A trades-first iPhone app versus accounting-first software. Here’s the honest comparison for UK tradespeople deciding in 2026.
QuickBooks is an accounting package first and a trade app second. It’s great at bookkeeping, VAT returns and MTD submissions. It charges £12/month for its Simple Start plan, but CIS is only included at the Plus tier (£32/month). Yoley is the opposite — a trade app first, with a clean quote/invoice/expense/job flow on your iPhone, CIS included on the Free plan, and card payments at 1.49%. Yoley does not replace full double-entry bookkeeping or direct MTD submissions, so many trade businesses run both: Yoley for the daily work, QuickBooks or an accountant for year-end.
This isn’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison. QuickBooks is a general-purpose accounting system that a trade business can use. Yoley is a trade-business app that happens to produce clean accounting-ready exports. The question for most tradespeople is: what do I use day-to-day on my phone, and what do I (or my accountant) use at year-end?
For most sole traders, the answer is: Yoley for daily work, an accountant for the year-end. You avoid QuickBooks’ £144–£384/year subscription and you get a workflow built for how you actually work (on site, one-handed, with a receipt in the other hand).
CIS — the Construction Industry Scheme — is where QuickBooks costs you disproportionately. CIS is only included in the Plus tier, which is £32/month. Over a year that’s £384 specifically to unlock a feature that UK builders, electricians and groundworkers need.
Yoley includes CIS deduction handling (20% / 30% / 0% rates), UTR numbers, automatic calculation on subcontractor invoices — on the Free plan. For a main contractor hiring subbies, this is a meaningful win.
A common setup: Yoley for the day-to-day (quotes, invoices, job diary, receipt scanning, card payments, CIS), then once a quarter or at year-end, export your data to CSV and hand it to your accountant — or import it into QuickBooks if you already use it. You save the subscription cost on daily tools and still get proper year-end accounting. For most UK sole traders on iPhone, this hybrid is the optimal setup.
| Feature | Yoley | QuickBooks UK |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price (entry) | £0 free | £12 Simple Start |
| Price to unlock CIS | Free | £32 Plus |
| Quotes & invoices on phone | Yes, fast | Yes, clunkier |
| Card payment rate | 1.49% | 2.5–2.9% |
| Tap to Pay on iPhone (UK) | 0.99% (Pro) | No |
| Receipt OCR | On-device | Cloud-based |
| HMRC SA103 mapping | Yes | Partial |
| Job diary / scheduling | Yes | No |
| CIS subcontractor management | Free | Plus tier only |
| Direct MTD VAT submission | Export only | Yes |
| Double-entry accounting | No | Yes |
| Payroll | No | Add-on |
| Face ID / biometric lock | Yes | Basic |
Yoley handles CIS free and pairs with your accountant at year-end. The best of both worlds.
Use Yoley to quote, invoice, take payment and handle CIS on the tools for free; use QuickBooks if you need full bookkeeping and accountant-ready accounts. Many tradespeople use both — Yoley for day-to-day jobs and QuickBooks (or their accountant) for the books.
Yes. Yoley's core app is free forever, while QuickBooks is a monthly subscription (roughly £12–£32/month depending on tier). Yoley's optional Pro plan is £9.99/month for advanced features.
Yoley handles CIS deductions automatically and free as part of normal quoting and invoicing, which is simpler for most subcontractors than configuring CIS in QuickBooks. QuickBooks offers fuller accounting around it.
For quoting, invoicing, expenses, receipt capture and getting paid, yes. For year-end accounts, VAT returns and bookkeeping you'll still want accounting software or an accountant — Yoley is designed to feed that process, not replace it.