For a heating firm of one to five people, the shortlist is Powered Now, Tradify, ServiceM8 and Fergus; Commusoft is built for six or more staff. Choose on certificates and the pricing model first. The AI features add drafting, bill scanning and phone answering; most sit on the top plan or cost extra, and they should not decide the choice.
Search results for this keyword mix job management tools with heat loss design tools such as Heat Engineer, which solve a different problem; the heat pump software tutorial covers those. A one-to-five-person heating firm is judged on running jobs, records, quotes and invoices, so that is what the five products are compared on. Prices come only from each vendor's regional pricing page, in pounds (written GBP below), so no figure has been converted from another currency.
Per user, per job or quote-only: how each one charges
The four published prices work differently, which is why a headline figure misleads. Powered Now and Tradify charge for each person. ServiceM8 charges for the number of jobs and lets everyone log in. Fergus shows a 'from' price that its page does not tie to a user. The table prices each at the tier that includes certificates and forms, because a heating firm needs those on day one.
| Product and tier | 1 user | 3 users | 5 users | What decides the bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powered Now Professional | GBP 26.67 annual, 32 monthly | GBP 80.01 annual, 96 monthly | GBP 133.35 annual, 160 monthly | Per user; the cheaper Business plan covers one user and lacks certificates |
| Tradify Pro | GBP 37 | GBP 111 | GBP 185 | Per user, month to month, no contract |
| ServiceM8 Growing | GBP 59 | GBP 59 | GBP 59 | 150 jobs a month, unlimited users; Starter is GBP 25 for 50 jobs but forms start on Growing |
| Fergus Professional | From GBP 45 | Not stated | Not stated | The page does not say whether the figure is per user |
| Commusoft | Quote only | Quote only | Quote only | Per-user licences on a standard 12-month contract |
Powered Now says its prices exclude sales tax; the other pages I read are silent, so ask before you budget. Fergus's page also shows its entry prices crossed out under a limited offer of 90 per cent off (GBP 3.90 in place of GBP 39 for Essentials). I have ignored that, because a limited offer ends.
The crossover points are the useful part. ServiceM8 Growing undercuts Tradify Pro from the second person and Powered Now Professional from the third on annual billing (the second on monthly billing), as long as you stay under 150 jobs a month. A solo engineer who needs certificates is cheaper on Powered Now (GBP 26.67 annual) or Tradify (GBP 37) than on ServiceM8 Growing at GBP 59. One detail changes the ServiceM8 sum, and its pricing FAQ settles it: every new job card uses a job credit, a job can start life as a quote, and an accepted quote that becomes a work order does not use a second credit. So a quote that never converts still counts. A firm that prices a lot of boiler replacements should add those quotes to its monthly total before choosing a tier. When you pass your limit, the FAQ says you can carry on for seven more days, after which the count resets if your billing month has rolled over or you are prompted to upgrade.
The certificate test: gas, commissioning and service records
A heating firm lives on paperwork that customers, landlords and manufacturers expect to see, so this is where the shortlist narrows. What the vendors' own pages say is below. None of them proves your specific record is there; the test after the table does.
| Product | What its pages say about certificates and forms | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Powered Now | Lists 'compliant certificates and custom forms'. Its help article names categories including gas, electrical, renewable energy, plumbing and oil and solid fuel, and a landlord gas safety certificate. Forms can be left part-completed, signed by engineer and customer, sent by text or email, and copied from a previous visit to the same site (readings are not copied). | Professional and above |
| Tradify | Lists compliance certificates on its pricing page. Its oil and gas certificates feature page names 15 forms, including a landlord or homeowner gas safety record, a service and maintenance record, an installation, commissioning and decommissioning record, a gas warning notice and three oil installation and servicing reports. Signatures are captured on the phone and forms are emailed as PDFs. Plus adds automatic reminders for boiler services and other maintenance. | Pro and above; reminders on Plus |
| ServiceM8 | Electronic forms with signature questions and PDF output, plus a Form Store where forms can be bought. The pages I read list no gas-specific forms. | Growing and above |
| Fergus | Lists 'certificates' on both plans and forms and checklists on Professional. Its pricing page describes no gas-specific features. | Certificates on both; forms and checklists on Professional |
| Commusoft | Digital forms for paperless safety checks, service reports and signatures, and a go-paperless pitch about digitising certificates. No gas-specific templates are described on the pages I read. | Plan not stated |
Tradify's help article on those forms would not load for me (the page returned a forbidden error), so its form list comes from the feature page, which does not say how each form is filled in on site. On paper, Powered Now and Tradify name the most gas content. Test all of them in a trial, using records you actually issue.
