ServiceYak vs Tradify
Two apps built for the same job, priced very differently. Tradify splits its features across three tiers; ServiceYak puts all of them on one $37 seat. Here's the comparison, with Tradify's own published figures.
Tradify and ServiceYak, side by side
Tradify and ServiceYak solve the same problem — quote, job, invoice, paid — and both do it well. Tradify has been at it far longer, connects to more accounting packages than we do, and is a genuinely capable app. The differences worth your time are the shape of the pricing and how much of the feature list you actually get for what you pay.
Tradify sells three tiers. Lite is $48 per user per month and covers seven core features. Pro is $52 and adds thirteen more. Plus is $62 and adds ten SmartTools — the group that holds purchase orders, reporting, service reminders and AI bill reading. ServiceYak is $37 per user per month with no tiers at all: purchase orders, reporting, reminders and document scanning are in the same plan as quoting and invoicing, because there is only one plan.
All Tradify figures on this page are AUD per user per month, ex GST, taken from their own pricing page and checked in August 2026. ServiceYak is also AUD ex GST. Prices move — the linked sources at the foot of the page are where to check ours and theirs.
One plan against three tiers
Tiering is a pricing decision, not a product one, and it has a practical consequence: the feature you need is not necessarily the feature you have. Purchase orders sit on Plus. So does reporting. So do service reminders and AI bill reading. A business on Lite that starts raising POs to suppliers is looking at a $14-a-seat-a-month upgrade to do it.
ServiceYak has one plan. Purchase orders, 16 reports across four suites, quote and invoice reminders and the Smart Scanner that reads a supplier bill are in it, along with everything else. There is no tier below that withholds them and no tier above that unlocks more.
- Purchase orders — Tradify Plus. Included in ServiceYak.
- Reporting — Tradify Plus. Included in ServiceYak.
- Service reminders — Tradify Plus. Included in ServiceYak.
- AI bill reading — Tradify Plus. Included in ServiceYak, with a monthly allowance per person rather than a plan gate.
What $37 buys against what $62 buys
Compared like for like — the tier that holds the same shortlist of features — it is $37 against $62 a seat. On three seats that's $111 a month against $186. On six it's $222 against $372. Annual billing takes ServiceYak to $370 a seat a year, which works out at $30.83 a month; Tradify doesn't publish an annual rate, so the monthly figure is the one to use for both.
That gap compounds in the direction you don't want as you take people on, which is worth thinking about before you pick, not after.
Where the money moves after the subscription
Subscription price is only half of a software bill. Tradify sells an Instant Website at $19 a month, and charges $0.20 a message for SMS quotes and invoices, and another $0.20 a message for SMS reminders — which are Pro and Plus only.
ServiceYak sends quote and invoice reminders by email and SMS as part of the plan. We sell two optional extras and nothing else. The AI Suite is $12 per user per month, for crews that run through the standard AI allowance — 20 Yak AI requests, 5 hours of meeting notes and 20 document scans per person per month — and want 200, 50 hours and 200 instead. The website add-on is $7 a month for the whole workspace — not per seat — and puts a one-page site for your business online at your own domain. Nothing about the rest of the app changes if you take neither.
What Tradify does that we don't
Two things, and the first may decide this for you on its own.
- More accounting connections. Tradify integrates with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks and Sage. ServiceYak syncs with Xero and QuickBooks only. If your books are in MYOB or Sage, that is a straightforward reason to choose Tradify and no argument on this page changes it.
- A longer track record. Tradify has been in this market far longer than we have, with the bigger customer base and the longer integration list that comes with it. If the safest, most established option is what you're after, that is a fair reason to pick them and we won't pretend otherwise.
The first of those is not a small concession. Accounting sync is the sort of thing that decides a purchase before anyone gets to a feature table, and if MYOB is where your BAS comes from, this comparison is already over.
Feature comparison
| Feature | ServiceYak | Tradify | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | One plan, every feature | Three tiers: Lite $48, Pro $52, Plus $62 | You can't need a feature and not have it. |
| Price, feature-equivalent tier | $37/user/mo ex GST | $62/user/mo ex GST (Plus) | Same shortlist of features, $25 a seat apart. |
| Purchase orders | Included | Plus tier | Ordering materials isn't an advanced use case. |
| Reporting | 16 reports, four suites, included | Plus tier | Knowing which jobs made money shouldn't be an upgrade. |
| Service reminders | Included | Plus tier | Repeat work is the cheapest work you'll ever win. |
| AI bill and receipt reading | Included — 20 scans per person a month, 200 on the AI Suite | Plus tier | The pile of supplier invoices doesn't wait for a plan upgrade. |
| SMS quote and invoice reminders | Included, email and SMS | $0.20 a message, Pro and Plus only | Chasing a quote shouldn't be metered. |
| AI meeting summaries | Record on site, get a sendable recap | ✗ | The site walk-through writes itself up. |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | 14 days | Two jobs isn't a test; a month of real work is. |
| Accounting sync | Xero and QuickBooks | Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks and Sage | If your books are in MYOB or Sage, Tradify connects and we don't. |
| One-page website | $7/mo add-on, flat for the whole workspace | Instant Website, $19/mo add-on | An extra on both sides — ours is $12 a month cheaper and never per-seat. |
Rows marked Tradify wins are the ones where they beat us outright. Their column was checked in August 2026.
Pricing, worked
AUD per month, ex GST. ServiceYak at $37 a seat. Tradify at Plus ($62 a seat) — the tier that carries the same features, not the $48 Lite tier.
| Scenario | Seats | ServiceYak | Tradify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole trader | 1 | $37 | $62 |
| Two-van plumbing business | 3 | $111 | $186 |
| Small crew with office admin | 6 | $222 | $372 |
Annual billing takes ServiceYak to $370 a seat a year — $30.83 a month — which widens each of those gaps. Tradify doesn't publish an annual rate, so every figure above is the monthly one. Add-ons sit on top of both: theirs are the Instant Website and per-message SMS, ours are the optional AI Suite and a $7-a-month website for the whole workspace.
Switching from Tradify
Nothing here is specific to Tradify — it's the runbook for moving off any job management app without losing a fortnight to it.
- Export before you cancel. Get your client list and job history out while the subscription is live. Retrieving it afterwards is a support ticket at best, and often not possible at all.
- Work out what migrates and what gets retyped. Client and item lists usually import cleanly. Historical jobs, attachments and photos usually don't — plan to keep the old account read-only for a month rather than assume everything comes across.
- Rebuild your rates and line items first. This is the asset that makes quoting fast, whichever app holds it. Load your kits and templates before you quote anything real, not after.
- Reconnect the books and test one invoice end to end. Connect Xero or QuickBooks, raise one real invoice, and watch it land on the right account before you trust the sync with a month's work.
- Move at a quiet point in the year. Not mid-build, and not in the fortnight before Christmas. A slow week is worth waiting for.