Side-by-side comparison
The step that costs money
What the second mechanic costs
| Feature | Autera | GearDesk |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs on the free planTheirs is the better free tier on volume, plainly. If you are under fifty jobs a month and working alone, that matters more than anything below. | 20 a month | 50 a month |
| Free plan, no card, no clockBoth of us mean it. Neither is a fourteen-day trial wearing a disguise. | Solo, free forever | Free forever, no card |
| Users on the free plan | One mechanic | One staff login |
| Booking website on the free planAnother row to them. Ours is a fuller site you can customise, but theirs is free and ours is not. | Workshop (£79) | Included free |
| Native iPhone & Android appsWINNothing on their home or pricing page mentions an app, as of September 2026. Worth asking them, because a technician under a car is not walking to the office to update a job. | Every plan, including free | Not advertised |
| Unlimited mechanicsWINThe step that costs you £49 there costs £29 here, and it is the step almost every growing garage takes. | £29 / month | £49 / month |
| Vehicle lookupsLevel. Both give you the plate lookup without rationing it. | Unlimited MOT history on every plan, DVLA fair-use | DVLA & MOT history, free plan included |
| Card payments on invoicesDifferent processors, same idea, and theirs is on the free tier. | Stripe pay-by-link | SumUp, free plan included |
| MOT reminders | Email on Workshop, 150 texts a month (£79) | SMS reminders on Pro (£49) |
| Vehicle health checks with photo evidenceWIN | Workshop (£79) | Not advertised |
| Customer job tracker | Workshop, no login for the customer | Customer portal on Pro (£49) |
| Xero / QuickBooks syncWINOurs writes into Xero and QuickBooks directly; theirs is described as a portal for your accountant. | Included from £29 | Accountant portal on Pro (£49) |
| Parts & stock | Workshop (£79), with factor price-list import | Parts catalogue on Pro (£49) |
| More than one siteWIN | Multi-Bay £149 + £49 per extra site | Not advertised |
| How you upgradeRead off their pricing page on 8 September 2026. Not a criticism of the product — but it does mean the paid plan is a conversation rather than a click today. | Card in the app, takes effect immediately | “Stripe payments coming soon · Contact us to upgrade” |
| Best fit | Garages with a second mechanic, or work happening away from the office computer | A single-handed garage under fifty jobs a month that wants a booking site for nothing |
Comparison reviewed September 2026. Pricing and feature sets change frequently, check geardesk.co.uk for the latest from GearDesk.
Why UK garages choose Autera
Where GearDesk is genuinely better
Fifty jobs a month on their free plan against our twenty, and a booking website included where we charge for it. If you are one mechanic doing under fifty jobs a month and you want a booking page, their free tier gives you more than ours does. That is the honest answer and it is the first thing on this page for a reason.
The second mechanic
Their free plan is one staff login and unlimited logins are on the £49 Pro plan. Autera Starter is £29 and includes unlimited mechanics and unlimited admin users. Almost every garage that grows takes that step, and taking it here costs twenty pounds a month less.
The job in your pocket
Neither their home page nor their pricing page mentions a mobile app, as of September 2026. Autera has native iPhone and Android apps on every plan including the free one, carrying the whole product: photograph a worn disc from under the car, attach it to the job, send the customer an approval request, never walk to the office.
Into the books, not beside them
Autera syncs invoices into Xero and QuickBooks directly from £29, and exports for Sage 50 and any bookkeeper. GearDesk describes an accountant portal on its £49 plan. Both beat retyping; one of them lands in the ledger.
What £79 buys that £49 does not
Their Pro is £49 and ours is £79, so this only matters if you need what is in it: vehicle health checks with photo and video the customer approves, the DVSA MOT reminder workflow with 150 texts a month, a no-login job tracker for the customer, per-job time tracking, ADAS certificates and multi-site. If none of that is your garage, their £49 is the better buy and you should take it.
A fair word about a new competitor
GearDesk publishes its prices in plain numbers, means "free forever", and does not ask for a card to start — which is more than much of this market manages. We would rather be compared against that than against a demo request and a quote. If their free tier fits your garage, it is a good place to start.
Common questions
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