Payapps and alternatives for M&E subcontractors (UK, 2026)

Short answer: if a main contractor already makes you submit through Payapps or WebContractor, you will keep using it, because it is how they receive your payment application. It does not replace the site records that back the application. Validate is for keeping those records, approving the work, and building the payment application from it. The two can sit side by side.

What each one is

Payapps is payment application software used on both sides of the relationship. Its UK subcontractor pricing page lists plans by the number of contracts you submit against each month, unlimited users on every plan, accounting software integration, and no lock-in on monthly plans.

WebContractor was a separate UK platform for subcontractor applications for payment. Payapps bought WebContractor Holdings Limited in October 2023, and the webcontractor.com address now redirects to Payapps. Main contractors typically invite their supply chain onto it, so the question of what it costs you is best put to the contractor who invited you.

Validate is site records and approved work first, with the invoice or payment application built from what you approved. It is £149 a month plus VAT per company (or £1,490 a year), unlimited people and projects, with a 30-day free trial and no card needed. Validate Lite, for smaller firms that quote and invoice from a phone, is £75 a month plus VAT.

Side by side

• How Payapps prices: by contracts per month. Basic £32 (1 contract), Standard £85 (5), Premium £140 (10), Unlimited £270, or £35 per application. The first application each month across self-managed contracts is free.
• How Validate prices: one flat price per company, whatever the number of contracts, projects or people.
• What the Payapps plan page lists: payment applications, self-managing contracts, accounting software integration, cloud access and support. We did not see a site logging app, RAMS or programme tools listed there.
• What Validate covers: engineers log work from site on a phone, you approve it with the photo and time attached, and the application is built from that. It also holds RAMS, snags, the programme, people and qualifications.
• Who starts it: with Payapps and WebContractor it is often the main contractor. With Validate it is you, which is why your records stay in your own system.

Which to choose

• Choose Payapps or WebContractor when a main contractor requires it, or you only need to submit applications and want the lowest price for a few contracts.
• Choose Validate when the gap is the evidence behind the application: who did what, where, when, with a photo, approved the same day. It matters most when a valuation is cut or an extra is disputed.
• Use both when you must submit through a main contractor's portal. Build the application from your approved work in Validate and submit it through their portal.

Questions worth asking any supplier

• Who owns the data, and can I export everything if I leave?
• Is the price per contract, per user or per company, and what happens as I grow?
• Does it work on site with no signal?
• Is the account mine, or does it end when the main contractor's job ends?

Frequently asked

Is Payapps free for subcontractors?

Partly. Payapps' UK subcontractor page says the first application for payment each month across your self-managed contracts is free. Beyond that its published plans run from £32 a month (1 contract a month) to £270 a month (unlimited contracts), or £35 per application. Checked on 18 October 2026.

What happened to WebContractor?

Payapps bought WebContractor Holdings Limited in October 2023, and the webcontractor.com address now redirects to Payapps. If a main contractor asks you to submit through WebContractor, check with them what it costs you.

Can I use Validate and Payapps together?

Yes. If a main contractor makes you submit through their Payapps or WebContractor portal, you still do. Validate is where the site records and approved work are kept and the payment application is built; you then submit it through their portal.

Is Validate cheaper than Payapps?

It depends on how many contracts you submit against each month. Payapps' Standard plan (5 contracts) is £85 a month and Premium (10 contracts) is £140, so for payment applications alone Payapps costs less for a few contracts. Validate is £149 a month plus VAT for the whole company with unlimited users and projects, and covers the site records and approvals as well as the application.

Sources and how this was checked

• Payapps UK subcontractor pricing, payapps.com/uk/pricing-subcontractors, read on 18 October 2026. Payapps says it can change its packaging and pricing at any time.
• Payapps' purchase of WebContractor, reported on 31 October 2023, for example by Tech.eu.
• Validate prices from validate.software/pricing.

Prices and plans change, so check the supplier's own page before you decide. If anything here is out of date or wrong, tell us at hello@validate.software and we will correct it.