Fergus alternative for Australian trades.

How Fergus charges

Fergus charges per user per month, and the plan tier sets the rate. Their Australian pricing page publishes Essentials from $53 per month and Professional from $77 per month, checked 28 August 2026. The per user basis is not on that price card: it comes from their terms of service, which say Fergus charges the fees on a per user basis with a plan type base, and from their help centre, which says you pay per user, per month. Their terms of service also say fees are exclusive of all taxes, levies or duties, so GST goes on top. If someone only needs to log hours you can drop them to a Timesheet seat from $26, and an irregular subbie goes on a Contractor seat at $4 per user per day they actually touch a job. Above 10 staff Fergus publishes no rate and asks you to contact them for a custom Enterprise plan.

Where Fergus is genuinely better

Cheaper than us for a sole trader or a two-hander. Their AU pricing page publishes Essentials from $53 a month, checked 28 August 2026, against our 49, and some of their own feature pages still carry an older from $44 line. That gap is not close and we would rather say so here than have you find it out on a call. MYOB and QuickBooks as well as Xero, ticked on both their plans. If your books live in MYOB and they're not moving, that decision is already made and we are not in the running. iPhone and Android apps that handle a dropout. Fergus Go lets you view job data you've already loaded, shipped February 2026, and create time entries with no connection, shipped June 2026, then syncs when you're back in range. If your crew works in basements, plant rooms and out past the black stump, that beats everything else on this page. Over 100 supplier integrations. On Pro, Reece and Tradelink invoices import and land on the right job by themselves. That is real hours off your office person and real costs that stop walking out the door unbilled. They have been going since 2012 and say on their own numbers that 25,000+ trade businesses use them. We are new, so there is a long public track record on them and not on us. Card payments on site. Tap to Pay straight off the phone or a QR code the customer scans, at 1.95% plus 30c a transaction in Australia with no setup or monthly fee. You can have the money before you've packed the van.

Where people move to us

One price with every feature of the CRM on from day one: quoting, jobs, scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, POs, subbie work orders, job costing, retentions, timesheets and reporting. No Essentials versus Pro, no purchase orders behind a paywall, no SWMS on the dearer plan. The one thing that costs extra is Momo, our AI assistant, a paid add-on per Full Access user whose price we have not published yet. Mobile Only seats at $29, dropping to $23 from seat 21, do real work on site: GPS clock on and check-in, the job brief, JSA and safety forms signed on the job, photos, materials and expenses from the van, and marking the job done. Fergus's $26 timesheet seat can view photos and files, but their help centre says it cannot upload them to the job card. Retentions and progress claims are included. The route we found on the Fergus side is a third-party tool plus a manual price book line. Month to month, no lock-in, no setup fee, and a 14 day free trial with no credit card, so you can put it in front of the crew before you pay anything. Phone support seven days a week, 7am to 9pm ACST, out of Adelaide, on every account.

Who Fergus actually suits

Fergus suits a sole trader or a small crew who want a proven system for not much money, and it suits anyone whose books live in MYOB or QuickBooks. If your work takes you into basements, plant rooms and dead spots where the phone drops out, their offline handling is the thing that should decide it. And if you buy heavily from Reece or Tradelink, the supplier invoice matching on their Pro plan will save your office person hours every week.

Who StackLyft actually suits

We suit a crew of roughly four and up where the people on site do real paperwork: safety forms signed on the job, materials and expenses logged from the van, photos on the job, and marking it done from the phone. You want one price with every CRM feature on from day one, retentions and progress claims included, and someone in Adelaide who picks up when you ring. The one thing that costs extra is Momo, our AI assistant, a paid add-on per Full Access user with no public price yet. You need to be on Xero and you need decent coverage on site, or we're the wrong call.

What sits behind a higher plan or costs extra

Purchase orders, checklists, forms, job phases, tasks and tiered pricing are all Pro only, so an Essentials account cannot raise a PO to your wholesaler. Hazards and SWMS sit on the Pro plan, which puts the safety paperwork on the dearer tier. Every report past the timesheet overview and pay summary is Pro only, including quote, staff, business and financial reporting. The plan table also reserves phone support for Pro, though an FAQ block on some of their feature pages says all support is included free. Certificates are a separate paid add-on at $30 a month for 1 to 9 staff and $80 for 10 or more, and SMS reminders run 5 per 100 texts on top of your plan.

Questions

How much does Fergus cost in Australia?

As at August 2026 Fergus publishes two plans on their Australian pricing page: Essentials from $53 per month and Professional from $77 per month. Those cards do not say "per user", but their terms of service say Fergus charges fees on a per user basis and their help centre says you pay per user, per month. The terms of service also say fees are exclusive of tax, so add GST on top. A timesheet seat starts at $26 a month and an irregular subbie can go on a contractor seat at $4 per user per day they're active. Certificates are a separate add-on at $30 a month for 1 to 9 staff or $80 for 10 or more, and SMS reminders are 5 per 100 texts. Above 10 staff Fergus publishes no rate and asks you to contact them for a custom Enterprise plan. Some of their feature pages still show an older "from $44" figure, so treat the pricing page as the current one.

Is Fergus cheaper than StackLyft?

For a sole trader, yes. Their AU pricing page publishes Essentials from $53 a month against our 49, checked 28 August 2026, and some of their feature pages still show an older from $44. For a crew it depends on what your people do on site. One in the office and six on the tools comes to $539 a month on Fergus Pro against $323 with us, and that $539 is our arithmetic at their published floor rate, not a figure Fergus publishes. The difference is that our $29 Mobile Only seats carry the photos, materials and safety forms Fergus bills at a full user rate. But if those six only need to clock hours, one Pro seat plus six Timesheet seats works out at $233 by the same sum and we can't match that. Our side, ex GST, is 49 for the platform including the first Full Access user, $69 for each extra Full Access user, $29 a Mobile Only seat and $23 from seat 21, plus Momo, our AI assistant, which is a paid add-on per Full Access user with no public price yet. Count your actual heads and work out who needs to upload a photo before you decide.

Does Fergus work offline?

Partly, and better than we do. Their own 2026 release notes ship offline viewing of data you've already loaded, from February 2026, plus offline time entry that lets your crew create and edit entries with no connection and sync when they're back in range, from June 2026. It isn't a full offline system, but it's a genuine reason to pick them. Our app needs coverage or Wi-Fi and we're not going to dress that up. If half your work is in basements or plant rooms, go with Fergus.

Does Fergus work with MYOB?

Yes. Fergus lists Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks, ticked on both their plans, and their pricing page describes it as two-way sync with your accounting system. We do Xero only, two-way, and there's no MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon we can promise you today. If your books are in MYOB and your bookkeeper isn't shifting, Fergus is the better fit and you can stop reading here. We'd rather tell you that now than three weeks into a trial.

What's the difference between a Fergus full user, timesheet user and contractor?

A full user is the whole system at $53 or $77 a month depending on the plan. A timesheet user from $26 is a site seat that covers hours, uncharged time, the job card for assigned jobs, the calendar and the notice board, with read only access to files and photos, and their help centre says those users cannot upload photos or files to the job card. Checklists, forms on a phase and hazards only come with that seat on a Pro account. A contractor at $4 per user per day of activity is for subbies and casuals, billed only on days they log something, and they can't do certificates, sign offs, customer invoices or supplier invoices. Our Mobile Only seat at $29 sits closest to the timesheet seat but does more: photos, materials and expenses from the van, safety forms signed on site, and marking the job done.