Best free quoting app for UK tradesmen in 2026

"Free" means four different things in trade software, and the app stores don't make it easy to tell them apart.

1. Free forever, with limits on jobs, users or invoices.
2. A free trial of 14 or 30 days, then you pay.
3. Free because you have something else, such as a particular business bank account.
4. Free invoicing, where quoting is an afterthought.

Short answer: for a builder or tradesman who wants a properly priced quote with materials and labour broken down, EstiMate's free plan is a good place to start, as long as 3 jobs a month and a watermark on the PDF are fine for now. If you're a call-out trade doing more jobs than that on your own, ServiceM8's free plan gives one person 30 jobs a month. If you mostly need invoices and don't mind a general business tool, Zoho Invoice is free up to 500 invoices a year.

Free plans compared

Prices checked October 2026: EstiMate pricing, ServiceM8 free plan, Zoho Invoice UK, YourTradebase, FreeAgent and Fieldwire via Capterra, a third-party listing.

1. EstiMate Free: best for builders who want a proper priced quote

What you get for £0: 3 jobs a month, material and labour breakdowns on every quote, the trade calculators, and the phone app for walk-rounds, voice notes and photos. You can also search TenderPilot's live tenders. There's no card to enter and no time limit, so it doesn't turn into a bill after a fortnight. The free calculators cover concrete, brickwork, roofing, plastering and more.

The catch, plainly: the PDF carries a watermark, and you're capped at 3 jobs a month. The client quote link (accept, decline, tick optional extras, ask for amendments), contracts with e-signatures and invoicing start on the £15.99 plan, which is priced per business with one office login, not per user. Pro at £39.99 adds the AI quote writer and take-off, with a free trial when you upgrade.

2. ServiceM8 Free: best for call-out trades doing more than a handful of jobs

ServiceM8's free plan is the real thing: one user, 30 jobs a month, with jobs, quotes, invoices, clients and scheduling. Each card payment you take through ServiceM8 and Stripe earns a bonus job credit. AI is limited to 10 uses a day on Free, and texts cost 5p each. When you outgrow it, Starter is £25 a month ex VAT for 50 jobs with unlimited users.

The catch: one user, and it's built for call-out work rather than projects. Capterra reviewers say the Android app is weaker than the iPhone one (Capterra). We couldn't find CIS. There's more in our ServiceM8 pricing explainer.

3. Zoho Invoice: best if you mainly need free invoices

Zoho says Zoho Invoice is "completely free to use, with no hidden charges or time limits", with no card needed (Zoho UK). The UK pricing page caps it at 500 invoices a year. Customers can accept, decline or comment on quotes in a portal, e-signatures come through Zoho Sign, and it handles CIS deductions on invoices once you enter your UTR and NI number (CIS help).

The catch: it's a general business tool, not a builder's one. Reviewers on Capterra and G2 mention Zoho branding on free-plan documents and limited template options (G2). For Making Tax Digital, Zoho points you to Zoho Books. Our post on what Zoho Invoice costs a builder goes into the time it takes.

4. YourTradebase: best for a long, no-card trial

YourTradebase gives you 30 days with as many admins and field staff as you like, no card needed. After that, the account "will automatically be downgraded to a free account, which has some usage limits". We couldn't find what those limits are, and older terms said you could view old data after the trial but not create new data, so check what the free account allows today. Paid plans are £29 a month ex VAT plus £15 per extra user, with CIS and reverse charge built into invoices. See YourTradebase vs EstiMate.

5. FreeAgent: free accounts if you bank with the right people

FreeAgent is free with a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland or Ulster Bank business current account "for as long as you retain your bank account", or with Mettle if you make at least one transaction a month. You get one free licence per bank account. You can create and email estimates and turn them into invoices, but we couldn't find a link for the client to accept online; you mark the estimate approved yourself (FreeAgent help). Where it shines is the accounts: MTD VAT returns and CIS, though FreeAgent says CIS300 returns can't be filed from it, so contractors file those on HMRC's site (FreeAgent CIS300). Read FreeAgent for builders.

6. Fieldwire Basic: free snagging, not quoting

Fieldwire's Basic plan is free for up to 5 users, 3 projects and 100 sheets, with plans, tasks, punch lists and markups. We couldn't find quoting or invoicing in it, so it isn't a quoting app. It's worth knowing about if you want a free snagging tool next to whatever you quote with.

Free trials, not free plans

These are good apps, but the free part ends. Xero isn't free at all, but first-time UK customers get a big discount to start.

Sources, checked October 2026: Tradify, Fergus, Powered Now, Jobber and Xero. Jobber's $29 is Core billed annually, excluding sales tax. We couldn't confirm the VAT basis of Tradify's or Fergus's prices. For what a team pays once the trial ends, see Tradify pricing and Fergus pricing.

Invoice Simple is harder to pin down. Its Essentials page calls Essentials the "free plan" (Invoice Simple), but its own 2026 comparison posts say there's no permanent free plan, and the 14-day trial is on the mobile app only. Our Invoice Simple pricing post untangles it.

How to get the most from a free plan

• Use it on real jobs. A test quote for "Mr Smith, 1 Test Street" tells you nothing.
• Avoid the usual errors while you're at it: see 12 quoting mistakes UK tradespeople make.
• Send the quote to your own phone and read it as the client would.
• Check you can get your data out before you commit. EstiMate lets you export everything at any time.
• Decide what would make you pay. If it's the client link or unwatermarked PDFs, that's £15.99 a month on EstiMate.

Working on your own? Our software for sole traders roundup goes further.

No card, no time limit: start free and price your next job.