FEATURE COMPARISON
Side-by-side comparison
13 clear winsAutera leads on 13 features Garage Assistant doesn’t match
| Feature | Autera | Garage Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Free planWINGA4’s trial has no time limit, SWS writes that “there are no time restrictions in the free trial version”. It is still a trial rather than a free tier: the same page lists “a watermark on documents and a limit on the number of records you can store”, and says it “cannot be converted to a full licensed version”, so it has to be removed if you buy rather than upgraded in place. Autera Solo is £0 forever with no card, capped at 20 jobs, invoices, quotes and new customers a month, with no watermark on anything you send a customer. | ||
| Public, transparent pricing onlineCredit where due: SWS publishes GA4’s price on its purchase page, as we publish ours. | ||
| Pricing modelSWS publishes GA4 at £350 plus VAT as a “One time purchase with no monthly or yearly subscription/fees”, licensed for a single PC. Optional online services are pay-as-you-go credit packs from £17.60 per 100 credits, with Online Booking at £60 for six months or £100 for twelve. | Per workshop, monthly subscription | One-off licence, £350 |
| Starting priceDifferent models, not a like-for-like number. A £350 one-off licence works out cheaper than £29/month somewhere past the first year; what you give up is cloud access, mobile apps, and lookups included rather than bought as credits. | £29 / month | £350 one-off (+VAT) |
| Annual discount | ~17% off | Not applicable |
| No long-term contractNeither product ties you to a term. Autera is a monthly subscription cancellable any month; GA4 is a one-off purchase with nothing to cancel, and SWS sells its online services “contract free on a pay as you go basis using credit packs”. | ||
| Multi-location managementWINAutera runs multiple branches under one account on Workshop or Multi-Bay at a published £49/month per additional site, so a group can price it without a sales call. Every report switches between a single site and a combined All sites view. Site-by-site comparison in a single table is not built yet. | £49 / extra site | Not published (per-PC licence) |
| Cloud-native (no install)WINSWS describes GA4 as “a standalone offline system for use on a single PC, all data is on your own PC”, with Windows 7 through 11 the only supported operating systems. The cloud parts are optional add-on services rather than a cloud version of GA4: the Online Booking system is a hosted booking page for your own website whose bookings are downloaded into the GA4 calendar, and health check lists “can be edited on mobile devices and synced down to Garage Assistant”. | Windows desktop install only | |
| Native iPad appWINSWS lists Windows 7 to 11 as the only supported operating systems for GA4 and describes it as “a standalone offline system for use on a single PC”. The nearest thing to mobile is its vehicle health check: SWS says those check lists “can be edited on mobile devices and synced down to Garage Assistant”, without saying what they run in. There is no iPad app. | No iPad app (Windows desktop only) | |
| Native Android tablet appWIN | No Android app (Windows desktop only) | |
| Designed phone-first for techniciansWINGA4 is a Windows desktop product, SWS describes it as “a standalone offline system for use on a single PC” and lists Windows 7 to 11 as the only supported operating systems. SWS does ship one technician-facing mobile surface, the vehicle health check web app, which they say is “designed with phones and tablets in mind”, but it only edits health check records, which their own help page says “must be created first within GA4 directly”. | ||
| Setup time to first jobNo onboarding project on either side. SWS says the GA4 download and licence code are available “within seconds of payment being made”, and its trial download has “no time restrictions” with three example logins already set up. The real difference is that GA4 installs on Windows and is licensed for a single PC, not a sales process. | Under 30 minutes | Instant download, then Windows install |
| Mobile camera direct photo upload to job | Starter+ | Limited |
| Live UK DVLA reg lookup | ||
| Quote → invoice → online paymentWINGA4 converts an estimate to an invoice in one click, which SWS advertises. Payment is then recorded by hand against a payment method you configure under Admin, and the optional online services SWS lists for GA4 are Online Booking, SMS, VRM lookup and E3 Technical Data, with no payment service among them. | Estimate → invoice only | |
| Stripe online payments built-inWINGA4 records how an invoice was paid rather than taking the payment. SWS’s own setup article says to “Select the type of method (For Reports Only) - Cash/Cheque/Digital” and to enter a bank nominal “(For Sage Exports Only)”, and GA4 can add a credit card surcharge to an invoice, but it processes no payment itself. SWS lists its optional online services as Online Booking, SMS Messaging, VRM Lookup and E3 Technical Data, with no payment service among them. | ||
| ADAS calibration certificates (PAS 1880)WINSWS lists GA4’s optional online services as Online Booking, SMS Messaging, VRM Lookup and E3 Technical Data, each priced on its purchase page by credit pack or subscription, plus Loqate address lookup through your own Loqate account. Neither “ADAS” nor “calibration” appears anywhere on sws-solutions.co.uk, help centre included, so there is no ADAS module to buy or add on. | Workshop+ | Not offered |
| MOT reminder workflow | Workshop+ | |
| Branded invoices and PDFs | Starter+ | |
| Photo filing to job | Starter+ | Limited |
| Customer quote-acceptance & pay-by-link portalWINGA4’s only customer-facing web module is the optional Online Booking system, which books appointments against your calendar. Estimates are printed or emailed as an attachment, and GA4’s payment methods are types you record against an invoice yourself, so there is nothing for the customer to accept or pay online. | ||
| CSV import for customers + vehiclesParity. GA4 imports customers and vehicles from one CSV under Admin > Data > Customer & Vehicle Import: you align your columns to GA4’s fields, review the result in a temporary table, then click Finalise. It is a built-in admin function, and SWS’s purchase page lists no migration or import fee. | ||
| Xero / QuickBooks sync | Starter+ | Available |
| Parts catalogue integrationNeither product has a live parts-factor feed. GA4 prices parts from a stock database the garage builds itself. SWS’s own GA4 help says you “import and maintain the stock database using your own stock lists as long as they are in a common file format such as CSV”, and that on a document you “use the Job Lookup system or Stock database” to look up a part. The optional online services SWS lists for GA4 are Online Booking, SMS Messaging, VRM Lookup and E3 Technical Data; E3 Technical is repair times, service schedules and wiring diagrams, not a parts catalogue. | Roadmap | Own stock database only |
| Best fit | Cloud-native, mobile-first, any size | Established workshops with desktop workflows |
Comparison reviewed May 2026. Pricing and feature sets change frequently, check sws-solutions.co.uk for the latest from Garage Assistant.
WHY AUTERA
Why UK garages choose Autera
Cloud-first, not desktop-first
Autera was designed cloud-native from day one. No desktop install, no Windows-only modules, no IT support required. Your tablet, your phone, or any browser is enough.
Built for the shop floor
Technicians work on phones and tablets, not desktop PCs in the office. Autera reflects that: the primary interface is touch-first with reception desk and management on the same data via web.
Public, transparent pricing
Pick a plan from £29 to £149 per month, see exactly what is included, sign up online. No quote process, no salesperson, no contract negotiation.
Live in 30 minutes
No implementation project, no onboarding fees. The setup wizard walks you through your first job. Most UK garages are fully operational within half an hour.
ADAS certificates built in
PAS 1880-compliant ADAS calibration certificates are included on the £79 Workshop plan, with technician IMI numbers captured on each cert and emailed to the customer.
Free Solo plan
Autera Solo is free forever, no card. Try the full product on real customers before deciding whether to upgrade.
QUESTIONS
Common questions
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