simPRO vs ServiceM8 vs AroFlo

Job management software for Australian trades and field service businesses, compared in plain English.

simPRO, ServiceM8 or AroFlo: The Short Answer

Short answer: ServiceM8 suits small service businesses doing lots of short jobs, and its paid plans include unlimited users. AroFlo suits Australian trade businesses that buy a lot of materials and want stock, supplier pricing and maintenance work alongside their jobs. simPRO suits established contractors, roughly five to 200 staff, running service, projects and maintenance contracts across one or more companies. All three connect to Xero and MYOB.

The bigger question for most owners is not which app has the longest feature list. It is whether quotes, timesheets, purchase orders and invoices will flow through to your accounts, your payroll and your reports without someone retyping them. That is where most of the time goes, and that is the part this page pays the most attention to.

Kenomont does not sell or resell any of these products, so this comparison is independent. Vendor details below were checked on each vendor's Australian website and help pages as at October 2026; check current pricing with the vendor before you sign.

Which One Suits You?

  • Choose ServiceM8 if you are a small crew doing short service jobs and want a simple, affordable app the team runs from their phones.
  • Choose AroFlo if you hold stock, buy from trade suppliers such as Reece and Rexel, and want job costing and maintenance in an Australian-made system.
  • Choose simPRO if you are an established contractor mixing service, projects and maintenance contracts, possibly across several companies, and need stock, purchasing and WIP reports.
  • Very small team? Tradify or Fergus may suit you better. See our ServiceM8 vs Tradify comparison.
View detailed comparison

Side-by-Side Comparison

What each vendor says its product does, as at October 2026. Prices in Australian dollars.

 simPROServiceM8AroFlo
Who it is built forTrade businesses of roughly five to 200 staff doing service, project and maintenance work; electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, security, solar and moreSmall service businesses doing lots of short jobs; a free plan for one user, paid plans with unlimited usersAustralian-made, for trade businesses from sole traders to teams of 40+ technicians; plumbing, electrical, HVAC, construction, solar, security, facilities
Pricing modelBase plan on request, plus paid add-onsPer account, priced by jobs per month; unlimited users on paid plansPer user, minimum three users; per-user rate drops as you add users
Starting price (as at October 2026)Not published; request a quoteFree plan for one user; paid plans from $29/month (AUD, inc. GST)From AUD $80 per user per month
Quoting and estimatingEstimating and quoting built in; Takeoffs add-on for marking up plans for quotes and tendersQuotes and invoices on every plan; richer online proposals from the Growing planQuoting and estimating built in, with inventory kits and schedule of rates
Scheduling and dispatchField and contractor scheduling and dispatchJob scheduling with staff notifications, recurring jobs and online bookingsScheduling and dispatch, with GPS tracking
Job costingTimesheets, purchase orders, profit and loss and WIP (work in progress) reportsJob costing and profitability on the Premium plan and aboveTracks labour, materials and profit on each job
Stock and purchasingReal-time inventory, purchase orders, supplier catalogues and price comparisonsNo separate stock module on its pricing page; barcode scanning onto invoices and supplier invoice import into jobsStock control and purchasing, supplier catalogues, and links to suppliers such as Reece and Rexel
Asset maintenanceAsset maintenance and testing built in; Maintenance Planner add-on for preventative maintenance schedulesAsset management and service history from the Growing plan; recurring maintenance jobs on all plansAsset tracking and maintenance management
Xero and MYOBXero (invoices, timesheets, customers, suppliers, payments) and MYOB; also QuickBooks and SageXero, MYOB and QuickBooks OnlineXero, MYOB Business (AccountRight, Pro, Lite), QuickBooks and Reckon One
Timesheets and payrollTimesheets to Xero; Employment Hero integrations in its marketplace from third partiesDeputy add-on; add-on to send clock-on/off times to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks OnlineTimesheets to Xero and MYOB Business AccountRight (Plus or Premier)
Other connectionsOpen API, integration marketplace, Zapier, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Stripe, SquareAdd-on marketplace, Stripe and Square card paymentsStripe, Square and trade supplier links

ServiceM8 paid plans are priced by jobs per month and include GST. AroFlo's page does not say whether its price includes GST. simPRO prices are on request. Setup, training and add-ons are extra for all three.

Each System in Brief

simPRO

A full job management system for established trade and service contractors. It covers quoting through to invoicing, stock and purchasing, asset maintenance and reporting, and can run several companies from one system. Its own pricing page pitches it at businesses with five to 200 staff.

Good for: Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire and security contractors doing a mix of service calls, projects and maintenance contracts, who need stock, purchase orders and WIP reports.

Worth knowing: Pricing is on request and add-ons cost extra. There is a lot to set up, so plan for a proper implementation rather than a weekend switch.

ServiceM8

A phone-first app for service businesses. Paid plans include unlimited users and are priced by how many jobs you do a month, which keeps it affordable for small crews.

Good for: Small service businesses doing many short jobs (electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, cleaning, pest control) that want quotes, scheduling, invoices and payments sorted on site.

