Ascora alternative for Australian trades.

How Ascora charges

Ascora charges per user per month. Essentials is $45 a user, Elite is $59 a user, and Enterprise is priced on application once you are past 30 techs. Those two rates are the only prices in their plan grid and there is no volume break published on it, so any total we quote for a bigger crew is our own arithmetic at their rates, not a figure they publish. Their pricing page is headed "Pricing · AUD" but it never says whether that is before or after GST, so ask before you budget. There is also a one time implementation fee in a footnote under the whole plan grid, and they do not publish the amount. One loose end worth raising with them: the page's own structured data carries a $29 a month AUD figure that is not attached to any plan you can see, so ask whether a cheaper seat exists before you take $45 as their floor.

Where Ascora is genuinely better

Real offline. Native iOS and Android apps, with offline mode ticked on all three plans, so a tech keeps working with no signal and syncs when it comes back. If your crews are in basements, plant rooms or out past the black stump, that beats any feature list. MYOB and QuickBooks two way as well as Xero, on every plan, and approved timesheets pushed to Xero, MYOB or Deputy for payroll. If your bookkeeper runs MYOB, that decision is already made. More than fifteen years at it, built and supported from Perth since 2010, now selling into five countries. There is a long trail of trade businesses you can ring before you sign anything. An open API and a Zapier connector, so you can wire Ascora into whatever else you run without waiting on a vendor. Deeper stock control, and it is on their cheapest plan. We have a Stock page now, carrying on hand, locations, minimum levels, reorder, stock takes, a movement ledger and docket scanning on the way in, but theirs holds a quantity per location and transfers between them, and it has barcode stocktakes, supplier catalogue imports and kits. If you count stock across several vans, they are still ahead. Cheaper than us for a small crew. At $45 a user on Essentials they are cheaper up to about six people, and cheaper across every rate they publish if every one of your people needs full web access. Above 30 techs they quote rather than publish, so there is nothing to compare.

Where people move to us

One price list. $99 a month including your first full access user, $69 for each extra, $29 for anyone who only needs the phone, dropping to $23 from the twenty first mobile seat. No tiers and no feature gates. The paid extras are Momo, our AI assistant, charged per full access user, which we have not published a price for yet, and texting, which is optional and pay as you go. The mobile only seat. Most of your crew needs the day jobs, a clock on, some photos and a JSA signed. You pay $29 a month for that, not a full licence. JSAs, safety forms, progress claims and retentions are on every account from day one. You do not move up a tier to sign off a SWMS. Month to month, no lock in and no setup fee, and a 14 day free trial with no credit card. Support from the people who wrote the code, on the phone seven days, 7am to 9pm ACST, out of Adelaide. Momo sits inside the CRM and reads your live jobs, quotes, invoices and timesheets, so you can ask what is unbilled or which quotes have gone cold and get an answer in plain English. It never changes anything without asking. It is a paid add on per full access user.

Who Ascora actually suits

A crew that works where the signal drops out, or one whose books are in MYOB or QuickBooks and staying there. Anyone under about seven people who wants a small monthly number, and anyone counting stock van by van who needs a separate quantity held against each one.

Who StackLyft actually suits

A growing outfit where a few people run the office and the rest just need the day jobs, a clock on and a JSA on the phone. You are on Xero, you have got coverage on most sites, and you would rather pay one price with every feature switched on, Momo our AI assistant and pay-as-you-go texting being the only extras, than argue about which tier you are on.

What sits behind a higher plan or costs extra

Custom electronic forms, which is your SWMS, JSAs and safety checklists, are Elite only at $59 a user. On Essentials at $45 you do not get them. All seven of their real time business reporting rows, including profit and loss, work in progress and quoting and sales performance, start at Elite. Essentials gives you the jobs and the invoices but not the numbers behind them. Multi section and stage based projects, job templates, contract jobs, automatic recurring jobs, supplier bill importing and customer equipment servicing all sit on Elite and above. Not every extra is a tier gate. GPS tracking is ticked on all three plans, it is the physical trackers that are quoted separately. SMS is a paid add on at 10c per frame, and the one time implementation fee sits on top of the monthly with no published amount.

Questions

How much does Ascora cost in Australia?

Ascora publishes Australian pricing on their own site: $45 per user per month on Essentials and $59 per user per month on Elite. Enterprise, which they aim at teams over 30 techs, is priced on application. The page is headed "Pricing · AUD" but it does not state whether GST is in or out, so confirm that before you budget. A footnote under the whole plan grid says a one time implementation fee applies, with no dollar figure attached, so ask what yours would be on the demo call. One oddity worth raising with them: the page's own structured data carries a $29 a month AUD figure that is not attached to any plan you can see on it.

Is Ascora cheaper than StackLyft?

For a small crew, yes. One person pays $45 a month on Ascora Essentials against $99 with us. At their published $45 a user, our own arithmetic puts ten Ascora seats at $450, and ten people with us, two on full access and eight on the phone app, is $400, so by ten we are already $50 cheaper. The turn comes at about seven people, because most of your crew sits on a $29 mobile only seat instead of a full licence, and at twenty people with three in the office we make it $730 against $900 at their Essentials rate. Two things to hold onto. Those Ascora totals are our multiplication at their published per user rate, not a price they quote, and their page does not say whether their rates include GST while our $99 and $69 are ex GST. Our figures cover the whole platform, with Momo, our AI assistant, and pay-as-you-go texting the only extras on top. If every one of your people needs the full web CRM, though, Ascora is cheaper across every rate they publish, and above 30 techs their Enterprise pricing is quoted rather than published, so get that number from them.

Does Ascora work offline?

Yes, and this is where they beat us. Ascora runs native iOS and Android apps and offline mode is ticked on all three of their plans, so a tech can log materials, take photos, fill in forms and finish a job with no signal, then sync when they are back in range. Ours is on both stores as well, but our offline support is limited, so you want coverage or Wi-Fi on site. If your work is in basements, plant rooms or well out of town, take that seriously.

Does Ascora integrate with MYOB?

Yes. Their feature matrix ticks customer, invoice, payment, supplier and bill sync with MYOB, Xero and QuickBooks on every plan, and payroll with MYOB and Xero, and their own accounts and timesheets pages add Deputy for approved hours. We sync with Xero only, two way. No MYOB, no QuickBooks, no Reckon. If your books live in MYOB and they are not moving, Ascora is the better fit and that is the end of it.

Do I need Ascora Elite or is Essentials enough?

It comes down to whether you need forms and reporting. Essentials at $45 covers customers, quoting, scheduling, jobs, invoicing and accounting sync, and offline mode is ticked on it. Custom electronic forms, so your SWMS and JSAs, plus all seven reporting rows, equipment servicing, job templates and stage based projects, sit on Elite at $59. If you have to hand compliance paperwork to a builder or a client, that puts you on Elite, so price it at $59 a head rather than $45.