- Pick the three records you issue most: for example a service record, a landlord gas safety record and a commissioning checklist.
- Create each in the trial on your phone, with the signal switched off for one of them. Time each.
- Check every field your manufacturer or scheme requires is there. A template that looks right but lacks one reading will cost you a rejected warranty or a callback.
- Send it to yourself by email and by text. Check it arrives as a PDF with your name and logo, and attaches to the customer record.
- Open it again a month later. Check you can find it by customer, address and date.
- Ask the vendor in writing whether you can add your own template and who owns the data if you leave.
If a product fails step 3 for a record you must issue, it is out, whatever it costs. The gas engineer software tutorial covers certificate-only apps and what AI should and should not touch in them.
What the AI features add, product by product
The tiers matter more than the features. As of October 2026, the vendors' own pages list the following.
| Product | AI features named on its pages | Where they sit |
|---|---|---|
| Powered Now | AI text writing (a few words into a quote description or customer message) and an AI receipt and cost document scanner. A separate PN Receptionist answers calls and, on the pricing page, books jobs into your diary (the page does not call it AI). | The two AI tools are on Premium (GBP 33.33 a user annual, 40 monthly). Receptionist is an add-on on any plan at GBP 29, or GBP 39 with text. |
| Tradify | SmartRead for Bills (captures costs with AI) and SmartWrite (generates descriptions and improves writing). | Plus only, GBP 44 a user a month. |
| ServiceM8 | AI Quote and Invoice (drafts the description and billing items), an AI writing helper, Office Agent Standard and Office Agent Pro (chases quotes, drafts replies, flags overdue tasks, with notifications and approvals). Its phone add-on offers an AI Phone Agent that handles business calls; the page does not say whether it books jobs. | Quote and Invoice and the writing helper on every plan, limited to 10 uses a day on Free. Office Agent Standard from Starter. Office Agent Pro GBP 29 extra on paid plans. AI Phone Agent on Phone Connect Plus (GBP 25, 500 call minutes, then GBP 0.03 a minute) or Unlimited (GBP 119). |
| Fergus | Fergus Assistant (ask about jobs, costs and numbers), Go Assistant (type or speak on site to update jobs and time) and Fergus AI; its FAQ says invoice reading is powered by AI. | The pricing page does not say which plans include them. |
| Commusoft | AI:den for summaries and report drafting, and a paid AI:den+ add-on. | One regional plans page labels both 'coming soon'. Ask what is live. |
Drafting quote wording
This is the AI feature you will use most, and it is the easiest to check. Give it your rough job note and read what comes back against what you actually agreed.
| Your note | Illustrative AI draft | What you would fix |
|---|---|---|
| combi swap 30kW, 7 rads, magnetic filter, new smart stat, chemical flush, pipework changes in airing cupboard, 2 days | Remove the existing combination boiler and supply and fit a new 30 kW combination boiler. Chemical flush of the heating circuit and fitting of a magnetic filter. Supply and fit a smart thermostat. Alter pipework in the airing cupboard to suit. Commissioning and handover paperwork included. Works take two days and include a 10-year warranty. | The warranty line was never in your note. Delete anything you have not agreed. Add the exact boiler model, where the flue exits and what happens to the old unit. |
The pattern holds across all four tools: the draft is fluent, and the risk is the confident extra sentence. Make 'delete what I did not say' a habit.