Worth knowing: Job costing sits on the Premium plan and above, and its pricing page does not list a separate stock or purchase order module. Businesses doing longer projects or holding stock often outgrow it.

AroFlo

An Australian-made job management system for trade businesses. It covers quoting, scheduling, job costing, stock control, supplier price files and asset maintenance, priced per user.

Good for: Plumbing, electrical, HVAC and maintenance businesses that buy a lot of materials from trade suppliers and want stock, supplier pricing and compliance forms in the same system as their jobs.

Worth knowing: The minimum of three users and per-user pricing mean it costs more than ServiceM8 for a small crew. Check how the accounting connection handles changes to invoices: AroFlo’s own help notes that MYOB does not allow invoices to be updated once posted.

Small Team? Tradify and Fergus Are Worth a Look

If you have a handful of people and mostly straightforward jobs, simPRO and AroFlo may be more system than you need. Tradify and Fergus are both built for trades businesses from sole traders up, and both connect to Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks. Tradify charges per user (from $48 per user per month, ex GST, as at October 2026). Fergus offers monthly plans with no lock-in contract, plus an enterprise option for larger teams.

We compare the smaller-team options in ServiceM8 vs Tradify. If you are already on one of them and wondering whether it is time to move up, read Outgrowing ServiceM8, Tradify or Fergus.

Which Suits Your Business?

Start with how your business actually runs, not the feature list.

Two to five people doing short service jobs

ServiceM8, or Tradify or Fergus
A simple app with a built-in Xero or MYOB connection is usually all you need. Spend the money on getting your price list and job templates right.

Growing team that holds stock and buys from Reece, Rexel and similar

AroFlo or simPRO
Both handle stock, purchase orders and supplier catalogues, so material costs land on the job instead of in a spreadsheet.

Service plus projects plus maintenance contracts

simPRO or AroFlo
You need quotes for bigger jobs, asset registers and recurring maintenance, and job costing that shows WIP while work is still running.

Several companies or divisions under one owner

simPRO (check AroFlo too)
simPRO lists multi-company management; AroFlo lists multi-business unit support. Ask each to show you how each entity lands in its own Xero or MYOB file.

Mostly maintenance and compliance testing

simPRO or AroFlo
Both track customer assets and maintenance schedules. ServiceM8 covers recurring jobs and asset history too, which may be enough for a smaller business.

Not sure the job system is the real problem

Map the process first
If quotes, timesheets and invoices are being retyped between systems, a new app alone will not fix that. Work out where the information breaks down before you buy.

Whatever you choose, book demos with your own jobs: one real quote, one real job from start to invoice, and one month-end. That shows you more than any comparison table.

Where the Real Work Is: Getting the Job System Talking to Everything Else

Picking the app is the easy part. The problems owners tell us about usually sit between systems: timesheets that have to be fixed before payroll, invoices that land in Xero or MYOB without the right job or division, supplier bills keyed in twice, and reports that someone builds by hand each month from three exports. That is the work we do.

  • Accounts: making sure invoices, bills, payments and job or division tracking land in Xero or MYOB the way your bookkeeper and accountant need, including several companies posting to separate files.
  • Payroll and rostering: getting timesheets from the job system into Deputy, Employment Hero, Xero Payroll or MYOB payroll with the right job codes, allowances and leave, so the pay run does not need fixing each week.
  • Reporting: one set of numbers for job profit, WIP, technician utilisation and cash, combining the job system with your accounts, so you are not stitching spreadsheets together at month-end.
  • Switching systems: moving customers, sites, assets, price lists, open jobs and the history you actually need, and keeping the accounts clean through the cut-over.

We start with the process, not the software. For example, if your team quotes in one place, orders materials by phone and keys supplier bills into MYOB later, a new job system only helps if purchase orders are raised against the job and the bill matches the order. Fix that flow first, and the software choice gets much clearer.

Kenomont is founder-led by Aaron Chambers, based on the Gold Coast, with more than 20 years of experience in business systems and data. We work with trades and field service businesses across Australia remotely. More on that on our trades and field service page and our systems integration service.

When You Don't Need Us

Plenty of trade businesses never need outside help with this, and we would rather tell you that now.

  • If you have a small team, one company and one Xero or MYOB file, the built-in connector in ServiceM8, AroFlo, simPRO, Tradify or Fergus is usually enough. Your vendor and bookkeeper can set it up.
  • If a marketplace app already does the job (for example, ServiceM8's Deputy add-on, or one of the Employment Hero apps in simPRO's marketplace), use it before paying for anything custom.
  • If you are moving from one system to another and only need customers and price lists, the vendor's own import tools and onboarding team will usually handle it.

We are worth talking to when the built-in options leave gaps: several companies or divisions, payroll that needs fixing every week, reports built by hand, or a switch where you need the job history and the accounts to line up afterwards.

