How much does ServiceM8 cost a solo plumber per year?

ServiceM8 publishes a Free plan at $0/mo for one user and 30 new jobs a month, so a solo plumber under 30 jobs pays $0 a year. Above 30 jobs, Starter is $29/mo, which is $348 a year for up to 50 jobs a month. Growing is $79/mo, or $948 a year, for up to 150 jobs a month. Premium is $149/mo, or $1,788 a year.

How much does Tradify cost per year for one user?

Tradify's published rates are per user per month, so one user costs 12 times the monthly rate. The page lists $47, $51 and $61 USD per user per month across Lite, Pro and Plus. That works out at $564, $612 and $732 a year for a single user. Tradify does not publish a free tier or a job-count cap, so the annual figure does not move with job volume.

Which is cheaper for a one-person plumbing business, Tradify or ServiceM8?

Below 51 new jobs a month ServiceM8 is cheaper: $0 a year on Free up to 30 jobs, $348 a year on Starter up to 50 jobs, against $564 a year for Tradify's lowest published rate. At 51 jobs a month ServiceM8 moves to Growing at $948 a year, and Tradify's $564 becomes the lower figure. The crossover sits exactly at the 50-job Starter cap.

Does ServiceM8 charge per user?

No. ServiceM8 states it does not charge per user, and that the Free plan is the only plan limiting user count, at one user. Starter, Growing, Premium and Premium Plus are all listed as unlimited users at $29, $79, $149 and $349 a month. Tradify prices per user per month, so at five users its lowest published rate reaches $2,820 a year while ServiceM8 Starter stays at $348.

What happens if I go over the ServiceM8 job limit?

ServiceM8 states you are prompted to upgrade, unless your monthly plan resets first and restores your job credits. Only Premium Plus lists per-job overage, at 20c per job above 1500. At 2,000 jobs a month that is 500 extra jobs, or $100 a month on top of $349, giving $449 a month and $5,388 a year.

Tradify vs ServiceM8: Solo Plumber Annual Cost

For one plumber working alone, ServiceM8 is cheaper up to 50 new jobs a month and Tradify is cheaper above that. ServiceM8 publishes $0/yr on Free (30 jobs/mo), $348/yr on Starter (50 jobs/mo), then jumps to $948/yr on Growing. Tradify’s lowest published rate is $47 per user/month, or $564 a year, with no job cap. The crossover is the 50-job Starter ceiling.

Key points

ServiceM8’s Free plan is $0/mo, one user, 30 jobs per month, so a solo plumber under 30 jobs a month pays nothing for the software itself.
Tradify’s published rates are per user per month at $47, $51 and $61, giving $564, $612 and $732 a year for one user with no job-count ceiling.
ServiceM8 Starter is $29/mo ($348/yr) for up to 50 jobs a month; the next tier, Growing, is $79/mo ($948/yr), a $600 annual step for 100 extra monthly jobs.
At five users Tradify’s lowest published rate reaches $2,820 a year, against $348 a year for ServiceM8 Starter, which ServiceM8 lists as unlimited users.
Tradify Lite at $564/yr stays below ServiceM8 Premium Plus ($4,188/yr) up to seven users ($3,948); at eight users Tradify reaches $4,512.

Copper plumbing fittings arranged in a row, showcasing metallic texture and industrial detail.

What these figures are based on

Every price below comes from two pages read on 2026-08-29: the Tradify pricing page and the ServiceM8 US pricing page. All arithmetic is ours. Assumptions, stated up front because they are what move the answer:

White building with chimneys and ventilation pipes on a clear day.

Annual cost = published monthly price x 12. Neither page shows an annual prepay discount, so none is applied.
Solo plumber = 1 user login. Tradify prices per user, ServiceM8 does not (except the one-user Free plan), so this assumption favours Tradify heavily and reverses at multi-user counts.
Prices are USD, as ServiceM8 states, and Tradify quotes “USD per user/month”.
Job counts are new jobs created per month, ServiceM8’s own unit. Tradify publishes no job cap, so its cost is flat against volume.
Card processing fees are excluded. Neither page publishes a processing rate, so we do not have one. See the unverified section.

