Rego lookup, safety certificates and parts. Those three decide the shortlist.
Workshop software for an Australian mechanic is decided by three things the generic job-management products do not do: registration lookup, the safety-certificate workflow with Transport and Main Roads, and live parts ordering through Repco, Burson and Capricorn. Five products publish enough to compare on those. We have built against none of the workshop-specific ones, and we say so.
Read this first: we have built against ServiceM8, not against any workshop system
Of the six products on this page we have implemented against one, and it is the one that is not built for workshops. ServiceM8 is a general trades job-management system. Workshop Software, MechanicDesk, Workshop Mate, Auxo Workshop and Mechanic Manager are described here from their own published pages, read on one day and linked, and nothing more.
We also have a commercial interest to declare. Kindra sells its own workshop app, Kindra Mechanic. It is not ranked on this page and it is not recommended on this page. If you run a single-site workshop that fits one of the products below, buy the product. Custom versus off-the-shelf sets out how rarely a build pays.
What we can speak to from experience is the layer around the workshop system: the Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online joins, SMS and booking automation, and the enquiry-to-job-card gap. That is where a workshop usually loses admin hours, and it is the same shape whichever product you pick.
The three things that decide a mechanic’s shortlist
Not the dashboard. Not the calendar. Every product on this page has a booking diary and job cards. The differences that matter sit in three places that generic trade software does not touch.
Registration lookup. Typing a rego and getting the make, model, VIN and engine back saves a minute a car and stops the wrong filter being ordered. Workshop Software publishes registration lookup at a small fee per lookup (Workshop Software pricing, read 3 September 2026). MechanicDesk lists an Australian Vehicle Lookup integration alongside CarJam for New Zealand and MyCarCheck for the UK (MechanicDesk integrations, 3 September 2026). ServiceM8 publishes no vehicle lookup at all.
Safety certificates. In Queensland a safety certificate is issued by an approved examiner at an Approved Inspection Station, and since 1 November 2024 all new AIS applicants and existing approval holders have needed mandatory training (TMR, Approved Inspection Station scheme, read 3 September 2026). The certificate itself is issued through TMR’s own Inspection Certificates Online portal or a paper book — not through your workshop software. What the software can do is hold the inspection record, the photos and the reminder.
Parts ordering. Repco states that Navigator Pro integrates with "a large range of quality workshop management systems" and tells you to ask your provider which (Repco Trade, 3 September 2026). Capricorn, the buying cooperative most independent workshops belong to, reports over 30,000 members and over 2,000 preferred suppliers across Australia and New Zealand, with member purchases above $3.4 billion in 2023 (Capricorn, Our Story). If your parts go through Capricorn, the software has to speak to it, and only one of the five workshop products publishes that it does.
Six products, on what they publish
Published facts only, from each vendor’s own Australian pages, read on 3 September 2026. Prices exclude GST unless stated. "Documented, not implemented" means we have read the material carefully and have never made the product work.
- #1Workshop Software — the most complete published feature list, and the only one with a public API, on the top plan$119, $149 and $249 a month plus GST for Silver, Gold and Platinum, or $99, $119 and $199 a month on an annual commitment; extra users $20 a month; 14-day trial (pricing). Public API and public booking API on Platinum only. Native Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks on every plan; Repco Navigator Pro, Burson EzyParts and Capricorn ordering; registration lookup and SMS at a small fee each; HaynesPro data from $69 a month extra; digital inspections need Gold or above. Warriewood, NSW; hosted on AWS with Australian infrastructure; 24-hour chat, phone 8:30am to 5pm (product facts page). Documented, not implemented. The constraint: the API you would need to join it to anything else costs $249 a month.
- #2MechanicDesk — the cheapest entry, metered on users, with the widest parts-supplier list$70 a month plus GST for one user, $100 for three, $135 for six, $215 for fifteen, extra users $10 to $15; SMS 10 cents; 14-day trial (MechanicDesk). Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks; Repco Navigator Pro, Burson EzyParts, NAPA ProLink and five other suppliers; Australian Vehicle Lookup; Windcave and Till payment terminals (integrations). Melbourne. Support turnaround stated as 10 to 15 minutes. No public API published anywhere we could read. Documented, not implemented. The constraint: no API means everything beyond the listed integrations is manual.
- #3Workshop Mate — a free tier that is real, metered on jobs, with integration charged per connectionFree for up to 10 jobs a month, then $72, $107 and $156 a month for up to 100, up to 150 and unlimited jobs; unlimited users on every plan; 14-day trial; "charges apply per integration" (Workshop Mate pricing). Sydney. Xero compatibility is caveated by country on its own page. Documented, not implemented. The constraint: the integration surcharge is not published, so the real monthly cost is unknown until you ask.
- #4Auxo Workshop — an Australian and New Zealand incumbent, priced in a currency its page does not state$99 plus GST a month for two users, $199 for five, $299 for seven "coming soon"; Xero, Repco Nav Pro, BNT EzyParts and NAPA integrations; company describes 30 years in automotive across Australia and New Zealand but lists New Zealand phone numbers (Auxo Workshop). No API, MYOB, Capricorn or rego lookup on the page. Documented, not implemented. The constraint: confirm the currency before you compare it with anything above.
