Looking for a Garage Hive alternative?

What Garage Hive offers

Garage Hive is built on Microsoft Business Central, which gives it deep reporting through Power BI dashboards and integration with Microsoft's ecosystem. It starts from £145 a month, but that headline figure doesn't include the Microsoft Business Central per-user licence, which adds roughly £62 per user per month on top. For a garage with three users, the software cost alone is over £330 a month before any setup.

It's a capable system with features independent garages actually use: dynamic scheduling, automated reminders, GSF integration, DVSA MOT data, Autodata technical information, customer surveys and a technician time-clocking tool that works across platforms. The active Facebook community is a genuine differentiator. Garage owners share reports, push for features and hold the team accountable in a way that's rare in the industry.

Setup and onboarding fees aren't published on the Garage Hive pricing page. On-site implementation is listed at £3,000 on Microsoft Marketplace, covering data migration, training and initial configuration.

Where garages outgrow Garage Hive

The per-user licensing model is the sticking point for growing workshops. Adding a service advisor, a technician with tablet access or a second-site manager means another £62 a month per head. For a five-person team, the Microsoft licensing alone costs more than some complete garage management systems.

Garages that also run car sales or vehicle hire alongside the workshop hit a second limit: Garage Hive has a vehicle sales module, but it doesn't offer a dedicated hire management system with agreements, PCO tracking and payment plans the way a purpose-built module does.

And if you want a customer-facing booking website (not just an online booking widget, but a full site with your branding, service menu and tyre sales), that's either a separate project or an extra cost. Many garages end up paying a web agency separately, which adds another monthly bill on top.

How Garegi compares

Garegi takes a different approach: one flat price per module, no per-user fees, no setup fee, and a customer booking website included with every module. The garage management module is £200 a month and that's the total: onboarding, data migration and the website are included.

It's honest to say Garegi doesn't match Garage Hive on everything. Garage Hive's Power BI reporting is deeper. Its community is larger and more established. It has Autodata technical data built in, which Garegi doesn't. And it has been around longer, which matters to some buyers.

But for garages where the priority is predictable costs, a working booking website from day one and no surprise invoices for extra users or setup, Garegi is built for that.

Side-by-side comparison

Garage Hive pricing from their published pricing page; Microsoft licence cost from independent comparison sources. Pricing reflects standard published rates and does not include promotional offers, limited-time discounts or negotiated rates. All figures checked 19 August 2026. Confirm current pricing directly with each provider before deciding.

Where Garegi is not the right choice

If your garage needs manufacturer service schedules and wiring diagrams built into the system, Garage Hive's Autodata integration does that and Garegi doesn't. If you run multiple sites and need a unified view across them, Garage Hive supports multi-site and Garegi doesn't yet. And if deep financial reporting through Power BI is central to how you run the business, Garage Hive's Microsoft foundation gives you that out of the box.

Where Garegi wins is straightforward: one price with nothing hidden behind it, no setup fee, no per-user licensing, and a workshop, a car sales operation and a hire fleet that share the same customers and payments instead of sitting in separate systems. See the full pricing breakdown or the garage management software overview.