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 it handles the UK construction tax rules your work involves.
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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 and medium teams | Growing UK service businesses (5–30) running scheduled and recurring work across an office team and a field team |
| 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 | Mobile apps — try them on the phones your team actually uses, Android included | One web app, installable to the home screen on Android and iPhone — same features on every device |
| UK features | Check how it handles UK reverse charge, CIS and retention on your own invoices | Built around UK workflows — domestic reverse charge, CIS deductions and statements, retention (filing stays with you) |
ServiceM8 has real strengths. These are the places where Cushty works differently.
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 made its name on iPhone. If half your team are on Android phones, or your office runs on Windows, try it on those devices before you commit. Cushty is one web app — install it to the home screen on Android or iPhone and it behaves the same on both.
Cushty handles 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. Cushty does not submit the monthly CIS300 return to HMRC. Filing remains with the contractor or their accountant. If your work never touches CIS or retention, this reason isn't for you.
Not every UK service business is in construction, and the tax argument above is irrelevant if you are a cleaning or facilities contractor. What is relevant: a customer can hold as many sites as they have, each with its own address, on-site contact, access notes and parking notes, and that detail travels to the crew's phone with the job. Photos capture on site with no signal and sync when it returns. Crews are assigned per site with substitutions and holiday cover in the same diary, and a purchase order and contract reference sit on the invoice. What we do not do yet is bill a contract as one monthly invoice — each visit invoices on its own — so if that is your billing model, ask us about it on the call before anything else.
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 | Try the Android app on your team's own phones before you decide | 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 | Check with them how UK reverse charge, CIS deductions and retention are handled | Built in — UK domestic reverse charge, CIS deductions with Payment & Deduction Statements, retention; the CIS300 return is filed by you or your accountant |
| Office and management views | Mobile-first design; check the office views against how your office works | Separate admin and engineer roles, plus a branded customer portal — engineers see only their own jobs |
| Reporting and analytics | Check which reports come with the plan you would buy | 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 — your presets, templates and Xero customer contacts set up before go-live — quoted separately as an 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 maps across cleanly and what needs redesigning.
Configuration. Your quote line-item presets, rates and recurring templates get set up around how you actually work. Job types and the product's own labels are not among them — they come with your trade's setup, where Cushty is configured for your trade, and are compiled into the software rather than set per business — so we show you exactly what your team will see on the discovery call. Your Xero contacts are the one import we do. ServiceM8 data, job history, quotes and invoices do not come across; we discuss what would need re-keying on the discovery call.
Cushty is your operational system and ServiceM8 is wound down. What changes: the bill follows your staff accounts rather than your job volume, and the office and the field team work from the same job on whichever device they carry.
What comes across from your old system, what we need from you and how go-live is planned
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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