Auto repair shop software: what it costs and how to choose

What auto repair shop software does

Whatever it is called — mechanic shop software, auto repair software, shop management software — the product does the same core job: it holds the repair order from the first call to the last payment. In most systems that means:

• Customers and vehicles. One record per customer and per vehicle, with history that follows the vehicle.
• Estimates and approvals. A priced estimate the customer can approve before the work starts.
• The work board. Which repair is in which phase, who has it, and what it is waiting on.
• Inspections. A checklist with findings, usually with photos.
• Parts and inventory. Requests, orders, receiving, and cost against the job.
• Invoicing and payments. The invoice, the payment, and what is still owed.
• Reporting. Car count, average repair order, technician hours, and what came back.

Systems differ most in what is included at the entry price and what is sold as an add-on: a labor guide, integrated parts ordering, two-way texting, card processing, marketing and extra locations are the usual dividing lines.

What auto repair shop software costs in October 2026

These are the published list prices for one location. Each vendor's own page was read on 22 October 2026, except Mitchell 1, whose store blocked an automated read that day; its figure is from 27 September 2026. Annual billing is lower at every vendor that offers it. Quotes, promotions and taxes change the number you actually pay, so get the total in writing.

Mitchell 1's figure is its TeamWorks bundle on a 12-month lease; it does not publish a stand-alone Manager SE price. Plan-by-plan detail is in Tekmetric pricing, Shopmonkey pricing and AutoLeap pricing.

What the plan price leaves out

The entry price is rarely the monthly bill. Each of these is published on the vendor's own page:

• Tekmetric: multi-shop is +$70 a month per shop, a tire suite +$39 and marketing +$345 a month per shop, each requiring a plan for every location.
• Shopmonkey: $20 a month for each user beyond the included licenses, a one-time $500 data migration fee, and card readers at $299 plus $10 a month per device.
• Shop-Ware: data migration fees may apply, an accounting link integration fee applies, transaction fees apply to Shop-Ware Payments, and CRM plus online scheduling is a $249 a month add-on.
• AutoLeap: a one-time setup fee whose amount the page does not state, and an AI receptionist at $99 a month.
• Protractor: CRM plus online scheduling (Advanced Tools) is $249 a month, transaction fees apply to integrated payments, and prices apply to new customers or upgrades only.

How to choose auto repair shop software

Ask these in order. The first one decides more than the price does.

1. What is the record built around? Most systems are built around the repair order: estimate, approval, labor, parts, invoice. That fits oil changes, brakes and maintenance. If your costly jobs are diagnoses that come back, ask where the complaint, the evidence and the confirmation are recorded, and whether the invoice can wait for the repair to be proven.
2. What is the whole monthly bill? Add users beyond the allowance, the add-ons you would turn on, payment processing and any migration or setup fee. Compare that total, not the plan card.
3. What does the counter need? Check the labor guide, parts ordering from your suppliers, two-way texting, card payments and accounting sync. These sit on different tiers at different vendors.
4. How does history move? Ask for the export format and for a dry run of the import before you cancel anything. Keep the old system readable for a month.
5. Who answers when it breaks? Ask what support is included and how quickly a person replies. Test it during the trial.

Which kind of shop fits which kind of system

• General repair and maintenance, with a busy counter. A general system is the natural fit. Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, Shop-Ware, AutoLeap, Protractor and Mitchell 1 all publish what they include; the comparison hub lines them up feature by feature with a source for every cell.
• Transmission, rebuild and powertrain work. The expensive failure is a unit that comes back, so the record has to hold the diagnosis, the unit, the core and the comeback. That is the job BayStacker is built for; the workflow is on transmission shop software.
• A general shop with a transmission bay. Run the general system for the counter and judge whether the transmission work needs its own diagnosis record.

A five-test trial plan

Run these on your own last month of jobs, not on demo data.

1. Write an estimate, send it for approval and convert it to a repair order.
2. Run a job through the board with a part that arrives late, and see how the hold shows.
3. Add a part with a core charge, receive it and return the core.
4. Close a job, then reopen it as a comeback and check that the original history is still attached.
5. Export everything, and import a sample of your own history.

How BayStacker fits

BayStacker at a glance

• What it is: diagnosis-first auto repair shop management software for transmission and powertrain work. The complaint, the decoded VIN and the first finding become one diagnosis case; Analysis A returns a ranked hypothesis with the next test and the rework risk, a draft until a person confirms it; the work order, parts, build and invoice read from that case.
• What it costs: Intelligence $149 USD or Full OS $499 USD per location per month, billed monthly, with 1,000 analysis runs a month. 7-day free trial. A card is required when the trial starts and is first charged when the trial ends, unless you cancel before then. There is no per-user charge and no annual contract; a plan is cancelled from the billing page.
• Who it is for: transmission and rebuild shops, fleet powertrain operations, multi-location groups, and general repair shops with a transmission bay.
• What it does not do: it has no labor guide, no integrated supplier parts ordering, no two-way texting or marketing suite, and it does not process card payments — payments are recorded on the invoice.
• Moving in: history comes in as a CSV file, one row per past repair, after a dry run reports what would be imported, skipped or refused. There is no direct import from Tekmetric or any other vendor.
• Moving out: every record can be exported at any time as a zip of CSV files.

Both editions start with a 7-day free trial and include 1,000 analysis runs a month per location; a card is required when the trial starts and first charged when it ends. Prices and terms are on the pricing page, and the detailed comparisons are the Tekmetric alternative, Shopmonkey alternative, Shop-Ware alternative, AutoLeap alternative, Mitchell 1 alternative and Protractor alternative.

Related guides

• Auto repair shop management software, module by module
• Auto repair estimate software
• Auto repair invoice software
• Digital vehicle inspection software
• Free auto repair shop software