Switching Systems Without Losing Your History

Most switches go wrong at the edges: jobs that were half-invoiced in the old system, customers set up twice, or the accounts showing different figures from the new job system in the first month. A plan that covers these steps avoids most of it:

  1. Decide what you need to keep. Customers, sites, contacts, assets and price lists almost always. Open quotes and jobs usually. Closed jobs, photos and notes: often better kept read-only in the old system for a while, or exported to an archive.
  2. Clean before you move. Merge duplicate customers and sites, and tidy the price list. Moving a mess just gives you a mess in a new system.
  3. Agree a cut-off with your bookkeeper. Choose which system invoices which jobs, so nothing is invoiced twice or missed, and make sure customers and items match what is already in Xero or MYOB.
  4. Reconnect payroll and reporting. Timesheet links, job codes and any reports that read from the old system need to point at the new one.
  5. Check the first month-end. Compare job figures with the accounts before switching off the old system for good.

We cover the reconciliation side in more detail in simPRO and AroFlo to Xero or MYOB: what the integration syncs, and the payroll side in trades timesheets to payroll under Payday Super.

The Technical Side

For whoever looks after your systems: simPRO lists an open API (the official way other software reads and writes its data) and an integration marketplace, with Zapier among its listed connections. ServiceM8 and AroFlo both offer add-ons and published integrations as well. Where the built-in connector does not cover what you need, we build on the vendor's published API rather than screen-scraping or workarounds, so the link keeps working through normal product updates.

A few things we check early: how each system identifies customers and items so they match Xero or MYOB, whether invoices can be changed after posting (AroFlo's help notes that MYOB, QuickBooks and Reckon do not allow posted invoices to be updated, so corrections are deleted and reposted), how tracking categories or jobs map across, and how failures are reported so someone knows to fix them.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends mostly on the size of your team and the kind of work you do. ServiceM8 suits small service businesses doing lots of short jobs, and it charges per account with unlimited users on paid plans. AroFlo is Australian-made and suits trade businesses from a few technicians up to larger teams that want stock control, supplier price files and maintenance work in one place. simPRO is aimed at businesses with roughly five to 200 staff doing a mix of service, project and maintenance work, often with multiple companies or divisions. If you have a small crew and simple jobs, ServiceM8 (or Tradify or Fergus) is usually enough.

As at October 2026: ServiceM8 publishes its prices. There is a free plan for one user, and paid plans start from $29/month (AUD, including GST) with unlimited users, priced by how many jobs you do each month. AroFlo starts from AUD $80 per user per month, with a minimum of three users, and the per-user rate drops as you add users. simPRO does not publish prices; you request a quote for its base plan, and add-ons such as Maintenance Planner, Takeoffs and Digital Forms cost extra. On top of the subscription, allow for setup, training and moving your data across.

Yes, all three have built-in connections to Xero and MYOB. For many small and mid-sized trade businesses the built-in connection is all you need: invoices, customers and payments go across, and your bookkeeper reconciles in Xero or MYOB as normal. Custom work starts to make sense when you need things the connector does not do, such as job or division tracking set up the way your accountant wants it, several companies posting to separate files, or reports that combine job, payroll and accounting figures.

Customers, sites, suppliers, contacts and price lists usually come across by spreadsheet import, and each vendor offers help or import tools for this. Open jobs, quotes, job history, notes, photos and attachments are harder, because each system stores them differently. The usual approach is to bring over customers, sites, assets and open work, keep the old system available read-only for looking up history for a while, and agree a cut-off date with your bookkeeper so nothing is invoiced twice or missed.

Usually, yes, but the route differs. ServiceM8 has a Deputy add-on and an add-on that sends staff clock-on and clock-off times to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks Online as timesheets. AroFlo can send timesheets to Xero and to MYOB Business AccountRight (Plus or Premier). simPRO sends timesheets to Xero, and its marketplace lists Employment Hero integrations built by third parties. The hard part is rarely the connection itself; it is getting award rules, allowances, leave and job codes to line up so the pay run is right first time.

No. If the built-in connectors cover what you need, your vendor and your bookkeeper can set them up. If you need more than that, we do the work, document it and hand it over in plain English, so you are not relying on one person who knows how it works.

Every project is scoped and given a fixed quote after a free initial chat, because the cost depends on how many systems are involved, how much history you want to bring across and how much has to be custom-built. If you are not yet sure what to fix, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps how jobs, timesheets, invoices and reports flow through your business today and gives you a written report on what to change first.

Vendors do change their connections from time to time. Where we build something custom, we use the vendor’s published API (the official way other software exchanges data with it), add checks that flag when something fails rather than failing silently, and document how it works. If a vendor change needs an update, we can scope that for you.

Yes. Your bookkeeper or accountant usually knows best how jobs, divisions and tracking categories should land in Xero or MYOB. We work alongside them, and alongside your job software vendor, so the setup suits the way your books are kept.

Jobs, Timesheets and Accounts Not Talking to Each Other?

Whether you are choosing between simPRO, ServiceM8 and AroFlo, switching from one to another, or trying to get your current system to line up with Xero, MYOB and payroll, send us a message. In a free initial chat we will tell you plainly what is worth connecting, and give you a fixed quote. Not sure where the problem is yet? Our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps it for you.

Book a free initial chat

Part of our guide: Construction Finance Systems Guide

See also