Best booking and job software for plumbers in 2026: what each costs, and what none of it does

A plumber is rarely short of a diary tool. The usual problem is the other end: quotes written on the back of a van, certificates in a drawer, invoices sent a fortnight late, and customers who find someone with a better-looking website. So the software on this list falls into two groups, and it helps to keep them apart.

• Job software runs the work: quotes, scheduling, invoices, payments, certificates. ServiceM8, Tradify and Powered Now are in this group.
• Ways to be found and booked bring the customer in: a directory like Checkatrade, or your own website like the one we build.

We make Believe Websites, so read this with that in mind. Every price below was read from the company's own public page on 8 November 2026, and the pages are listed at the bottom. Nothing here is from memory or a review site.

The short answer

• You need quotes, invoices and certificates sorted: one of the three job tools below. We do none of that.
• You are a one-person firm on a tight budget: ServiceM8's free plan or Powered Now's one-user Business plan.
• You want customers to find you, enquire and book on a site that is yours: Believe Websites, alongside job software rather than instead of it.
• You want strangers sent to you: Checkatrade. We have no marketplace.

What each one costs

ServiceM8

ServiceM8 is built around the job. The UK page lists Free (£0, one user, 30 jobs a month, 5p per text), Starter £25, Growing £59, Premium £119 and Premium Plus £269 a month, and every paid plan has unlimited users. What changes between them is the number of jobs a month, from 50 on Starter up to 1,500 or more, and which extras you get. Its page says every plan includes job cards, scheduling, quoting and invoicing, online booking, card payments and automated booking confirmations and payment chasers, and lists deposits among its features. Progress invoicing is from Starter, and electronic forms and certificates, asset management and proposals are from Growing.

That makes it the cheapest serious option for a small firm that does fewer than fifty jobs a month, and the one whose price follows your workload rather than your headcount. It offers a 14-day free trial of the paid plans.

Tradify

Tradify is priced per user: £34 Lite, £37 Pro and £44 Plus a month. Lite covers jobs, scheduling, quoting, invoicing, online and card payments and accounting sync with Xero, Sage and QuickBooks. Pro adds custom branding, an enquiry form, appointment reminders, quote options, progress invoicing and compliance certificates. Plus adds service reminders (its page mentions boiler services), purchase orders, bulk invoicing and reporting. Texts are an extra at £0.10 a message, and an Instant Website add-on is £10 a month. It offers a 14-day free trial.

Powered Now

Powered Now's page shows Business at £23.33 a month for one user, Professional at £26.67 per user and Premium at £33.33 per user, all billed yearly (£280, £320 and £400 a year) and excluding VAT. It says every plan is a rolling subscription with no contract and a 14-day free trial with no card. Business includes quotes, invoices and payment links, a diary and Making Tax Digital, plus a free Here Is My Work website. Professional adds compliant certificates, unlimited texts and emails from the app, team features and Xero and QuickBooks; Premium adds a customer portal, automatic quote and invoice chasing and appointment reminders. A phone-answering add-on, PN Receptionist, is £29 a month for speech or £39 with texts.

Checkatrade

Checkatrade is a directory, not software. We could not find a public price list: its own help articles say there is no joining fee, basic plans start from around £30 plus VAT a month, a basic plan does not put you in Checkatrade search, and plans that bring leads depend on your trade, postcode and the lead volume you choose. Its pages also describe vetting, verified reviews and a guarantee of up to £1,000 on jobs booked through it. We go through it in detail in Believe Websites vs Checkatrade.

What a three-person firm pays

The pattern is clear. Per-user tools get more expensive with every van you add; ServiceM8 follows jobs instead of people; and Believe Websites is flat. But comparing £49 with job software would be unfair to the software, because we do not quote, invoice or issue certificates.

What plumbers should look for

Where Believe Websites loses, plainly

Where Believe Websites wins

• A website that is yours. A bespoke site on your own domain (www.yourbusiness.co.uk), designed and built for £0 upfront, with enquiries and booking inside it, which we host and change whenever you ask.
• One price however many vans. From £49 a month, with unlimited team members and no per-user charge.
• 0% commission on every booking, from anyone.
• Things that help the site be found. A page for each service and area you cover, analytics, a monthly report, an AI Search Readiness score and a new article each month about your town and services.
• Nothing for you to build. No theme, no pages to write, no domain settings.

So which should you pick?

• ServiceM8 if you want job software priced by workload and your team will grow.
• Powered Now if you want UK tax, certificates and a free simple website in one tool and no contract.
• Tradify if you want a polished per-user job tool and do not mind per-user pricing.
• Checkatrade if you want paid leads and a vetting badge.
• Believe Websites if you want a proper website of your own, kept up to date for you, to go beside whichever job tool you choose.

Heating firm or boiler engineer as well? The same split applies. For how a site-first approach compares with a DIY builder, see Believe Websites vs Wix; the whole offer is on our home page.