How Much Does Trades Management Software Cost in the UK? [2026]

In the UK, trades management software runs from roughly £15 to £70 per user per month for self-serve job-management apps, through pay-per-lead fees that vary widely by trade, up to done-for-you platforms like OptiTech Automation at £199 to £3,599 per month with a one-off Onboarding Investment. The sticker price is only a third of the answer, though: the real cost is subscription + hidden costs + the hours you still spend running it. This guide puts all three on one page, including our own prices, in plain sight.

If you have ever opened a software pricing page and found a "Contact us" button where the number should be, this post is for you. We think a trades owner should be able to see what things cost before giving anyone their phone number, so here is the whole category, honestly, including where we are the wrong choice.

The three ways trades software charges you

1. Per-user job-management apps (roughly £15 to £70 per user, per month)

The biggest category: diary, quoting, invoicing apps where you do the driving. Published prices at the time of writing mostly land between £15 and £70 per user per month depending on the tier, and they climb as you add features (deposits, forms, integrations) or people. Two things to watch. First the per-user meter: a five-person crew on a "£29 per user" plan is £145 a month before add-ons. Second, the fact that the software does not run itself. You are the operator: you set it up, you keep it updated, you chase what it does not chase. For a fuller walkthrough of this category, see our guide to the best booking and management software for UK trades.

2. Pay-per-lead directories (a fee per enquiry or per job)

Checkatrade-style directories and lead marketplaces charge membership fees, per-lead fees, or both. The costs vary so much by trade and postcode that any single number would be misleading, but the structural problem is the same everywhere: you are renting enquiries, not building an asset. Every pound buys a one-off introduction, often shared with competitors. We covered the economics in detail in renting leads vs owning your customers.

3. Done-for-you platforms (hundreds per month, flat)

The newest category, where OptiTech Automation sits: a flat monthly price for a system that is built for you and runs the business end-to-end: website, online booking with deposits, job dispatch, worker apps, invoicing, review collection. You are not the operator; the platform is. The honest trade-off: the sticker price is higher than a DIY app, and it only makes sense once there is enough work flowing through the business for the automation to pay for itself.

The hidden costs nobody quotes on the pricing page

• Card processing. Whoever you choose, taking payments online costs money, and Stripe's standard published UK rate at the time of writing is 1.5% + 20p per card transaction. Some platforms add their own percentage on top of the processor's. (OptiTech Automation does not: we charge a subscription, and we take no cut of your customer payments.)
• SMS bundles. Booking confirmations and "on my way" texts often bill separately, per message.
• Setup and onboarding. Either a one-off fee (visible) or weeks of your own evenings configuring the thing (invisible, but real).
• The per-user meter. Hiring your third worker should be good news, not a price rise.
• Your own hours. The biggest one. If you spend, say, 8 hours a week on quotes, scheduling, invoices and chasing, and your charge-out rate is £60 an hour, that is £480 a week of your time spent being your own admin department. Software that still leaves most of that with you is not as cheap as it looks. If you are currently running on spreadsheets, we wrote about exactly this tipping point in spreadsheets vs a booking system.

What it costs at a glance

Model	Typical published price	Watch for	Best for
Per-user app	~£15 to £70 / user / month	Per-user creep, add-ons, you run it	Solo trades and small crews happy doing their own admin
Pay-per-lead	Varies by trade & area	Renting enquiries, shared leads	Topping up work short-term, not a foundation
Done-for-you platform	~£199 to £3,599 / month flat	Only pays off with real job volume	Established businesses that want the admin gone

What OptiTech Automation actually costs (yes, real numbers)

Most platforms in our category make you book a call to hear a price. Here is ours, as published on our pricing page:

• Start-up, £199/month plus a one-off £129 Onboarding Investment. The same running system at a small firm's size, up to 5 on the tools.
• Standard, £599/month plus a one-off £249 Onboarding Investment. The full running system for a small crew: your website, online booking with deposits taken upfront, diary, worker app, invoicing.
• Growth, £1,749/month plus a one-off £999 Onboarding Investment. For businesses building a team: everything in Standard plus advanced job matching, recurring services and more workers.
• Dominator, £3,599/month plus a one-off £2,499 Onboarding Investment. For operations that want the machine running at full tilt across a bigger crew and area.

No percentage of your takings, no per-user meter, no paying extra because you hired someone. You can see how the whole system fits together on how it works.

Where we are the wrong choice: if you are part-time, doing a handful of jobs a month, or a £30 diary app already covers your week, keep the £30 app. A done-for-you platform earns its price when missed calls, no-shows and unpaid invoices are costing you more than the subscription. Before that point, we would honestly rather you did not buy it.

How to decide: five questions

1. Who does the admin after I buy this? If the answer is still "me", price your hours in.
2. What does it cost at my NEXT team size, not my current one? Check the per-user maths for the crew you plan to have.
3. Does it take deposits at booking? A no-show with no deposit is free for the customer and expensive for you.
4. What is the all-in monthly figure? Subscription + SMS + card fees + add-ons, not the headline.
5. Am I buying an asset or renting one? Your own booked-up diary and customer list compound. Leads you rent do not.

Frequently asked questions

How much does job management software cost for a sole trader in the UK?

Typically £15 to £40 per month on the entry tiers of per-user apps, which is the cheapest the category gets. At that size the bigger cost is usually your own time: the app organises your jobs, but you still operate every part of it yourself, so price your admin hours in before you decide anything is a bargain.

Why do some platforms not publish their prices?

Usually because the price is negotiated per customer, or because they want a sales conversation before you see a number. Neither is illegal, but it does mean the figure can flex by team size or by how urgent you sounded. We publish ours because a trades owner should not have to book a call to learn a price.

Are there extra costs on top of the subscription?

Almost always somewhere in the market: card processing (Stripe's standard UK rate is 1.5% + 20p at the time of writing), SMS bundles, setup fees and extra users. Ask every vendor for the all-in monthly figure at your realistic usage rather than the headline. OptiTech Automation charges the subscription and the Onboarding Investment only, with no cut of your customer payments.

Is expensive software worth it for a small trades business?

Only when the problem it removes costs more than it does. Add up missed calls, no-shows, slow invoices and your own admin hours, then put a pound figure against each. If that total clearly beats the subscription, the software is cheap at the price. If it does not, stay lean and come back to the question next year.

Does OptiTech Automation charge per user?

No. Each tier includes its own worker allowance, so taking on another pair of hands does not raise your software bill. What does change the price is moving past the allowance for your tier, at which point you move up a plan. It is a band rather than a meter, and the bands are published.

Ready to compare properly? See the full breakdown on our pricing page, where every number is published and no call is required. If you would rather see the product than the price list, open a read-only demo business and look round a working diary first.