Side-by-side comparison
The cap comparison
What happens on the fifty-first lookup
| Feature | Autera | Workauto |
|---|---|---|
| Free planWIN | Solo, free forever, one mechanic | None; 14-day trial |
| Trial without a cardCredit where due: Workauto asks for no card and no setup fee either. | Free plan, no card, no clock | 14-day trial, no card required |
| Monthly priceA pound apart. This is not the deciding number and we will not pretend it is. | £29 / month | £30 / month |
| Annual priceWINTen pounds a year. Also not the deciding number. | £290 / year (Starter) | £300 / year |
| Vehicle registration lookupsWINWorkauto includes fifty vehicle lookups a month and sells a hundred for £10 a month more. Whether that bites depends on how many unfamiliar plates you see: a lookup fills in a vehicle you are adding for the first time, so a garage with a settled customer base may never reach fifty, while one taking on new cars every day will. Workauto does not publish what happens once the allowance is used, so ask them. Autera’s lookups are unlimited on every plan, so the question never comes up. | Unlimited, on every plan including free | 50 a month; 100 for £10 more |
| InvoicingWINWorkauto’s September 2026 release post calls invoicing “next up … one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle” and says they are still building it. Jobs can be tagged “invoiced” and reported on, so the tracking is there; raising the VAT invoice itself is not, yet. | VAT invoices, branded PDF, Stripe pay-by-link | In development |
| Card payments / pay-by-linkWIN | Stripe pay-by-link on invoices | Not advertised |
| Customer-facing online bookingWIN | Workshop+ (£79) | Not advertised |
| Customer job tracking linkWIN | Workshop+, no app or login for the customer | Not advertised |
| Vehicle health checksWorkauto wins this at the entry price, as several of the cheap systems do. Autera’s are Workshop-tier, with photo and video evidence the customer approves. | Workshop+ (£79) | Included at £30, with shareable reports |
| Visual drag-and-drop plannerTheirs is the headline feature and it is well done for a small shop. | Calendar and board views | Daily and weekly drag-and-drop planner |
| MOT and service reminders | Email and text, Workshop+ | Included at £30 |
| Native iPhone & Android appsWIN | Mobile "Tech View" (web) | |
| ADAS calibration certificates (PAS 1880)WIN | Workshop+ | Not advertised |
| Xero / QuickBooks / SageWINWorkauto’s own small-garage guide puts it plainly: “It’s deliberately lightweight, which means if you need advanced stock management or deep accounting integrations it might not be for you.” Their docs cover exporting a report to a spreadsheet, which is the manual path. | Xero + QuickBooks sync, Sage 50 export | Not advertised; export a report to a spreadsheet |
| Best fit | Garages that invoice from the system, look up a lot of plates, or want room to grow | A garage wanting a simple planner and health checks, invoicing elsewhere |
Comparison reviewed August 2026. Pricing and feature sets change frequently, check workauto.co.uk for the latest from Workauto.
Why UK garages choose Autera
No counting your own lookups
Workauto includes fifty vehicle lookups a month and sells a hundred for £10 a month more. Autera’s are unlimited on every plan, free one included. Whether fifty is enough depends on how many unfamiliar plates come through your door, which is a sum you have to do and we would rather you never had to.
Invoice from the same place you did the work
Workauto is building invoicing: their own September 2026 release post calls it “next up” and still to come. Today you can tag a job “invoiced” and report on the ones you have not done yet, which means the invoice itself is raised somewhere else. Autera turns a finished job into a VAT invoice with the parts you fitted and the hours your technician actually clocked already on it, with a Stripe payment link in the email. If you would otherwise be retyping that into Xero or a Word template, that is the whole gap.
Free has no end date
Both of us let you try without a card, which is to Workauto’s credit. The difference is the floor: their cheapest plan is £30, ours is nothing. A one-mechanic garage can run on Autera Solo indefinitely and only start paying when the work justifies it.
Apps, not a mobile view
Workauto offers a mobile "Tech View" in the browser. Autera has native iPhone and Android apps carrying the full product, so a technician can photograph a worn disc, attach it to the job and send the customer an approval request without going near the office computer.
Where Workauto is genuinely better
Vehicle health checks with shareable reports are in their £30, where Autera puts health checks on Workshop at £79. Their drag-and-drop planner is also the nicest thing on their site and squarely aimed at a small shop. If you want a simple planner with health checks and you invoice elsewhere, Workauto is a fair £30.
Respect for a real competitor
Workauto is honest about what it is: simple software for a very small garage, no contract, no setup fee, no card to try, and a clear price. That is more than a lot of this market manages. Autera wins on the lookup cap, on invoicing and payments, and on having somewhere to grow into.
Common questions
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