Last updated: August 15, 2026
NextCarHub is a $49/month alternative to Tekmetric for shops that need scheduling and customer history rather than a full shop management platform. Tekmetric's Start plan is $199/month. Both are priced per shop with unlimited users, so the comparison is genuinely about scope and price, not licence counting.
One thing to be straight about
Plenty of "Tekmetric alternative" pages lead with unlimited users as though it were a differentiator. It isn't — Tekmetric is per shop with unlimited users too, and says so plainly on its own pricing page. If someone tells you otherwise, check.
The real difference is that Tekmetric is a complete shop management system and NextCarHub is a scheduling and customer tool at a quarter of the price.
Price comparison
| NextCarHub | Tekmetric Start | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $49 | $199 |
| Annual price | — (monthly only) | $179/mo |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Priced per | Shop | Shop |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | Demo-led |
| Cost per year | $588 | $2,388 |
Feature comparison
| Feature | NextCarHub | Tekmetric |
|---|---|---|
| Shared appointment calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Customer & vehicle records | Yes | Yes |
| Service history per vehicle | Yes | Yes |
| Technician scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Customisable service types & theme | Yes | Varies |
| Repair orders & estimating | No | Yes |
| Invoicing | No | Yes |
| Parts ordering & inventory | No | Yes |
| Digital vehicle inspections | No | Yes |
| Integrated payments | No | Yes |
Who should actually switch
Shops that bought a full platform and use maybe a fifth of it — typically one- to three-bay independents where the owner writes estimates by hand or through an accountant, and what they really needed was a calendar the whole team could see.
If you write repair orders in Tekmetric every day, stay. $150/month is not worth losing the system your work runs through.
More context in the 2026 cost guide, or compare with Shopmonkey.
Sources
Prices above were taken from each vendor's own pricing page on August 15, 2026 and are quoted in USD for a single shop: Shopmonkey pricing, Tekmetric pricing. Vendor pricing changes — check the current figures directly before making a decision. Where a vendor does not publish a price, we have said so rather than estimating.
Common questions
What is a cheaper alternative to Tekmetric?
NextCarHub is $49 per month per shop compared with Tekmetric's Start plan at $199 per month. Both charge per shop with unlimited users. The difference is scope: Tekmetric is a full shop management platform with estimating, invoicing, inspections and payments, while NextCarHub covers scheduling, customers, vehicles and service history only.
How much does Tekmetric cost?
As of August 2026, Tekmetric publishes three plans: Start at $199/month, Grow at $349/month and Scale at $439/month, all priced per shop with unlimited users. Annual billing reduces these to $179, $309 and $409. Add-ons include multi-shop at $70/month per shop, a tire suite at $39/month and marketing at $345/month.
Does Tekmetric charge per user?
No. Tekmetric is priced per shop with unlimited users, the same model NextCarHub uses. If you are comparing on user pricing alone, there is no difference between them — the difference is the monthly price and how much software you get for it.
Is NextCarHub a full replacement for Tekmetric?
No. Tekmetric includes repair orders, estimating, invoicing, parts, digital vehicle inspections and integrated payments. NextCarHub does not. It only replaces Tekmetric for shops using it primarily as a scheduling and customer system.
Can I try NextCarHub while still using Tekmetric?
Yes, and that is the sensible way to evaluate it. The 14-day trial needs no card, so you can run a week of appointments in parallel and see whether anything is missing before changing anything.
See if it fits your shop
14 days free, no card required. Put a real week of work into it before deciding.