Powered Now Review 2026: Best Job Management Software for UK Electricians?
Quick Verdict
Powered Now is the most UK-native option in this category by a significant margin. It's the only tool here built from the ground up for British trades rather than adapted from an Australian or US product — and that shows in how it handles CIS, MTD, and electrical compliance certificates. If producing EICRs, Minor Works certificates, or working regularly in areas with no signal are part of your day-to-day, it's the one to look at first.
The pricing structure has a real flaw that most reviews don't mention clearly: field engineers pay the same per-user rate as office admin staff, even if all they ever do is log time and fill in certificates. For growing teams, that stings. The Xero integration also requires more manual attention than Tradify's. Neither is a dealbreaker for the right business, but they're worth factoring into your numbers before you commit.
What Powered Now Actually Does
The core functionality — quoting, job management, scheduling, invoicing — is comparable to Tradify and ServiceM8. What makes Powered Now different is the compliance layer built on top. Nearly 100 trade-specific forms and certificates are included as standard: Electrical Installation Certificates, EICRs, Minor Works Certificates, Gas Safety Records, and more. These aren't PDF templates you fill in separately — they're integrated into the job workflow. Complete the job, fill in the certificate on-site, get a digital signature from the client, email it directly, raise the invoice. One workflow, one system.
The offline capability is the other genuine differentiator. The entire app functions without internet — you can create jobs, fill in certificates, record materials, and capture signatures on-site, and everything syncs automatically when you're back in coverage. For electricians working in commercial basements, rural properties, or sites with restricted WiFi, this is a practical operational advantage that Tradify and ServiceM8 simply can't match.
Works across iOS, Android, Mac, and PC — the desktop version is more capable than most competitors' browser apps. CIS deductions are handled natively: calculate deductions, produce the required documentation, and keep records in one place without bouncing between systems or relying on your accountant to sort it out at year-end. The app added Zs chart calculators and lookup tools in 2025 — small but useful for testing work on-site.
Pricing: What You Actually Pay
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Business | £15/mo | Solo use — quoting, invoicing, basic job management, certificate library |
| Professional | £25/mo per user | Team features, scheduling, full certificate library, CIS tools, offline working, GPS tracking |
| Premium | £37/mo per user | Everything in Professional plus advanced reporting, custom document branding, priority support |
Free trial available, no credit card required. The Business plan is a genuine sole trader option — the certificate library alone is worth the £15/mo for anyone producing EICRs regularly. Most users report being operational within 30 minutes of signing up, which is faster than Tradify's setup for most people.
The pricing model issue to understand: every user — whether they're in the office managing quotes or an engineer in the field who only logs time and signs off certificates — pays the same per-user rate. There's no lower-tier field-worker licence. On a three-person team with one office admin and two engineers, you're paying Professional rates for all three, including the engineers who'll use maybe 20% of the features. Powered Now is aware of this and it remains unaddressed.
How It Works on a Real Job
A letting agent emails about five EICRs needed across an HMO portfolio before the end of the month — new social housing electrical safety regulations mean landlords are under pressure to get these done. Here's the Powered Now workflow:
You create the customer record and five jobs from the email, assign them to your engineer's diary for the following week. The engineer opens Powered Now on their phone on the first property. No signal in the building — doesn't matter. They open the EICR form, work through it on-site filling in test results, observation codes, and recommendations. The client or letting agent representative signs digitally on the screen. The completed EICR emails to the letting agent the moment you're back in coverage, with your branding and certification details. You raise the invoice from the completed job. The whole process — from job creation to certificate delivery — without touching a piece of paper or a separate PDF tool.
That's the workflow Powered Now is built for, and it does it better than anything else in this price range. The comparison with Tradify here is stark — Tradify would handle the scheduling and invoicing, but you'd still need a separate system or paper forms for the EICR itself.
The Catch
Field staff pay full price. The most consistent gripe from growing teams. Engineers who only ever view their schedule, log time, and fill in certificates pay the same Professional rate (£25/mo) as the person in the office managing all the quoting, invoicing, and customer comms. There's no read-only or field-worker licence at a lower rate. Until Powered Now introduces tiered user types, this is a real cost to factor in as you grow.
