How the ten compare
Every price below was checked directly against the provider's own pricing page on 25 July 2026. Prices change — several of these providers had time-limited promotions live when we checked, and we've noted that rather than quote a promo rate as if it were permanent. Currency is stated exactly as each provider shows it (Jobber is USD, Manano is EUR — we have not converted either to GBP).
| Tool | Price (checked 25 Jul 2026) | WhatsApp-native? | Quotes / job workflow? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tradify | £34–£44/user/month (Lite/Pro/Plus); custom pricing for 10+ users. 14-day free trial. | No | Yes — full quoting, scheduling, invoicing, timesheets & certificates | Established UK trade businesses wanting deep job management. |
| Jobber | USD, not GBP: from $21/mo (promo, billed annually) up to $499/mo (Plus, 5 users). List price from $49/mo. 14-day free trial. | No | Yes — core feature set (quoting, scheduling, dispatch, CRM) | Growing multi-crew field service businesses. |
| QuickBooks | Tiered plans from Sole Trader upward — check quickbooks.intuit.com/uk for current pricing (a promotional discount was live when we checked, so the standard price may differ). 30-day trial, but not combinable with the buy-now promo. | No | No native job scheduling — accounting/invoicing software | Sole traders wanting integrated accounting + VAT/MTD compliance rather than job management. |
| Xero | £16–£65/month ex VAT, list price. A promo was live when we checked, and a price rise is scheduled from 1 September 2026. One month free trial as an alternative to the promo. | No | Sends quotes/invoices; no job scheduling — pure accounting software | VAT-registered businesses wanting full double-entry accounting with MTD support. |
| FreshBooks | £16–£42/month ex VAT, list price (a "50% off 3 months" promo was live when we checked). Select plan is custom pricing. 30-day free trial. | No | Sends quotes/estimates; no field-service scheduling | Freelancers/small service businesses wanting simple invoicing + basic accounting. |
| TaskDrop | Free (25 documents/month, uncapped after first MTD submission per their site) + £80 per quarterly MTD submission, pay-as-you-go. No time-limited trial — free tier is permanent. | Yes | Quotes & job reports yes; no scheduling/dispatch found on their site | UK sole traders wanting free WhatsApp invoicing plus pay-per-use MTD filing. Their own site notes MTD submission is not yet confirmed live in production. |
| WOPA | Free (3 invoices/month) or £9.99/month founder price (first 200 customers, locked while active); £14.99/month standard after that. No time-limited trial. | Yes | Invoicing & payment chasing only; no quoting or scheduling found | UK tradespeople wanting fast WhatsApp invoices with automated 7/14/28-day chasing. Their own site states it is not currently HMRC-recognised or MTD-compatible. |
| Qenn | £49/mo (Starter), £99/mo (Professional), £149/mo (Business). First month free. | Yes | Yes — quotes, invoices, payment chasing and calendar/diary scheduling | UK trades wanting a full "office on WhatsApp," including scheduling. |
| Manano | EUR, not GBP: €24/month (marketed as a locked-in discount) or a free tier (3 free quotes/invoices/receipts). | Yes | Quotes & invoices with deposits; no scheduling/dispatch found | Tradespeople across Ireland/UK wanting voice-note-to-invoice via WhatsApp. |
| Spannerpay | Pre-launch. Founding price £15/month after 3 free months (first 50 members only), locked for life. No card taken today. | Yes | Quotes, invoices and payment chasing (day 7/14/28); no job-scheduling calendar yet | Sole traders/small trade teams who want quotes, invoices and chasing entirely inside WhatsApp — and don't need deep job scheduling. Not available to the public yet. |
Prices checked 25 July 2026 and change over time — several providers above had time-limited promotional pricing live on that date; where that's the case we've noted the list/regular price and flagged the promo rather than presenting it as permanent. Always check the provider's own site before buying.
What MTD actually requires
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a legal requirement being phased in by qualifying income (self-employment plus property income combined):
- Over £50,000 — must use MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026
- Over £30,000 — from 6 April 2027
- Over £20,000 — from 6 April 2028
In scope, you need to keep digital records of business income and expenses and submit a quarterly update through HMRC-recognised compatible software. A quarterly update is a short summary of income/expense totals for a three-month period — HMRC is explicit that it is not a tax return. Quarterly updates do not replace your annual Self Assessment return: the Self Assessment deadline remains 31 January, and you still file a full return and pay any tax owed by that date.
How to choose
Start from what actually slows you down, not the feature list:
- If quoting and invoicing already happen in WhatsApp conversations with customers — a WhatsApp-native tool (TaskDrop, WOPA, Qenn, Manano, or Spannerpay once launched) removes a step rather than adding one.
- If you're managing multiple crews, routes or a dispatch calendar — Tradify, Jobber or Qenn cover that; the others generally don't.
- If your main pain is accounts, VAT returns and reconciliation — Xero or QuickBooks are built for that; a quoting/invoicing tool sitting on top still needs one of them (or an accountant) underneath for filing.
- If you want to try before committing to a subscription — TaskDrop and WOPA have permanent free tiers rather than time-boxed trials.
Where each type wins
Deep job scheduling & dispatch
Tradify, Jobber and Qenn all handle multi-job diaries and crew dispatch. Spannerpay doesn't do this today — it's honest to say so.
Full double-entry accounting
Xero and QuickBooks are built for VAT returns, reconciliation and full bookkeeping. No WhatsApp-native tool on this list replaces them.
Free or pay-as-you-go, no subscription
TaskDrop and WOPA both offer permanent free tiers with usage caps rather than a locked-in monthly fee.
Quotes, invoices & chasing, entirely in WhatsApp
TaskDrop, WOPA, Qenn, Manano and (once launched) Spannerpay all run the day-to-day quote-to-payment loop inside the chat you already use.
Where Spannerpay fits (and doesn't — we're pre-launch)
Spannerpay is a WhatsApp-native tool for quotes, VAT invoices and automatic payment chasing, built for UK sole traders and small trade teams. It is pre-launch — we're onboarding a founding 50 before any public release, and nothing here should be read as an already-shipping product. It fits well if your job workflow is simple (quote, do the job, invoice, get paid) and currently lives across WhatsApp, a notebook and a spreadsheet. It does not fit if you need multi-crew scheduling today, or full accounting software — for either of those, one of the established tools above is the right choice right now. Spannerpay is not filing software: it's the capture layer, and we're building export for Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent so records land where your accountant already works.
Want to be one of the founding 50?
Three months free, then £15/month locked for life. No card needed today — we confirm with you in writing before any billing starts.
Join the founding 50 →