Last updated: August 20, 2026
Auto repair shop management software in 2026 costs between $179 and $999 per month for a single shop, with most independents landing in the $199–$279 range. Scheduling-only tools sit well below that — NextCarHub is $49/month. Every figure on this page was read off the vendor’s own pricing page in August 2026, and where a vendor does not publish a price we say so instead of estimating.
Every published price, side by side
| Product | Entry price/mo | Priced per | Users | Free trial | Setup fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NextCarHub | $49 | Shop | Unlimited | 14 days, no card | None |
| AutoLeap Essentials | $179 | Shop | 5 accounts, extra cost beyond | No — demo only | Yes, amount not published |
| Tekmetric Start | $199 | Shop | Unlimited | Demo-led | Not published |
| Shop Boss Gold | $199 | Shop | Unlimited | Yes, length not published | $399 or $899 data transfer |
| Shopmonkey Basic | $239 + $20/user | Shop and user | Charged per user | Demo-led | Not published |
| Shop-Ware Startup | $279 | Location | Unlimited | No — 15-min demo | Migration fees, amount not published |
| Mitchell 1 TeamWorks | $348 | Seat | +$15/mo per extra seat | Demo only | $0 activation, 12-mo lease |
Entry price means the cheapest plan the vendor publishes for one shop, billed monthly. Higher tiers run to $409 (AutoLeap Elite), $439 (Tekmetric Scale), $649 (Shop Boss Premier Plus) and $999 (Shop-Ware Ultimate+).
What the pricing pages don’t make obvious
“Unlimited users” is not the differentiator most comparison pages claim
Four of these seven — Tekmetric, Shop Boss, Shop-Ware and NextCarHub — give you unlimited users on every plan. It is close to the category norm now, not a selling point. The genuine exceptions are Shopmonkey ($20 per additional user on Basic), Mitchell 1 ($15 per extra seat) and AutoLeap, where the pricing page is silent on users entirely while AutoLeap’s own FAQ says the basic plan includes up to five accounts. If you have eight people who need a login, that difference is worth more than the headline price gap.
The cheapest headline price is not the cheapest first year
AutoLeap publishes the lowest full-platform price at $179/month, but confirms a one-time setup fee exists without publishing the amount, and does not offer a free trial. Shop Boss publishes $199/month and its migration costs — $399 for customer and vehicle data, $899 if you also want repair history and inventory. Shop Boss is more expensive on paper and more honest on the invoice. Add a $500 migration to a $179 plan and the first year is $2,648, not $2,148.
Mitchell 1 doesn’t publish a Manager SE price at all
Its marketing site is demo-only, but its own store does list real transactable prices. ProDemand Repair and Estimating is $214/month; the TeamWorks bundle that includes Manager SE is $348/month on a 12-month lease. Standalone light-duty Manager SE is not sold at a published price — you have to ask. Note also the 12-month commitment, which none of the others require.
Almost nobody lets you try it
Of the six full platforms here, only Shop Boss has a trial page at all, and it does not say how long the trial runs. AutoLeap states plainly that it has no free trial. Everything else is a booked demo with a salesperson. That is a real cost: you are asked to commit $2,000–$3,000 a year to software you have used for forty-five minutes under supervision.
Which one fits which shop
| If your shop… | Look at |
|---|---|
| Writes repair orders and estimates in software daily, takes card payments in-system | Tekmetric, Shop Boss or Shop-Ware |
| Wants the lowest full-platform price and has 5 or fewer logins | AutoLeap Essentials |
| Needs OEM repair data and diagnostics as much as management | Mitchell 1 TeamWorks |
| Runs 1–3 bays, quotes by phone, invoices through an accountant | A scheduling tool, not a platform |
| Has a whiteboard or a paper diary and keeps double-booking | A scheduling tool, not a platform |
Where NextCarHub actually sits
NextCarHub is not on this list as a cheaper Tekmetric. It is a narrower product: a shared appointment calendar, customer and vehicle records, service history, technician assignment and reporting, at $49/month per shop with unlimited users. It has no estimating, no invoicing, no parts inventory and no digital vehicle inspections, and it will not replace a platform for a shop that uses those every day.
