Choosing a tier

Karven has four pricing tiers. The differences aren't artificial, they map to how the business actually runs at different sizes. This article runs through who each tier is for, what's gated, and where the upgrade pressure tends to come from.

Free trial

7 days, send as many quotes as you like. No card.

This is the "try before you trust us" week. You get the calculator, the branded PDF, the customer portal, voice and photo to quote, and email send. After the week you pick a plan to keep sending quotes, and everything you made stays put.

A week of real quoting is enough to see whether the maths matches your gut. If it does, the gut-check usually triggers a plan pick before the week is out.

Starter

For: one-person operators. The most common starting tier.

What's unlocked over Free:

• Unlimited quotes. No monthly cap.
• SMS send. Quotes go out via Twilio with a short link the customer taps from their lock screen.
• Automations. Day-3 nudge, day-7 follow-up, accept-then-thank.
• Stripe Connect. Take card deposits. Card fees are passed through (see surcharging).
• Logo + custom terms. Your business, your branding, your legal page on every PDF.

Most one-person shops never need to leave Starter. The cap on this tier is on subbies and users, not on jobs.

Business

For: 2-10 person operations. Adds the multi-user, light compliance, and accounting connectors.

What's unlocked over Starter:

• Multiple seats. Add your apprentice, your office partner, a 2IC. Per-seat permissions on quoting, payments, and customer data.
• SWMS pack. Generate a SWMS for the job from the quote inputs. See SWMS.
• Xero / MYOB sync. Push accepted quotes straight into your accounting package as draft invoices. See Xero and MYOB.
• Subbie roster. Track licence and insurance expiries for your regular subbies.
• Job pipeline view. A kanban-style bench so you can see who's where.

Business is where Karven starts replacing other tools. Tradies on Business tend to drop Tradify, ServiceM8, or a homegrown spreadsheet within the first month.

Pro

For: 10+ person yards, multi-branch operators, and anyone running a BAS workflow that needs serious help.

What's unlocked over Business:

• BAS pre-fill. Karven generates a draft BAS straight from your sent and accepted quotes. See BAS workflow.
• RCTI generation. Recipient-Created Tax Invoices for your subbies, one click. See RCTI.
• Licence verification by state. Karven calls each state's public licence register to confirm a number is current. See licence verification.
• SEO microsites. A landing page per trade × suburb, branded to you. See SEO microsites.
• Embed widget. Drop a Karven quote-request form on your existing site. See embed widget.
• Priority support. Two-hour response, business hours AEST.

How to actually decide

A short test:

• Sending fewer than five quotes a month? Free. Don't pay for what you don't use.
• Solo operator, sending more than five a month, want to take deposits? Starter.
• Got at least one employee, want SWMS and Xero? Business.
• BAS taking you a full day every quarter? Pro.

You can change tier any day of the month. If you downgrade, Karven keeps your data but locks the tier-only features (your SWMS history is still there; you just can't generate a new one until you upgrade again).

Trial

Every new account gets a 7-day free trial automatically. No card. During the week you can send as many quotes as you like. After day 7 you pick a plan to keep sending quotes. Karven doesn't auto-charge, so you choose a plan yourself.

What it doesn't change

Tier doesn't affect calculator accuracy, PDF branding, customer portal, or the core quoting flow. Those are the same whether you're on Free or Pro. The tier scales with the team and the compliance, not the maths.