Best Accounting Software for Tradies in Australia (2026)

Last updated: 14 October 2026. Written by the FreeMyCloud team.

Checked against the Xero and MYOB Australian pricing pages, the ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro integration pages, the ATO’s Taxable payments annual report, Single Touch Payroll, Payday Super and record keeping pages, business.gov.au and the Fair Work Ombudsman’s award summaries on 14 October 2026.

The best accounting software for tradies in Australia is Xero or MYOB Business for most businesses, with a job management app such as ServiceM8, Tradify or Simpro connected to it for quotes, scheduling and job cards. QuickBooks Online is a sound third choice if your accountant already uses it. All three handle GST, BAS, Single Touch Payroll and bank feeds. What separates them for a tradie is how they price payroll as you add apprentices and staff, how much job costing they do on their own, and how cleanly your job app pushes invoices across.

This guide is for electricians, plumbers, builders, carpenters, landscapers, painters and other trade businesses, and for the partner or office manager who keeps the books. It compares the three platforms on the things tradies actually ask about, explains where job management software for tradies fits, sets out what the ATO asks of a trade business (TPAR, GST, payroll and super), and covers when bookkeeping services for tradies make more sense than doing it yourself on a Sunday night.

What accounting software for tradies needs to do

A trade business looks simple from the outside: do the job, send the invoice, get paid. The books behind it are not. Materials are bought on trade accounts and charged to particular jobs, a job can run for weeks with a deposit and progress invoices, apprentices and labourers are paid under an award, subcontractors send invoices that have to be reported to the ATO, and the ute, the tools and the phone are part business and sometimes part private. Accounting software for tradies has to cope with all of that without turning every Sunday into data entry. Before you compare plans, check each platform against this list.

• Quotes and invoices from the job, not the office. Either the accounting software’s own mobile app or a job management app that pushes the invoice into the ledger, so an invoice goes out the day the job finishes.
• Job costing. Materials, labour and subcontractor costs tagged to each job, so you can see which jobs made money and which ones you priced too low.
• Supplier bills without typing. Trade supplier invoices (electrical wholesalers, plumbing supplies, timber and hardware) captured from an email or a photo and coded to the job.
• Payroll that fits the award. Pay items for the ordinary rate, overtime, allowances and apprentice rates under your award, reported through Single Touch Payroll each pay run.
• Contractor payments flagged for TPAR. If you are in building and construction, payments to subcontractors need to be captured with their ABN so the Taxable payments annual report comes straight out of the software.
• GST and BAS without a quarterly scramble. Bank feeds reconciled weekly so the BAS is a review, not a reconstruction.

Best accounting software for tradies compared: Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks

All three platforms track GST, prepare BAS figures, run Single Touch Payroll, connect to Australian bank feeds and take a sync from the common trade job apps. The table compares them on the points that matter most to a trade business. Xero and MYOB prices are list prices from each vendor’s Australian pricing page on 14 October 2026, including GST, after any introductory discount ends. QuickBooks Online prices are not shown because we could not re-check its Australian pricing page that day; confirm current plans on the QuickBooks site. Prices change, often on 1 July, so check the vendor page before you sign up.

Xero and MYOB list prices in Australian dollars including GST, from xero.com/au/pricing-plans and myob.com/au/pricing on 14 October 2026. Xero Grow ($78) pays two people. MYOB Pro adds payroll for unlimited employees at $3 a month each; AccountRight Plus includes unlimited payroll at no extra cost. Job app integrations are as listed on the ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro websites on the same day.

Xero for tradies

Xero is the platform most Australian trade businesses end up on, mainly because almost every trade app connects to it first. ServiceM8 describes itself as job management for Xero and syncs invoices to Xero in two clicks; Tradify calls itself the highest rated Xero app. Xero’s plans include payroll for a set number of people (1 on Ignite, 2 on Grow, 5 on Comprehensive, 10 or 20 on Ultimate), and smart document capture reads supplier bills from an email or photo. The catch for a growing crew is the payroll step: the sixth employee moves you from Comprehensive to Ultimate. Xero’s own project tracking sits in the Ultimate plans, so a smaller trade business usually leaves job costing to the job app and lets Xero do the ledger. Our Xero bookkeeping service runs this set-up every day.

