Powered Now alternative for UK builders: EstiMate vs Powered Now

Powered Now is one of the stronger UK trade apps, and we'll say that up front. It handles CIS, the domestic reverse charge and Making Tax Digital VAT returns, has a big library of forms and certificates, and runs on iPhone, Android, PC and Mac. For a gas engineer, heating firm or electrician who lives on certificates and wants their VAT return sent from the same app, it's a very good fit.

EstiMate is built for a different job: the building project. If you price extensions, loft conversions and refits, and your problems are contracts, variations, site records and getting stage payments in, EstiMate covers that ground, and we couldn't find most of it on Powered Now's website (October 2026). It's also priced per business rather than per user, and it has a free plan.

So: certificates and VAT filing, look hard at Powered Now. Projects, contracts and variations, look at EstiMate.

What Powered Now does that EstiMate doesn't

Powered Now Limited is based in Teignmouth, Devon (Powered Now terms), and its help centre says it was founded in 2013 (Powered Now help). Here's where it's ahead, and we'd rather you heard it from us:

VAT returns to HMRC. On Professional and Premium, MTD VAT returns are submitted direct to HMRC, and Powered Now says it's on HMRC's software list (Powered Now). EstiMate prepares your VAT figures but doesn't file them.
Certificates. It lists more than 80 digital forms and certificates, with a strong gas and heating slant (Powered Now).
A native Android app. It runs on iOS, Android, PC and Mac, and the vendor says forms work offline (App Store, Google Play). EstiMate is an iPhone app and works on Android in the browser.
An AI phone receptionist. PN Receptionist is an add-on from £29 a month (Powered Now).

It also matches EstiMate on a few things builders care about. CIS is built in, with the deduction estimated on sales invoices and a CIS 300 report for contractors, though filing is still done on HMRC's portal (Powered Now help). And you can pick a reverse charge tax rate per line on sales and supplier invoices (Powered Now). There's a RAMS form too (Powered Now help).

Customers rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 137 reviews on Capterra (Capterra).

Per user, or per business

Powered Now's pricing page lists three plans, all excluding VAT:

Powered Now plan	Monthly	What it adds
Business	£28, one user only	Quotes, invoices, diary, expenses, MTD for Income Tax
Professional	£32 per user	Team users, time tracking, VAT returns to HMRC, Xero and QuickBooks
Premium	£40 per user	Customer portal, auto chasing, AI text writing, drawings

Prices checked October 2026, as listed on Powered Now's pricing page and EstiMate's pricing page. Paying annually gets you two months free (£280, £320 or £400 a year). There's a 14-day trial with no card, and we couldn't find a free plan.

One thing to check with them: the pricing page lists Professional and Premium "per user" and also says "unlimited users", while a help article says those tiers include one user and extra users cost more (Powered Now help). At face value, four people on Professional would be 4 × £32 = £128 a month plus VAT. Ask Powered Now for the real figure for your team.

EstiMate is Free at £0, £15.99 a month, or £39.99 a month for Pro, per business, and those prices are what you pay, with a VAT receipt. Some like-for-like points:

Automatic chasing of overdue invoices comes with EstiMate's £15.99 plan. On Powered Now, automatic invoice and quote chasing is a Premium feature, at £40 a user ex VAT.
Both send the client a quote link. EstiMate's lets the client pick optional extras and ask for amendments on the £15.99 plan; Powered Now's wider customer portal is on Premium.
EstiMate's £15.99 and £39.99 plans are one office login. On Pro your crew log time, photos and diary entries through the Site Crew app without full accounts. Separate office logins with roles are on EstiMate Corp, from £249, so at face value Powered Now's per-user prices come in lower for a small office team.

Where the project starts to bite

Picture a single-storey rear extension: twelve weeks, a deposit, four stage payments, a client who adds bifolds in week four. Here's how the two compare on that job. "Not found" means we searched Powered Now's site and help centre in October 2026 and found nothing. Ask them if it matters to you.

What the job needs	Powered Now	EstiMate
CIS deductions	Yes, plus CIS 300 report	Yes, plus CIS register
Reverse charge VAT	Yes	Yes
VAT return filed to HMRC	Yes (Professional up)	No, figures only
Client ticks optional extras	Not found	Yes
Building contract with e-signature	Not found	Yes
Variations	Not found	Yes, client-approved
Site diary	Not found	Yes
Snagging on drawings	Drawing markup (Premium)	Numbered pins (Pro)
AI quote drafting	AI text writing (Premium)	Full priced draft (Pro)
AI take-off from drawings	Not found	Yes (Pro)

Contracts and variations

On Powered Now, the customer gets a link to accept or reject the whole quote (Powered Now help). Signatures are captured on documents in the mobile app. We didn't find a contract builder, and the closest thing to a variation we found was editing the pricing and reissuing the quote. On the extension above, that would mean the bifolds going in on a reissued quote and a conversation. In EstiMate, the accepted quote becomes a contract signed online, the bifolds are priced as a variation from site, the client approves from a link, and the contract total and the next stage invoice update with an audit trail. See contract software.

Site records

Powered Now's "diary" is its scheduling calendar (Powered Now help). Its Premium drawing tool lets you upload a plan and add shapes, lines and text, and the vendor says it covers snagging lists and annotated drawings (Powered Now help). We didn't find snags tracked with pins and a status. EstiMate keeps a daily site diary with weather and workforce, and on Pro you drop numbered snag pins on the drawings, clients can report snags too, and you finish with a handover pack and sign-off. Why that diary matters is in site diary wins disputes.

Quoting and leads

Powered Now's AI text writing turns a few words into a quote description or a customer message (Powered Now). We didn't find AI that builds a priced quote. EstiMate Pro's AI quote writer drafts scope, materials with quantities and prices, labour and a programme from your description, drawings, photos or a walk-round voice note, using your own day rates. You edit everything before it goes. For new work, Powered Now's leads come from its receptionist, portal bookings and website enquiries (Powered Now help). EstiMate turns every council's planning register into local leads; here's how builders use planning applications.

Who Powered Now suits

gas, heating and electrical trades who issue lots of certificates;
sole traders and small teams who want VAT returns filed from their job app;
contractors and subbies who want CIS deductions on invoices and a CIS 300 report in the same app;
anyone who needs a native Android app or offline forms;
businesses that want an AI receptionist answering the phone.

What to do next

If VAT filing from the app is a must, Powered Now has it and EstiMate doesn't. Many firms leave tax filing to their accountant anyway, so decide which camp you're in.
Open a free EstiMate account (no card, no time limit) and price your next project with it.
Send the quote link, generate the contract and price one variation through it.
If you're on a Powered Now annual plan, note the renewal date before you move. Auto-renewal is a recurring complaint in Trustpilot reviews, and Powered Now's replies there say plans renew annually and reminders are sent (Trustpilot).

Weighing up the two UK apps against each other first? Read Powered Now vs YourTradebase.

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