What does each plan cost per year?

Straight multiplication of published monthly prices by 12.

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Vendor	Plan	Published price	Users included	Jobs per month	Annual cost (1 user)
ServiceM8	Free	$0/mo	1	30	$0
ServiceM8	Starter	$29/mo	Unlimited	50	$348
ServiceM8	Growing	$79/mo	Unlimited	150	$948
ServiceM8	Premium	$149/mo	Unlimited	500	$1,788
ServiceM8	Premium Plus	$349/mo	Unlimited	1500+	$4,188
Tradify	Lite	$47/user/mo	1 (priced per user)	Not published	$564
Tradify	Pro	$51/user/mo	1 (priced per user)	Not published	$612
Tradify	Plus	$61/user/mo	1 (priced per user)	Not published	$732

Working, line by line:

ServiceM8 Starter: 29 x 12 = 348
ServiceM8 Growing: 79 x 12 = 948
ServiceM8 Premium: 149 x 12 = 1,788
ServiceM8 Premium Plus: 349 x 12 = 4,188
Tradify $47: 47 x 12 = 564
Tradify $51: 51 x 12 = 612
Tradify $61: 61 x 12 = 732

At my job volume, what do I actually pay?

This is the table the comparison usually skips. ServiceM8’s price is a step function of job volume; Tradify’s is flat. Find your monthly job count and read across.

Plan selection rule used: the cheapest ServiceM8 plan whose published job cap covers the volume. Tradify column uses the lowest published rate, $47/user/mo, at one user.

New jobs / month	Jobs / year	ServiceM8 plan	ServiceM8 $/yr	ServiceM8 $/job	Tradify Lite $/yr	Tradify $/job	Cheaper
10	120	Free	$0	$0.00	$564	$4.70	ServiceM8
20	240	Free	$0	$0.00	$564	$2.35	ServiceM8
30	360	Free	$0	$0.00	$564	$1.57	ServiceM8
40	480	Starter	$348	$0.73	$564	$1.18	ServiceM8
50	600	Starter	$348	$0.58	$564	$0.94	ServiceM8
60	720	Growing	$948	$1.32	$564	$0.78	Tradify
75	900	Growing	$948	$1.05	$564	$0.63	Tradify
100	1,200	Growing	$948	$0.79	$564	$0.47	Tradify
150	1,800	Growing	$948	$0.53	$564	$0.31	Tradify
200	2,400	Premium	$1,788	$0.75	$564	$0.24	Tradify
350	4,200	Premium	$1,788	$0.43	$564	$0.13	Tradify
500	6,000	Premium	$1,788	$0.30	$564	$0.09	Tradify
800	9,600	Premium Plus	$4,188	$0.44	$564	$0.06	Tradify
1,500	18,000	Premium Plus	$4,188	$0.23	$564	$0.03	Tradify
2,000	24,000	Premium Plus + overage	$5,388	$0.22	$564	$0.02	Tradify

The 2,000-job row, worked: ServiceM8 lists 20c per job above the Premium Plus allowance. 2,000 - 1,500 = 500 extra jobs. 500 x $0.20 = $100/mo. $349 + $100 = $449/mo. $449 x 12 = $5,388.

The single most useful number here: 51 jobs a month. At 50 you sit inside Starter at $348. At 51 ServiceM8 puts you on Growing at $948, and Tradify’s $564 undercuts it by $384 a year. That one job is worth $600 of annual plan step to ServiceM8, or $384 of annual saving to a Tradify buyer.

A solo plumber doing 2 to 3 jobs a working day, roughly 44 to 66 a month, straddles that line. Which side you land on is the whole decision.

How does the answer change when I add a second van?

Two axes: user count and job volume. Tradify multiplies with users; ServiceM8 does not, above the Free plan. This is where the ranking flips hard.

Tradify column uses $47/user/mo. ServiceM8 columns use the plan for that volume.