Scanning supplier bills
Powered Now Premium's receipt scanner, Tradify Plus's SmartRead for Bills and Fergus's AI invoice reading all aim at the same chore: get a merchant invoice onto a job as a cost. The failure to watch for is a misread quantity. Take a merchant invoice whose printed line is three 3 m lengths of 15 mm copper tube at 11.40 each, GBP 34.20. If the scan reads eight, the job now carries GBP 91.20 for that line, which is GBP 57.00 too much, and your margin on the job looks worse than it is. The check takes ten seconds: compare the scanned total with the printed invoice total before you approve the cost.
Phone answering and assistants
Two of the five sell call answering. Powered Now's receptionist add-on costs GBP 29 or GBP 39 a month with unlimited calls. ServiceM8's AI Phone Agent comes with its phone add-on at GBP 25 a month for 500 call minutes (Connect Plus) or GBP 119 for unlimited minutes; the cheaper GBP 15 Connect tier does not include it. ServiceM8's Office Agent Pro is an admin assistant and not a phone answerer, so do not buy it expecting one. Before paying for any call answering, place five calls: no heating, no hot water, a noisy boiler, a request for a boiler replacement quote and a landlord asking about a record renewal. See what each one books, passes on and writes down. For the assistants in Fergus, ask a question whose answer you already know, such as last month's invoiced total, and compare. A tool that gets that wrong should not be trusted with the question you do not know.
What AI does not add is also worth saying plainly. For many heating firms the biggest practical gain is annual service reminders, and those are automation: Tradify lists them on Plus, Powered Now's certificate plans remind customers a month before a certificate expires, and ServiceM8 runs recurring jobs on every plan. You do not need an AI tier to chase a service that is due.
A four-person firm costed, with and without the AI tier
Take a firm made up of an owner, two engineers and a part-time office person, raising about 110 job cards a month: 60 annual services, 30 repairs, 12 installs and 8 quotes that never convert. Four people need a login, because the office person raises invoices and chases payments. The next table prices the same firm at the certificate tier, then with the AI tier or add-on that suits it.
| Set-up | Monthly cost, four users | Cost per job at 110 jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Powered Now Professional, annual billing | GBP 106.68 | GBP 0.97 |
| Powered Now Premium, annual billing (adds AI text and bill scanner) | GBP 133.32 | GBP 1.21 |
| Tradify Pro | GBP 148 | GBP 1.35 |
| Tradify Plus (adds SmartRead, SmartWrite, service reminders) | GBP 176 | GBP 1.60 |
| ServiceM8 Growing (forms and AI quote drafting included) | GBP 59 | GBP 0.54 |
| ServiceM8 Growing plus Office Agent Pro | GBP 88 | GBP 0.80 |
On cost alone ServiceM8 wins by a clear margin, and the reason is that it ignores head count. That advantage has a ceiling: at 150 jobs it asks you to move up to Premium (GBP 119 for 500 jobs), so a firm that adds a fifth person and reaches 170 jobs pays GBP 119, or GBP 148 with Office Agent Pro. Powered Now Premium for five users on annual billing is GBP 166.65 and Tradify Plus for five is GBP 220. The lines stay in the same order, but the gap narrows, and the firm that moves from four to five people is the one to re-run the sum for.
Cost does not settle it. Powered Now and Tradify name the most gas paperwork on their own pages (certificate categories in Powered Now's help article, 15 named oil and gas forms on Tradify's feature page), which matters for a gas-heavy firm. Tradify's Lite plan already includes accounting sync with Xero, Sage and QuickBooks Online, which matters if your bookkeeper needs the invoices in your accounts package every week. ServiceM8 lets you build or buy your own forms, and lists the least gas-specific content on the pages I read. Fergus's feature list leans towards price books, job cards, materials and timesheets, with certificates on both plans, and its gas coverage is the one to test hardest. For a closer two-way view, the Powered Now against Tradify tutorial and the ServiceM8 AI tutorial for a small heating firm go further on each.
