Best apps for independent NDIS support workers in Australia (2026)

By Kim Matthews · Founder, Sparks Scribe

There are now more apps chasing Australian support workers than most of us have time to trial. Some are built for agencies and merely tolerate sole traders; some are built for sole traders and quietly cap the features you actually need; one does a single narrow job. This guide compares five of them by name: Sparks Scribe, ShiftCare, Astalty, EasyAs and Bugal.

One thing up front: I make one of these apps. Sparks Scribe is my product, so read my verdict on it knowing that, and check every competitor claim against the vendor's current public pages. Every competitor price and feature claim below was collected from each product's public website in July 2026. Where I couldn't verify something, I say "not verified" or "pricing on application" instead of guessing.

How I compared these apps

Lists like this usually rank apps by feature count. That rewards bloat, and it hides the two traps that actually catch independent workers: headline prices that assume a team, and entry plans that gate the features you came for. So I scored every tool on the same five questions:

• What does one person actually pay? Not the per-user headline, the real monthly cost for a sole trader who needs to invoice. Licence minimums and gated tiers count against the price.
• Who writes the note? There is a real difference between AI that writes a finished note from a sentence, voice dictation that types what you say, prompts that nudge you along, and blank templates. I name which is which.
• Is NDIS invoicing on the entry plan? Invoicing is the one feature nobody can skip. If it's locked behind a higher tier, the entry price is decoration.
• Where does it run? Native iOS and Android apps versus web-only matters when your office is the front seat of your car.
• Who is it built for? A tool designed for agencies will always pull its roadmap toward rostering and payroll. A tool built for one person pulls toward notes, invoices and compliance.

I also noted trial lengths and data storage where the vendor states them. Everything was checked against official public pricing pages in July 2026; prices may have changed by the time you read this.

1. Sparks Scribe, best overall for solo workers who want notes and invoicing

From $15/month incl GST (Essentials) · 14-day free trial, no card · iOS, Android and web · Data stored in Australia

Full disclosure first: this is my product. Sparks Scribe was built in Australia by Sparks Support Pty Ltd, and it is deliberately narrow, it serves independent NDIS support workers, not agencies. There is no rostering engine for other people's staff, no payroll, and no family portal. If you need those, this is the wrong tool; ShiftCare below lists them, with a five-licence minimum on every plan.

What it does instead is compress the admin of working alone. Shift notes are written with AI in about 60 seconds: type a sentence or speak it, and the note comes back professionally formatted. If you would rather stay hands-on, you can use templates instead. NDIS-coded invoicing is included on the $15 Essentials plan rather than gated behind a higher tier. The Vault plan ($20) adds service agreements, a document vault, a receipt vault, mileage tracking and Xero sync. The Safeguards plan ($39) adds alert detection on notes, incident reporting, per-client risk profiles, restrictive-practices flagging, and six consent forms with in-app signing.

On the record: a 5.0 rating on the App Store, more than 75,000 shifts booked through the platform by thousands of support workers, data stored in Australia, and a 14-day free trial with every feature unlocked and no card required.

My verdict: the strongest overall package for one person who wants notes and invoicing in a single app. Sparks Scribe deliberately leaves out team rostering, payroll and coordination caseloads; the tools that carry those features price them in (ShiftCare $65 to $75 a month for one person depending on billing, Astalty $64 a standard seat).

2. ShiftCare, team rostering and payroll, minimum five licences

From $9/licence/month, minimum 5 licences on every plan · Invoicing needs Professional, $65 to $75/month ex GST for one person, depending on billing · Free trial available

ShiftCare is a care management platform built for agencies. It lists team rostering, payroll with SCHADS Award interpretation and a family portal, agency features that Sparks Scribe deliberately does not build, and all of them are priced into every plan's five-licence minimum.

The problem for independents is the pricing floor. ShiftCare charges per licence with a minimum of five licences on every plan, even if you are the only person using the account. Pricing starts at $9 per licence per month, but invoicing requires the Professional plan, which works out at $65 to $75 a month excluding GST, depending on billing for a single worker. You pay as if you had a team of five, for a team that doesn't exist.