Users	Tradify Lite $/yr	SM8 @ 30 jobs/mo	SM8 @ 50 jobs/mo	SM8 @ 150 jobs/mo	SM8 @ 500 jobs/mo
1	$564	$0 (Free)	$348	$948	$1,788
2	$1,128	$348 (Free is 1 user)	$348	$948	$1,788
3	$1,692	$348	$348	$948	$1,788
4	$2,256	$348	$348	$948	$1,788
5	$2,820	$348	$348	$948	$1,788
8	$4,512	$348	$348	$948	$1,788

Working: Tradify at n users = 47 x 12 x n. So 2 users = $1,128, 3 = $1,692, 5 = $2,820, 8 = $4,512. ServiceM8 rows do not move with users because ServiceM8 states plainly it does not charge per user and that only the Free plan caps user count, at one.

Note the second row. Adding one apprentice pushes a ServiceM8 Free user off the Free plan regardless of job volume, because Free is one user. That step is $0 to $348 a year. It is a much smaller step than Tradify’s, which goes $564 to $1,128 for the same hire, but it is the reason the Free plan is a solo-only answer.

At what point does per-user pricing lose?

Reverse calculation: for each ServiceM8 plan, how many Tradify Lite seats can you buy before Tradify costs more? Divide the ServiceM8 annual figure by $564 and take the whole number.

ServiceM8 plan	Annual	Tradify seats that stay cheaper	Cost at that seat count	First seat count where Tradify costs more
Starter $348	$348	0	n/a	1 user ($564)
Growing $948	$948	1	$564	2 users ($1,128)
Premium $1,788	$1,788	3	$1,692	4 users ($2,256)
Premium Plus $4,188	$4,188	7	$3,948	8 users ($4,512)

Working for Premium: 1,788 / 564 = 3.17, so 3 seats at $1,692 remain below $1,788, and 4 seats at $2,256 exceed it. Premium Plus: 4,188 / 564 = 7.43, so 7 seats at $3,948 stay below and 8 at $4,512 exceed.

Read the middle column as a headcount ceiling. If you expect to run four or more logins within the year, Tradify’s per-user model has to be paid for by something other than price.

What do the add-ons do to the total?

ServiceM8 lists two priced add-ons on the same page. Both are flat monthly, not per user.

Add-on	Published price	Annual	Applies to
Auto Time Tracking	$19/mo	$228	Listed against all plan columns
Bundles	$19/mo	$228	Listed as Growing and up

Working: 19 x 12 = 228 each. Both together = $456 a year.

Recomputed totals with add-ons, one user:

Configuration	Base $/yr	Add-ons $/yr	Total $/yr
SM8 Free + Auto Time Tracking	$0	$228	$228
SM8 Starter + Auto Time Tracking	$348	$228	$576
SM8 Growing + both add-ons	$948	$456	$1,404
SM8 Premium + both add-ons	$1,788	$456	$2,244
Tradify Lite	$564	Not published	$564
Tradify Plus	$732	Not published	$732

Notice what $228 does to the small end. ServiceM8 Starter plus automatic time tracking comes to $576 a year, $12 more than Tradify Lite at $564. If GPS-based clock-on matters to you, the ServiceM8 price advantage at 40 to 50 jobs a month disappears entirely.

Two things people get wrong

“ServiceM8’s free plan means solo plumbers never pay.” The Free plan caps at 30 new jobs a month and one user. 30 jobs a month is roughly 1.4 jobs per working day. Any plumber running two calls a day averages about 44 a month and is on Starter at $348 a year. Add one apprentice at any volume and Free is gone regardless of job count, because Free is a one-user plan.

“Per-user pricing is always worse.” Not at one user. Tradify Lite at $564 a year beats ServiceM8 Growing at $948, Premium at $1,788 and Premium Plus at $4,188. A single-operator plumber doing 200 jobs a month pays $1,788 on ServiceM8 and $564 on Tradify, a $1,224 annual gap in Tradify’s favour. Per-user pricing only loses when you have users. The break is at two seats against Growing, four against Premium.

When is this estimate wrong?

