Estimark and Planday, compared for UK contractors

Shift-based employers, and its UK pages name hospitality and retail rather than construction.

• It belongs to Xero, so it reaches firms already keeping their books there.
• Its subject is the rota: who is working when, swaps, availability and what next week costs.

NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.

On 15 September 2026 Planday’s UK pricing page listed Starter at £2.99 per user a month, sold no smaller than five people, so the smallest bill was £14.95 a month and ten people came to £29.90 a month.

• Plus, the tier Planday marks most popular, was £3.99 per user a month plus a £30 a month subscription fee on 15 September 2026, sold no smaller than ten people, so ten came to £69.90 a month.
• Planday’s top tier is quoted rather than listed, so there is no published figure to hold it to.
• Planday’s pricing page does not say whether VAT is on top. Ask them before you budget for it.
• Estimark is priced per firm rather than per head: £129 a month +VAT covers up to 5 users, with extra field users at £29 a month +VAT each.

NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.

UK contractors whose people move between sites, where the record has to say who was on which job and what their hours cost it.

• QR check-in and check-out at the site entrance, with a GPS fix at the scan and a typed gate code when a camera will not read the code.
• A live muster roll of everyone currently on site, covering employees, subcontractors, visitors, deliveries and inspectors.
• Timesheets per person per job, with overtime rules applied, an approval carrying the approver’s name and a CSV export payroll can read.
• Lone Worker Protection as a bolt-on: a session with an expected duration, check-ins while they are in there, and a missed check-in or an SOS alerting a named person in your business.

NoteLone Worker Protection alerts the person you nominate. There is no alarm receiving centre, no BS 8484 accreditation and no call to the emergency services.

It handles the four obligations a UK contractor is judged on: CIS deduction, the VAT domestic reverse charge, Construction Act payment timing, and the safety records that go with them.

• CIS deducted on labour only, excluding materials, VAT and plant hire, on 6th-to-5th tax months, with HMRC verification when connected and the CIS300 recorded with both statutory declarations.
• VAT domestic reverse charge under section 55A: the statutory wording on the invoice, nil VAT, controlled per client.
• Payment applications with Construction Act dates, the pay less deadline calculated, and retention tracked to release.
• RAMS with operative sign-off, inductions, permits and a live muster roll, plus EIC, EICR, Minor Works, PAT and CP12 certificates with typed test results.

NoteEstimark records the CIS300 and locks it to its tax period. It does not file the return to HMRC on your behalf.

When your people work shifts at fixed places rather than jobs at changing ones, and the rota is the thing you are trying to fix.

• Estimark puts people on jobs by date range. There are no shift patterns, no swaps, no availability and no published rota, so a firm whose problem is the rota should buy a rota.
• A bar, a shop or a care home is not the work Estimark is built for, and none of the CIS and Construction Act machinery below is any use there.
• Estimark has no biometric clock, no fingerprint reader and no facial recognition.

NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.