GraftPay vs Tradify: Which Is Better for UK Tradesmen in 2026?
Right. GraftPay vs Tradify — let's get the punchline out the way first. If you're a sole trader or small team and your biggest pain is sending quotes and chasing deposits, GraftPay does exactly that for £29 a month flat. If you've got 4+ staff, recurring service jobs, timesheets, subcontractors and need everything in one big tool, Tradify is the more complete option — at £34 to £44 per user, per month.
This post is for UK tradesmen actually weighing up the two. No fluff, no padding. Real prices pulled straight from the Tradify pricing page on the day this was written. Honest about who each one suits — and who it doesn't.
Quick verdict
Pick Tradify if you've got 4+ lads on the team, you're juggling recurring service jobs, timesheets and subcontractor scheduling, and you don't mind paying per user.
Pick GraftPay if you're a sole trader or running with one or two mates, your bottleneck is sending quotes and getting deposits paid on the spot, and the per-user pricing of bigger tools makes you wince.
GraftPay vs Tradify pricing compared
Right. Money first.
| Team size | GraftPay | Tradify |
|---|---|---|
| Solo trader (1 user) | £29/month flat | £34/month (Lite) |
| 2 users | £29/month flat | £68/month (Lite) |
| 5 users | £29/month flat | £185/month (Pro at £37 × 5) |
| 10 users | £29/month flat | £370/month (Pro) |
| Per-user pricing | No — flat rate | Yes — £34, £37 or £44 per user |
| SMS quote delivery | Included free | £0.10 per message |
| Free trial | Yes — no card | Yes — no card |
| Setup fees | None | None |
Tradify pricing pulled from the official UK pricing page on 9 May 2026. GraftPay's £29/month is the flat-rate plan listed on graftpay.co.uk.
The story here is simple. Tradify charges per user. GraftPay doesn't. For a one-man band, the gap is small (£5/month). For two or three people, the gap gets serious. For five people, GraftPay is roughly £156 a month cheaper.
That's not a small difference. That's the cost of a decent toolbag every month.
Features compared
Now the bit where Tradify catches up — and overtakes us in places. Honest features table.
| Feature | GraftPay | Tradify |
|---|---|---|
| Quote builder | ✅ | ✅ |
| Send quotes via email + SMS | ✅ Included | ✅ SMS at £0.10/msg |
| Take deposits via Stripe | ✅ Built-in | ⚠️ Online payments yes, deposit-first flow no |
| Final balance invoicing | ✅ One-tap | ✅ |
| Job scheduling calendar | ❌ | ✅ |
| Timesheets | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Subcontractor scheduling | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Recurring jobs | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Compliance certificates | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Photos & files on jobs | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Accounting sync (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks) | ❌ | ✅ |
| AI bill capture | ❌ | ✅ (Plus only) |
| Purchase orders | ❌ | ✅ (Plus only) |
| Custom branding | ❌ | ✅ (Pro and above) |
| Mobile app | ✅ Web app, works on mobile | ✅ Native iOS/Android |
| UK-built | ✅ | ❌ (NZ-built, sold globally) |
Two takeaways.
One: Tradify is genuinely the bigger, more feature-rich tool. If you need timesheets, subcontractor scheduling, recurring service jobs and accounting integration, GraftPay simply doesn't do those things yet.
Two: GraftPay has one job and does it well. Getting a quote out the door and a deposit in your bank, fast. The deposit-first flow is the key bit. Most tools treat payments as an afterthought tacked on at the end. GraftPay treats it as the whole point.
Where Tradify wins
Going to be straight here. Tradify has been around since the early 2010s and they've built a much more complete tool. They win on:
- Job scheduling and timesheets. If you've got staff to manage, jobs to assign and hours to track, Tradify does all of that. GraftPay doesn't. Yet.
- Recurring service jobs. Got a boiler service business or a maintenance contract? Tradify will repeat the job for you and even fire the customer reminder. GraftPay can't.
- Accounting sync. Xero, Sage and QuickBooks Online sync built-in. Saves you double-keying invoices. GraftPay doesn't have this — invoices live in GraftPay only for now.
- AI tools (Plus tier, £44/user). SmartRead reads your supplier bills automatically. SmartWrite tidies up your quote descriptions. Genuinely useful if you're in the Plus tier.
If any of those four are core to how you actually work, Tradify is the better tool. Not even close.
Where GraftPay wins
Now the bit you scrolled down for.
- Flat pricing. £29 a month, however many people are on the team. No per-seat creeping cost. One Capterra UK Tradify reviewer summed up the pain in seven words: "too expensive as you need to pay per user". If you're scaling up, that maths gets ugly fast.