- #5Mechanic Manager — the cheapest headline price, and the least published detail$59 a month is the only figure on its own site, which did not fully render when read (Mechanic Manager). Features named: bookings, job cards, invoicing, service history, SMS reminders, stock control, GST and accounting. No API, parts supplier, rego lookup or user limit published. Documented, not implemented. The constraint: the least you can learn before a demo of any product here.
- #6ServiceM8 — the general trades system we have built against, which is not a workshop systemFree for 30 jobs a month and one user, then $29, $79, $149 and $349 a month including GST for 50, 150, 500 and 1,500-plus jobs with unlimited users; SMS 10 cents; card payments from 2.10% plus 30 cents down to 1.49% plus 30 cents by plan (ServiceM8 pricing). Full public API. No rego lookup, no parts ordering, no inspection module. Implemented against, in production — see the integration page. The constraint: it is excellent at jobs and useless at vehicles.
What the prices actually buy — sites, users or jobs
Three different meters, so the headline figures cannot be compared in a row. Workshop Software charges per site plus users. MechanicDesk charges by user band. Workshop Mate and ServiceM8 charge by jobs a month with unlimited users.
Do your own two numbers before you read a feature list: how many people need a login, and how many job cards you open a month. A two-bay shop with one office person and 90 cars a month is a $100 MechanicDesk plan or a $107 Workshop Mate plan. The same shop with four technicians on tablets is $135 at MechanicDesk and still $107 at Workshop Mate. Neither is wrong; they are aimed at different shapes.
Then add the metered extras, which no vendor puts in the headline. Rego lookups "at a small fee", SMS at 10 cents, vehicle data at $69 a month, integration surcharges "per integration". For a workshop sending two reminders a car across 150 cars a month that is $30 in SMS before anything else. Small, real, and worth writing down.
Safety certificates: what the software cannot do for you
A Queensland safety certificate from a private seller is valid for 2 months or 2,000 kilometres, whichever comes first; from a dealer, 3 months or 1,000 kilometres. It is needed when registration transfers to a new owner, when a vehicle moves to Queensland registration from another state, or when an unregistered vehicle is re-registered, and a seller can be fined over $700 for disposing of a vehicle without a current one (Queensland Government, safety certificates, read 3 September 2026).
None of that lives in your workshop software. The certificate is issued through TMR’s Inspection Certificates Online, which TMR describes as free, browser or mobile-app based, and as meeting the document-keeping requirements under the AIS business rules (TMR). Your software holds the job, the inspection checklist, the photos and the invoice. The certificate is a separate system with its own login.
Worth knowing before a sales call: "roadworthy module" in a brochure means a checklist and a reminder, not the certificate. Other states run their own schemes; check yours with the state regulator, not with us.
The accounting join, and where we actually fit
Every product here names Xero. Most name MYOB and QuickBooks Online. That is the join you will rely on daily, and it is the one worth testing in a trial with a real invoice, a real supplier bill and a real deposit rather than demo data.
Workshop Software’s Xero listing describes sales invoices raised from a job card syncing with full line detail and tax, supplier invoices, payments and deposits, account mapping, tracking categories by site, technician or job type, and respect for Xero lock dates. It carries 25 reviews at 4.22 out of 5 on the Xero App Store (Xero App Store, read 3 September 2026). That is the most detailed accounting description any of the six publishes, and it is the standard to hold the others to.
Where we fit is the gap the vendor does not sell: the parts bill that arrives as a PDF and has to be keyed, the booking enquiry from Facebook that has to be typed into the diary, the debtor list that nobody chases. Accounts payable, customer intake and debtor chasing are the three we do most for workshops, and each works around whichever product you keep. What we do not do is replace the workshop system, and we would talk you out of it if you asked.
What this page deliberately does not do
It does not rank. We have used one of six, and the one we have used is the wrong shape for a workshop. A ranking from us would be a ranking of brochures.
It does not recommend Kindra Mechanic. It is named once above because not naming it would be dishonest, and it sits outside the list because we cannot compare our own product with a straight face.
And it does not tell you that software fixes a slow workshop. Most admin loss we see is a parts bill keyed twice and a customer never told the car is ready — process problems first. What not to automate covers the line; a Leak Check is where we work out which you have.
The questions people actually ask.
01You sell a mechanic app. Why should I trust a page that lists your competitors?
Because the page does not recommend ours, and says so twice. Kindra Mechanic exists for a narrow case — a workshop whose process genuinely does not fit a product — and that case is rare. If we pushed it here, the rest of the page would be worthless to you and to us. The published prices and integrations above are checkable in ten minutes on the linked pages, which is the only reason to read a comparison written by anyone.
02Which one does Capricorn?
Workshop Software lists Capricorn among its parts-ordering integrations on its own pricing page. None of the other four workshop products name it on the pages we read as at 3 September 2026. That does not mean they cannot; it means they do not publish it. Ask on the first call, and ask whether it is live ordering with pricing returned, or an invoice import after the fact — the marketing language for both is identical.
03Can’t I just use ServiceM8? It’s cheaper and I already know it.
You can, and some single-bay workshops do. You lose registration lookup, supplier ordering and any inspection structure, and you will build the vehicle record by hand in custom fields. If most of your work is servicing and light repair and you never issue safety certificates, that trade can be worth it for the price and the API. If you do roadworthies or turn 150 cars a month, the workshop products earn their premium on the vehicle side alone.
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