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Redline vs Fergus: job cards or a chat.

Fergus is job management for trade businesses with office and field staff, built around job cards, timesheets and syncing invoices to your accounting software. Redline is chat-first field service software that starts with a Free plan for $0 and bills from the job on Solo. If your invoices have to land in Xero or QuickBooks without retyping, Fergus does that and Redline doesn't.

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The short version

Redline fits a plumber, electrician or HVAC tech who is also the office. Free covers the chat, contacts, pipeline and calendar. Solo at $29 a month turns a finished job into an invoice in two taps or one message, with a card pay link on your own Stripe account, overdue flags at day 3, 7 and 14, and expenses filed against the job. Team adds a crew board for 3 seats at $129 a month.

Fergus is job management software for trade businesses with office and field staff: electricians, plumbers, HVAC, builders, roofers and cleaners, in the US, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. It covers quoting, a drag-and-drop calendar with real-time updates, job cards that track materials, labor and supplier costs, invoices built from job cards that sync to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks, and timesheets connected to jobs.

Fergus's pricing page lists Essentials from $31 per user a month and Professional from $44 per user a month, both month to month with no lock-in contract. Field staff who only need timesheets are listed from $26 per user a month, and subcontractor users at $2.50 per user a day. Fergus describes its pricing as tailored, and there's a 14-day trial on Essentials.

Billing a water heater swap from the driveway

Invoice the Haddad water heater: 50 gallon gas, $1,450 installed, plus $185 for the expansion tank and permit.

Here's the invoice for Sam Haddad: $1,635 before tax, for the 50-gallon gas water heater installed with the expansion tank and permit. Approve it and the pay link goes live.

Approved. What else is done but not billed?

Two jobs: Okafor kitchen faucet, $310, done Tuesday. Lindqvist sump pump replacement, $890, done yesterday. Bill them now?

Invoicing is on Solo and up. Pay links take cards on your own Stripe account, with no Redline fee on top.

Redline and Fergus, side by side

	Redline	Fergus
How you use it	Chat first. You message it ("invoice Sullivan for the roof job") and it updates contacts, jobs, the calendar and invoices, asking you to confirm before it changes customer records. Web and iPhone.	Office screens built around job cards and a drag-and-drop calendar, with a field app.
Free plan	Yes. $0 with no end date: AI chat, contacts, pipeline, calendar, scheduling assistant, Quick-Sort and a Pro Page. 1 seat and 4,000 AI credits that don't refill.	No free plan. 14-day trial on Essentials.
Starting price	Solo at $29 a month, or $23 a month billed yearly. 7-day free trial on the web.	Essentials from $31 per user a month, month to month, per its pricing page.
Seats	Free and Solo: 1. Team ($129 a month): 3. Team+ ($299 a month): 10, plus extra seats at $29 each.	Per user. Timesheet-only field staff and subcontractor users are priced separately.
Quotes	Itemized quotes by chat, including from a site photo, with an optional deposit %. Good, better and best options and tax are in the Quote composer (Solo and up). Saved as drafts; you email the customer from your own Gmail. No quote link, online approval or e-sign today.	Quotes and estimates.
Invoicing and payments	Solo and up. Branded card pay links on your own Stripe account, no Redline fee on top. Card only, US dollars. Overdue flags at day 3, 7 and 14.	Invoices built from job cards, synced to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.
Scheduling	Every plan. Suggests up to 3 open slots, groups visits in the same town, sets up repeating visits with one save. No calendar sync, no online booking.	Drag-and-drop calendar with real-time updates.
Dispatch	Team and up. Dispatch board, tech app, assign jobs by chat, crew chat. Techs tap their status; there's no GPS.	See their site.
What Fergus has that Redline doesn't	Not in Redline today.	Timesheets linked to jobs, job cards with labor and supplier costs, accounting sync with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks, subcontractor users, service in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
What Redline has that Fergus doesn't	A Free plan. Seats bundled by plan instead of priced per user.	No free plan. Priced per user.

Fergus details come from Fergus' own website, checked October 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm on their site before you decide.

Who should pick which

Pick Fergus if

Invoices have to land in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks without retyping
You pay field staff off timesheets tied to each job
You want labor and supplier costs on the job card, not just materials
You bring in subcontractors and want them in the system by the day
You work outside the US

Pick Redline if

You're the plumber and the office, and you bill from the truck
You want to start free and pay only when you start invoicing
You'd rather pay for a bundle of seats than per person
You want overdue bills flagged with who to call
Your techs shouldn't see job prices (Team and up)

Questions contractors ask

Does Redline sync with Xero or QuickBooks?

No. On Solo and up, Reports has an Export for QuickBooks button that saves a CSV file, plus a plain CSV. There's no Xero export and no live sync. If accounting sync is central to how you work, Fergus is built around it.

Does Redline have timesheets?

No. There's no clock-in, timesheets or labor costing in Redline today. Profit per job counts materials and other expenses you file against the job.

Which costs less for a small team?

It depends on your mix. Fergus lists Essentials from $31 per user a month, with cheaper timesheet-only users. Redline Team is $129 a month flat for 3 seats, and Team+ is $299 for 10. For two or three users, Fergus can come in lower; check both against your headcount.

Can I track materials on a job in Redline?

On Solo and up you file expenses against a job (materials, fuel, equipment, other) with an optional receipt photo, and Reports shows profit per job after materials. There's no price book or inventory. See plumbing and Fergus alternatives.

Bill it before you leave the driveway.

Start Redline Free, then switch on Solo the day you want to send your first pay link.