Compare / A cheaper alternative to Tradify for painters
A cheaper alternative to Tradify for painters
Updated 2026-07-21
Why painters 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 painter or a two-person outfit, you end up paying for seats and workflow tools you'll never touch.
How painters actually work day to day
Painting jobs are usually won or lost on how fast you can turn a walkthrough into a professional-looking quote — a slow, clunky estimate tool costs jobs before the work even starts.
Tradify pricing, from their own pricing page
| Plan | Price per user / month |
|---|---|
| Lite | $47 |
| Pro | $51 |
| Plus | $61 |
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
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | — |
| Base | 39/mo | 421.20/yr |
| Enhanced | 79/mo | 853.20/yr |
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 painter who wants a fast, professional-looking quote-to-signature flow without paying for a dispatch board they don't need. 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.