Most tradies only need one paid AI (about $30–35 a month) or a good free one, and the trick is knowing which model inside that app to pick for each job. This guide goes company by company, model by model, as at mid-October 2026. Prices are approximate AUD per month unless marked US$.

Summary

Keep customer details private

Whichever AI you use, your chats are almost always stored overseas, mostly in the US. Treat a chat window like an email to a stranger:

• Don't paste customer names, addresses, phone numbers, invoices or anything confidential into a free AI tool.

• Turn off the setting that lets the company use your chats to train its models. ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude all have one.

• If you want to use AI with customer data, use a business plan that promises not to train on your data, and check what it says about where data is stored.

• If your business turns over more than $3 million a year, the Privacy Act's rules on sending personal information overseas apply to you.

Breakdown by company