LoadingLoadingLoadingLoadingServiceM8 nailed the mobile job-card workflow on iOS, and it lets you put unlimited users on a plan. For UK service businesses past the small-team stage, the questions are how its monthly job allowance fits your volume, and whether you need UK construction tax handling it doesn't cover.
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ServiceM8 is a craft app for a specific workflow. People move when that workflow stops being the whole job.
| Criterion | ServiceM8 | Cushty |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Mobile-first job-card workflow, small/medium iOS-heavy teams | Growing UK service businesses (10–30) running configured operations |
| Pricing model | Tiered monthly plans with a monthly job allowance — unlimited users on every plan | Flat monthly price with staff accounts included — unlimited jobs, but you pay per staff account |
| Platform parity | iOS-polished; Android has historically lagged | One web app, installable to the home screen on Android and iPhone — same features on every device |
| UK features | Light — built around AU/NZ defaults | Built around UK workflows — domestic reverse charge, CIS deductions, retention |
ServiceM8 has real strengths. These are the four pressures we hear most when teams decide it's time to move.
When ServiceM8 is quiet, it's cheap. When you have a busy quarter you push against the plan's monthly job allowance and move up a tier, which makes month-to-month cost planning harder. Cushty's price is tied to staff accounts, not job volume, so a strong month doesn't trigger a software bill spike — though a bigger team does.
ServiceM8's job-card and add-on system is opinionated, and that suits plenty of businesses. Cushty's shape is different: a fixed job lifecycle with variations for scope that grows on site, approved by the office and carried through to the invoice. Neither is more correct — but if you have been bending an add-on to do that job, it's worth seeing the alternative.
ServiceM8 has historically treated iOS as the primary platform. If half your team are on Android phones, or your office runs on Windows, you're working around a tool that wasn't designed for you. Cushty is one web app — install it to the home screen on Android or iPhone and it behaves the same on both, with no second-class platforms.
UK construction tax handling: the domestic reverse charge for construction as a per-document switch, CIS subcontractor deductions with Payment & Deduction Statements, and retention you can withhold on a commercial invoice and release once sign-off lands. If your work never touches CIS or retention, this reason isn't for you.
The honest version. ServiceM8 has real wins — we don't hide them.
| Feature | ServiceM8 | Cushty |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile job-card workflow | Excellent on iOS, the original strength | Equally strong on iOS, Android and web |
| Photo and video on jobs | Strong, built into the workflow | Strong — built in, plus searchable across the full job history |
| Pricing | Tiered monthly plans with a monthly job allowance; unlimited users | Flat monthly price, unlimited jobs, charged by staff account |
| Android parity | iOS-first; Android has historically lagged | One web app — install it to the home screen on Android or iPhone and it behaves the same on both, including offline capture |
| UK CIS, VAT and RCVAT | Workarounds and bolt-ons | Built in — UK domestic reverse charge, CIS deductions with Payment & Deduction Statements, retention |
| Office and management views | Limited, mobile-first design | Separate admin and engineer roles, plus a branded client portal — engineers see only their own jobs |
| Reporting and analytics | Basic dashboards | A fixed reports page — revenue by month, job status, engineer performance, quote pipeline and job-level profitability |
| Onboarding | Self-serve, help articles | Onboarding done with you, configured to your workflow, charged as a one-off implementation fee |
Every row above is a claim about what Cushty does. These pages are where each one is set out in full, including what it does not do.
We're honest about this. Sometimes ServiceM8 wins.
ServiceM8 puts unlimited users on every plan and charges by how many jobs you run a month. If you have a lot of people and a steady, moderate job volume, that maths is genuinely kinder than paying per staff account — and it is the single clearest case for staying where you are.
Trades where every job needs a photo trail before, during and after — ServiceM8 has spent years polishing that flow. If that's the single most important thing your tool does, the rest of the gaps may not matter to you yet.
ServiceM8's form templates and the Add-on Store represent real switching cost. If your forms are doing serious work and the add-ons are core to how you operate, account for that re-build effort honestly when comparing total cost.
A realistic version of the first 90 days. No fairy tale.
Discovery call. We map your ServiceM8 workflow to Cushty — including the things you've built with forms and add-ons. Honest report on what carries over cleanly and what needs redesigning.
Configuration. Your job types, quote line-item presets and recurring templates get set up around how you actually work. Your Xero contacts can be imported directly; what else comes across depends on what you can export from ServiceM8, and we scope that on the call rather than promising it here.
Cushty is your operational system. ServiceM8 wound down. The differences most teams notice: cost is predictable again, Android people aren't second-class, and the office finally has the view it needs.
ServiceM8's plan tiers, monthly job allowances and regional pricing change, and its pricing is published in a different currency from ours. This page describes the shape of their pricing rather than quoting figures — check their pricing page for the current numbers before you decide.
We publish Cushty, so treat this as our view of the market rather than an independent review. Everything we claim about Cushty is something the product does today; where a capability is on the roadmap rather than live, we say so.
ServiceM8 prices in tiers by the number of jobs you run per month, with unlimited users included. Check their current plans and allowances directly.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough — we'll show you how Cushty fits your business. No commitment, no contract until you choose to subscribe.
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