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PaperDrop vs Tradify
Tradify is a globally-used job-management app for trades businesses, known for fast quoting and a clean mobile experience. PaperDrop is built UK-first with CIS payroll-bureau export (PriceWorks), RAMS document generation, Gas Safe certificates, and stage-payment scheduling.
At a glance
PaperDrop
Our pick for UK SMB- Rating
- 4.9 / 5 (Google)
- Best for
- UK contractors, 5–50 staff
- Geo focus
- United Kingdom
- Mobile
- iOS + Android, equal feature parity
- Pricing
- Lite User £15 · Mobile User £33 · Office User £59 per user/month · add-on packs separately priced
- API
- API access on Office User tier; Xero, HubSpot, Stripe and Microsoft 365 integrations
Tradify
- Rating
- 4.7 / 5 (Capterra UK, 151 reviews)
- Best for
- Trades businesses, sole traders to larger teams (per tradifyhq.com)
- Geo focus
- Global — AU/NZ first, then UK/IE/US
- Mobile
- Native iOS + Android — no offline mode (per their docs)
- Pricing
- £34 (Lite) / £37 (Pro) / £44 (Plus) per user / month
- API
- No public API documented — fixed integrations only
Trusted by 1,500+ UK contractors
From two-person crews to 200-strong firms.
Pricing, side-by-side
Both prices ex. VAT.
Tradify pricing verified against tradifyhq.com/uk/pricing on 2026-05-28.
PaperDrop
Read-only / light-touch user — view jobs, scheduling, customer data. Right tier for office staff or apprentices who don't run jobs.
Field engineers — full mobile app, jobs, timesheets, photos, signatures, Gas Safe certs.
Full platform — quoting, invoicing, scheduling, reporting, API access. Plus per-tenant add-on packs (RAMS, Stock, Forms/DropForms, OCR) at separate monthly prices.
Per paperdrop.com/prices.
Tradify
Job management, scheduling, quoting, invoicing, payments, Xero/Sage/QuickBooks sync.
Adds timesheets, photos, templates, custom branding, progress invoicing, subcontractor scheduling, compliance certificates, custom job statuses.
Adds SmartTools (AI bill OCR, AI writing), service reminders, purchase orders, bulk invoicing, reporting.
Feature by feature
Hover or tap a row for context. Sourced from each product's own help docs and verified reviews.
| Feature | PaperDrop | Tradify |
|---|---|---|
UK CIS — deductions on invoices + payroll bureau export PaperDrop applies CIS deductions and exports CIS payroll totals to Sage, BrightPay, IRIS or any CIS bureau that takes a CSV (per PriceWorks feature page). Tradify supports CIS-compliant invoicing via the Xero or Sage integration (per their CIS blog and pricing page); HMRC subcontractor verification runs through the accounting integration. | ||
RAMS document generation Per Tradify's UK Forms & Certificates page, they ship electrical and gas safety certificate templates but RAMS (Risk Assessment & Method Statement) documents are not listed. | ||
UK Gas Safe + electrical safety certificates Both products ship UK-specific Gas Safe and electrical safety certificate templates (Tradify per tradifyhq.com/uk/features/gas-safety-certificates). | ||
Stage payments / progress invoicing Tradify offers Progress Invoicing on Pro+ (per pricing page). PaperDrop supports stage-payment scheduling (deposit / milestone / completion) plus rolling-contract billing (per InvoicingFeatures and the payment-schemes domain doc). | ||
Job costing — quoted-vs-actual margin Tradify includes Costing & bill tracking on Pro+ (per pricing page). PaperDrop's Enhanced Financials shows projected vs actual margin (per FinanceFeatures). | ||
Per-staff role and permission controls Tradify documents per-staff permission toggles including Jobs, Timesheets, Appointments, Purchases, Reports, Enquiries, Map, Settings, Staff Members, and Subscription & Billing (per help.tradifyhq.com Staff Permissions breakdown). The models differ: Tradify is per-staff feature toggles; PaperDrop is custom role definitions configurable per division. | ||
Subcontractor scheduling Tradify Pro+ includes Subcontractor scheduling with free Connections accounts for subs (per tradifyhq.com/features/connections). PaperDrop supports scheduling subcontractor jobs through the same scheduler as in-house engineers. | ||
Offline-capable mobile app Per Tradify's own help-centre article "Does Tradify Work Offline?" — the web console and mobile app both require live internet connection. PaperDrop's mobile claims offline capture for job sheets, time entries, photos and DropForms with later sync (per JobSheetsFeatures, TimesheetsFeatures, DropFormsFeatures); not a fully offline product across the platform. | ||
Quote in under a minute Tradify's quote workflow is a widely-cited strength in Capterra and G2 reviews. | ||
AI bill OCR / AI writing tools Tradify SmartRead (AI bill OCR) and SmartWrite are on the Plus tier (£44/user/month) per their pricing page. | Add-on | |
Public API for custom integrations Per Tradify's UK Features page, integrations are limited to a fixed set (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, MYOB, Stripe, Google Calendar) with no public API documented. PaperDrop's Office User tier includes API access (per the pricing page); no published OpenAPI spec yet. | ||
UK-first product design Tradify operates across multiple markets (AU, NZ, UK, IE, US, CA, ZA, FR per their site). UK Gas Safe / electrical compliance templates are localised, but the core product is not UK-specific. | ||
Reporting & dashboards Per Tradify's pricing page, Reporting capabilities (Job Financial Reports, Job Service Reports, Timesheet Reports, Productivity Reports) sit on the Plus tier (£44/user/month). | ||
Transparent published pricing on all tiers Both publish per-user pricing for every tier on their pricing pages. |
Honest verdict
We'd rather lose the sale than have you on the wrong product. Here's where each one wins.