Xero integration needs attention. Invoices push from Powered Now to Xero, but the reconciliation requires more manual input than Tradify's connection. If your bookkeeper or accountant expects everything to just appear correctly in Xero without intervention, manage expectations before switching. Multiple Capterra reviewers have noted this gap specifically.
Quoting UI isn't as fast as Tradify's. Several users who've used both tools note that building quotes in Tradify is quicker, particularly when working from a saved price list. Powered Now's quoting works well but has more steps. Not a dealbreaker, but if your bottleneck is quoting speed rather than certificate production, Tradify may suit better.
Scheduling view gets cluttered on larger teams. The diary works well for teams up to around eight or ten people. Beyond that, multiple reviewers note it becomes harder to get a clear picture of who's where without filtering. For smaller electrical businesses this won't be a problem for some time.
How It Compares
Against Tradify: Powered Now wins on certificates, CIS compliance, offline working, and UK-specific features. Tradify wins on Xero integration quality and quoting speed. If the core of your admin headache is compliance paperwork and certificate production, Powered Now is the stronger tool. If it's quoting and invoicing speed with good accounting sync, Tradify is simpler and faster for that specific workflow.
Against ServiceM8: Powered Now is the better choice for any team with Android users, and far stronger on UK compliance. ServiceM8 has more powerful client communication automation and a better custom forms builder — but it's built for the Australian and US market first, and the Android limitation is a serious constraint for UK electrical teams.
The Tradesman's Math
At £25/mo Professional for a sole trader: you need to save roughly 27 minutes of admin per week at a £55/hr rate to break even. An EICR that used to take 20 minutes to document on paper, scan, email, and file away now takes five minutes through Powered Now's built-in workflow. That's 15 minutes saved on a single certificate — your month paid for in the first EICR of the week.
For a team of three on Professional: £75/mo combined. At that point you need around 82 minutes of combined weekly admin saved. Still achievable if all three were previously managing paper certificates, but the field-staff pricing means you need to run your own numbers for your specific team structure before committing.
Who This Is NOT For
Domestic-only electricians who never produce compliance certificates. If your work is consumer units, rewires, and domestic installations where you're not regularly producing EICRs or Minor Works certificates, Powered Now's main differentiator doesn't apply to you. Tradify's quoting and Xero sync is faster for that workflow at a comparable price.
Teams where Xero integration needs to be fully automatic. If your accountant relies on Xero reconciling cleanly without intervention, Tradify's connection is more reliable. Powered Now's Xero sync works but requires more attention.
Large commercial operations needing project-level cost management. Powered Now is built for small businesses. For project-level cost analysis, BIM integration, or managing complex multi-phase commercial jobs, look at Commusoft or SimPRO — significantly more expensive but built for that scale.
Free trial, no card required. Most users are operational within 30 minutes.
Try Powered Now free →Frequently Asked Questions
Does Powered Now produce EICR certificates?
Yes — this is one of Powered Now's core features. EICR, Minor Works Certificates, and Electrical Installation Certificates are all built into the job workflow. Complete the certificate on-site, capture a digital signature, email it to the client, and raise the invoice — all from the same system.
Does Powered Now handle CIS?
Yes, natively. CIS deduction calculations are built into the invoicing workflow. The correct HMRC domestic reverse charge wording applies automatically on configured reverse charge jobs — no manual editing required. This makes it the strongest tool in this category for subcontractors working under CIS.
Does Powered Now work offline?
Yes — full offline mode. Create jobs, fill in certificates, capture signatures, and record materials without signal. Everything syncs when connectivity returns. This is the most mature offline implementation in this category.
Is Powered Now good value for sole traders?
The Business plan at £15/mo is genuinely competitive for sole traders — especially those producing compliance certificates regularly. The certificate library alone is worth the subscription for anyone doing EICR work. The per-user pricing only becomes a problem when you start adding field engineers at the full Professional rate.
How does Powered Now compare to Tradify?
Powered Now wins on UK compliance — certificates, CIS, MTD, offline. Tradify wins on quoting speed and Xero integration quality. For domestic-only electricians without compliance paperwork requirements, Tradify is simpler to use day-to-day. See the full comparison.