Quoting apps compared: simple vs all-in-one

Small businesses quote with one of three kinds of tool: a template, the quotes in their accounting software, or a job-management app that does quotes along with scheduling, timesheets and invoicing. Templates are free but do nothing for you. Accounting software quotes well enough but was built for the books. Job-management apps do the most, and charge for it. A simple quoting app sits between them: quotes customers accept and pay from one link, without the rest.

Three kinds of quoting tool

The apps, side by side

Prices are the lowest listed on each company’s own site on 5 October 2026, before tax. Some are per user, some billed yearly. Check the current page before you choose.

What you pay for extras, deposits and follow-ups

Most of these tools let customers accept a quote online. The features that win more of the work, letting the customer pick options, taking the deposit when they accept, and following up for you, are where plans differ. From each company’s own pages:

• Jobber: customers can approve a quote and pay a deposit; optional line items are on the Grow plan (US$149 a month, billed yearly), automatic follow-ups from the Connect plan (US$99 a month, billed yearly).
• Tradify: quote options, online acceptance and reminders are on Pro, £37 per user a month.
• ServiceM8: online acceptance on every plan, deposits through its own payments, and proposals with options on the Growing plan, £59 a month. Its Android app was in beta when we checked.
• Quotient: optional items, online acceptance and alerts when a quote is opened, from £21 a month for 100 quotes.
• Xero: customers can accept, decline or comment on a quote. An alert when a customer views a quote has been one of its users’ open requests since 2023.
• Gugab: optional extras, acceptance by name and card deposits on every plan, including Free; you are told when a quote is opened; automatic follow-ups and payment reminders on Pro, £15 a month. A small fee applies to card payments.

Which should you pick?

Pick a job-management app if

• you schedule a team, track their time or dispatch jobs;
• you want quoting, job sheets, invoicing and customer history in one big system;
• you are happy to pay per user and spend time setting it up.

Quote from your accounting software if

• most of your quotes go to businesses who expect a formal document;
• having the quote become an invoice in your books matters more than winning it faster.

Pick a simple quoting app if

• you mainly need to quote, get the yes and get paid;
• you quote from your phone, between jobs;
• you want customers to tick extras, accept and pay the deposit without a phone call;
• you want to start free and be sending quotes today.

Stay with a template if

you send the odd quote to people who know you. See what templates can’t do for when that changes.

Questions to ask before you choose

• Can the customer accept on their phone without an account or an app?
• Can they tick optional extras and see the total change?
• Can they pay the deposit by card when they accept, into my own account?
• Will I know when they open the quote?
• Are follow-ups and payment reminders sent for me, and on which plan?
• What does it cost with the features I actually need, per user and per month?
• Can I take my data with me if I leave?

The easy way: try it with a real quote

The quickest test of any quoting tool is to send yourself a real quote and open it on your phone. With Gugab that takes a couple of minutes: sign up, pick your kind of work, and your services and prices are ready. Open the link as your customer would, tick an extra, accept, and see what you would be told.