- Deposit-first flow. GraftPay is built around the moment that actually matters: getting a deposit from the customer before you start the job. The customer taps Accept, pays the deposit through Stripe, and the money's in your account. No phone calls. No "I'll do a bank transfer later, mate".
- Free SMS quote delivery. Tradify charges £0.10 per text. Sounds small, but if you send 100 quotes a month, that's £10 right there. GraftPay includes both email and SMS delivery in the £29. No per-message fee.
- UK-built and UK-focused. GraftPay is built specifically for UK tradesmen. Tradify is a global product. That's not nothing. Small things like CIS terminology, GBP-first design and UK-time customer support make a difference when something goes wrong on a Tuesday afternoon.
GraftPay vs Tradify: real-world scenarios
Three quick scenarios. Find the one that sounds most like you.
Scenario 1: Sole-trader plumber doing 8-12 jobs a week
Picture a sparky or plumber running solo. You quote 15-20 jobs a month, do 8-12 of them, take a deposit on most. You don't have staff. You don't need timesheets. Your accountant handles the books once a quarter.
GraftPay: £29/month covers it. Quotes go out, deposits come in.
Tradify: £34/month (Lite). £5 more, but you get accounting sync if you want it.
For this one, the £5 difference is genuinely a wash. The bigger question is which workflow fits how you work. If your problem is "I send quotes and chase invoices," GraftPay. If your problem is "my admin is messy in general," Tradify.
Scenario 2: Builder with 3-5 lads on the team
Now imagine you've got two or three lads working with you, plus a labourer. You're managing real jobs across multiple sites. Pricing shifts.
GraftPay: still £29/month flat.
Tradify Pro: £37 × 4 users = £148/month (and that's Pro, which most teams need for the recurring jobs and progress invoicing).
The £119/month gap is real money. £1,400+ a year. But Tradify gives you scheduling, timesheets, photos on jobs and subcontractor management. GraftPay doesn't. So the question isn't price. It's whether those features actually save you 30 minutes a day. If yes, Tradify pays for itself. If no, GraftPay saves you a grand a year.
Scenario 3: Established firm with 10 staff and recurring service contracts
Boiler service company. 10 engineers. Hundreds of recurring service jobs a year. You need scheduling, recurring jobs, compliance certificates, purchase orders for parts.
This is honestly not GraftPay's fight right now. Tradify Pro at £37/user × 10 = £370/month, and you'd need it. GraftPay doesn't have what you need yet. Maybe in 12 months. Not today.
GraftPay vs Tradify: which one wins?
Different question. Different answer for different sized teams.
Solo or 2-person team where the bottleneck is "send the quote, get paid, crack on" — GraftPay wins on price and on focus. £29 flat versus £34-£68. And the deposit collection flow is the bit you'll actually use every day.
4+ staff with timesheets, scheduling, recurring jobs and subcontractors — Tradify wins, full stop. Pay the per-user price. The features are real, the time savings are real, and GraftPay simply doesn't do those things today.
If you're in between (3 staff, simple jobs, no recurring service work), try GraftPay first. Free 14 days. If you find yourself missing scheduling or timesheets, Tradify is right there. You'll have lost two weeks and gained clarity on which one your business actually needs.
Looking at the other big players too?
ServiceM8 is the other obvious shortlist option for UK trades. Same flat-rate philosophy, very different feature shape. Read the honest side-by-side here: GraftPay vs ServiceM8.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tradify cheaper than GraftPay for sole traders?
No. Tradify Lite is £34/month for one user. GraftPay is £29/month flat. For a single user, GraftPay is £5/month cheaper, and the gap widens fast as you add team members because GraftPay is flat-rate.
Does Tradify charge per user?
Yes. Lite is £34 per user/month, Pro is £37 per user/month, and Plus is £44 per user/month according to the official Tradify UK pricing page. GraftPay does not. It is £29/month flat regardless of team size.
Can both Tradify and GraftPay take card payments?
Yes. Tradify offers online and credit-card payments through a payment partner. GraftPay uses Stripe directly and is built around taking a deposit upfront before the job starts. The customer pays from the quote acceptance screen.
Is GraftPay UK-based?
Yes. GraftPay is built in the UK, for UK tradesmen, with GBP-first design and UK-focused features. Tradify is a New Zealand-built product sold globally. It works fine in the UK but the product priorities are set globally, not for British trades specifically.
What about a free trial?
Both offer a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Tradify has been doing free trials for years and is known for fast setup. GraftPay offers the same length and same no-card policy. You can test it on a real customer quote within 5 minutes of signing up.
Want to try GraftPay?
If the flat pricing and deposit-first flow sound like what you're missing, try GraftPay free for 14 days. No card needed. Send your first quote, take your first deposit, see how it feels. If it doesn't suit, you've lost nothing. If it does, you've just saved yourself an hour a week of admin and the cost of per-seat pricing.