ServiceM8 vs simPRO vs AroFlo (and Tradify, Fergus): which job management platform?

Which job management platform fits which trades business?

Choose by size and complexity first, then by price. A sole trader and a 60 technician maintenance contractor need different software, and most regret comes from buying for the business you are today rather than the one you will be in three years.

Prices below are from each vendor’s Australian pricing page at the time of writing (8 November 2026). ServiceM8 shows AUD including GST; Tradify and AroFlo show AUD ex GST; Fergus does not state its tax basis on the page; simPRO quotes on request. For the wider build or buy question across trades software, see our trades business software page.

Business	ServiceM8	Tradify	Fergus	AroFlo	simPRO
Sole trader	Strong fit (free plan to 30 jobs)	Good fit	Good fit	Minimum 3 users	Rarely worth it
Crew of 2 to 10	Strong fit	Strong fit	Strong fit	Good fit	Possible
10 to 40 field staff	Fits if job volume suits a plan	Good fit	Custom plan above 10 staff	Strong fit	Strong fit
40 to 100+ technicians	Job caps and depth become limits	Stretching	Custom plan	Strong fit	Strong fit
Stock, assets, maintenance contracts	Limited	Limited	Moderate	Strong	Strong

How do quoting, scheduling and dispatch compare?

All five quote, schedule and invoice; the differences are in depth. ServiceM8 lists proposals, bundles, recurring jobs, deposits and progress invoices on every plan. Tradify and Fergus centre on fast quoting and job cards, with Fergus listing price books, job phases and quote reporting. AroFlo lists project management with Gantt charts, inbuilt compliance and safety forms, and multiple business units. simPRO lists estimating, takeoffs, work orders, retainages and project management.

A practical test: build your three most common quotes in each trial. If a quote needs a spreadsheet beside it, that platform will cost you time every week.

Scheduling and dispatch deserve the same test. Put a real week of jobs into each platform, including a callback, a job that runs over two days and an emergency that bumps the schedule. Watch how the office moves jobs, how technicians see changes on their phones, and whether customers get an accurate arrival message. The platform that handles a bad Tuesday gracefully is worth more than one with a longer feature list.

Mobile use matters too. Technicians spend their day in the app, so check offline behaviour in a basement or rural site, how photos and signatures attach to the job, and how forms and certificates are completed on site. A clumsy mobile workflow shows up later as missing photos, incomplete forms and invoices that wait for the office to chase details.

Who handles inventory and supplier pricing best?

AroFlo and simPRO are the strongest on stock and purchasing; ServiceM8 and the smaller tools handle materials at a lighter level. AroFlo lists inventory kits, schedules of rates, detailed stock control and more than 600 connected suppliers on all plans. simPRO lists inventory management, vendor catalogues, vendor price comparisons and purchase orders. Fergus lists materials, supplier integrations and purchase orders, and ServiceM8 lists supplier invoice importing and job costing.

If you carry van stock across many vehicles or bill maintenance contracts against assets, start your shortlist with AroFlo and simPRO.

Supplier price files are the quiet cost driver here. Electrical and plumbing wholesalers change prices often, and a quote built on last quarter’s prices erodes margin on every job. Ask each vendor which of your wholesalers they connect to, how often prices refresh, and whether supplier invoices can be matched to purchase orders automatically. Where your main supplier is not connected, factor in the admin time to keep prices current by hand.

What flows to Xero and MYOB, and what does not?

Clients, items, invoices and payments sync on all five; job costing detail and supplier bills are where gaps appear. ServiceM8 says it syncs clients, items, invoices and payments with Xero, QuickBooks Online and MYOB; confirm which plan includes the connector you need. Tradify lists Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online sync; Fergus lists Xero, QuickBooks and MYOB; simPRO lists QuickBooks, Xero, Sage and MYOB; AroFlo says it integrates with Xero and MYOB.

Questions to ask in a trial:

• Do invoices post with the right GST codes and tracking categories?
• Do payments recorded in the accounting system flow back to the job?
• How are supplier bills matched to jobs for costing?
• What happens to an invoice edited after it has synced?

When the standard sync does not move the data you need, a targeted integration is the fix; see Xero and MYOB integration.