It exists for the shops in the bottom two rows of the table above — the ones who priced a full platform, worked out they would use about a fifth of it, and went back to the whiteboard. There are a lot of those.
Read next
- What auto repair shop software really costs in 2026 — per-user vs per-shop pricing and the hidden costs
- Tekmetric alternative — $49 vs $199, and why unlimited users isn’t the difference
- Shopmonkey alternative — $49 vs $239 + $20/user
- Auto repair software for small shops — what a 1–3 bay shop needs and what to skip
- Free auto repair scheduling software — what the free options are and where each breaks
- Auto repair appointment scheduling guide — capacity, no-shows and jobs that grow
- How to stop double booking — five causes and the fixes, including free ones
Sources
All prices were read from each vendor’s own published pages on August 20, 2026, in USD for a single shop billed monthly, except Mitchell 1 which is sold on a 12-month lease: AutoLeap pricing and AutoLeap FAQ, Tekmetric pricing, Shop Boss pricing, Shopmonkey pricing, Shop-Ware packages, Mitchell 1 Manager SE and the Mitchell 1 store. Vendor pricing changes — check the current figures directly before making a decision. Third-party directory listings for several of these products were found to be a year or more out of date, so none were used here.
Common questions
What is the cheapest auto repair shop software in 2026?
Among tools that publish their prices, NextCarHub is the cheapest at $49 per month per shop with unlimited users, but it is a scheduling and customer system rather than a full shop management platform. Among full platforms, AutoLeap Essentials is the cheapest published price at $179 per month, followed by Tekmetric Start and Shop Boss Gold at $199 per month. Shopmonkey Basic is $239 per month plus $20 per additional user, and Shop-Ware Startup is $279 per month.
Which auto repair shop software includes unlimited users?
As of August 2026, Tekmetric, Shop Boss, Shop-Ware and NextCarHub all publish unlimited users on every plan, priced per shop or per location. Shopmonkey charges $20 per additional user on its Basic plan. AutoLeap's published plans do not state a user count, and AutoLeap's own FAQ says the basic plan includes up to 5 user accounts with additional accounts at extra cost. Mitchell 1 Manager SE is licensed per seat, with additional users at $15 per month.
How much does Mitchell 1 Manager SE cost per month?
Mitchell 1 does not publish a price for standalone light-duty Manager SE. Its own store publishes ProDemand Repair and Estimating at $214 per month and the TeamWorks bundle, which combines ProDemand with Manager SE, at $348 per month on a 12-month lease with a $0 activation fee. Additional Manager SE user seats are $15 per month. Buying Manager SE on its own requires a quote.
Which auto repair shop software offers a free trial?
Free trials are rare in this category. NextCarHub offers 14 days with no card required. Shop Boss has a trial signup page but does not publish the length. AutoLeap states explicitly that it does not offer a free trial and directs buyers to a demo instead. Shop-Ware offers a 15-minute demo rather than a trial. Tekmetric, Shopmonkey and Mitchell 1 are demo-led.
Do auto repair shop software vendors charge setup fees?
Several do, and most do not publish the amount. AutoLeap confirms a one-time setup fee exists but says it varies by shop and publishes no figure. Shop-Ware states that data migration and integration fees may apply without giving amounts. Shop Boss is the exception and publishes exact figures: $399 to transfer customer and vehicle data, or $899 to also transfer repair history and inventory. Mitchell 1 lists a $0 activation fee on its store products. NextCarHub has no setup fee.
Do I need full shop management software or just scheduling?
It depends on where the work actually happens. If you write repair orders, build estimates, order parts and take payments inside the software every day, you need a full platform and the $179 to $279 per month range is what that costs. If your estimates go out by phone or text and your invoicing runs through an accountant, most of a full platform sits unused and a scheduling and customer system covers what you use.
If scheduling is the part you actually need
$49/month, unlimited users, 14 days free with no card. Try it against a real week of work.