MYOB Business for tradies

MYOB Business prices payroll at $3 a month per employee rather than by plan size, which keeps a growing crew on Pro rather than forcing a plan change. Its job tracking is built in: on Lite and Pro you can track a job’s progress, profit and loss and expenses inside the ledger, and AccountRight Plus and Premier add job budgets and billing customers by time, which suits a builder or a maintenance contractor that charges by the hour. MYOB Solo is a phone-first app for sole traders who just need quotes, invoices, GST and tap-to-pay. ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro all sync with MYOB. See our MYOB bookkeeping service, and the Xero vs MYOB payroll comparison for how the two handle award pay.

QuickBooks Online for tradies

QuickBooks Online does the same core work (invoicing, GST, BAS, bank feeds, payroll with Single Touch Payroll) and ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro all publish QuickBooks Online integrations. Its payroll is charged per employee, so check the total for your headcount on the QuickBooks pricing page rather than the headline plan price. It is a sensible choice if your accountant or bookkeeper already lives in QuickBooks; switching a working file to another platform rarely pays for itself. See QuickBooks bookkeeping, and our best accounting software in Australia comparison for Reckon and the general small business view.

Job management software for tradies: ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro as integrations

Job management software for tradies is not accounting software, and it does not replace it. A job app runs the field side of the business: the enquiry, the quote, the schedule, the job card with photos and notes, the invoice raised on site and the card payment taken before you leave. The accounting software runs the money side: bank reconciliation, supplier bills, payroll, GST, BAS and the profit and loss. The integration between them is what stops anyone retyping an invoice.

The three names tradies ask about most each publish integrations with all three ledgers, as listed on their own websites on 14 October 2026:

• ServiceM8 publishes add-on pages for Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online. It covers job cards, scheduling, quoting and invoicing on site, online bookings and card payments, and syncs invoices to the accounting software.
• Tradify says it syncs with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online and Sage, pushes and reconciles invoices in one click, imports customers and price lists, and lets you reconcile supplier bills in the accounting system.
• Simpro, built for larger field service and project businesses, lists accounting integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and MYOB.

Tradie software that connects: what to check before you sign up

Tradie software is only as good as the sync behind it. Before you commit, run a test job through the trial and look at what lands in the ledger. Check that the invoice arrives with the right GST code and the right income account; that a customer payment taken in the app marks the invoice paid without creating a duplicate; that materials bought for the job either come across as bills or are entered once in the ledger, never in both; and that the customer list does not split into two copies with slightly different names. A sync that creates duplicates costs more bookkeeping time than it saves.

Job costing software: in the ledger or in the job app?

Job costing software answers one question: did this job make money? For most trade businesses the job app is the better place to do it, because that is where the hours, the materials and the variations are recorded while the job is happening. The ledger then holds the totals for tax and BAS. MYOB’s built-in job tracking, or Xero’s project tracking on the Ultimate plans, makes sense when jobs are long, carry progress claims or retentions, or when the office rather than the field enters the costs. A builder with progress claims should also read our accounting software for builders guide.

The ATO side: TPAR, GST, payroll and super for tradies

Whichever software you choose, set it up so the ATO reports come straight out of it. Four obligations catch out trade businesses most often.

TPAR for building and construction tradies

The ATO requires businesses that pay contractors for building and construction services to lodge a Taxable payments annual report by 28 August each year, listing each contractor’s ABN, name, address and the total paid. In Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks this means flagging each subcontractor’s contact as reportable and making sure their bills are entered with their ABN, so the TPAR is a report, not a project. Our TPAR guide covers who must lodge and which payments count, and contractor vs employee explains when a regular subbie is actually an employee.

GST and BAS

Once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 you must register for GST, charge it on your invoices and lodge a BAS. Good accounting software makes the BAS a by-product of weekly reconciliation: every invoice carries GST, every supplier bill claims it, and the bank feed is matched each week. The BAS lodgement guide walks through the labels, ATO due dates keeps the calendar, and our instant asset write-off guide covers the tools and vehicles you buy.

Payroll, awards and super for apprentices and staff

Every pay run is reported to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll, which Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks all support. Under Payday Super, from 1 July 2026 super guarantee must be received by each employee’s fund within 7 business days after payday. Most trade employees are covered by an industry award, such as the Building and Construction Award, the Electrical Award or the Plumbing Award, and the rates, apprentice percentages and allowances are in the Fair Work pay guides, republished each July. Set up a pay item for each rate and allowance you use, and check them against the pay guide every 1 July. Our Payday Super guide covers the deadline, and outsourced payroll takes the whole cycle off your plate.

