Markate bundles a CRM and marketing automation for around $39.95/mo — useful if you're running campaigns, a lot to set up and babysit if you're one person. Solo, your bottleneck usually isn't marketing software; it's getting the quote out and getting paid. SideWRK does that part — estimate, approve, invoice, get paid — from your phone, $24/mo, with fee-free payments.
| SideWRK | Markate | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $24/mo | ~$39.95/mo |
| Built for | Solo & side-work operators | CRM + marketing for growing businesses |
| Approach | Do the job — quote, invoice, get paid | Manage & market to a customer base |
| Setup effort | Minutes | CRM & campaigns to configure |
| Get paid | Fee-free to Venmo, Cash App, Zelle & Apple Pay + card | Payment processing |
| Reviews & rebooking | Built in, automatic | Via marketing tools you run |
| Run multiple trades | Yes — every trade, one login ($39/mo) | Field-service focus |
| Real-profit tracking | Yes | Limited |
| Free trial | 14 days | Trial available |
Markate pricing per its public pricing page (2026). Comparison reflects typical solo use; your needs may differ. Markate is a trademark of its owner; SideWRK is not affiliated with or endorsed by Markate.
A CRM and campaign builder is powerful — and it's one more thing to set up and maintain. Solo, SideWRK skips straight to the daily flow: create the job, quote, get paid.
You still get the parts of marketing that matter for a solo — a free public profile, automatic review requests, and one-tap rebooking — without running a marketing suite yourself.
Get paid fee-free to Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or Apple Pay — no merchant account, no skim on every job. Card's there if a customer prefers it.
If you're actively running email and SMS campaigns, drip sequences, and coupons to grow a customer base, Markate's CRM and marketing automation are built for that and can be worth the setup.
A marketing suite pays off when someone owns it. If you've got the time or a hand to manage campaigns and lists, Markate gives you more levers than a focused solo tool does.
Your customers come with you. Export your client list from Markate (any CSV or spreadsheet works — even a screenshot or a photo of a handwritten list), then in SideWRK open Customers → Import and drop it in. Names, phones, emails, addresses, and notes land clean, with a preview and dedupe before anything saves. Your history stays yours: SideWRK exports everything back out in a click, so there's no lock-in on this side either.
Your money is never held. Payments go straight to you — Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App directly, or cards on your own Stripe account where you're the merchant of record. How that works →
No caps, no per-user fees. Unlimited jobs and invoices on every plan, and the working automation — deposits on approval, e-signatures, customer-choice add-ons, automatic payment reminders, receipt scanning, review follow-ups — is included, not held two tiers up.
The price you join at is the price you keep. Features you already have never move behind a new paywall.
Yes. Markate's plans start around $39.95/month, while SideWRK starts at $24/month for a single trade and $39/month for every trade. For a solo operator who mainly needs to quote, invoice, and get paid, SideWRK is both cheaper and simpler.
SideWRK is built for the solo operator. Markate bundles CRM, marketing automation, and campaigns, which is a lot to manage for one person. SideWRK stays focused on the daily job — estimate, approve, invoice, get paid, track profit — without the CRM and marketing overhead.
Not the heavy campaign suite, on purpose. SideWRK gives you the essentials that drive repeat work for a solo — a free public profile, automatic review requests, and easy rebooking — without a marketing dashboard to run. If your bottleneck is doing and billing the work, that's what SideWRK optimizes.
Yes. SideWRK runs in any phone or laptop browser with nothing to install — start a free 14-day trial, add your business details, and send your first estimate the same day. Customers approve and pay from a link with no app to download.
Set up in minutes and send your first professional estimate today.
Start free — no card