Choose PaperDrop if…
- You're a UK contractor doing CIS-eligible work and want CIS-compliant invoicing plus piece-rate payroll export to your CIS bureau in one place.
- You generate RAMS (Risk Assessment & Method Statement) documents and need them attached to jobs — Tradify does not ship RAMS templates.
- You bill in stages (deposit / milestone / completion) or run rolling maintenance contracts.
- You want configurable job statuses per division as you scale.
- You want offline mobile capture for job sheets, time and photos — Tradify is online-only per their own docs.
Choose Tradify if…
- You value Tradify's quoting workflow speed — widely cited as a strength in Capterra and G2 reviews.
- You operate outside the UK (NZ, AU, US, IE) and want a regionally-supported product.
- You don't need RAMS documents, stage-payment scheduling, or CIS payroll-bureau exports.
- AI bill OCR (SmartRead) or AI writing assistance (SmartWrite) is central to your workflow — those are Tradify Plus features.
What Tradify users actually say
Synthesized from G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, iOS App Store and Google Play reviews. Praise and criticism, both sides.
Consistently praised
- +Ease of use — consistently the #1 strength across Capterra, G2, Trustpilot
- +Fast quoting workflow — widely cited as best-in-class
- +Responsive named-staff customer support
- +Solid Xero two-way sync
- +Strong Android app — 100,000+ installs on Google Play
Consistently criticised
- −No offline mode — top complaint across iOS App Store and Google Play
- −Reporting depth — Capterra and G2 reviewers want more flexibility than the 5 fixed report types
- −Materials and inventory management called "basic" in G2 reviews
- −Performance drops on larger projects per G2 reviews
- −Mobile updates sometimes break existing functionality (Google Play reviews)
Where PaperDrop pulls ahead
UK-specific compliance, native
CIS-compliant invoicing with payroll-bureau export, Gas Safe certificates, and RAMS document generation — all built in. Tradify ships UK Gas Safe and electrical safety certificates but does not document RAMS support.
Stage payments and rolling contracts
Take deposits, bill at milestones, run rolling maintenance contracts — all scheduled and tracked. Tradify offers Progress Invoicing on Pro+ but no automated stage-payment schedule.
Built to scale past five engineers
Role-based permissions, multi-division support, and configurable job statuses per division — useful as a UK contractor team grows. Tradify also has granular per-staff permissions; the difference is the multi-division model.
Offline mobile capture
Job sheets, time entries, photos, and DropForms work offline and sync when the engineer is back in coverage. Per Tradify's own help centre, both their web and mobile apps require live internet.
See for yourself
Explore PaperDrop in depth.
“Enhanced our output and optimized tasks seamlessly—a total game-changer!”
Anthony Mulligan
CML Decorators
Yes — customers, jobs, quotes, invoices, materials and timesheets export from Tradify as CSV and import into PaperDrop. Our team handles the migration mapping as part of onboarding.
Different pricing structures, so run the maths for your team. PaperDrop is tiered by user type — Lite User £15/mo (light-touch / office), Mobile User £33/mo (engineers), Office User £59/mo (full platform). Add-on packs (RAMS, Stock, Forms, OCR) are priced separately. Tradify is flat per-user — Lite £34, Pro £37, Plus £44. A 4-engineer + 1-office team is roughly £191/mo on PaperDrop (4×Mobile + 1×Office, before add-ons) vs ~£170 on Tradify Lite or ~£220 on Tradify Plus. Whether you save depends on the feature mix you need.
Not yet at full parity. Tradify SmartRead (bill OCR) and SmartWrite (writing assistance) on the Plus tier are genuine strengths. PaperDrop's roadmap includes AI bill processing, but if AI bill OCR is your top requirement today, that's a Tradify strength.
Tradify supports CIS-aware invoicing via Xero or Sage integration — it auto-applies CIS account codes on labour lines and shows CIS deductions on invoices. PaperDrop adds CIS-aware piece-rate payroll with bureau export (Sage, BrightPay, IRIS or any CIS bureau that takes a CSV). HMRC subcontractor verification runs through the accounting integration in both products.
For a 3-person UK plumbing team that issues Gas Safe certs, deals with CIS subcontractors, or generates RAMS documents regularly, PaperDrop is the better fit. If you don't need those and prioritise the fastest-possible quoting workflow, Tradify is a reasonable choice.
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Comparison disclaimer. Competitor pricing and feature data on this page was assembled with the help of AI from each vendor's public website, help center, app-store listings and verified review platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot). It may contain inaccuracies, become out of date, or differ from your specific contract or region. Tradify is a trademark of its respective owner — used here for comparative reference only. Last verified 2026-05-28. Always check tradifyhq.com/uk/pricing for Tradify's current pricing and feature set, and paperdrop.com/prices for ours. Spot an error? Email hello@paperdrop.com and we'll fix it.