Records and invoices

You need to keep most business records for 5 years, according to business.gov.au and the ATO’s record keeping for business guidance. Cloud accounting software keeps the invoices, bills and bank records together, and business.gov.au’s how to invoice page sets out what a tax invoice must include. Photograph receipts for fuel, tools and materials when you get them; a shoebox at year end is how deductions get lost.

Bookkeeping services for tradies: when to hand over the books

The best accounting software for tradies still needs someone to run it. The software does not reconcile itself, chase overdue invoices, code a supplier bill to the right job, or notice that a subbie’s ABN is missing before TPAR time. Bookkeeping services for tradies make sense once any of these is true: invoices go out late because the paperwork waits for the weekend; the BAS is prepared in a rush each quarter; you have started employing apprentices or staff and payroll, super and STP land on you every week; or you are paying subcontractors and need clean TPAR data.

A good bookkeeper for a trade business works inside your existing Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file and your job app, rather than moving you to their system. The weekly routine usually looks like this:

Our guide to what a bookkeeper does covers the general version, the tradie bookkeeping guide goes deeper on TPAR, GST and vehicles, and accounts receivable and payable is the service that chases invoices and pays suppliers. Sole traders can start with sole trader bookkeeping, and subcontractors who invoice a builder can see bookkeeping for contractors.

How FreeMyCloud runs the books for trade businesses

FreeMyCloud gives each trade client a dedicated, university-qualified accountant working in the client’s own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file and job app, supervised from Australia, for about 50% less than employing a bookkeeper locally. The accountant runs the routine above: bank feeds reconciled, job app invoices matched, supplier bills coded to jobs, payroll processed under the right award with STP lodged and super paid, contractor ABNs kept ready for TPAR, and the BAS prepared for the registered agent to lodge. You keep the software, the data and the logins. See bookkeeping for tradies or, for builders, builder bookkeeping; work out the saving on the cost calculator, or book a call back with our team.

Best accounting software for tradies: questions people ask

What is the best accounting software for tradies in Australia?

For most trade businesses it is Xero or MYOB Business, with a job management app such as ServiceM8, Tradify or Simpro connected to it. Xero has the widest range of trade app connections; MYOB prices payroll at $3 a month per employee and has job tracking built into the ledger. QuickBooks Online is a good choice if your accountant already uses it. All three handle GST, BAS and Single Touch Payroll.

Is Xero or MYOB better for tradies?

Xero suits tradies who want the most app choice and a simple plan with payroll for a set number of people (5 on Comprehensive at $107 a month). MYOB suits tradies who want job tracking inside the accounting software and payroll that grows by $3 a month per employee on Pro ($70 a month). Both connect to ServiceM8, Tradify and Simpro, so the job app rarely decides it.

Do I need job management software as well as accounting software?

Not always. A sole trader doing a few jobs a week can quote and invoice from the accounting software’s own app. Once you have a crew, scheduling, job cards with photos and on-site invoicing in a job app such as ServiceM8, Tradify or Simpro save time, and the invoices sync to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks Online so nobody types them twice.

What does accounting for tradies cover?

Accounting for tradies covers the day-to-day bookkeeping (invoices, supplier bills, bank reconciliation, payroll and super), the ATO reporting (BAS, Single Touch Payroll and, in building and construction, the TPAR by 28 August), and the year-end work done by a tax accountant: the tax return, depreciation on tools and vehicles, and tax planning. The software and a bookkeeper handle the first two; a registered tax agent handles the third.

Do I need an accountant for tradies or a bookkeeper?

Usually both, doing different jobs. A bookkeeper keeps the books current every week and prepares the BAS; a tradie accountant (a registered tax agent) prepares the tax return and gives tax advice. Keeping the bookkeeping current makes the accountant’s year-end work faster and cheaper, because they start from a reconciled file.

Do tradies have to lodge a TPAR?

Businesses that pay contractors for building and construction services must lodge a Taxable payments annual report with the ATO by 28 August each year. Flag subcontractors as reportable in your accounting software and record their ABNs, and the report comes straight out of Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.

Can FreeMyCloud do the bookkeeping for my trade business?

Yes. A dedicated FreeMyCloud accountant works in your own Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file and your job app, and runs the weekly, monthly and quarterly routine above, including payroll with STP and Payday Super and TPAR preparation, for about 50% less than employing a bookkeeper locally. Start with bookkeeping for tradies or book a call back.