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Comparison

TradeDoc AI vs YourTradebase: scheduling tool or documents tool?

YourTradebase is a full UK job-management app — diary, customers, invoices, custom forms — at around £29/month. TradeDoc AI is narrower: AI-generated quotes and every UK compliance certificate, free for the first 100 docs a month, Pro £15/month. Here's the honest side-by-side.

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The 30-second verdict

Pick YourTradebase if…

  • • You want a diary, CRM, and invoicing all in one place
  • • You need Xero accounting sync today
  • • Your jobs are more about scheduling than compliance paperwork
  • • You're happy hand-building compliance forms yourself

Pick TradeDoc if…

  • • You issue compliance certs (CP12, EIC, EICR, Minor Works)
  • • You want AI to write the quote while you drive home
  • • You'd rather pay nothing up front — Free covers 100 docs a month
  • • Your pain is document speed, not job scheduling

Rule of thumb: if you don't touch a CP12 or EIC, YourTradebase's CRM is worth the premium. If you issue compliance certs regularly, TradeDoc pays for itself the first time it catches a field you'd have missed.

Feature-by-feature

Pricing is taken from YourTradebase's public pricing page. If anything here is out of date, email us and we'll fix it.

Feature
TradeDoc AI
YourTradebase
Starting price
£0 — free for the first 100 docs a month
~£29/month
Paid tier (if you need it)
Pro £15/mo — unlimited + branding + one-tap email
~£29/month, no free tier
AI-generated quotes from a job description
Yes — core product
No — manual line entry
CP12 Landlord Gas Safety Records
Yes — Regulation 36-compliant builder
Custom forms, not a dedicated CP12 builder
EIC / EICR / Minor Works Certificates
Yes — BS 7671 A2:2022-aligned
Custom forms, not dedicated cert builders
CIS-compliant invoices (labour/materials split)
Yes — auto-formatted with UTR
Manual setup required
Stage-payment schedules (Construction Act 1996)
Yes — statutory payment mechanism built in
Not a built-in workflow
Job scheduling / appointments
No
Yes — diary-style scheduling
Customer records / CRM
Basic — linked to documents
Yes — full customer database
Xero accounting sync
Not yet (on the roadmap)
Yes
Custom forms / checklists
Document-first, not form-first
Yes — build your own job forms
Try before paying
Free forever — no card at sign-up
30 days, no card required
Focus
Documents only — built narrow and deep
Job management — wide, sole-trader friendly

What are you actually paying for?

The price gap between YourTradebase and TradeDoc is about scope — not capability. Here's what each actually covers.

What YourTradebase's £29 buys you that TradeDoc doesn't
  • Diary-style scheduling and appointments
  • Full customer CRM
  • Live Xero accounting sync
  • Custom-form builder for your own job checklists
What TradeDoc Free (£0) + Pro (£15) give you that YourTradebase doesn't
  • AI-generated quotes from a one-line job description
  • Dedicated CP12, EIC, EICR, and Minor Works builders
  • CIS-compliant invoices with correct labour/materials split
  • Construction Act 1996 stage-payment schedules built in
  • 100 documents a month at zero cost, with no card at sign-up
  • Pro is roughly £168/year saved vs YTB

Both are good tools. The honest question is whether your real pain is scheduling (YTB) or documents (TradeDoc).

Moving from YourTradebase to TradeDoc

If compliance documents are the bulk of what you send, here's the sequence to move across. Usually done inside 20 minutes.

  1. 1
    Export your customer list from YourTradebase
    Settings → data export → customers (CSV). That's the only data most people actually need to carry over — job records and diary entries usually aren't worth the migration effort.
  2. 2
    Download any compliance certs and quotes you want to keep
    Jobs → documents → download. Keep the PDFs as your own records — belt and braces.
  3. 3
    Sign up to TradeDoc (no card required)
    Free forever on your first 100 docs a month. You get full access to quotes, CP12s, EICs, MWs, EICRs, CIS invoices, and stage schedules from minute one.
  4. 4
    Upload the customer CSV and your business details
    Trading name, Gas Safe / NICEIC / NAPIT / TrustMark reg numbers, VAT number, UTR if you handle CIS. Auto-fills every document going forward.
  5. 5
    Run both tools for a week, then cancel YTB
    Don't cancel straight away. Send a real quote and a real cert through TradeDoc first, check the PDFs look right, then cancel YourTradebase from their billing page.

Frequently asked questions

Is YourTradebase basically the same thing as TradeDoc?+

No. YourTradebase is job-management software — diary, customers, invoices, custom forms — with a reputation for being more sole-trader-friendly than Tradify or Joblogic. TradeDoc is a documents tool — AI-generated quotes plus dedicated UK compliance certificates (CP12, EIC, EICR, MW). They overlap on quotes and invoices; they diverge on scheduling (YTB has it, TradeDoc doesn't) and compliance certs (TradeDoc has dedicated builders, YTB offers custom forms).

What does YourTradebase do that TradeDoc doesn't?+

A diary-style scheduling system, a proper customer CRM, Xero accounting sync, and a custom-form builder for bespoke checklists. If you want one tool that handles appointments, customers, jobs, and invoices end-to-end, YTB is a more complete package than TradeDoc — that's its deliberate design.

What does TradeDoc do that YourTradebase doesn't?+

AI-generated quotes from a one-line job description, dedicated compliance cert builders (CP12 with every Regulation 36 field, EIC and MW with every BS 7671 test value in the right place), CIS-compliant invoices with the labour/materials split formatted correctly, and Construction Act 1996 stage-payment schedules with the statutory payment mechanism already built in. YTB's custom forms can be shaped to look like these documents, but the compliance knowledge is in your head, not the tool.

Which is cheaper?+

TradeDoc — by a wide margin. Free covers your first 100 docs a month at zero cost, which is enough for most sole traders. YourTradebase is ~£29/month with no free tier. Even if you upgrade to TradeDoc Pro for branding and one-tap email, Pro is £15/month — still ~£168/year saved vs YTB. The premium only makes sense if you'll genuinely use YTB's scheduling and CRM.

I'm a Gas Safe or NICEIC-registered tradesman — which is better for me?+

TradeDoc, most of the time. Registered tradespeople issue far more compliance documents than any other trade — every CP12, every EIC, every EICR. TradeDoc is built around those documents specifically, with every required field in the right place. YTB handles them as custom forms, which means the compliance responsibility sits with you rather than the tool. If you already know every field on a CP12 by heart, a custom form is fine. If you ever want the software to catch the detail you missed, TradeDoc is the safer bet.

Can I use both?+

You can, though most sole traders pick one. If you want a full CRM and scheduling stack, keep YourTradebase for that — and use TradeDoc alongside it specifically for compliance certs and AI-generated quotes. It's not a common setup, but it's not unreasonable if compliance is a big part of your workload.

How do I move from YourTradebase to TradeDoc?+

Export your customer list from YourTradebase (settings → export) and any past quote PDFs you want to keep. Sign up to TradeDoc — it's free forever on the first 100 docs a month, no card at sign-up. Upload the customer CSV, add your business details (Gas Safe / NICEIC / NAPIT / VAT / UTR) once, and your first AI-generated quote is about 2 minutes away. Cancel YTB only after you've sent a real quote from TradeDoc and you're happy with how it looks.

TradeDoc is free. Upgrade only if it earns it.

First 100 documents a month are free — every doc type a UK tradesman sends. Pro at £15/month adds custom branding, one-tap customer email, and unlimited docs. No card at sign-up.

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