What Is the Best CRM for Tradies in Australia?

The best CRM for most Australian tradies is a job-management app with quote follow-up built in, not a sales CRM. On 3 November 2026, ServiceM8 started at $29 a month including GST for unlimited users, Tradify Pro cost $52 per user ex GST, and AroFlo $80 per user with a three-user minimum. Choose by van count, then add missed-call text-back.

Rules of thumb

• Solo or one van: a flat-priced plan beats per-user pricing. ServiceM8 Starter is $29 a month for unlimited users and 50 jobs, per ServiceM8’s pricing page.
• Two to five vans: per-user pricing starts to bite. Four users on Tradify Pro come to $228.80 a month including GST in our worked example below.
• Six or more vans: you need staged enquiries, quote follow-up and accounting sync all at once; four of the five scorecard rows below score 3 of 3.
• The Tradie CRM Saved-Job Breakeven: if a CRM saves one quote a month from going cold, it pays for itself on any job worth $500 or more in gross profit, at every fee in our four-van worked example.
• Missed calls need their own fix. None of the four trade apps’ pricing pages we read lists a missed-call text-back.

What should a CRM for tradies in Australia actually do?

A CRM for an Australian tradie has five jobs: run the job, track each enquiry to a quote, catch missed calls, chase unanswered quotes, and sync payments to Xero or MYOB. Sales CRMs built for office teams (pipelines, deal stages, forecasting) cover only the second job well, which is why trade businesses often end up in a job-management app such as ServiceM8, Tradify, Fergus or AroFlo instead. AroFlo’s pricing page even lists a “Trade CRM” among its standard inclusions.

The question to ask of any tool is where your money leaks. For a crew on the tools all day, enquiries leak at the phone and quotes leak in the week after they are sent. Our neighbouring guide on speed to lead for trade businesses covers the first leak in detail; this page is about picking software that plugs both.

FAQ: choosing a CRM for tradies in Australia

What is the best CRM for tradies in Australia?

For most Australian tradies, the best CRM is a job-management app with built-in quote follow-up and Xero or MYOB sync, chosen by van count. On 3 November 2026, ServiceM8 started at $29 a month for unlimited users and Tradify Pro at $52 per user ex GST. Add missed-call text-back separately.

Which Australian companies provide CRM and AI automation for tradies?

AroFlo describes itself as Australia Made and lists AI features such as JustAsk and JobScribe; ServiceM8 sells in AUD and lists an AI Writing Helper and Office Agent; Tradify, which lists a Sydney office, puts its AI SmartTools on the Plus plan. For done-for-you AI calling and texting of new enquiries, LeadsNow runs the follow-up as a service rather than software.

Do tradies need a separate sales CRM like HubSpot or HighLevel?

Many tradies do not need a separate sales CRM until they run several estimators or a high-value quoting pipeline. A second system only helps if every enquiry is entered in it; for a solo operator, a job app plus missed-call text-back covers more of the leak.

Can I text customers back automatically under Australian law?

Marketing texts, automated or not, carry rules in Australia. The ACMA’s spam guidance says marketing messages need consent and must identify the sender, include contact details and make it easy to unsubscribe. Keep a text-back to acknowledging the call, and get advice before adding promotions.

How much does a tradie CRM cost per year?

For a four-van business, a tradie CRM costs about $948 a year on ServiceM8 Growing, $2,745.60 on Tradify Pro including GST, and up to $3,840 on AroFlo, on prices published on 3 November 2026. SMS and card fees are extra.

Tradie CRM Van-Count Scorecard: which features matter at each size?

The Tradie CRM Van-Count Scorecard weights five CRM features from 1 to 3 for solo operators, 2-5 van crews and 6+ van businesses, so you buy for the leak your size actually has. The weights are our judgement, not a measured benchmark; the right-hand column is what each vendor’s own pricing page listed when we read them on 3 November 2026.

To use the scorecard, give each shortlisted tool the full weight for a feature it lists, half for a workaround (a Zapier link, a manual reminder), and zero otherwise. A solo plumber scoring ServiceM8 would award job management, quote follow-up and payments in full (7 of 11) and lose the missed-call row, which is the row that matters most at that size. That gap is the point of the exercise: it tells you what to add rather than which app to switch to.

