Tradify vs Simpro: when Simpro is actually worth it.
These two get compared constantly and they should almost never be on the same shortlist. They are built for different businesses at different stages. I am not a partner or reseller of either; here is the honest sizing conversation a sales rep will not have with you.
The short answer
Tradify is a job app for small trade teams: quote it, book it, do it, invoice it. Simpro is an operations platform for businesses running projects, inventory, service contracts and a proper office. One is something you sign up for on a Tuesday; the other is something you implement, with training, data migration and a go-live plan.
Under about 10 staff doing mostly service and small project work: Tradify, and bank the difference. Simpro earns its keep when you genuinely run the things it is built for: multi-stage projects with claims, stock across vans and a warehouse, service contracts with SLAs, and an office team who will live in it daily. Buying Simpro for a five-person shop is buying a truck to do ute work.
What Simpro gives you that Tradify can't
- Project work: multi-stage jobs, cost centres, progress claims, retentions. Real construction-adjacent workflow.
- Inventory: stock across vans, warehouses, and purchase orders that reconcile.
- Service contracts and asset maintenance at commercial scale, with the reporting an office manager needs.
- Depth everywhere, which is precisely why it needs implementation rather than a signup form.
What that depth costs you
- Implementation weight. Setup, training and data migration measured in weeks, not hours, often with paid implementation help on top.
- Commitment. Enterprise-style agreements and annual price reviews are the norm at this end of the market. Read the term and the increase clause before you sign, not after. I have audited operators who felt trapped by exactly that letter.
- Process tax. Powerful software imposes its process. If your business does not need cost centres, someone still has to click past them every day.
The trap in the middle
The expensive mistake is not picking the wrong logo; it is being a 6-to-10-person shop that has outgrown the simple tool and concludes the only move is the enterprise one. There is a third option the vendors will not suggest: keep the simple tool as the system of record and bolt the two or three missing capabilities around it.
- Outgrown Tradify's quoting? A structured quoting tool with proper intake costs from $1,500 fixed, not a platform migration.
- Need commercial maintenance with certificates and a client login? A portal on top of your existing job data, not a new ERP.
- Flying blind on margin? A live job profit dashboard that reads from what you already run.
Migrate when the business genuinely runs Simpro-shaped work. Until then, bolt on, and keep your process yours.
The build option: buy the third of it you'd actually use
There is a door past even the bolt-on. Before you migrate to a platform you will use a third of, consider building the third you need. If the honest list is structured quoting, live margin and an agent portal, that is not an ERP, it is a lean custom build on software I own and licence to you, with no cost centres to click past and no annual increase letter. For a 6-to-10-person shop staring down a Simpro implementation it is often the cheaper, lighter answer, though I will tell you when the real Simpro-shaped work means you should just migrate. I lay out the timing in when Tradify stops scaling and the reasoning in build versus buy, and the same over-buying pattern shows up across the trade in the State of Trades Admin 2026 data. If you are a builder weighing a full platform, this is the conversation worth having first.
Side by side
| Question | Tradify | Simpro |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Small teams, service + small projects | Ops platform: projects, stock, contracts, office team |
| Time to running | An afternoon | Weeks, with implementation |
| Pricing shape | Per user, published (check their site) | Quote-based, term agreements (ask hard questions) |
| Sweet spot | 2 to ~10 staff | Roughly 10+ staff with real ops complexity |
| Exit cost | Low | High: data, process and contract all bind |
No dollar figures on purpose: both change pricing, and Simpro's is quote-based anyway. The shape of the pricing tells you most of what you need to know.
What I'd actually do
Write down the three workflows genuinely breaking this quarter. If they read like "progress claims, van stock, contract SLAs", talk to Simpro and budget properly for the implementation. If they read like "quotes go out late, margin is invisible, the property manager wants a portal", you have a bolt-on problem, not a platform problem, and it is a fraction of the cost. A Tech Leak Audit settles which list you are on in 30 minutes, in writing, free.
Tradify vs Simpro: the sizing questions I get asked.
Is Simpro worth it for a small trade business?
Under about ten staff doing mostly service and small project work, usually not. Tradify does the job and you bank the difference. Simpro earns its keep when you genuinely run the things it is built for: multi-stage projects with claims, stock across vans and a warehouse, service contracts with SLAs, and an office team who will live in it daily. Buying Simpro for a five-person shop is buying a truck to do ute work.
When does Simpro actually earn its keep?
When the work is genuinely Simpro-shaped: progress claims and retentions on multi-stage jobs, inventory that has to reconcile across vans and a warehouse, commercial service contracts with reporting an office manager needs. If you run that, the depth pays for itself. If you do not, you are paying for depth you click past every day.
What does moving to Simpro actually involve?
Implementation, not a signup form. Setup, training and data migration measured in weeks, often with paid implementation help on top, plus enterprise-style agreements and annual price reviews. Read the term and the increase clause before you sign, not after. I have audited operators who felt trapped by exactly that letter.
I have outgrown Tradify but Simpro feels like overkill. What is in between?
A third option the vendors will not suggest: keep the simple tool as the system of record and bolt the two or three missing capabilities around it. Outgrown the quoting, flying blind on margin, or a property manager wants a login: those are bolt-ons, not a platform migration. I go deeper on the timing in when Tradify stops scaling.
Can I keep Tradify and just add quoting, margin or a portal?
Yes, and for most 6-to-10-person shops that is the right call. A structured quoting tool, a live job profit dashboard or a client portal reads from what you already run and costs a fraction of an ERP migration. It is a bolt-on problem, not a platform problem.
Instead of buying Simpro, could you build the part I would actually use?
For the right shop, yes. If the honest list is structured quoting, live margin and an agent portal, that is not an ERP, it is a lean custom build on software I own and licence to you, with no cost centres to click past and no annual increase letter. It is fit-gated, not my default pitch, but for a shop staring down a Simpro implementation it is often the cheaper, lighter answer.
Not sure what fits your shop? Ask me, not a sales rep.
A 30-minute Tech Leak Audit and a one-page written finding inside 48 hours. Three prioritised fixes, no pitch, and the report is yours either way.