TradesWork vs Zuper (2026): configurable enterprise FSM vs residential service

This is our product compared with Zuper, so read it with that in mind. They're built for different buyers. Zuper is a configurable platform for larger operations, with its deepest tools in roofing and exteriors; TradesWork is a ready-made system for residential HVAC, plumbing and electrical shops. If you're a roofing company, a manufacturer with field service, or a larger business with admins to configure workflows, Zuper is very likely the better fit. Zuper facts come from its website, trust center and documentation, checked October 15, 2026.

Where Zuper is stronger

Roofing and exteriors. Zuper's site is built around roofing first, with instant estimates, intelligent quoting, guided workflows, hands-free checklists, subcontractor work orders and procurement listed under its roofing and exteriors products¹. Its documentation includes roof property intelligence². TradesWork has none of that.

Configurability and reporting. Zuper's report builder lets you build reports from modules such as customers, organizations, properties, jobs, quotes, invoices, assets, products and contracts, add up to three associated modules, download up to 20,000 records, and schedule reports daily, weekly or monthly to email recipients³⁴. TradesWork is deliberately opinionated: fewer settings, a ready-made structure.

Enterprise integrations and security. Zuper says it works with HubSpot, Zendesk, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Acumatica and 60+ tools⁵, and its trust center lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001 as compliant⁶. If your customers send security questionnaires, or your finance team runs Sage Intacct, that matters. TradesWork supports QuickBooks Online.

AI command center. Zuper Sense is described as a command center that monitors operations, answers plain-language questions, flags early warnings like cash gaps and pipeline risk, and recommends next steps you can run or hand to an agent; its agents cover CSR, field, sales coaching, reputation and weather¹. TradesWork has an AI receptionist, plain-English questions of your numbers and alerts. Both are ambitious; judge them in a demo with your own data.

Manufacturers. Zuper markets field service for manufacturers: installed assets, service agreements, preventive maintenance and parts inventory from warehouse to field⁵. TradesWork isn't built for an equipment maker's service network.

Where TradesWork is stronger

Price you can see. Zuper's site offers a demo and a test drive, with no published pricing¹. TradesWork publishes Essentials $79, Pro $99 and AI $139 per tech or sales seat a month billed annually, charges nothing for office staff, and has a 14-day trial with no card.

Working this week, not after a project. Configurable platforms pay off when someone owns the configuration: building job templates, statuses, custom fields and reports, and keeping them tidy as the business changes. A 6-truck residential shop rarely has that person. TradesWork uses a fixed, ServiceTitan-style structure (customers, locations, jobs, job types, business units, campaigns, price book), so a residential shop can import its customers and prices and book a job the same day.

Residential memberships. TradesWork memberships (Pro and up) bill dues automatically, retry failed cards with an update link, bring visits due onto a list, and apply member pricing on estimates. Zuper's contracts and preventive maintenance are built around assets and service agreements, which suits commercial and equipment work.

Selling and HVAC records. TradesWork builds good, better and best options from your price book on the tech's phone, flags old units and repeat repairs as replacement opportunities, and keeps a refrigerant log tied to each tech's EPA 608 number, leak repair deadlines and warranty claim tracking.

Cost: get it in writing

We can't compare prices fairly because Zuper doesn't publish them, and we won't present third-party estimates as Zuper's prices. Ask Zuper for a written 12-month quote that includes:

Then compare it with TradesWork at your tech count.

Day to day

Office. Zuper's office is what you configure: modules, custom fields, job templates and statuses. TradesWork shows the caller's history, open jobs, balance and membership before you answer, and puts website, Angi, Thumbtack and referral leads in one inbox.

Techs. Zuper lists offline mobile access and hands-free capture with Zuper Glass¹. TradesWork Field walks each visit step by step, keeps saving with no signal, takes voice notes and works in English and Spanish.

Owners. Zuper gives you a report builder and scheduled reports, plus Sense's predictions and recommended actions¹³. TradesWork gives you fixed reports where every number links to the jobs behind it, role dashboards for owners, service managers and CSRs, and plain-English questions like "why was Tuesday slow?" against your own data. More flexibility on one side, less to set up on the other.

Questions to ask in each evaluation

Ask Zuper: the full 12-month cost in writing, including onboarding and every product we'd use; who on our team will own configuration, and how many hours a month that takes; how a residential maintenance plan with member pricing and visits due would be set up; which AI agents are included.

Ask TradesWork: what we lose without configurable modules and a report builder; how our customers with several properties come across; whether QuickBooks Online is enough for our accountant; how the AI receptionist handles after-hours calls.

Who should look at both

Some shops genuinely sit between the two. A residential HVAC company that also installs roofing-mounted solar, or a mid-size plumbing company starting to sell commercial service contracts, will find things to like on both sides. In that case, score both on the work that makes you the most money today, not the work you hope to add. Use the scorecard below, run real jobs in each, and ask each vendor what they'd tell you not to use their product for.

Switching from Zuper to TradesWork

There's no dedicated Zuper importer in TradesWork. The general spreadsheet importer handles:

• Customers from a Zuper Customers report, downloaded from the report builder, each with its address.
• Products and services from a Products report as your price book, with a name and price per row.

What stays behind: properties beyond each customer's main address, assets and contracts, job, quote and invoice history (keep Zuper's report downloads), and stored cards (re-collected). Zuper's trust center also offers a request form for access to or migration of your data⁶. The full plan is in migrating from Zuper to TradesWork, and the exports are in how to export your data from Zuper.

Which should you choose?

Zuper if you're a roofing or exteriors company, a manufacturer with field service, or a larger operation that wants to configure its own workflows and needs enterprise integrations and security documentation.

TradesWork if you're a residential HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop of 3 to 50 techs, your revenue comes from service calls, memberships and replacements, and you want published prices and a system that works without a configuration project.