Per-user pricing: the hidden cost of trade software as you grow

Per-user pricing looks cheap the day you sign up. £37 a month for one person is easy to say yes to. The trouble starts when you take on an apprentice, then a second fixer, then someone in the office. Every hire puts the software bill up, and most of the people you're paying for only need to log hours and take photos.

EstiMate charges per business, not per user. Pro is £39.99 a month for one office login, whether you're on your own or running a crew of ten on its Site Crew app. Below we've worked out what the other popular apps cost at 1, 3, 5 and 10 people, from their own published prices, with the sums shown. Not every app works the same way, and we've flagged where the comparison isn't clean.

How we worked it out

• Prices are as listed on each vendor's website, checked October 2026, with links below each table.
• We used the plan closest to what a builder needs, named in each column.
• We assumed every person needs a full user on the other apps. Where cheaper user types exist, we say so. EstiMate Pro is one office login plus the site team on Site Crew, which isn't the same thing, so we also show EstiMate Corp for full logins.
• Joblogic, YourTradebase, Powered Now and ServiceM8 say their prices exclude VAT. We couldn't confirm the VAT basis for Tradify or Fergus. Jobber is in US dollars, excluding sales tax. EstiMate's prices are what you pay, with a VAT receipt for every payment.

The straight per-user apps

Prices checked October 2026: Tradify UK pricing, Fergus UK pricing, Joblogic pricing. All per user per month. Joblogic is ex VAT; we couldn't find the VAT basis for Tradify or Fergus.

The sums are simple multiplication: 10 × £37 = £370, 10 × £39 = £390, 10 × £45 = £450. A few notes, in fairness to each:

• Tradify lists Lite at £34, Pro at £37 and Plus at £44 per user. We used Pro because online quote acceptance with options needs Pro or Plus.
• Fergus lists Essentials from £39 and Pro from £45 per full user, month to month with no lock-in (Fergus). Its own pages aren't all consistent on the Essentials price (one Fergus UK page shows a lower figure), so check the live page. It also sells cheaper user types: timesheet users from £12 a month (some Fergus pages say £11) and contractor users at £2 a day, charged only on days they're active. So if one person needs full access and nine only log hours, Fergus comes down to £39 + (9 × £12) = £147 a month. That's a real saving, and worth knowing.
• Joblogic Standard is from £45 per user, billed annually, and scales in a straight line up to 50 users. Its pricing page gives £225 for five users as its own example. Prices exclude VAT (Joblogic).

The mixed models

Prices checked October 2026: YourTradebase pricing, Jobber pricing (US dollars, billed annually) and EstiMate pricing.

• YourTradebase is £29 a month for the plan plus £15 a month for each additional user. Assuming the plan covers one person: 3 people is £29 + (2 × £15) = £59, 5 is £29 + (4 × £15) = £89, and 10 is £29 + (9 × £15) = £164, all plus VAT. Its pricing page doesn't say whether the £15 applies to office users, field staff or both, so your bill could be lower.
• Jobber prices in bands by team size, with extra users at $29 a month each. Connect is the first plan that goes beyond one user; Grow is $149, $229 and $299 at 1, 5 and 10 users. Three users isn't listed as a band. We haven't converted the dollars. There's more in our Jobber alternative post.
• EstiMate Pro is one price for the business. Your crew join jobs through the Site Crew app by QR code or link, and log time, expenses, photos and diary entries without a full account each. If you need separate office logins with roles, shared jobs and multi-branch reporting, that's EstiMate Corp, from £249 a month.

Two that don't fit the per-user mould

ServiceM8 charges by the job, not the person. Its UK plans run from Free (£0, one user, 30 jobs a month) through Starter at £25 (50 jobs), Growing at £59 (150 jobs), Premium at £119 (500 jobs) and Premium Plus at £269 (1,500 or more), with unlimited users on the paid plans, all excluding VAT (ServiceM8 pricing). Extra jobs are 15p each, and its help centre says there are no contracts, setup fees or per-user fees (ServiceM8 help). For a team running a modest number of jobs a month, that's good value, and we'll say so plainly: ten people on Starter cost the same £25 as one, as long as you stay within 50 jobs. What we couldn't find at ServiceM8 were CIS deductions, variations or built-in accounts, so for a builder the saving comes with gaps.

Powered Now is unclear for teams. Business is £28 a month for one user only, and the pricing page lists Professional at £32 and Premium at £40 "per user", excluding VAT (Powered Now pricing). At face value, five people on Professional would be 5 × £32 = £160 a month plus VAT. But the same page also says "unlimited users", and a help article says those tiers include one user and extra users cost more (Powered Now help). The sources conflict, so we've kept it out of the tables. Ask them for a written figure.

We've also left out three tools that don't publish a usable per-user price: Commusoft is quote only on a per-licence, 12-month contract (Commusoft), Simpro is a tailored quote (Simpro), and BigChange's page labels its £79.95 both per user and per vehicle (BigChange).

Ten people, twelve months

Here's the year for a ten-person firm on the plans above, with a full user for everyone on the other apps:

• Tradify Pro: £370 × 12 = £4,440 (VAT basis not stated)
• Fergus Essentials: £390 × 12 = £4,680 (VAT basis not stated)
• Joblogic Standard: £450 × 12 = £5,400, plus VAT
• YourTradebase, monthly: £164 × 12 = £1,968, plus VAT
• EstiMate Pro, one office login and nine on Site Crew: £39.99 × 12 = £479.88
• EstiMate Corp, if all ten need office logins with roles: from £249 × 12 = £2,988

Take the first and the fifth: £4,440 minus £479.88 is £3,960.12 a year in list prices. That's for a firm where one person runs the office and nine record their work on site, so it isn't seat for seat. On Fergus, the closer match is one full user and nine timesheet users: £147 × 12 = £1,764. If all ten need office logins, Corp's starting price of £2,988 a year is below Tradify, Fergus and Joblogic (ask us what ten seats would cost), but YourTradebase's £1,968 plus VAT is lower still, if its £15 applies to every user.

When per-user pricing is fine

At one person, the models barely differ. Tradify Pro at £37, Fergus at £39, YourTradebase at £29 and Powered Now Business at £28 all sit between EstiMate's £15.99 plan and its £39.99 Pro on list price. Pick on features, not maths.

It's also fine if only one or two people ever need the app. A sole trader with a part-time bookkeeper isn't going to feel per-user pricing much.

It starts to hurt when the team grows in people who need to record work but don't run the business: labourers, apprentices, subbies on a long job. That's where per-business pricing and a crew app earn their keep. On EstiMate Pro, those people log their hours and photos straight into the site diary and the job, and you see it all in your project management view.

What to do next

1. Count who actually needs to log in, and who just needs to record time and photos.
2. Price your current app at the team size you expect next year, not today.
3. Check the VAT basis and the billing term (monthly or annual) of whatever you're on.
4. Open a free EstiMate account (no card, no time limit) and see whether Pro covers your team at £39.99.

For a closer look at one of the per-user apps, see Tradify pricing in the UK.

Start free and pay for the business, not the headcount.