Running costs outside the plan price: texts, card fees and accounting
Three charges sit beside the subscription and can move the answer. Texts come first, because a heating firm sends service reminders and visit confirmations all year. Powered Now's Professional tier lists unlimited text and email from the app. Tradify adds GBP 0.10 for each text quote, invoice or reminder. ServiceM8 includes 100 or more texts on Starter and 300 or more on Growing, then charges GBP 0.05 each. Fergus sells texts at GBP 8 for 100. For the four-person firm above, which sends about 120 texts a month (60 service reminders and 60 confirmations), the extra cost is about GBP 12 on Tradify, GBP 9.60 on Fergus (averaged, since its texts come in packs of 100) and nothing on ServiceM8 Growing or Powered Now Professional.
Card fees are the second. Fergus's pricing page lists credit card payments at 1.6 per cent plus GBP 0.20 a transaction, which on a GBP 250 service-plan invoice is GBP 4.20. The other pages I read did not list a card rate in the places I looked, so ask each vendor for the figure and compare it with the provider you use now.
Accounting is the third. Powered Now lists Xero and QuickBooks sync from Professional, Tradify lists Xero, Sage and QuickBooks Online sync from Lite, Fergus lists Xero, QuickBooks and MYOB on both plans, ServiceM8's pricing page names Xero, QuickBooks Online and MYOB, and Commusoft's plans page lists QuickBooks Online, Xero and Stripe. Fergus also charges separately for people who are not full users: timesheet users from GBP 12 a month and contractor users at GBP 2 a day, which matters if you use subcontractors on busy weeks.
Where Commusoft starts to make sense
Commusoft's own plans page says, in a sign-up pop-up, that the platform is specifically designed for businesses with six or more staff. That settles a firm of one to five people for now, but it is worth knowing what you would be moving towards. The same page describes a standard 12-month contract, per-user licences in three kinds (contracted, monthly rolling for seasonal staff, and daily for subcontractors), and onboarding included in the package, with a follow-up session some weeks after training. It lists service contracts for planned maintenance with recurring billing, automated customer reminders and on-our-way alerts, digital forms, job costing and stock management. It publishes no prices.
The practical rule is this. Stay on a lighter tool while the office is one person and the jobs fit on a diary. Start asking Commusoft for a quote when you have a dedicated admin, several engineers on service contracts and a stock room, because that is the point where a 12-month contract and an onboarding project cost less than the chaos they replace. Ask whether its AI:den features are live, because one regional page marks them 'coming soon'.
Getting a year of service history in before the first reminder run
Service reminders are only as good as the dates behind them, so the move matters more than the menus. Whatever you are leaving (a diary, a spreadsheet or another app), export one row per appliance, not per customer, because a landlord with three flats has three boilers and three due dates. The columns a reminder needs are the customer, the site address, the contact for access (tenant or owner), the appliance make and model, where it is in the property, the install date, the last service date, the next due date and, for rented property, the date the current gas safety record runs out.
A chat assistant is good at reshaping a messy export into those columns, and it is also where the worst migration mistake happens. A prompt that works:
Below is an export of my heating customers. Rewrite it as a table with one row
per appliance and these columns: customer, site address, access contact,
appliance make, model, location, install date, last service date, next due
date, record expiry. Write every date as DD Month YYYY. If a date could be read
two ways, or is missing, write CHECK and keep the original text beside it.
Do not invent any value.
[paste export]An illustrative output row: 'Flat 2, [address] | tenant: [first name] | combi boiler, make as written | kitchen cupboard | install: CHECK (03/04/19) | last service: 14 March 2026 | next due: 14 March 2027 | record expiry: 2 April 2026'. Two things need fixing. The install date is ambiguous, because 03/04/19 can be read day-first or month-first, which is exactly why the prompt asks for CHECK. And the record expiry of 2 April 2026 has already passed, so that landlord needs a call this week, not a reminder next spring. The classic failure is the quiet one: a tool or an assistant reads 04/07/2025 as April when your diary meant July, and a customer who has just been serviced gets a reminder three months early. Test for it with five records whose day number is 13 or more (18/09 can only be read one way) and five that could be read either way, then compare both sets with the paper diary.
