Choosing a job management app is one of the most important business decisions a NZ tradie can make. Get it right and it saves you hours every week. Get it wrong and you're locked into a system that slows you down, costs a fortune, and makes you dread Monday mornings.
Here's an honest breakdown of the three main options for NZ tradies in 2026: Tradify, Fergus, and the new challenger, Fastcrew.
The Quick Answer
- Tradify — best for sole traders and very small teams who want something quick to set up
- Fergus — best for larger contracting businesses with dedicated admin staff
- Fastcrew — best for small teams who want built-in compliance, flat pricing, and no app overload
Now for the detail.
Pricing Comparison
This is where the conversation usually starts — and where the surprises happen.
| Platform | Starting price | At 5 users | At 10 users | H&S included? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tradify | ~$49/mo (1 user) | ~$149/mo | ~$249/mo | No |
| Fergus | ~$89/mo (starter) | ~$250/mo+ | ~$450/mo+ | No |
| NextMinute | ~$80/mo | ~$159/mo | ~$279/mo | No |
| Fastcrew | $20/seat | $100/mo | $200/mo | Yes |
The incumbent platforms all use tiered pricing that penalises growth. Add a second vehicle, hire an apprentice, take on a bigger job — your software bill goes up. Fastcrew's flat $20/seat model means growth doesn't cost you extra per feature.
And when you factor in that Fastcrew includes H&S compliance (replacing a $49–$60/month HazardCo subscription), the savings compound further.
Feature Comparison
Quoting & Job Management
All three platforms handle the basics: create a quote, convert it to a job, track progress, issue an invoice. The difference is in the friction.
Tradify is genuinely easy to use and quick to onboard — most tradies are quoting within an hour of signing up. The trade-off is that reporting is limited and growing teams often find they need a more structured workflow.
Fergus has the most powerful job management features — scheduling, multi-stage project tracking, subcontractor management. But that power comes with a steep learning curve. It's a system you need to invest time in learning, which suits businesses with an office manager but frustrates owner-operators trying to use it from the cab of their ute.
Fastcrew uses a fixed Quote → Schedule → Job → Invoice pipeline. It's deliberately rigid — which sounds like a limitation but is actually a feature. Every job goes through the same steps, which means professional consistency and no dropped balls between quoting and invoicing.
Health & Safety
This is where the incumbents all have a gap.
Tradify, Fergus, and NextMinute treat H&S as someone else's problem. You need a separate subscription to HazardCo or a similar tool. That's another log-in, another cost, and most importantly — another system that doesn't talk to your jobs.
Fastcrew has H&S built in natively. SWMS templates, toolbox meeting records, incident reports, site safety checklists — all linked to your jobs, all included in the base price. For tradies with PCBU obligations under the HSWA 2015, this matters.
NZ Compliance
The established platforms were largely built for the Australian or global market and adapted for NZ. That shows up in subtle ways — GST handling that isn't quite native, compliance features that don't match NZ legislation, pricing that reflects AUD not NZD.
Fastcrew is being built specifically for the NZ market. GST, ACC, HSWA 2015, trade licensing — all NZ-native, not retrofitted.
Xero Integration
All three platforms integrate with Xero to some degree. The quality of that integration varies.
Tradify's Xero sync works but requires some manual steps — invoices don't always flow cleanly and reconciliation still needs checking.
Fergus has a more robust integration but it requires setup and ongoing management.
Fastcrew's integration is being built as a native sync from day one — the goal is zero manual data entry between Fastcrew and Xero.
Mobile Experience
Here's the real test: can you use it from the front seat of your van, in the rain, with dirty hands?
Tradify's mobile app is genuinely good — one of its strongest points.
Fergus's mobile experience is functional but reflects the desktop-first heritage of the platform. It gets the job done but isn't designed for thumb-only use.
Fastcrew is being designed mobile-first from day one. Every workflow is optimised for a phone screen. The navigation deliberately puts 'Clients' above the 'Dashboard' — because in the field, you need to pull up a client's details fast, not look at a vanity metrics graph.
Who Should Use What
Use Tradify if: - You're a sole trader or two-person team - You want the easiest possible onboarding - You don't need H&S or compliance features
Use Fergus if: - You run a larger contracting operation (6+ people) - You have office staff who manage the system - You need complex project tracking and reporting
Use Fastcrew if: - You're a small team (1–10 people) who wants one system for everything - You're tired of paying for four or five separate subscriptions - You want H&S and compliance built in, not bolted on - You want flat pricing that doesn't punish growth
The Bottom Line
For most NZ tradies — particularly the electricians, plumbers, builders, and landscapers running small teams — the current market is asking you to choose between "simple but limited" (Tradify) and "powerful but expensive and complex" (Fergus).
Fastcrew is being built to fill the gap: capable enough to run a proper trade business, simple enough to use from the van, priced so growth doesn't hurt.