Maintivo vs the big field-service platforms
SimPRO, Joblogic, Commusoft, BigChange and ServiceM8 are serious pieces of software. If you're running twenty vans with a dispatch desk and a stores manager, one of them is probably the right answer. This page is for everyone else.
They hand you a blank form.
Maintivo knows the rule behind it.
That's the whole difference, and it's not a slight on them. Those platforms do scheduling, dispatch, stock control, CRM, payroll and accounting. They're built to run an operation. Maintivo does one thing: get the inspection captured on site and the branded report sent before you leave. If the paperwork is your problem, you don't need to buy an operating system to solve it.
| Maintivo | Full business-management platforms | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Trade teams of 1 to 10, including sole traders | Growing and larger field operations |
| What it's for | Inspections, reports and optional invoicing | Running the whole business: scheduling, dispatch, stock, CRM, accounting |
| Time to your first report | Same day. No training day, no manual | Typically an onboarding and setup process |
| Capture the whole job offline | Yes. Photos, readings and signature with no signal | Varies by product and plan |
| Branded PDF sent from site | Yes. Your logo, sent before you leave | Usually, often with more setup |
| Engineers can't see money | By default. Engineer seats have no invoices, margins or company settings | Usually a permissions matrix you configure |
| Dictate the findings on site | Yes. Hold the button and say what you found. Apple's on-device recogniser, so your voice never leaves the phone and it works with no signal. Prose fields only — you cannot dictate a reading | Type it, usually twice |
| AI that cannot alter a reading | Yes. Optional, off by default, and every number is replaced with a placeholder before the text is sent, so the model physically cannot see or change a figure. It writes prose, never data. Processor named: Anthropic | AI features are being bolted on across the category, usually with no statement of what the model can and cannot rewrite |
| Does the F-Gas maths for you | Yes. Pick the gas, enter the charge: it applies the GWP, converts to tonnes CO₂e, derives the leak-check band and puts the next-due date on the unit, then nudges you at 90 days, 30 days and overdue | You do the sum yourself and key the date in by hand |
| The form can't contradict itself | Yes. No F-gas in the system, no leak-check section. No leak found, no leak-location field | A generic form builder: whatever you put on the form stays on the form |
| Custom templates | Yes. Build your own in a 5-step wizard, or use the 8 ready-made forms (Gas Safety Record, F-Gas leak check, Chiller, HVAC, AHU, Fan Coil, MVHR, Work Inspection) | Usually, often via a form builder |
| Commitment | None. 3-day free trial, cancel any time | Commonly annual plans and paid onboarding |
| Price | £39.99/month, engineer seats from £8.99 | Quote-based, usually per user per month |
Competitor details vary by plan and change over time. Always check their current pricing and terms directly.
When you should not choose Maintivo
We'd rather tell you now than take your money and disappoint you.
- You need scheduling and dispatch.If a controller is assigning jobs to a board of engineers every morning, buy a platform that does that properly.
- You need stock and parts control.Van stock, purchase orders and supplier feeds are a different job. Maintivo doesn't pretend to do it.
- You're running 20+ engineers.At that size the reporting is the easy part. You need the operational spine, and that's what the big platforms are for.
If none of that is you, and the actual thing eating your evenings is the write-up, then Maintivo is the smaller, faster, cheaper answer. That's who it was built for.
Why small teams pick Maintivo over the big platforms
SimPRO, Joblogic, Commusoft and BigChange are whole business-management platforms built for big firms, long contracts, steep learning curves and features you'll never touch. Maintivo does one thing brilliantly: get the inspection captured and the report sent.
No long contracts, no exit fees
Set it up yourself in a day and cancel any time. No five-year tie-in, no £5k charge to leave, no minimum seat counts if you're a one-van outfit.
Works with no signal
Basements, plant rooms, new builds with no reception, capture the whole job offline and it sends the moment you're back in range. No lost readings, no "please try again".
Your logo on every report
The customer sees your branding on the PDF, not the software vendor's. Every report and invoice goes out looking like your company, front to back.
Find any record in two taps
Even last year's. No digging through the van, no re-doing a record a customer lost, every signed report and photo is searchable in secure UK-GDPR cloud.
Compared with a specific platform
The honest version for each, including when you should stick with what you have.
Try it on your next job
Three days free, no training day. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
