excluding VAT. Powered Now and YourTradebase both add VAT on top, which matters if you cannot reclaim it.
ServiceM8 assumes 30 jobs per person per month, and shows £0 at one user because its free plan covers one user and 30 jobs. That assumption is ours, not ServiceM8's.
Source: each vendor's own pricing page, listed in full here. Checked 2026-08-26.
ServiceM8
ServiceM8 publishes a free plan covering one user and 30 jobs a month, which costs nothing at all. For a one-van firm testing whether software helps, that beats any trial. Past 30 jobs it moves to £25 a month, still the cheapest paid entry point here.
Runner-up: Powered Now at £28 per user, though VAT is added on top.
Visit ServiceM8ServiceM8
ServiceM8's limit is jobs per month, not seats, so office staff, apprentices and a bookkeeper cost nothing extra. Every per-user product on this page gets more expensive with each person you add. At ten users the gap is roughly £119 against £290 for Gafferly.
Runner-up: YourTradebase, at £29 plus £15 per extra seat, stays cheaper than any pure per-user product.
Visit ServiceM8Tradify
Tradify's own feature pages list EICR, EIC, Minor Works, Danger Notice, PAT, emergency lighting, fire alarm, solar PV and EV charger certificates, alongside more than ten gas forms. Nothing else here comes close. If you are a fire and security firm, a solar installer or an EV charge point installer, this is the one.
Visit TradifyGafferly
Gafferly ships CP12 and EICR at £29 per user with no VAT added. If you only do gas, Gas Engineer Software is cheaper at £19 per user plus VAT, but its published certificate list is gas and oil only, with nothing electrical. Tradify covers both and a great deal more, at £34. So this category is narrow on purpose: it is for the firm that issues both a CP12 and an EICR and does not need the wider library.
Runner-up: Gas Engineer Software if your work is gas only, or Tradify if you need certificates beyond those two.
YourTradebase
Thirty days and no card required. Gafferly also gives thirty days but asks for a card up front, which is real friction and a fair reason to start elsewhere. Powered Now asks for no card but gives you only fourteen days.
Runner-up: Gafferly, also thirty days, but a card is required to start.
Visit YourTradebaseGafferly
Powered Now and YourTradebase both state that VAT is added on top of their listed prices. Gafferly adds none, because Gafferly Group Ltd is not currently VAT registered, so £29 is £29 rather than £34.80. This matters only if you cannot reclaim VAT, and it stops being true if Gafferly crosses the registration threshold.
Joblogic
Once you are past about fifteen people with planned maintenance contracts and subcontractors, the products built for small firms start to strain. Joblogic publishes an entry tier at £45 per user. Go in with your eyes open on commitment: Joblogic states most of its customers commit to 24 or 36 months, and Commusoft, which serves a similar market, publishes no prices at all.
Runner-up: Commusoft, which states it is designed for businesses with six or more staff.
Visit Joblogic| Product | Who it suits | Trial | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gafferly | UK trades firms running roughly one to fifteen vans. | 30 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Tradify | Trades businesses of most sizes, sold across seven countries. | 14 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Powered Now | UK trades and field service firms. The closest like-for-like on price. | 14 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Workever | Field service and trades, sold across several regions with local pricing. | 30 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| YourTradebase | Smaller UK trades firms. Priced as a base fee plus extra seats. | 30 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| ServiceM8 | Field service firms of any size. Priced by jobs completed per month rather than by seat, so users are unlimited. | 14 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Joblogic | Larger field service operations. Publishes only its entry tier. | None | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Gas Engineer Software | Gas and oil engineers specifically. The cheapest way to get CP12 certificates, but it does not cover electrical work. | 14 days | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Eworks Manager | Field service firms who would rather pay one flat fee per band of users than a price per seat. | None | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Commusoft | Established firms with six or more staff. | None | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
| Payaca | Installation businesses running their whole operation on one platform. | None | Vendor pageChecked 2026-08-26 |
There is no single best one, because the right answer changes with your team size and whether you issue certificates. ServiceM8 is cheapest for most teams because it charges per job with unlimited users. Tradify has the widest certificate library. Gafferly is the cheapest way to get CP12 and EICR specifically, and adds no VAT. YourTradebase has the best trial at thirty days with no card. Joblogic suits larger operations, with long contracts attached.
ServiceM8, for almost every team size. It publishes a free plan for one user and 30 jobs a month, and because it charges per job rather than per seat it stays cheapest as you add people. A ten-person firm running around 300 jobs a month pays roughly £119 a month, against £164 for YourTradebase and £290 for Gafferly's entry tier.
Tradify and Gafferly both do. Tradify's library is wider, covering EIC, Minor Works, PAT, emergency lighting, fire alarm, solar PV and EV charger certificates as well. Gafferly covers CP12 and EICR at a lower entry price. Gas Engineer Software does CP12 more cheaply again at £19 per user plus VAT, but publishes no electrical certificates at all. ServiceM8 names neither on its feature or tour pages, though it does have customisable forms you could build one with. Powered Now advertises industry-specific certificates without naming either.
No, and you should read it knowing that. Gafferly is one of the products on it and we make the site you are reading. That is exactly why the verdicts are tied to figures from each vendor's own pricing and feature pages, with the date we read them, and why Gafferly wins two of the seven categories rather than all of them. Check the working on our methodology page.
Thirty days with every feature unlocked, monthly rolling after that, no VAT to add. And if one of the others above fits you better, take that instead. We would rather you worked it out now than three months in.
