Best Accounting Software for Tradies in Australia

Last verified: October 2026

Most tradies want to send an invoice from the ute, get paid, and leave the BAS to someone else. A sole trader can get by with one cheap app. A business with apprentices on wages and five jobs running needs a proper ledger, and usually a job app next to it.

Below are seven options Australian tradies use: four ledgers, an accountant-in-an-app for sole traders, and two job apps that do the quoting and invoicing.

Accounting Software for Tradies: Quick Comparison

Prices are the standard rate after any introductory offer. Xero, MYOB, Reckon and ServiceM8 publish prices including GST, while Tradify and Hnry quote theirs plus GST.

How We Chose

We looked at what tradies recommend on r/tradies and r/AusFinance and which ledgers Australian accountants work in, then checked each tool on its Australian pricing page in October 2026. Our own product, Planyard, is construction cost-control software and not a tradie ledger, so it is left out of the ranking and gets a short section at the end.

The 7 Best Accounting Software Options for Tradies

1. Xero – Best All-Round Ledger for Tradies

Xero is the default for a large share of Australian accountants and bookkeepers, and Tradify, ServiceM8 and most other tradie job apps sync to it. Every plan sends quotes and invoices, reconciles the bank feed, tracks GST and lodges BAS. Comprehensive includes payroll for five people.

Projects, which tracks time and cost per job, only comes with Ultimate 10. On cheaper plans tradies use tracking categories to see spend per job.

Best for: Sole traders and small trade businesses whose accountant works in Xero.

Watch out for: Ignite limits how many invoices you can approve and send. Payroll costs more as the crew grows.

Pricing: Ignite $37, Grow $78, Comprehensive $107, Ultimate 10 $143 a month including GST, with 80% off the first three months for new customers. See Xero and Planyard compared.

2. MYOB – Best If Your Accountant Uses MYOB

MYOB is the other ledger most Australian accountants know, with a product for each stage. Solo by MYOB is a phone app for sole operators with GST tracking, unlimited quotes and invoices, and Tap to Pay. Business Lite lodges BAS and adds payroll for up to two employees. Business Pro removes the cap.

Best for: Tradies who want to start cheap on a phone and move up to a full ledger without changing vendor.

Watch out for: Payroll on Lite and Pro costs $3 per employee per month, and MYOB has announced payroll price changes from 1 November 2026. Tap to Pay has its own fees.

Pricing: Solo $99 a year, Business Lite $315 a year, Business Pro $70 a month, AccountRight Plus $165 a month, including GST. Introductory discounts apply.

3. QuickBooks Online – Cheapest Route to Job Profit Reports

QuickBooks Online lodges BAS on every plan. Plus adds project management and budgeting, a cheaper way to see profit per job than Xero’s top plan. Fewer Australian accountants default to it, so check yours supports it.

Best for: Price-conscious tradies who want profit per job without paying for a top-tier plan.

Watch out for: Payroll is an extra subscription on every plan, and Simple Start allows one user.

Pricing: Simple Start $33, Essentials $60, Plus $84, Advanced $125 a month, with 70% off for six months for new customers. See QuickBooks Online and Planyard compared.

4. Reckon One – Cheapest Monthly Ledger

Reckon One is the cloud product of an Australian company. Accounting Plus covers invoicing on web and mobile, bank feeds, card payments and GST for BAS, with unlimited users. Premium adds timesheets and project tracking.

Best for: Small trade businesses on a tight budget that want job profit reports.

Watch out for: Payroll is a separate subscription, and fewer bookkeepers and job apps work with Reckon than with Xero or MYOB.

Pricing: Accounting Plus $24, Accounting Premium $46, Ultimate $85 a month. Payroll from $16 a month. Long introductory offers apply.

5. Hnry – Best for Sole Traders Who Hate Paperwork

Hnry is an accountant and an app in one. Your self-employed income is paid into a Hnry account, Hnry pays the tax as you get paid, and its accountants lodge your tax return and BAS. You send invoices and quotes from the app. There is no subscription.

Best for: Sole trader tradies working mostly on their own who want tax handled for them.

Watch out for: Built for sole traders, so not an option once you trade through a company. The fee grows with income up to the cap.

Pricing: 1% plus GST of self-employed income, capped at $1,500 plus GST a year.

6. Tradify – Best Job App for Small Trade Teams

Tradify is job management software for electricians, plumbers, HVAC and maintenance trades. It covers quoting, scheduling, timesheets and invoicing, and every plan syncs with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online. Plus adds purchase orders and bill capture.

Your accounting software still does the BAS.

Best for: Trade businesses of two to ten people who want quotes, jobs and invoices out of the office and into the van.

Watch out for: Priced per user, so a growing crew adds cost. Purchase orders only come with Plus.

Pricing: Lite $48, Pro $52, Plus $62 per user a month plus GST. 14-day free trial.

7. ServiceM8 – Best for Tradies Who Price by Job Volume

ServiceM8 is an Australian job app for trade and service businesses. Every plan includes job cards, scheduling, quotes, invoices, mobile payments and sync with Xero, QuickBooks Online or MYOB. Plans are priced by jobs per month, so adding staff costs nothing extra.

Best for: Service and maintenance trades doing lots of small jobs, and tradies who want to start on a free plan.

Watch out for: Job limits per plan mean a busy month can push you up a tier. The free plan is one user and 30 jobs a month.

Pricing: Free (30 jobs a month), Starter $29, Growing $79, Premium $149, Premium Plus $349 a month, including GST.

Do You Need a Ledger, a Job App, or Both?

• Sole trader, few invoices: Hnry or MYOB Solo. One app covers it.
• Sole trader registered for GST and growing: Xero Ignite, MYOB Business Lite, QuickBooks Simple Start or Reckon One, with your accountant on the file.
• Two to ten people with wages: Xero or MYOB for payroll and BAS, plus Tradify or ServiceM8 for quotes, scheduling and invoices.
• A builder running several jobs at once with subcontractors: keep the ledger, and look at construction cost control instead of a tradie job app.

Ask which ledger your accountant uses before anything else. Every job app above syncs to Xero and MYOB.

When You Have Outgrown Tradie Software

Tradie job apps are built for many short jobs. Once you run several builds for months at a time, with subbies claiming against you and progress claims going to clients, the gaps show: no budget per cost code, no view of committed costs, and no record of claims, variations and retention per contract. That work ends up in a spreadsheet next to Xero.

Planyard sits on top of Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks and handles budgets, purchase orders, bill approval against the budget, progress claims and retention, while GST, BAS and payroll stay in the ledger. It is priced per project manager, from $166 a month on Essential. It has no payroll and no BAS lodgement, so you still need one of the ledgers above. Our guide to construction accounting software in Australia compares it with Buildxact, Jobpac and other builder-focused tools.

"It was a combination of manual steps that slowed us down. We were doing estimates in one spreadsheet, creating another to manage the budget, and then trying to extract data from Xero to bring back into Excel. From there, we had to somehow match everything up just to understand how the budget was tracking against our actual expenditure. It was a disjointed process that made financial clarity difficult to achieve."

Read more

Jason Escobar Project Management / Systems & Process Dev  ·  The Keane Group  ·  Queensland, Australia

"Planyard with Xero works so efficiently to ensure good cost control and monitoring of projects while also providing stakeholders with up to date information. Can't recommend highly enough. The support during implementation was very good also."

Andrew Ross BeckDev

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