How open is each platform to integrations?

ServiceM8, simPRO, AroFlo and Fergus all publish APIs, but their limits and access rules differ enough to shape what you can build. This table is from each vendor’s developer documentation at the time of writing.

Platform	How you get access	Published rate limits	Notes
ServiceM8	API key generated in Settings for your own account; OAuth for public add ons	Not stated on the authentication page	REST API with filtering and cursor pagination, add on SDK and an MCP server
simPRO	Register an application; partner level apps need a sandbox test and a demonstration before credentials are issued	10 requests a second per client build, then HTTP 429	OAuth 2.0 with authorisation code or client credentials grants; batch endpoints for volume
AroFlo	HMAC keys generated in Site Administration	1 request a second, 60 a minute, 2,000 a day; 3.5 MB per response	Returns XML by default, JSON on request
Fergus	API token, under Fergus’s API terms	100 requests a minute per company	REST API covering jobs, quotes and more
Tradify	No public API documentation found	Not applicable	Integrations through its own accounting and payment connectors

AroFlo’s daily cap is the one that surprises people: 2,000 requests a day is plenty for nightly reporting, but tight for a live two way sync with a busy CRM. simPRO’s partner process adds weeks if you are building an app for many simPRO customers, though a business connecting its own build has a lighter path.

What do they cost by team size?

Per user platforms scale with headcount; ServiceM8 scales with job volume. List prices only, monthly, before add ons such as SMS, payments or GPS.

Platform (at the time of writing)	5 field staff	20 field staff	Basis
ServiceM8	$79 (150 jobs) to $149 (500 jobs)	$149 (500 jobs) to $349 (1,500+ jobs)	AUD inc GST, unlimited users on paid plans
Tradify	$48 × 5 = $240 to $62 × 5 = $310	$48 × 20 = $960 to $62 × 20 = $1,240	AUD ex GST, per user
AroFlo	Up to $80 × 5 = $400	Up to $80 × 20 = $1,600, less on the sliding scale	AUD, per user, minimum 3
Fergus	From $53 (Basic) or $75 (Professional), plus timesheet users from $26	Custom plan above 10 staff	As listed on the Australian page
simPRO	Quote	Quote	Tailored to team size and add ons

Add the extras before comparing. Fergus lists SMS at $15 per 100 texts and card payments at 2.95% + 30c; ServiceM8’s card rates fall from 1.89% + 30c on Free to 1.19% + 30c on Premium Plus; Tradify lists SMS at 20c a message. A business taking most payments by card should model those rates, not just the subscription.

What happens when you switch platforms?

Open jobs and master data move; history mostly stays behind. Plan the switch as a project:

1. Export clients, sites, contacts, items, price lists and open jobs from the old platform.
2. Export completed jobs, invoices, photos, forms and certificates to storage you control, in case of a warranty claim or audit.
3. Clean the master data before import; most new platforms charge or limit setup help.
4. Reconnect accounting with a clean cutover date, so invoices are not created twice.
5. Keep the old account read only for a few months if the vendor allows it.

When does none of them fit?

None of them fits when your edge is a process the platform cannot model. Typical examples are a quoting method based on measurements or takeoffs, compliance certificates sent straight from the job, a client portal showing asset history, or reporting across several businesses or platforms. In most cases the right answer is a custom module connected by API, not replacing the platform. Our guide on how to automate quoting covers one of the most common.

Before commissioning anything, check three things. First, whether the platform’s own add on store or marketplace already has a tool for the gap. Second, whether the API exposes the data the custom module needs, within the rate limits in the table above. Third, who will maintain the module when the platform changes its API. A small, well documented integration that does one job is far easier to keep alive than a large system that duplicates half the platform. If the honest answer is that a better configured platform would solve the problem, that is cheaper than any build.

How AWLabs approaches trades software

We are not a reseller or partner of any of these platforms. We start with a 15 minute Development Consult about how your jobs run, then a paid Discovery Audit that tests whether a platform, set up properly, already does what you need. Where it does not, you get a fixed price Schedule of Work in three options: The Minimum, The Recommended and The Complete. Senior engineers lead every build. See API development and our construction and trades industry page.