Tradify review for UK small businesses

Tradify is job management software for trade and service businesses. It brings enquiries, quotes and estimates, scheduling and dispatch, job tracking, timesheets, purchase orders, costing and invoicing into one cloud app, with a mobile app for engineers and a web console for the office. The pitch is simple: replace the paper diary, spreadsheet and messaging thread with one system that runs a job from first enquiry to paid invoice. Tradify was founded in Auckland in 2013 by Curtis Bailey, an electrical engineer, and was acquired by the UK-headquartered Access Group in October 2024.

The UK position is more than a translated website. Tradify publishes sterling pricing of £34, £37 and £44 per user per month, offers a no-card 14-day trial, and lists UK support numbers on every page. It ships UK-specific forms and certificates including the EICR, EIC, minor works and PAT certificates and landlord and homeowner gas safety records, and it runs a UK office at 8 Devonshire Square in London.

Accounting is the compliance backbone rather than something Tradify replaces. It syncs two-way with Xero and integrates with Sage and QuickBooks Online, pushing invoices, bills, contacts and payments into the books, and can create CIS-compatible invoices for Xero or Sage Business Cloud. Its help centre states plainly that Tradify is not HMRC-recognised for CIS invoices, so the statutory filing and deduction mechanics live in the accounting package. Nor is Tradify an accounting product: it does not file VAT returns and is not Making Tax Digital software. It does not work offline, and it is closed by design — no public API, no Zapier app, no documented webhooks — so anything beyond the native accounting, payment and calendar integrations is manual. UK Business Stack treats it as the operations layer of a small-business stack, owning the middle of the job between the customer and the ledger.

Tradify sits where a paper diary, a whiteboard and a spreadsheet of invoices usually sit together. A lead arrives as an enquiry; it becomes a quote with saved price-list items and markups; the accepted quote becomes a scheduled job; the engineer logs time, notes and photos from the phone; and the finished job becomes an invoice that syncs to the books and can be paid by card on the spot.

The integration story is narrow but deliberate. Xero, Sage and QuickBooks Online are the accounting connections; Stripe carries card payments; Google Calendar keeps the schedule alongside personal appointments; and Connections gives subcontractors a free view of booked work. With no public API, webhooks or Zapier app, Tradify is an all-in-one small-team tool rather than a hub that orchestrates other software.

The UK question is one of fit rather than legitimacy. Tradify has real UK pricing, a UK office, UK certificates and UK phone support. But compliance tasks — VAT returns, Making Tax Digital submissions and CIS deductions — depend on the accounting package, and the absence of offline working is a genuine constraint for engineers in basements, plant rooms and rural properties.

This workflow reflects Tradify's published product guidance and help-centre articles. UK Business Stack has not run a live Tradify trial for this review, so the steps describe documented behaviour rather than independently tested behaviour.

Before committing to any job management platform it is worth naming the honest alternatives. All quote, schedule and invoice; they differ in offline behaviour, integration depth, certificate handling and how they price as a team grows.

• Contracting entity and UK presence. The Access contracting party is Tradify Limited, a New Zealand company, while the UK operation lists an office at 8 Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YJ; UK buyers contract on Access Group terms.
• Sterling pricing and VAT. UK prices are published in sterling at £34, £37 and £44 per user per month, but the page does not state whether VAT is included, so confirm the treatment before purchase.
• CIS and the reverse charge. Tradify is not HMRC-recognised for CIS invoices; CIS-compatible invoices require Xero or Sage Business Cloud, and VAT-inclusive reverse-charge invoices cannot sync to Xero.
• Making Tax Digital. Tradify is job management, not Making Tax Digital filing software; VAT returns and MTD submissions are made from the connected Xero, Sage or QuickBooks account.
• Data residency. The public privacy policy does not state where customer data is hosted, and visible subprocessors include Microsoft Azure, Cloudflare, Google, Intercom and HubSpot; buyers with data-residency requirements should ask.
• Payments and card fees. Card payments run through the built-in Stripe integration at £0.20 plus 1.7 to 3.45 per cent by card type, inclusive of VAT, with fees optionally passed to the customer; there is no built-in Direct Debit.
• Support hours. UK support is available by phone on 0808 258 4163 or 020 8068 5815 and by email, with phone lines running 24 hours across five days and weekend calls returned on Monday.

Tradify publishes per-user monthly pricing in sterling: Lite £34, Pro £37 and Plus £44, with a Custom tier priced on request, billed month to month with no contract and a no-card 14-day trial. Pro adds branding, customer communications, job photos, recurring jobs, progress invoicing, costing, timesheets and subcontractor scheduling; Plus adds SmartTools AI, purchase orders, bulk invoicing, kit bundles and expanded reporting.

The total scales with headcount: a ten-person team on Pro is £370 per month before add-ons and card fees. Published extras include Instant Website at £10 per month and text-message quotes, invoices and reminders at £0.10 per message. Card processing adds £0.20 plus 1.7 per cent on standard cards, 2.1 per cent on premium or 3.45 per cent on American Express, inclusive of VAT, and can be passed to the customer.

The UK page does not state whether the subscription prices include VAT, so the net cost to a VAT-registered business should be confirmed with Tradify or an accountant. Against flat-rate alternatives, Tradify is economical for one to four users and becomes comparatively expensive as the team grows — the central pricing decision.

• No offline mode. The help centre states both the web console and mobile app depend on a live internet connection, so engineers in poor signal cannot log time, complete certificates or update jobs until connectivity returns.
• No public API, webhooks or Zapier. Official material confirms no public API, developer portal or documented webhooks and no Zapier app, so bespoke automation and system integration are not supported.
• CIS only statutory through Xero or Sage. Tradify is not HMRC-recognised for CIS invoices; CIS invoicing requires Xero or Sage Business Cloud and cannot be created directly for QuickBooks Online, where it must be edited in QuickBooks.
• Per-user cost scales with headcount. Every user needs a paid seat with no included-seat allowance, so a growing crew increases the bill linearly while the features stay aimed at small teams.
• Card-only customer payments. The built-in route is Stripe-backed card processing; there is no GoCardless Direct Debit or open banking, so recurring collection needs another service.
• Not an accounting or filing product. Tradify does not file VAT returns and is not Making Tax Digital software; statutory compliance depends entirely on the connected accounting package.
• Reverse-charge edge cases. Tradify's Xero article notes VAT-inclusive reverse-charge invoices cannot sync to Xero, so construction firms using the domestic reverse charge must run tax-exclusive or accept workarounds.