Evidence-based UK comparison

Best quoting software for UK tradespeople: 9 tools compared

If your main problem is turning job details into a professional quote, start with Quotea. Choose a broader trade platform when you also need scheduling, invoicing, staff and job costing.

Facts and prices checked 29 August 2026

Quick verdict

For sole traders and small firms whose main problem is quoting, we recommend Quotea.

Talk or type the job, check the editable notes, set the price and send a polished, branded quote your customer can accept online. The first three saved quotes are free; after that, Quotea costs £19 a month including VAT.

Make a quote with Quotea

The decision that matters

Do you actually need a trade CRM?

A longer feature list is valuable only when those features solve a problem you have. Focused quoting software and full trade-management platforms are built for different jobs. Many sole traders work closer to enquiry → visit → price → send quote → do the job → invoice. If quoting is the difficult part of that flow, a CRM may add complexity without solving anything else you need.

Quoting is the problem

Choose Quotea

Quotea is for getting from rough job details to a customer-ready quote with as few decisions as possible.

  • Talk or type the job into editable notes.
  • Send a polished quote carrying your logo and colour.
  • Let the customer view, ask a question and accept online.
  • Keep your existing accounting, calendar and admin tools.

Operations are the problem

Choose a full trade platform

Broader products earn their extra setup and complexity when you genuinely want one system to run the work after the quote.

  • Schedule teams, appointments and active jobs.
  • Manage timesheets, materials or job costing.
  • Create invoices and connect wider workflows.
  • Coordinate staff from one operational system.
If quoting is the problem, start with Quotea.

Make and save three real quotes free, with no card and no time limit. You can decide from the result rather than a feature list.

Try Quotea with a real job

The short answer

Best quoting software at a glance

Quotea is our default recommendation for focused quoting. The other awards show where a broader or more specialised product is the better fit.

  1. Best simple quoting software for sole traders and small firmsQuotea
  2. Best established all-round trade platformTradify
  3. Best free all-in-one starting pointServiceM8
  4. Best UK admin and tax all-in-onePowered Now
  5. Best for operational and job-management depthFergus
  6. Best for AI input flexibilityQuickPrice
  7. Best low-cost AI drafting alternativeBriefQuote
  8. Best global service-business ecosystemJobber
  9. Best feature-heavy AI contractor suiteQuoteIQ

Current vendor evidence

Quoting software comparison

Pricing, entry offers and feature wording below come from the vendors’ current public documentation. We distinguish missing public evidence from a confirmed “no”.

On a phone, swipe the table sideways to compare every column.

ProductBest forStarting priceFree entryAI quote helpVoiceCustomer acceptanceBroader job management
QuoteaSole traders and small firms whose main problem is creating professional customer quotes£19/month including VATFirst 3 saved quotes; no card or time limitRough job notes become an editable, structured quoteYes — homepage and signed-in voice recording adds editable job notesOnline acceptance; no customer accountNo CRM or job-management overhead
TradifyAn established all-round trade platformFrom £34 per user/month14-day trialSmartTools on Plus; SmartWrite supports quote descriptionsNot publicly documented as voice-to-quoteOnline acceptance on Pro and PlusYes — jobs, scheduling, invoicing and more
ServiceM8Solo operators wanting a free all-in-one starting point£0/month; Starter £25/month excluding VATFree plan: 1 user and 30 jobs/monthAI Quote & Invoice and other AI helpersVoice assistant documented; voice-to-quote flow not separately verifiedOnline quote workflow availableYes — jobs, clients, scheduling, invoices and payments
Powered NowUK trade administration, tax and job management in one productFrom £28 per user/month excluding VAT14-day trial; no card requiredAI features exist on eligible plans; not positioned as rough-notes generationNot publicly documented as voice-to-quoteCustomer portal and digital acceptance on PremiumYes — projects, expenses, MTD, VAT and team tools
FergusTrade businesses needing deeper job operations and costingFrom £39/month14-day trial; no card requiredNo rough-notes AI quote generation confirmed in the cited plan documentationNot publicly documented as voice-to-quoteCustomer acceptance through the quote linkYes — job cards, scheduling, materials, reporting and integrations
QuickPriceAI input flexibility across voice, photos, video and textFrom £8.99/month including VAT; Pro £14.99/monthFree plan: 3 AI and 20 manual quotes/monthAI quote generation with UK pricing claimsVoice, photo and video input on ProBrowser acceptance documented; plan tier not stated on the cited overviewSome invoicing and pipeline tools; narrower than full field-service suites
BriefQuoteLow-cost, itemised AI quote drafting£14.99/month advertised early-access priceFirst 5 quotes; no card or time limitPlain-English input to an itemised quoteNot publicly documentedNot publicly documented on the cited pageLimited — focused on drafting, PDF output and quote status
JobberA large global service-business ecosystemFrom US$29/month with annual billing14-day trialAuto-drafted quotes are documented in the current feature comparisonYes — mobile AI Voice creates and edits quotes (admins on all plans; team voice on Plus)Client Hub online approval; no password requiredYes — CRM, scheduling, jobs, invoices, payments and integrations
QuoteIQA feature-heavy AI contractor suiteFrom US$29.99/month14-day trial; payment card requiredAI estimator, AI Autopilot and other credit-based AI toolsTyped or spoken job descriptions supported by AI EstimatorE-signatures documented; broader portal features are plan-dependentYes — CRM, estimates, invoices, scheduling, payments and analytics

Prices use each vendor’s published currency, billing basis and tax wording. Promotions can change. Check the linked source before buying.

How this comparison works

Methodology and disclosure

This first edition is a documentation comparison. We checked 19 first-party product, pricing and help-centre sources and recorded what each vendor currently publishes. We have not claimed hands-on timings or independently tested every workflow.

