simPRO vs TradeTrack: Which Is Right for Your Australian Trade Business? (2026)

Quick Verdict

Choose TradeTrack if: You're a sole trader or small-to-mid team that wants to be up and running in days, prefers a mobile-first workflow, uses subcontractors, and values a clean interface your team will actually use.

Choose simPRO if: You're running a larger operation with complex inventory, asset/maintenance contracts, multiple branches, and the time and budget to invest in a long implementation.

Background: What Are These Platforms?

TradeTrack is an Australian-built job management platform designed for working trade businesses. It covers quoting, scheduling, job management, subcontractor coordination, variations, and invoicing in one mobile-first product.

simPRO is an enterprise-grade field service platform that originated in Brisbane and now operates globally. It's a deep, feature-heavy product aimed at medium-to-large service and project businesses, with a strong focus on inventory, asset management, and recurring maintenance contracts.

The fundamental difference: TradeTrack is built for the tradie running the business. simPRO is built for the office team running the operation.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Quoting

TradeTrack: Mobile-first quoting. Build a quote on the job site, send it from your phone, get a digital signature back. Templates speed up repeat work.

simPRO: Powerful quoting engine, particularly for complex multi-stage commercial work. Catalogue-driven, with assemblies and pre-built kits. Highly capable but slower to set up and slower to use for simple jobs.

Edge: TradeTrack for residential and small-commercial speed. simPRO for large, catalogue-heavy commercial estimating.

Scheduling

TradeTrack: Clean visual scheduling board with drag-and-drop. Day, week, and month views. Easy for a working owner to manage without an office coordinator.

simPRO: Scheduling is comprehensive — multi-resource, multi-site, recurring jobs, technician skills matching. Powerful but cluttered. Most simPRO customers have a dedicated scheduler.

Edge: TradeTrack — simpler and faster for SMBs. simPRO wins only if you have someone whose full-time job is scheduling.

Job Management

TradeTrack: Customisable job statuses, task assignment, full job history, notes, photos, and document storage attached to every job. Built so a tradie can run a job from their phone.

simPRO: Deep job management with cost centres, stages, and detailed workflows. Better suited to long-running or multi-stage projects where structure matters more than speed.

Edge: Even — different philosophies. TradeTrack is faster; simPRO is deeper.

Inventory and Stock Control

TradeTrack: Materials are tracked at the job level. Suitable for businesses that buy-to-job rather than running large warehouse stock.

simPRO: Inventory management is one of simPRO's headline strengths. Multi-location warehouses, stock takes, transfers, supplier catalogues, and reorder points. If you carry serious stock, simPRO is in a different league.

Edge: simPRO — clearly stronger for stock-heavy businesses.

Asset and Maintenance Management

TradeTrack: Recurring jobs and customer history are well handled. Not built as a dedicated asset management system.

simPRO: Strong asset register, planned preventative maintenance, service contracts, and asset history. This is bread and butter for simPRO and a major reason commercial HVAC and fire services choose it.

Edge: simPRO — the right call for businesses built around maintenance contracts and asset servicing.

Subcontractor Management

TradeTrack: Dedicated subcontractor portal. You can invite subbies to specific jobs, share only the relevant details, and track their progress without exposing your client list, pricing, or other jobs.

simPRO: Subcontractor handling exists but is geared around larger contractor relationships and purchase orders. Less of a clean self-service experience for the subbie themselves.

Edge: TradeTrack — significantly stronger for businesses that rely on a network of subbies.

Variations

TradeTrack: Digital variations workflow — quote it, send for approval, capture the digital signature, convert to invoice. A clean paper trail every time.

simPRO: Variations are supported through change orders and additional quotes. Capable but more steps and more office handling.

Edge: TradeTrack — faster, cleaner, and better for renovation and project-based work where variations are constant.

Invoicing

TradeTrack: One-click conversion from completed job to invoice. Progress invoicing for staged work. Send straight from the mobile app while you're still on site.

simPRO: Comprehensive invoicing with progress claims, retentions, and complex billing structures. Powerful for commercial billing but rarely something you'd do from a phone.

Edge: TradeTrack for speed and on-site invoicing. simPRO if you need progress claims and retentions on commercial contracts.

Mobile App

TradeTrack: Built mobile-first. The iOS and Android apps offer the full workflow — quote, schedule, manage, invoice — not a watered-down view.

simPRO: Mobile app is functional for technicians in the field but is clearly a companion to the desktop product, not a replacement for it.

Edge: TradeTrack — much stronger mobile experience.

Reporting

TradeTrack: Practical reporting on job profitability, outstanding invoices, scheduled work, and team activity. Aimed at the questions an owner-operator actually asks.

simPRO: Extensive, customisable reporting across every part of the business. If you can think of a metric, simPRO probably reports on it. The trade-off is complexity.

Edge: simPRO for depth. TradeTrack for clarity.

Integrations

TradeTrack: Full two-way Xero integration plus the integrations most SMB tradies actually use.

simPRO: Broad integration ecosystem — Xero, MYOB, several payment gateways, and a public API for custom work. Better suited to businesses with bespoke integration needs.

Edge: simPRO — wider ecosystem, particularly for custom or enterprise integrations.

Setup and Learning Curve

TradeTrack: Most businesses are running real jobs through TradeTrack within a few days. The interface is intentionally familiar.

simPRO: Implementation typically takes weeks to months. Many customers use a paid implementation consultant. Staff training is a real cost. Once configured, it's powerful — but the runway is long.

Edge: TradeTrack — substantially faster to adopt. This is the single biggest practical difference between the two products.

Pricing

Both products use subscription-based pricing that scales with team size and module selection. simPRO sits at the higher end of the market and typically involves implementation fees on top of the subscription. TradeTrack's pricing is positioned for SMBs and includes a free trial.

Check both platforms' current pricing directly — software pricing changes regularly and specific figures in a blog post go stale quickly.

Edge: TradeTrack — generally better value for small and mid-sized businesses. simPRO can be worth it at scale.

Summary Comparison

Which Should You Choose?

TradeTrack is the better fit if: - You're a sole trader or small-to-mid team (1–25 staff) - You want to be up and running in days, not months - You work from your phone and want full functionality on mobile - You use subcontractors regularly - Variations and on-site invoicing are part of your normal workflow - You don't want to hire an implementation consultant

simPRO is the better fit if: - You're a larger operation (25+ staff) with multiple branches or trades - You manage significant warehouse stock or asset registers - Recurring maintenance contracts are central to your business - You have an office team that can run scheduling, dispatch, and procurement - You need deep custom reporting and bespoke integrations - You have the budget and time for a structured implementation

The Honest Recommendation

simPRO is a serious platform. If you're running a 40-person commercial mechanical services business with a warehouse, asset contracts, and a full office team, it earns its place — and trying to run that business on a lighter platform will hurt.

But most Australian trade businesses aren't that. Most are 1–15 people, mobile-heavy, mixing employees and subbies, and want software that helps them run jobs — not a system that needs running itself.

For that group — which is the majority of the market — TradeTrack's faster setup, cleaner mobile experience, stronger subcontractor workflow, and lower total cost of ownership make it the better starting point in 2026.

The best test: trial both with real jobs. Run a week of actual work through each platform and the right answer becomes obvious quickly.