Which tradie CRMs list prices in Australia, and what do they cost?

Four trade job-management apps and one general sales CRM published prices on their own pages on 3 November 2026, ranging from $29 a month flat to $80 per user per month.

Simpro, another large trade platform, blocked our automated request to its pricing page, so it is not priced here. SMS costs sit on top of most plans: Fergus lists $15 for 100 texts, Tradify $0.20 per SMS quote or invoice, and ServiceM8 bundles a monthly SMS allowance by plan.

Worked example: what does a tradie CRM cost a four-van business?

A four-van trade business with four app users and about 120 jobs a month would pay $79 a month on ServiceM8, $228.80 on Tradify Pro and up to $320 on AroFlo, on the prices above.

• ServiceM8 Growing: 150 jobs a month covers 120 jobs, unlimited users, $79 including GST. Year: $948.
• Tradify Pro: 4 users × $52 = $208 ex GST, × 1.1 = $228.80 including GST. Year: $2,745.60.
• AroFlo: 4 users × $80 = $320 a month before the sliding-scale discount; GST treatment not stated. Year: up to $3,840.
• Fergus: not calculated, because the page gives “from” prices without per-user scaling.

The Tradie CRM Saved-Job Breakeven turns those fees into jobs. Divide the monthly fee by the gross profit on one job. Using three labelled assumption bands for gross profit per job (replace them with your own):

The licence fee is rarely the real cost. The real cost is setup time (price books, templates, staff training) and whether the crew actually uses the app on site. If you want to see which enquiries became booked jobs once the tool is live, our guide to tracking which leads become booked jobs shows the reporting to set up.

Where do missed-call text-back and AI follow-up fit for tradies?

Missed-call text-back for tradies sits outside the four trade apps we priced, so most crews bolt on a sales platform such as HighLevel or a phone add-on. HighLevel’s help centre documents a Missed Call Text Back feature that texts callers you could not answer, including after hours. ServiceM8 Phone, a paid add-on, lists caller ID and after-hours call routing on ServiceM8’s pricing page, but not an automatic text-back.

Doing this yourself is genuinely workable. Expect a few hours to connect a number, write the text, and decide who calls back and when; then budget for SMS usage and the weekly habit of checking that every text-back became a call. What breaks at volume is not the software but the call-back: a text saying “we’ll ring you shortly” from a crew that rings two days later loses the job anyway. Texts that market to the customer also fall under the Spam Act 2003, so read the consent rules first.

The second leak is the pile of quotes that went quiet. Quote follow-up in ServiceM8 or Tradify handles the first reminders; the older pile needs a reactivation campaign, covered in our dead-quote follow-up playbook for trade businesses. Where LeadsNow fits: it is not a CRM; its AI appointment setting service calls, texts and messages new enquiries and books them into whichever job app or CRM you already use.

Which tradie CRM is wrong for which business?

Each tradie CRM in our table suits one business shape and fits another badly, so the honest answer depends on van count and job volume.

• ServiceM8 is priced by jobs, not users, so a high-volume, low-value operator (many small call-outs) climbs plans quickly: Premium is $149 for 500 jobs a month.
• Tradify charges per user, so a crew with many casual or field staff pays for each login.
• AroFlo has a three-user minimum, so a sole trader pays for at least $240 a month of seats.
• Fergus publishes “from” prices only, so get a written quote for your team size before comparing.
• HighLevel is a sales and marketing platform, not job management; running it alone means scheduling, job costing and invoicing live elsewhere.

If leads rather than software are the constraint, start with where tradies get leads in Australia before buying anything.

Sources

1. ServiceM8 pricing (AU), read 3 November 2026.
2. Tradify pricing (AU), read 3 November 2026.
3. Fergus pricing (AU), read 3 November 2026.
4. AroFlo pricing, read 3 November 2026.
5. HighLevel pricing, read 3 November 2026.
6. HighLevel help centre: Missed Call Text Back, read 3 November 2026.
7. ACMA: Avoid sending spam, read 3 November 2026.