Concrete cases where the tables above do not describe your bill.

You send heavy SMS on the Free plan. ServiceM8 lists 10c per SMS on Free and free SMS on all paid plans. 3,480 SMS a year at 10c is $348, matching Starter’s annual price. At 30 jobs a month that would be 9.7 texts per job, which is unusual, but appointment reminders plus on-the-way alerts on a busy month can move the number.
You exceed the job cap mid-month. ServiceM8 states you are prompted to upgrade unless your plan resets first. A seasonal spike can push you a tier for a month, and only Premium Plus publishes a per-job overage rate (20c). The other tiers do not publish one, so a spike below Premium Plus is an upgrade, not an overage.
You need custom forms. ServiceM8 states any plan including Free can buy and use Form Store forms, but building your own, or having a partner build them, requires Growing or higher. That is a $948 floor, not $348, and it moves a form-heavy plumber off the cheap tiers regardless of job count.
Prices are read on one day. Both figures were taken on 2026-08-29. Neither vendor publishes a price history on these pages, so we cannot show a year-over-year change and do not invent one.
Currency and tax. ServiceM8 states prices are in USD and Tradify quotes USD. Neither page states whether sales tax is included.
ServiceM8’s Learning Roadmap. ServiceM8 states you can unlock higher job and SMS limits, plan upgrades and higher-tier add-ons by progressing through it. No values are published, so no credit is modelled above. If it applies to you, your bill is lower than these tables.

What could not be verified

We do not use these products and make no claim about how they perform. This page records published prices only. Specifically:

Tradify plan-to-price mapping. The Tradify pricing page as captured lists three rates, $47, $51 and $61 USD per user/month, alongside Lite, Pro and Plus feature blocks. The captured text also carries the note “Available on our Plus plan only. $47 USD per user/month” adjacent to the SmartTools announcement, which conflicts with a low-to-high tier order. We have used $47 as the lowest published rate and $61 as the highest, which is the safe reading for cost comparison, but confirm which plan carries which rate on the Tradify pricing page before buying.
Tradify’s repeated “$12 per month” line. This appears several times in the captured page next to feature descriptions. What it prices is not stated. We have excluded it from every total. Ask Tradify what it covers.
Tradify job or user caps. None published. The flat Tradify column in the volume table assumes no cap exists.
Card processing rates. Tradify lists Stripe as an add-on and ServiceM8 mentions mobile payments, but neither page publishes a percentage or per-transaction fee. We have no verified rate, so no processing cost is modelled. On real plumbing volume this is often larger than the subscription itself, so get the rate in writing.
ServiceM8 SMS caps per plan. ServiceM8 refers to a monthly SMS cap and a standard overage fee per plan, but the captured comparison table shows only “Free” for SMS on paid plans and 10c per SMS on the Free plan. The paid-plan cap figure is not published in what we read.
ServiceM8 Phone pricing. The page describes ServiceM8 Phone with a free trial and no per-user fees, and mentions both a 1-month and a 3-month free trial in different places. No monthly price for the product is published.

What to check before buying

Count your actual new jobs per month for the last twelve months. Not average, the peak. ServiceM8’s cost is set by the month you exceed, not the month you average.
Confirm which Tradify plan is $47. The captured page is ambiguous. A wrong assumption here is $168 a year between Lite and Plus.
Ask both vendors for the card processing rate in writing. Neither publishes one, and at 200 jobs a year it will likely exceed the subscription gap.
Decide your headcount for the next 12 months, not today. One extra login costs $564 a year on Tradify Lite and $0 on any paid ServiceM8 plan.
Price the add-ons you will actually turn on. ServiceM8 Auto Time Tracking at $228 a year closes the entire Starter-versus-Tradify-Lite gap and then some.
If you build custom forms, start at Growing. That is $948 a year, and it changes the comparison against Tradify’s $564 completely.
Check the job cap reset behaviour with support. ServiceM8 states credits reset on the monthly plan reset, otherwise you are prompted to upgrade. Confirm what that means for a one-off busy month.