  • Prices retain the vendor’s currency, VAT basis and billing qualification.
  • Plan-dependent features are described as plan-dependent.
  • “Not publicly documented” means exactly that—not that a feature is absent.
  • The order reflects our editorial recommendations for simple UK trade quoting; it is not an independently scored ranking.
  • We intend to add reproducible hands-on benchmarks only after running the same job through each product and preserving the evidence.

The products

Who each product is actually for

The useful question is not which product has the longest feature list. It is which one removes the problem you genuinely have.

  1. Quotea

    Best simple quoting software for sole traders and small firms

    Quotea is purpose-built for the commercial moment between being asked ‘How much?’ and winning the work. It turns typed or spoken job notes into a branded, responsive customer quote while leaving the scope, price, VAT and final wording under the tradesperson’s control. Visitors and signed-in users can record job details into editable notes, review the transcript, then explicitly create the quote.

    Better if you need

    Choose a broader alternative if you need scheduling, timesheets, invoicing, staff management or job costing in the same system.

  2. Tradify

    Best established all-round trade platform

    Tradify combines professional quotes with enquiries, scheduling, job tracking, invoicing, payments and accounting integrations. It is much broader than Quotea and priced per user.

    Better if you need

    Choose Tradify when you want one established system for quoting and the wider day-to-day operation of a trade business.

  3. ServiceM8

    Best free all-in-one starting point

    ServiceM8 offers the strongest free entry in this comparison. Its solo plan includes quotes, invoices, scheduling and client management, but the product is a field-service platform rather than a quoting-only tool.

    Better if you need

    Choose ServiceM8 when price is the overriding concern or when you want quoting bundled with broader field-service administration from day one.

  4. Powered Now

    Best UK admin and tax all-in-one

    Powered Now is built around UK trade administration. Its entry plan includes unlimited quotes and invoices alongside expenses, purchase orders, project management and Making Tax Digital support.

    Better if you need

    Choose Powered Now when native UK tax administration, certificates, offline working and wider back-office tools matter more than a deliberately minimal quoting experience.

  5. Fergus

    Best for operational and job-management depth

    Fergus connects estimating and quoting to detailed job operations, materials, supplier integrations, scheduling and reporting. Its value is operational depth rather than quoting simplicity.

    Better if you need

    Choose Fergus when quotes need to feed directly into job costing, supplier workflows, teams and operational reporting.

  6. QuickPrice

    Best for AI input flexibility

    QuickPrice is Quotea’s closest input-led competitor in this set. Its current Pro plan advertises voice, photo and video input, branded PDFs, invoicing and quote tracking.

    Better if you need

    Choose QuickPrice when direct photo or video input and its lower-cost plans matter more than Quotea’s presentation-first web proposal experience.

  7. BriefQuote

    Best low-cost AI drafting alternative

    BriefQuote converts plain-English job descriptions into editable, itemised quotes and branded PDFs. Its public page is focused on drafting and PDF output rather than a rich customer acceptance journey.

    Better if you need

    Choose BriefQuote when a low-cost AI-generated itemised breakdown and PDF are the main requirements.

  8. Jobber

    Best global service-business ecosystem

    Jobber is a mature home-service platform with quoting inside a much larger customer, scheduling, job, payment and reporting ecosystem. Published prices are in US dollars, including for UK availability.

    Better if you need

    Choose Jobber when a broad international ecosystem and the full request-to-payment workflow matter more than UK-specific simplicity.

  9. QuoteIQ

    Best feature-heavy AI contractor suite

    QuoteIQ bundles estimating with a US-focused contractor CRM and a wide set of credit-based AI tools. It offers far more operational capability than Quotea, with correspondingly greater product breadth.

    Better if you need

    Choose QuoteIQ when you want a feature-heavy US contractor CRM with estimating, scheduling, payments and extensive AI functions in one product.

Choose by the job

Which quoting software should you choose?

Straight answers

Frequently asked questions

What is the best simple quoting software for UK tradespeople?

For a sole trader or small UK trade firm whose main problem is quoting, our pick is Quotea. It turns typed or spoken job notes into a professional, branded customer quote without requiring a wider job-management platform. Quotea publishes this comparison, so read the methodology and competitor sources above.

What is the cheapest quoting software in this comparison?

ServiceM8 publishes a £0 solo plan with 30 jobs per month. QuickPrice also publishes a free tier, while BriefQuote offers five free quotes and Quotea offers the first three saved quotes free. The cheapest choice is not necessarily the simplest one.

Is Quotea a replacement for Tradify, Fergus or ServiceM8?

Not if you rely on their scheduling, invoicing, job costing, staff or operational features. Quotea is intentionally focused on creating, presenting, sending and accepting professional quotes.

Which products support customer acceptance online?

Quotea, Tradify, ServiceM8, Powered Now, Fergus, QuickPrice and Jobber all document an online customer quote or acceptance workflow. Plan details and the exact customer journey vary, so follow the cited sources before choosing.

Does every product support voice-to-quote?

No. QuickPrice, Jobber and QuoteIQ explicitly document spoken quote input or creation. Jobber’s mobile AI Voice availability depends on role and plan. ServiceM8 documents a voice assistant, but we have not separately verified its end-to-end voice-to-quote flow. Quotea lets visitors and signed-in users record job details into editable notes. The user checks those notes and explicitly creates the quote; recording alone never generates, saves or sends anything.

Quotea

Make one quote. Judge the result yourself.

Your first three saved quotes are free, with no card and no time limit. Quotea costs £19 a month including VAT when you need more.

Make my first quote