Compare / A cheaper alternative to Tradify for handymen

A cheaper alternative to Tradify for handymen

Updated 2026-07-21

Why handymen look for a Tradify alternative

Tradify is built around dispatching a crew — multiple logins, a per-seat price, and a feature set aimed at a business running several trucks a day. If you're a solo handyman or a two-person outfit, you end up paying for seats and workflow tools you'll never touch.

How handymen actually work day to day

Handyman work is usually small jobs, high volume — the overhead of a heavyweight, per-seat platform built for 10-person crews doesn't make sense when it's one person and a truck.

Tradify pricing, from their own pricing page

Pricing shown is what Tradify listed on their own pricing page (https://www.tradifyhq.com/pricing) as of 2026-07-21. Software pricing changes — confirm current numbers directly with them before deciding.

Trades Chaser pricing

What you get with Trades Chaser

• A permanent free plan — 3 customers and 5 invoices a month, no card, no expiry
• Customers, jobs, and itemized invoices
• Automatic email follow-up sequences on overdue invoices
• Quotes with a materials/labor calculator and AI-suggested bill of materials
• Digital signature quote acceptance via a no-login customer portal
• Calendar with AI-assisted job scheduling around your existing appointments and time off
• Progress and milestone invoicing — split a job into deposits/milestones that each bill separately
• Team accounts — 2 seats included on Base, 3 on Enhanced, more via flat add-on packs (not a per-user price)
• Subcontractor book of business — send a no-login bid request and log an accepted bid straight into job costs
• Multiple payment methods shown on every invoice (PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, Stripe, Square, bank transfer)
• Income, expense, and per-category budget tracking
• Hour tracking for yourself and your crew
• Customer tags/segments, communication log, referral tracking
• Job checklists, maintenance/recurring service reminders, post-job satisfaction surveys
• Branded PDF invoices/quotes (your logo and accent color) and an embeddable lead-capture quote-request form
• Installable to your phone's home screen like a native app — no app store required
• Enhanced plan adds: AI receipt scanning, an AI business-assistant sidebar, AI-drafted check-in emails, and AI part price comparison

What you don't get

No tool is a straight upgrade on every axis — here's what's honestly missing compared to a platform built for larger crews:

• Team seats top out at small add-on packs, not a real dispatch operation — there's no route optimization, GPS tracking, or dispatch board for coordinating a crew of five-plus in the field.
• No built-in card payment processing — you can display a Stripe (or other) payment link/QR on an invoice, but there's no embedded checkout or automatic payment reconciliation.
• No QuickBooks/Xero accounting sync.
• No app-store listing (Google Play/App Store) — it installs to your home screen from the browser like a native app, but isn't published in either store.
• No SMS/two-way texting with customers.

Is this actually a fit?

Trades Chaser is a good fit for a one-person handyman business doing high job volume at lower ticket sizes, where per-seat software pricing eats into the margin. If you're running a dispatched crew of five or more, need embedded card processing, or already depend on QuickBooks/Xero sync, Tradify's team plans are built for that in a way Trades Chaser currently isn't — better to know that upfront than after signing up.