Import 20 rows first, not the whole file. Open five of them on the phone, run the product's due-this-month list and check it against the diary for the same month. Only then import the rest. If the export needs more cleaning than you would trust an assistant with, the tutorial on cleaning messy data shows the spreadsheet route.
Ten real jobs through two products in 14 days
Pick the two products that survive the certificate test and run the same ten jobs through both during their free periods. Use real work, not demo data.
- An annual boiler service with its record.
- A landlord's yearly gas safety record.
- A breakdown with parts bought from a merchant.
- A boiler replacement quote with two options.
- An installation with a commissioning checklist.
- A job that needs photos of the flue or pipework.
- A customer on a yearly service plan.
- An invoice paid by card link.
- A supplier invoice matched to a job.
- A customer asking when their next service is due.
Score each job out of 2 on three things: speed on a phone, whether the record or document is complete, and how it looks to the customer. That is 60 points for ten jobs. A filled-in score for two invented products, Tool A and Tool B, shows the method. Tool A scores 49 out of 60. Tool B scores 44, including a 0 on the landlord record because a required field was missing. Tool A wins on the total, and the 0 alone would have ruled Tool B out even if it had scored higher elsewhere. Any zero on a record you are required to issue is a stop, not a deduction.
Two final cautions. Do not buy the AI tier because it appears in the feature list; try the plan below it for the trial and switch on the AI only where it saves you time on a real job. And do not skip the data question: ask each vendor how you export your customers, jobs and records if you leave. A year of service history is the asset in a heating firm, and it should be yours.
Questions heating firms ask before choosing job software
Do I need a heat loss design tool as well as job software?
Not for boiler and servicing work. Design tools such as Heat Engineer calculate heat loss and size radiators, which is a different job from scheduling, certificates and invoicing. Heat pump firms often need both. If that is your work, the heat pump software tutorial covers the design side, and this one stays on running jobs.
Can the AI fill in a gas safety record for me?
It can tidy wording around the record, such as job notes or a covering email, but the readings, the pass or fail decision and the signature are yours. None of the vendor pages I read describe AI completing a safety record. Treat any tool that offers to do so as something to test hard and keep out of the sign-off.
Which plans include boiler service reminders?
On the pages I read, Tradify lists automatic reminders for boiler services on Plus. Powered Now's certificate FAQ says customers are reminded a month before a certificate expires, and certificates come with Professional and Premium. ServiceM8 includes recurring jobs on every plan, and Fergus lists recurring jobs on both plans. Check which of these sends the reminder text you want, and when.
Is Commusoft too big for a three-person firm?
Its own pages say it is designed for businesses with six or more staff, with a standard 12-month contract, per-user licences and onboarding included. No prices are published. A three-person firm can ask for a quote, but the contract length and the minimum size are the points to test before you spend time on a demonstration.
Can I try these before paying?
Mostly. Powered Now, Tradify and Fergus all offer 14-day free trials with no card needed. ServiceM8 has a free plan limited to one user and 30 jobs a month. Commusoft's plans page invites a free trial but gives no terms, and says demonstrations are not offered in every region. Use the ten-job test in this tutorial during any trial.
Further reads
- Tradify vs Fergus for Plumbers and Electricians: AI Features Compared — A closer two-way look at Tradify and Fergus.
- Boiler Installation Checklist: AI Sorts the Photos, You Sign the Records — Photos and handover records for boiler installs.
- Boiler Replacement Leads: Follow Up in Minutes Using AI — Following up replacement enquiries quickly.
- Is Checkatrade's AI-Powered TradeMore App Right for a Heating Engineer? — Whether a lead app is worth switching to.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Powered Now, Tradify, ServiceM8, Fergus and Commusoft regional pricing and feature pages, Tradify's oil and gas certificates page, ServiceM8's phone page and pricing FAQ, and Powered Now's forms and certificates knowledge base article. All read in October 2026.