Tradify vs Powered Now: which UK trade app wins in 2026?

Tradify and Powered Now look alike on the surface. Both are job management apps for UK trades, both were founded in 2013, both cost somewhere between £28 and £44 a person a month, and both have strong reviews. Underneath, they're built for different priorities.

Powered Now is UK-built and wins clearly on tax: it does CIS deductions, reverse-charge VAT and (on Professional and Premium) Making Tax Digital VAT returns itself, where Tradify needs Xero or Sage for CIS. Tradify wins on client-facing quoting, letting customers tick optional extras online, and on accounting connections. For a builder running projects with contracts and variations, we couldn't find either feature in either app, which is where EstiMate comes in.

The table

Prices checked October 2026 on Tradify's UK pricing page, Powered Now's pricing page and EstiMate's pricing page. We couldn't confirm whether Tradify's prices include VAT; EstiMate's pricing page says the price shown is what you pay. EstiMate's Yes and Built in features are on the £15.99 plan and above. "Not found" means we searched the vendor's website and help centre in October 2026 and couldn't find it, so check with them if it matters.

Price: close, with a catch on team sizes

Tradify's UK plans are Lite £34, Pro £37 and Plus £44, per user per month. We couldn't confirm whether those include VAT. Powered Now's plans are Business at £28 a month for one user only, Professional at £32 and Premium at £40, all excluding VAT, with "two months free" on annual billing (Powered Now pricing).

For a VAT-registered sole trader, the fair match is Powered Now Professional against Tradify Pro, because Professional is where VAT return submission and the Xero and QuickBooks links start. That's £32 against £37 a month.

Teams are less clear-cut. Powered Now's pricing page lists Professional and Premium "per user", but a help article says those tiers include one user, that extra users cost more, and to ask sales (Powered Now help). At the listed rate, three people would be 3 × £32 = £96 a month against Tradify Pro's 3 × £37 = £111, but get a written quote from Powered Now for your team before relying on it.

Tax: Powered Now wins

This is the biggest difference between the two.

Tradify is upfront about this. Its help centre says there are no "native Reverse VAT / CIS tax options", so CIS invoices only work once Tradify is connected to Xero or Sage Business Cloud (Tradify help). We couldn't find a P&L or VAT return in Tradify; it positions itself alongside accounting software (Tradify blog).

Powered Now does it in the app. You turn on CIS, flag the customer or supplier, and it works out the deduction on sales invoices, with a CIS 300 report for contractors that it marks as Pro only; you still file on HMRC's portal (Powered Now CIS). You choose a reverse-charge tax rate per line on sales and supplier invoices (Powered Now DRC). On Professional and Premium it submits Making Tax Digital VAT returns direct to HMRC (Powered Now MTD).

To be straight about EstiMate here: it does CIS deductions, a CIS register and reverse-charge invoices with the required wording, and gives you a P&L and VAT return figures. It doesn't file VAT returns to HMRC. If in-app MTD filing is the deciding feature for you, Powered Now has it and EstiMate doesn't.

Quoting: Tradify wins for the customer

On Tradify Pro and Plus, the customer opens your link, ticks the optional sections they want, watches the subtotal update and accepts (Tradify help). Powered Now's customer gets a link with Accept and Reject buttons for the whole quote, and has to give a reason if they reject (Powered Now help). We couldn't find client-selectable optional items.

AI is roughly level. Tradify's SmartWrite writes quote descriptions from your line items (Tradify SmartTools). Powered Now Premium's AI text writing turns a few words into a description or customer message, and there's an AI phone receptionist add-on from £29 a month (PN Receptionist). Neither builds a priced quote, as far as we could find.

Paperwork, apps and accounting links

• Forms. Powered Now has over 80 digital forms and certificates, heavy on gas work such as CP12 (Powered Now forms), plus a RAMS form (RAMS help). Tradify has digital forms and certificates, but we couldn't find a RAMS builder.
• Apps. Powered Now lists apps for iPhone, Android, PC and Mac and says forms work offline. A common complaint in Tradify's Capterra reviews is a slow mobile app with no offline access (Capterra).
• Accounting links. Tradify connects to Xero, QuickBooks and Sage. Powered Now connects to Xero, where you sync manually with a button and exported records lock, and QuickBooks Online (Powered Now Xero).

Reviews

Both are well rated. Tradify scores 4.7 from 152 reviews on Capterra and 4.8 from about 612 on Trustpilot. Powered Now scores 4.7 from 137 on Capterra and a TrustScore of 4.5 from 563 on Trustpilot. A recurring complaint in Powered Now's Trustpilot reviews is annual auto-renewals and charges after cancelling; the company replies that plans renew annually and reminders are sent. For Tradify, reviewers on Capterra, G2 and Software Advice more often mention shallow reporting and per-user cost for bigger teams.

Who wins

• Powered Now suits UK gas, heating and electrical firms who want certificates, CIS, reverse charge and MTD VAT filing in one app, without needing Xero for the tax side.
• Tradify suits trades who want customers to pick options online, a Sage connection, or a well-trodden app with a large review base.
• Neither is aimed at building projects. We couldn't find variations or a contract builder in either. On Powered Now, the closest we found to a variation is editing the price and reissuing the quote.

Where a builder needs more than either

If your work is extensions, loft conversions and refits, the gaps are contracts, variations and the job record. EstiMate turns the accepted quote into a contract covering payment terms, delays, insurance, guarantee and disputes, and the client signs it online. You price variations from site and the client approves them from a link, with the contract total and invoices updating as you go. On Pro you get AI take-off from the architect's drawings, retention and valuations, and snagging with numbered pins on the drawings. See contracts in EstiMate.

It's priced per business: £15.99 a month, or £39.99 for Pro. It doesn't file VAT returns, and it runs on Android in the browser rather than as a native app.

What to do next

If tax is your headache and your work is service jobs, trial Powered Now for 14 days and get its team price in writing. If customer-friendly quoting matters more, trial Tradify. If you're a builder, run your next drawing-based quote through EstiMate alongside them. Our EstiMate vs Powered Now and EstiMate vs Tradify guides go deeper, and our CIS explainer covers the rules.

Price your next project with the contract built in: start free.