In short: Sparks Scribe is built for independent support workers and sole traders who send their own invoices. If you're an employee working inside a provider's system, the fit is different. If you're a family or participant managing your own supports, our sister app Sparks Flow at sparksflow.app is the better home. Here's how to tell which one is you.
Short answer up front: Scribe is built for the independent support worker running their own business as a sole trader, writing their own shift notes and sending their own invoices. If that's not quite you, there's likely a better fit, and we'd rather tell you now than have you find out three months in.
You're an independent support worker or sole trader
This is exactly who Scribe is for. You pick up clients directly, you write the shift notes, and you send the invoices. Scribe gives you AI-assisted shift notes with templates for SOAPIE, incident reports, behavioural observations, medication administration and more. You type or speak the note, review it, and it goes out under your name. NDIS-coded invoicing is built in from the entry plan, with weekday, evening, weekend and public holiday rates handled, plus travel and expenses. There's a calendar, client records and reports to keep the whole business organised in one place.
You're employed by a support company
Here's the honest bit. Scribe is built around the independent worker sending their own invoices, so if your employer handles invoicing and you're paid through payroll, that part of Scribe won't do much for you. You might still like the shift note templates for your own personal records, but check with your employer about what system they expect you to use for official notes.
One more thing worth knowing: Scribe doesn't currently support several workers sharing access to the same client's notes or plan inside the app. If you work alongside teammates on a shared caseload, that's a gap, not a secret, and it's something the team hears about and is looking at. If you need an answer for team or agency-wide use, that's best directed to the Sparks team rather than guessed at here.
You manage your own or a family member's NDIS supports
If you're a participant or family member coordinating your own support workers, rather than being a worker yourself, Scribe isn't the right tool. You want our sister app, Sparks Flow, at sparksflow.app. Flow is built for the family side: it rosters one-off and recurring shifts, texts your workers shift offers they can confirm without needing a login, collects end-of-shift notes and incident flags from them, and tracks your plan budget. It's $399 a year including SMS, with a 14-day free trial, no lock-in, and unlimited participants per household.
Doing a bit of both
Plenty of workers pick up a few independent clients while also doing shifts for an agency. That's fine. Use Scribe for the clients you invoice directly yourself. For agency shifts, stick with whatever system your employer requires, since the invoicing and record-keeping for those shifts runs through them, not you.
A quick way to check which one is you
- Do you send your own invoices to participants, plan managers or support coordinators? If yes, Scribe fits.
- Does your pay come through an employer's payroll with no invoicing on your end? Scribe's invoicing won't be relevant to you.
- Are you a participant or family member organising your own team of workers? That's Sparks Flow at sparksflow.app, not Scribe.
- Do you need several people to view or edit the same client's notes inside one app? Not yet supported in Scribe.
If you land on independent worker or sole trader, Scribe has a 14-day free trial with every feature unlocked and no card needed. Everything you add during the trial stays in your account whether you subscribe straight away or later. If you're not happy in your first 14 days on a paid plan, it's a full refund, no questions asked, and there's no lock-in contract either way.
Frequently asked questions
I'm an employee at a provider, can I still use Scribe for my own personal notes?
You can, and some workers do use the templates for their own record-keeping. Just check with your employer about what system they require for official shift notes, since Scribe's invoicing side is built for workers sending their own invoices, not payroll employees.
Can several support workers share access to one client's notes in Scribe?
Not currently. Scribe is set up for one independent worker managing their own clients and records. Shared or multi-user access to a single client's plan isn't available yet, though it's a request the team is aware of.
I manage my own NDIS plan as a participant, is Scribe the right app for me?
Scribe is built for the support worker, not the participant or family managing their own supports. For that side, our sister app Sparks Flow at sparksflow.app handles rostering workers, collecting their shift notes, and tracking your plan budget.
I do some agency shifts and some independent clients, what should I use Scribe for?
Use Scribe for the clients you invoice yourself. For agency shifts, your employer's system is still the one to follow, since the invoicing and formal record-keeping for those shifts goes through them.
Does Scribe work for someone just starting out as a sole trader support worker?
Yes. The 14-day free trial unlocks every feature with no card needed, so you can try shift notes, invoicing and templates before committing to a plan. Essentials at $15 a month covers notes and NDIS-coded invoicing if that's mainly what you need.