Bugal alternative for a one-person care business
Bugal's free plan is free forever and caps invoicing at two a month. What that means as you grow, and where Bugal is the better buy.
Bugal is the closest thing in this market to the same idea as this product: built for independent support workers, priced per business rather than per seat, and with a free plan that does not expire. If you are starting out, its free plan may genuinely be all you need for a while. The question is what happens when you outgrow it, and that turns on one number.
How vendors in this market charge →
No card, no sales call. Bugal figures are theirs, published, and dated at the foot of this page.
The free plan, and the one number that decides it
Bugal publishes a plan marked free forever, and it is not a stripped shell: client management, service agreements, shift management, expense tracking, shift notes and reports, and financial reports are all on it. Invoicing is on it too, capped at two invoices a month. That cap is the whole decision. Someone with a few clients billed fortnightly writes eight or ten invoices a month and is past it almost immediately; someone with one client, or someone not yet billing, is not. Work out your own invoice count for a normal month before you read any price on either site.
- Free forever, with the core workflow included — not a time-limited trial
- Invoicing capped at two a month; everything else on the plan is uncapped
- Staff access is not on the free plan — it starts on the paid tiers
- Separately, Bugal offers a 30-day free trial of the paid product
This product has no plan that stays free. The free months are the full Basic plan for a fixed term, after which the workspace turns read-only until you subscribe, and nothing is deleted. Which of those two suits you depends on whether your constraint is time or invoice count.
What each shape costs as you grow
Bugal prices per business and bands by team size: A$35 a month working by yourself, A$45 for a team of two to five, A$65 for six or more, with a free plan underneath. This product prices the workspace and includes a set number of logins, adding seats individually above that. The two shapes cross over, and where they cross is the useful part.
| Where you are | HarvestFlow Care | Bugal |
|---|---|---|
| Starting out, barely invoicing | The free months — full Basic, fixed term, then read-only | The free plan, indefinitely, at up to two invoices a month |
| One person, invoicing properly | Basic, A$15 a month ex GST — one office login and one worker sign-in | Solo, A$35 a month, with staff access included |
| A team of two to five | Basic or Pro at A$30, plus seats at A$10 a login and A$5 a worker sign-in | Starter, A$45 a month flat, however many of you there are |
| Six or more | Six people is six seats, priced individually | Premium, A$65 a month flat, however many of you there are |
That last row is the one to take seriously. A flat price for a whole team stops depending on headcount exactly when a per-seat price starts to. If you are already six people, do that sum with your own mix of office logins and worker sign-ins before you move either way.
When Bugal is the better answer
Bugal and this product are aimed at the same person, which is rarer in this market than it sounds, and there are several situations where Bugal is the one to pick.
- You are starting out and not yet invoicing much — the free plan is free forever, and two invoices a month may be all you need for now
- You are a team of six or more, where one flat monthly price for everyone stops moving with headcount
- You want the simplest possible bill: three published bands, no seats to count, no per-participant anything
- You are already using it and it works — nothing on this page is a reason to move a working system
- You would rather have a 30-day trial of the paid product than a longer term on a starter plan
When this one is
The cases turn on invoicing volume and on what happens at the door.
- You invoice more than a couple of times a month and do not want that to be the thing that decides your software
- You want the visit itself handled on a phone — check in, write the note, capture a signature, check out — rather than recorded afterwards
- You want NDIS-shaped invoices with the participant number, support item numbers, dates and exact hours on every line, sent to a plan manager
- You want credential expiry reminders before a check lapses rather than after
What HarvestFlow does not do
- No plan that stays free — the free months are a fixed term of the full Basic plan, then read-only
- No flat price for a large team; past a handful of people this product prices each login
- No SCHADS award interpretation. It records hours and visits and hands the timesheet data to your payroll system
- No NDIA bulk claiming. Invoices go to the plan manager or the participant, who pay you directly
One thing to ask either vendor
Bugal's pricing section does not state whether its prices include GST. Plenty of pages leave it out, and it is worth a message before you compare anything — a tenth of the difference between two numbers can sit inside one of them. This product publishes ex GST and shows the tax separately on the invoice. The Astalty comparison has more on why the basis matters.
The rest of the market
Three comparisons now, each turning on a different shape: a minimum number of staff, a coordinator-priced seat, and a flat price per business. The buying guide sets out all five ways vendors here charge.
How NDIS software vendors charge →
Bugal's plan names, monthly prices, team-size bands, the two-invoice cap on its free plan and its 30-day trial are as published on bugal.com.au and read on 16 September 2026; its pricing sits on the home page rather than at a /pricing URL. Vendor pricing changes without notice — check the source before deciding. HarvestFlow's own figures come from its live rate card and are ex GST.