NexHub vs Yardbook: free with ads, or paid and built for Australia

This is written by the people who make NexHub, so read it with that in mind. What we have tried to do is only say things about Yardbook that Yardbook says about itself, and be straight about the places where they are the better answer.

Yardbook is genuinely free, and that is not a trick

Yardbook publishes a free Starter tier, and their own FAQ says you will always be able to run your business on Yardbook for free. That free tier is not a stripped shell either — the feature list they publish on it covers customers, jobs and scheduling, estimates, invoices, routing, expenses, reports, lot measurement, employee access, card payments and a product catalog.

They are also open about why it can be free: their FAQ explains they run a sponsored-ad business model. If you would rather see ads than pay a subscription, that is a real, deliberate trade and Yardbook is the product that offers it.

One more thing in their favour, and it is a big one for a growing crew: their support site states plainly that Yardbook does not restrict how many employees you can create. Hiring does not change their bill.

What we could not tell you about their price

Yardbook publishes a paid tier at a flat monthly figure, but the figure carries no currency code and we could not find an Australian pricing page. So we are not going to print a dollar amount and let you assume it is Australian dollars. Ask them what it costs in AUD. We read their pricing page on 10 September 2026.

Where NexHub is different

NexHub is built in Australia for Australian conditions, and that shows up in specific places rather than as a slogan:

• Chemical application records in APVMA format. Product and APVMA number, rate, area, the weather at the time, who applied it and under what licence — recorded on the job, not written up later from memory. Control-of-use and record-keeping rules are set by your state, not nationally, so check what your state requires of you.
• Recurring rounds as the core of the schedule. Move one visit because of rain and the series stays intact behind it.
• Measured quoting. Draw the lawn on satellite imagery; the area and perimeter drive the price off your own rate card, and quotes round to whole dollars including GST.
• Australian tax invoices, and Fair Work award-floor checking if you pay any performance-based component.
• No advertising anywhere in NexHub, on any plan, including the free one.

Being straight about where NexHub is behind

NexHub is new. It is in Early Access with a small number of businesses on it, and Yardbook has been around far longer with far more users. NexHub also runs in your phone's browser rather than as an app from the app store — it installs to the home screen and queues job updates when reception drops, but it works best online, and a native app is still on the roadmap. NexHub cannot send text messages either; it sends emails and portal messages, and for an on-my-way it writes the text and opens your own phone's Messages app.

So which one

If cost is the deciding factor and you are comfortable with an ad-supported product, Yardbook is a straightforward, capable choice and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise. If you spray chemicals commercially in Australia, run a recurring round, and want the compliance paperwork produced as a by-product of doing the work, that is the specific thing NexHub was built for.

The longer side-by-side, including the rows where Yardbook wins, is on the NexHub vs Yardbook comparison, and NexHub's own prices are on the pricing page, in AUD, excluding GST.