Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Autera | ServiceM8 |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ||
| Starting price (paid)ServiceM8 Starter is £25 for 50 jobs a month; Autera Starter is £29 for 40. The gap closes further up: Autera Workshop at £79 has no job cap at all, while ServiceM8’s largest plan is £269 a month for 1,500. | £29 / month | £25 / month |
| Never billed per jobWINServiceM8’s top plan, Premium Plus at £269, adds 15p per job beyond 1,500 a month. Autera charges a flat monthly price on every plan, whatever the volume. | ||
| Unlimited jobsWINEvery ServiceM8 plan has a monthly job count: Premium is £119 for 500, and the largest, Premium Plus, is £269 for 1,500 plus 15p a job after that. Autera Workshop is £79 with no cap. | From £79 / month | Not offered |
| Annual discountWIN | ~17% off | None listed |
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Multi-location managementWINAutera runs multiple branches under one account on Workshop or Multi-Bay, £49/month per additional site, and every report switches between a single site and a combined All sites view. ServiceM8 has no per-location concept either, but not for the reason this row used to give: it does not charge per user at all. Its billing FAQ states there are “no contracts, setup fees or ‘per-user’ fees” and its plans carry unlimited staff, pricing by monthly job count instead. A group separates branches by tagging jobs, or runs an account per business. Site-by-site comparison in a single table is not built yet. | £49 / extra site | Not a concept |
| Digital job cards | ||
| Quote → invoice → payment in one tool | ||
| Online customer payments | Stripe built-in | ServiceM8 Pay / Stripe |
| One-tap quote acceptance | ||
| Live UK DVLA reg lookupWINAutera uses live DVLA data; ServiceM8 not built for UK regs. | ||
| UK VAT on invoices | ||
| GBP-native invoicingServiceM8 runs a UK region priced in pounds and sets account currency from your location at signup, so a UK account invoices in GBP. | ||
| UK MOT reminder workflowWIN | Workshop+ | |
| Built specifically for UK garagesWINServiceM8 is used globally but not optimised for UK garage workflows. | ||
| UK-hosted dataWINServiceM8’s privacy policy promises EEA data centres only to customers located in the EEA, and since Brexit the UK is not in the EEA, so a UK account falls outside that commitment. The same policy says account data is backed up every 24 hours to Amazon’s S3 infrastructure in multiple locations around the world, and withholds that multi-region arrangement only from customers located inside the EEA. Autera keeps UK customer data in the UK. | ||
| ADAS calibration certificates (PAS 1880)WIN | Workshop+ | |
| Parts inventory tracking | Workshop+ | Add-on / limited |
| Per-job time trackingServiceM8 includes Smart Labour, Auto Time Tracking and Trip Time Tracking on every plan, including the free one. | Workshop+ | |
| Calendar / scheduling | ||
| Customer quote-acceptance & pay-by-link portal | ||
| CSV import for customers + vehiclesWIN | Paid migration | |
| Multi-user | Starter+ (unlimited mechanics and unlimited admin users) | Starter+ (unlimited but per-job priced) |
| Role-based access | Workshop+ | |
| iPad app | ||
| Android tablet app | ||
| Android feature parityWINServiceM8’s own Android page lists its remaining iOS-only features as Room Scan/AR, drawing diagrams, PDF editing and filling, and the full in-camera tagging behaviour. Time tracking, document scanning, Proposals and staff messages are all supported on Android. | Full feature parity | Near parity |
| Web dashboard | ||
| API access | Planned 2026 | Starter+ |
| Data on cancellationWIN | Full export, kept for 60 days | All data deleted. Backup zip is not re-importable. |
| Overage chargesWIN | None. Flat monthly price. | 5p per SMS on every plan. 15p per job on Premium Plus only. |
Comparison reviewed May 2026. Pricing and feature sets change frequently, check servicem8.com for the latest from ServiceM8.
Why UK garages choose Autera
Built for the UK
DVLA plate lookup fills in make, model, year and colour in seconds. UK VAT handling, pounds sterling, and workflows designed around how British garages actually run.
Cheaper at scale
ServiceM8 Premium is £119/month for 500 jobs, and its largest plan is £269 for 1,500. Autera Workshop is £79/month with no job cap whatsoever.
ADAS certificates built in
Create, store and email PAS 1880-compliant ADAS calibration certificates with technician IMI numbers captured per cert. ServiceM8 ships a generic Electronic Forms builder from its Growing plan, so the certificate and the IMI capture would be yours to design and maintain.
Android, iPad, and web
Autera runs on any Android tablet, iPad, or web browser, so technicians, managers and owners all have access on whatever device they use. ServiceM8 covers Android too, but Room Scan, AR measurement, diagrams and PDF fill-in stay on iOS.
Real annual savings
Pay annually and save ~17%. That is roughly two months free per year. ServiceM8 has no published annual discount.
UK-focused team
Built in the UK, for UK garages. We understand MOTs, DVLA, UK VAT, and the way British workshops actually operate day to day.
Common questions
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