March 2026 · 6 min read

THEBRICKBOOK VS TRADIFY: BEST APP FOR SOLO TRADIES IN 2026

If you've looked into job management apps for tradies, Tradify has probably come up. It's a well-known platform built in New Zealand that's popular with trade businesses across Australia and NZ. It does a lot of things very well.

But at $50/month ($600/year), the question for solo operators is simple: is it worth it when you're a one-person show?

WHAT IS TRADIFY?

Tradify is a job management platform built specifically for the trades. It handles quoting, scheduling, job tracking, timesheets, invoicing, and reporting. It's designed for businesses with teams — dispatching workers, managing schedules across multiple employees, and tracking everyone's time.

It's a serious tool for serious trade businesses. Plumbing companies with 5 vans, electrical firms with 10 sparkies, building crews that need to coordinate across job sites — Tradify is built for them.

WHAT IS THEBRICKBOOK?

TheBrickBook is a free iOS app built for the other end of the spectrum: solo tradies and one-person operations. It tracks jobs, logs expenses, has a built-in timer, creates invoices with ABN and GST, and calculates your real hourly rate. No monthly fee, no feature limits.

HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPARISON

WHERE TRADIFY WINS

Tradify is excellent at what it does. If you run a team, here's why it's worth the money:

• Team scheduling: Assign jobs to different workers, see who's available, avoid double-booking. This is Tradify's core strength.
• Staff dispatch: Send job details directly to your team's phones. They get the address, scope, client notes — everything in one tap.
• Multi-user timesheets: Each worker clocks in and out on their own device. You see everyone's hours in real time.
• Quoting: Build professional quotes with line items, margins, and markup. Convert accepted quotes into jobs automatically.
• Accounting integration: Syncs with Xero and MYOB, so invoices flow straight into your accounting software.
• Reporting: See which jobs are profitable, which staff are productive, and where time is being lost across the business.

For a trade business with 3, 5, or 10+ workers, Tradify is one of the best tools available. Full stop.

WHERE THEBRICKBOOK WINS

• Price: Free vs $600/year. If you're a solo operator, that's $600 you keep in your pocket.
• Simplicity: TheBrickBook has no team features because you don't need them. It's faster and simpler because it's built for one person.
• Real hourly rate: TheBrickBook tells you what you actually earned per hour on each job. Tradify tracks time and costs, but doesn't surface this number the same way.
• No setup overhead: Tradify requires configuration — setting up staff, rates, job templates, and integrations. TheBrickBook is ready to use immediately.
• Mobile-first design: TheBrickBook is built entirely for phone use on job sites. No desktop dashboard to learn.

THE $600/YEAR PROBLEM

Think about what $600/year buys you. That's new tools. That's fuel for a month. That's marketing. For a solo operator, every dollar matters — and spending it on team management software you use alone doesn't make sense.

THE HONEST ANSWER

This comparison isn't really TheBrickBook vs Tradify. They're built for different people.

Tradify is the best app for trade businesses with teams. If you have employees, subcontractors, or multiple people working across job sites, Tradify is worth every cent. The scheduling and dispatch features alone will pay for themselves.

TheBrickBook is the best app for solo operators. If it's just you — one person, one ute, doing the work and the admin — TheBrickBook gives you everything you need without the features (and cost) you don't.

OUR RECOMMENDATION

Ask yourself one question: Do I manage other people?

If yes, look at Tradify. It's excellent.

If no — if it's just you out there — TheBrickBook is built for you. Free job tracking, free invoicing, and real hourly rate on every job. No $600/year subscription for team features you'll never touch.