Disclosure: this guide is published by TradieTally, and TradieTally is one of the products listed. I have tried to keep it fair. Competitor details below come from public vendor information and published reviews, are accurate to the best of our knowledge as of October 2026, and can change, so check each vendor’s site before you buy.
I am an electrician and security technician who runs my own contracting business. I built TradieTally because the tools I tried were either job management software with a quote form bolted on, or big enterprise systems I did not have time to set up. That bias is worth knowing as you read.
What should electricians look for in estimating software?
Before you compare products, decide what you actually need. These are the criteria that matter most for Australian sparkies.
- Labour pricing from your real costs. Can it work out a charge-out rate from your running costs and billable hours, or does it just hold whatever hourly number you type in?
- Margin visibility before you send. Does the quote show your cost, profit and margin per job, and warn you when margin is too low?
- Pre-built jobs. Can you save common jobs like a switchboard upgrade or downlight changeover and quote them in seconds on site?
- Supplier pricing. Does it pull in wholesaler catalogues automatically, or do you import price lists yourself?
- Quote to job to invoice. Does an accepted quote become a job and an invoice without retyping?
- Accounting integration. Does it sync with the accounting package you use (Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks)?
- Field app. Can your team see jobs, log time and add photos on their phones?
- Pricing model and contract. Monthly or annual, per user or per job, lock-in or not, setup fees or not.
- Fit for your size. A two-person shop and a 50-person contractor need very different things.
How do the main options compare?
All information as of October 2026. Where pricing or a detail is not in our research, we say “check vendor site”. Prices are monthly in AUD.
| Software | Type | Published pricing | Electrical focus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TradieTally | Estimating-first, job management built in | Solo $79/mo inc GST; Team $99/mo inc GST (you + 1 user), extra users $20/mo each | Electrical, security and A/C | Charge-out rate calculator, Smart Bundles, margin warnings; Xero and Stripe; MYOB and QuickBooks in development; no direct wholesaler API feeds |
| Simpro | Full field service management | Not published; contact vendor | Deep for electrical, security and HVAC | Supplier catalogues (Rexel, MMEM, L&H); user reviews report multi-year contracts and implementation fees |
| AroFlo | Job management (part of Simpro Group) | Check vendor site | Electrical, HVAC, security, data cabling | Strong supplier catalogue list |
| Fergus | Job management | Essentials $53/mo, Professional $77/mo, timesheet users $26/mo; Enterprise for 10+ (check vendor for GST and user terms) | Electrical, plumbing, HVAC | No security vertical |
| Tradify | Job management | Lite $48, Pro $52, Plus $62 per user/mo ex GST | General trades | No contract; quoting rather than estimating (no labour units or wholesaler price files) |
| ServiceM8 | Job management | Free (30 jobs), Starter $29, Growing $79, Premium $149, Premium Plus $349 per month inc GST | General trades | Unlimited users, priced by job volume; iOS-first; light on estimating |
| Spearhead ESPRO | Specialist estimating tool | Check vendor site | Check vendor site | Contact vendor for features and pricing |
| Groundplan | Specialist estimating tool | Check vendor site | Check vendor site | Contact vendor for features and pricing |
Who is each option best for?
TradieTally
Best for small to mid-sized electrical, security and air conditioning businesses that want accurate estimates first and job management in the same system. Solo and Team include the same core features, there is no lock-in, and there is a 21-day free trial. It is not the right fit yet if you need MYOB or QuickBooks today (both integrations are in development), or live wholesaler API price feeds; supplier pricing comes in through CSV import and price lists. Plan take-off (the Project Estimator) is coming soon, not available today. See TradieTally’s electrical estimating software and job management software for electricians.
Simpro
Best for larger electrical, security and HVAC contractors who need depth: supplier catalogues, complex projects and multi-team operations. Simpro was founded in Brisbane in 2002 by an electrical contractor and now operates as Simpro Group, which also owns AroFlo, BigChange and ClockShark. Pricing is not public. Read our Simpro alternative comparison.
AroFlo
Best for established trade businesses that want strong supplier catalogue integration and job management across electrical, HVAC, security and data cabling. It is part of Simpro Group. Check the vendor for current pricing. See TradieTally vs AroFlo.
Fergus
Best for electrical, plumbing and HVAC businesses that want job management with published per-plan pricing. Fergus does not have a security vertical, so it is less suited to sparkies who also do CCTV, alarms and access control. See TradieTally vs Fergus.
Tradify
Best for general trade businesses that want straightforward job management and quoting with no contract. It is a quoting tool rather than an estimating tool, without labour units or wholesaler price files. See TradieTally vs Tradify.
ServiceM8
Best for service businesses doing many small jobs, especially teams on iPhone, that want unlimited users priced by job volume. Estimating is light. See TradieTally vs ServiceM8.
Spearhead ESPRO and Groundplan
These are specialist estimating tools rather than job management platforms. If you mainly price larger projects, contact each vendor about features, take-off workflow and pricing, and check how estimates move into the system you use to run jobs.
Do you need estimating software, job management software, or both?
If most of your lost profit comes from under-quoting, start with estimating. If it comes from jobs going missing, poor scheduling or slow invoicing, start with job management. Most small electrical businesses need both, which is why many prefer one system over two. We go deeper in estimating software vs job management software.
How should you run a fair trial?
- Pick five recent jobs you quoted by hand, including one larger job.
- Quote each one in every tool you are trialling.
- Time how long each quote takes from start to sent.
- Compare the profit and margin each tool shows, and whether it matches what the job actually made.
- Convert one quote to a job and an invoice, and push it to your accounting package.
- Ask your field staff to use the mobile app for a week.
As I often say: “I didn’t lose jobs because my work wasn’t good enough. I lost them because my quote turned up three days after someone else’s.” Speed and accuracy on quotes are what to test.
If you want to put a number on your current quoting time first, use this calculator to see what slow quoting costs you.
Key takeaways
- Decide your criteria first: labour pricing, margin visibility, pre-built jobs, supplier pricing, quote-to-invoice, accounting and field app.
- Simpro and AroFlo suit larger contractors needing deep supplier catalogues; pricing is via the vendor.
- Fergus, Tradify and ServiceM8 publish pricing and lean towards job management with lighter quoting.
- Specialist estimating tools such as Spearhead ESPRO and Groundplan focus on estimating; check their sites for details.
- TradieTally is estimating-first with job management built in, aimed at small electrical, security and A/C businesses.
- Trial with real jobs and compare speed and margin, not just feature lists.
See all our side-by-side software comparisons, then try TradieTally on your own jobs. Check the pricing page or start a 21-day free trial with no credit card required.