Payaca alternative UK: 4 options for sole traders (2026)

The short answer

Which one wins you more work? Payaca stays right for a growing installer team, Tradify and Powered Now for per-user teams with someone to chase quotes. Tradehand answers, quotes, books and chases for you. Free includes the manual tools and the Assistant with £1 of usage a month: 5% of each payment Tradehand takes, card fees included. Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly. They add automation and more usage. Basic payment fees on your own jobs: From 1.25% + 20p, deducted automatically when the customer pays. Grow and Advanced have lower Tradehand payment fees.

Which should you pick?

Stick with Payaca if…

You install solar, heat pumps, batteries or EV chargers
Your quotes are proposals that must sell
You have engineers to manage, not one van

Choose Tradify if…

You want Xero or QuickBooks Online sync
You have someone to chase the quotes

Choose Powered Now if…

Your work is certificate-heavy
You want automatic quote chasing in-app

Choose Tradehand if…

Your problem is a thin diary, not a messy one
You want calls and messages answered and booked without you
You want a Free plan with the Assistant

Where Payaca beats Tradehand: the quote and the books. Payaca's proposals let a customer pick packages with live totals, sign digitally and pay a deposit. Payaca also syncs two ways with Xero.

Free and paid plans for your business

Those tiers are doing a person's job: answering, quoting, booking, chasing. So the honest comparison is a person.

An office admin

£25,000 /year

Starter salary for a UK office manager, before NI and pension. Paid whether or not invoices land.

Source: Office manager salary (National Careers Service)

Tradehand

Free and paid plans

Free, or paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly

Salary: National Careers Service office-manager profile. Payaca bills monthly, sized for a staffed team, plus paid onboarding. Tradify and Powered Now bill per user, so the bill climbs when you hire. Tier prices are deliberately not reproduced.

See pricing

Side by side

What matters	Tradehand	Payaca
Answers the phoneSource: Payaca homepage: positioning, Dave, features	Tradehand✓ included, then quotes and books it	Payacanot marketed; Dave answers data questions
Chases customers who went quietSource: Payaca automations: triggers on any event	Tradehand✓ automatic, including unquoted ones	Payaca✓ automations you build on any event
The quoteSource: Payaca interactive quotes: multi-option, e-signature, Stripe deposits	Tradehandone link: quote, accept, pay, invoice	Payaca✓ multi-option proposals, e-signed, deposit taken
AccountingSource: Payaca Xero integration: two-way sync	Tradehandone-way push, plus a CSV export	Payaca✓ two-way sync with Xero and QuickBooks
Repeat revenueSource: Payaca features: maintenance contracts, customer portal	Tradehand✓ membership plans, billed by Stripe	Payaca✓ maintenance contracts and recurring billing
Built forSource: Payaca homepage: positioning, Dave, features	Tradehandone van up to a small team	Payacainstallers with engineers to manage
BillingSource: Payaca pricing: users included, paid onboarding, demos not trials	TradehandFree, or paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly	Payacamonthly, twenty-five users, paid onboarding

What "more work" looks like on a Tuesday

You are under a floor at 09:32 and the phone goes. On Payaca that is a callback tonight.

Tom Bennett

Assistant

Website enquiry

Hi, it's Tom Bennett at 42 Blackstock Road N4 3HE. The fuse board keeps tripping when the oven is on. Can someone come out this week? My number is 07700 900456

TB9 Sept, 23:02

We can certainly look at this for you this week. To make sure we send the right specialist, does the fuse board trip immediately as soon as you turn the oven on, or only after it has been heating up for a few minutes? Also, is it just the oven circuit switch that flips, or the main RCD?

Assistant· 9 Sept, 23:03· Delivered

Here is the quote for replacing your consumer unit, Tom. It covers the board, the RCBOs, testing and the certificate.

Assistant· 9 Sept, 23:04· Delivered

Web chat

Reply on web chat...

Jobs

Inbox

Money

Grow

9:41

Payaca gives you somewhere to build a handsome proposal once you have won the job. This page is about winning it, and about an assistant that writes the quote instead of waiting for you to.

See call answering

Leaving Payaca without losing your records

Run both for a week, and cancel only once the alternative has earned it.

Day 1
Export, and we import
Pull customers and prices out of Payaca. A person imports them and sets up your number, rates and diary.
Day 2–6
Run both side by side
Calls to the Tradehand business number ring the saved staff phone first. A missed mobile gets one text in the business name. A missed landline reaches the assistant. Tradehand does not take over a number the business already uses.
Day 7
Judge it on jobs won
Count calls answered and invoices paid. No contract either way.

Your questions

What is the best Payaca alternative in the UK?

For a sole trader who wants more booked work, Tradehand is the strongest Payaca alternative: Tradehand answers missed calls, quotes, books and chases. Free includes the manual tools and the Assistant with £1 of usage a month: 5% of each payment Tradehand takes, card fees included. Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly. They add automation and more usage. Basic payment fees on your own jobs: From 1.25% + 20p, deducted automatically when the customer pays. Grow and Advanced have lower Tradehand payment fees.

Why do UK sole traders leave Payaca?

Usually because Payaca outgrew them. Payaca now calls itself "the operating system for scaling clean tech" for solar, heat pump, battery and EV installers, and its main plan includes twenty-five users.

Is Tradehand cheaper than Payaca?

Free includes the manual tools and the Assistant with £1 of usage a month: 5% of each payment Tradehand takes, card fees included. Paid plans from £19 a month, billed yearly. They add automation and more usage. Basic payment fees on your own jobs: From 1.25% + 20p, deducted automatically when the customer pays. Grow and Advanced have lower Tradehand payment fees. Payaca charges a subscription sized for a staffed business.

Does Tradehand work with Xero or QuickBooks?

Tradehand pushes invoices one way into Xero and QuickBooks, plus a CSV export. Payaca is ahead, advertising two-way sync. VAT-registered companies cannot push invoices from Tradehand today.

Does Payaca answer my phone?

Payaca does not market phone answering; Payaca's assistant Dave answers questions about your data. Tradehand answers calls as standard and books into your diary, holding messages for approval if you want.

Can I import my data from Payaca into Tradehand?

Tradehand imports your customers and price list, and a person does that migration for you. Tradehand does not import historic jobs, so keep your Payaca export before cancelling.

Is there an app, and do my customers need one?

Tradehand has a trader app for iPhone and Android. Your customers install nothing: one link carries the quote, payment, invoice and live tracking with an ETA.

How does Tradehand get me more work rather than less admin?

Tradehand answers every call and message instantly, chases the customers who go quiet, puts repeat customers on membership plans, and books work to whoever is nearest by driving time.