My verdict: ShiftCare is priced for teams, five licences minimum on every plan, with invoicing on Professional, which works out at $65 to $75 a month excluding GST for one person, depending on billing. If you work alone, it is an expensive way to be one person. I've written up the full Sparks Scribe vs ShiftCare comparison.

3. Astalty, coordination platform, $64 standard seat

$64/user/month standard seat · $30/user/month support-worker profile · E-signatures $1 each · 14-day trial

Astalty is a platform for NDIS support coordinators and providers, with PRODA bulk upload for claims and coordination workflows, provider-side features outside a solo support worker's shifts, notes and invoices. Its Smart Prompts are exactly that: prompts as you write, not AI that writes the note for you.

For a solo support worker the economics are harder. The standard seat is $64 per user per month, and the restricted support-worker profile is $30. E-signatures cost $1 each on top, where tools like mine include signing. That price reflects a coordination and provider feature set; if your week is shifts, notes and invoices, you're paying for depth you won't use.

My verdict: aimed at support coordinators, at $64 per user per month for a standard seat plus $1 per e-signature; Sparks Scribe includes in-app signing on its Safeguards plan. For a lone support worker it's the most expensive per-seat option here. See my Sparks Scribe vs Astalty comparison.

4. EasyAs, NDIS invoicing only, priced by invoice volume

Small plan $19.95/month on their website, $19.99 via in-app purchase · Rises by invoice volume to $39.95 ($44.95 with Xero or MYOB); in-app up to $44.99 · GST treatment not stated · No free trial published · iOS + Android

EasyAs, the NDIS invoicing product from EasyAs Provider Invoicing Pty Ltd at easyasinvoicing.com.au, does one job: NDIS invoicing. Its site says every NDIS item number and support comes pre-loaded and auto-updates with the latest NDIS pricing. Pricing is by invoice volume rather than per user: the Small plan (up to 60 invoices a month) is $19.95 a month on their website and $19.99 via in-app purchase; higher volumes and Xero or MYOB integration take that to $39.95 to $44.95 on their website and up to $44.99 via in-app purchase. There is no seat minimum and no per-user fee, signup on their website is self-serve, and their site advertises no lock-in contracts.

The question for a support worker is scope, not price. Across EasyAs's website and both app-store listings there is no mention of progress notes, shift notes or incident reporting, and no AI features of any kind, so a worker using it still needs somewhere else to write their notes. No free trial is published anywhere on their site or store listings, the pages don't state whether prices include GST, and EasyAs's privacy policy states that personal information may be transferred to countries outside Australia, including the United States and European Union, while the product collects participant names and NDIS numbers.

My verdict: a self-serve, invoicing-only product priced by invoice volume, $19.95 a month on their website, $19.99 via in-app purchase, with no notes, incident or AI features on any published page and no published free trial. It covers the invoice, not the shift record behind it.

5. Bugal, free tier capped at two invoices a month, Solo $35

Free plan (2 invoices/month) · Solo $35/month · 30-day free trial · Web-based platform

Bugal is a platform for Australian independents. It lists a free-forever plan capped at two invoices a month and a 30-day trial; invoicing beyond that cap requires the paid Solo plan.

The paid Solo plan is $35 a month for an individual, more than double Sparks Scribe's $15 entry plan. It lists client management, service agreements, shift management, invoicing, expense tracking, and shift notes and reports. What I couldn't verify from Bugal's site: whether prices include GST (not stated), any AI note-writing (none mentioned), and native mobile apps, Bugal describes itself as a web-based, mobile-first platform, with no App Store or Google Play listing mentioned as of July 2026.

My verdict: a web-based platform whose $35 solo price is more than double Sparks Scribe's $15 entry plan, with manual notes and no native mobile apps listed.

The comparison at a glance

Collected from public pricing pages in July 2026. "Price for 1 person" means the real monthly cost for a sole trader who needs invoicing, not the headline per-user rate.

All details collected from each vendor's public website in July 2026 and simplified for comparison; prices and plans change, so check the vendor's own pricing page before deciding. "Not verified" means I could not confirm the detail from official public pages and chose not to guess.

Frequently asked questions

Once you've picked a tool, the next job is using it well. Here's my guide on how to write NDIS shift notes, with examples.

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