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GarageCal vs TechMan

TechMan is a full workshop system in four tiers, and its web booking tool sits in the top one. If booking is the only thing you need, you would be buying a lot of software to get it.

TechMan is a well-established UK garage management system covering estimates and invoicing, supplier integrations with Euro Car Parts, GSF, NAPA and Dingbro, stock control, reminders and HaynesPro technical data. It comes in four tiers: Starter, Lite, Advanced and Pro.

One detail matters for this comparison. TechMan’s web booking tool is listed only in the Pro plan, its top tier, alongside technician efficiency, telephone integration and the car sales module. So online booking is available, but it arrives at the top of the range.

If you want everything TechMan does, that is good value in one bill. If your workshop is otherwise sorted and you only want customers to be able to book online, buying up to a top tier to unlock a booking tool is an expensive route to a narrow outcome.

At a glance

Checked 2 August 2026. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than guess at one.

  GarageCal TechMan
What it is A booking layer A full garage management system
Which plan includes web booking The only plan there is Pro, their top tier
Pricing published as text Yes Shown as images on their pricing page
Our published price £29/month + VAT See their pricing page
Free tier Yes, one bay None published
Contract Monthly rolling, no setup fee Partner Plan (minimum term) or Flexi (30-day rolling, upfront fee)
Per-user charges None None, except Starter Flexi
Parts supplier integrations No ECP, GSF, NAPA, Dingbro
Technical data No HaynesPro E3, Autodata on higher tiers
Data migration from your old system Not applicable Yes, handled by them

Where TechMan is the better buy

  • You want one system for the whole workshop and a single supplier to call.
  • Parts ordering through Euro Car Parts, GSF, NAPA or Dingbro matters to you. We do not do parts at all.
  • You are coming off an older system and need your customers, vehicles, invoices and reminders migrated. They do that; we have nothing to migrate into.
  • Trade discounts: they publish preferential rates for LKQ Euro Car Parts, GSF, NAPA, RAC Approved and AutoCare members. If you are in one of those, ask them.
  • Full onboarding and one-to-one training is included. Our onboarding is a help page.

Where we would pick GarageCal

  • Online booking is the only gap, and moving to a top-tier GMS to close it is out of proportion.
  • You want no upfront fee and no minimum term at all.
  • You want to see whether online bookings come in before you spend anything.
  • Your bays do genuinely different work and you need the booking page to respect that.

Questions people actually ask

Does TechMan include online booking?

Yes, their web booking tool is listed in the Pro plan, which is their top tier. The lower tiers as published do not list it.

How much does TechMan cost?

They publish four tiers with two contract options, a Partner Plan on a minimum term and a Flexi Plan on 30 days rolling with an upfront onboarding fee. The figures are shown as images on their pricing page rather than as text, so we are not going to transcribe numbers we cannot reliably read. Ask them for a current quote.

Can I run GarageCal alongside TechMan?

Yes. GarageCal takes the booking and notifies you; the job still gets run in whatever system you use. There is no direct integration today.

Sources, checked 2 August 2026: TechMan pricing

Other comparisons

GarageCal vs Garage Hive Garage Hive is a serious garage management system and its online booking is genuinely good. If you are ready for a full GMS, buy theirs. We are for garages that are not. GarageCal vs Autowork Online If you run Autowork Online, its own booking partner writes bookings straight into your diary. We cannot match that yet, and we will not pretend otherwise. GarageCal vs FixMyCar FixMyCar finds you strangers. GarageCal converts the people who already know you. If you are quiet, use both. If you are busy, only one of them should be costing you money. GarageCal vs BOOKAR BOOKAR is the closest thing to us in the UK, and the better choice if you want one system for the whole workshop. We are the better choice if you only want the booking to work. GarageCal vs MOT Manager MOT Manager bundles booking into a wider garage management package with a tailored monthly price. We are a smaller, cheaper, published-price alternative if booking is all you need. GarageCal vs BookMyGarage These are not the same kind of thing. BookMyGarage brings you other people’s customers and takes a cut. GarageCal converts the customers you already have and takes nothing. GarageCal vs Paper diary The counter diary is not stupid. It is fast, it never goes down, and everyone knows how to use it. It just cannot answer the phone at nine at night.

See it running on your own bays

Twenty minutes on a call, with your own bays and products set up as they actually are. Compare it against what you use now with something real in front of you.

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