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Henry Jones
Henry Jones
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GarageActive

Live in public betaBuilt solo

Garage management software for UK workshops

An all-in-one platform for UK garages and workshops: scheduling, vehicle lookup, digital inspections and invoicing. I designed, built and launched it on my own, and the core of it is free.

Visit garageactive.com (opens in a new tab)Get in touch
Role
Founder and sole developer
Status
Live in public beta
Platform
Web, desktop to phone
Model
Freemium SaaS
GarageActive day schedule showing jobs across three workshop bays, colour-coded by status

The problem

Many garages still run on paper

A lot of independent garages still take bookings in a paper diary. The people running them often aren't technical, most garage management software looks complicated and intimidating to them, and it usually costs a lot.

GarageActive is designed to be simple for people who aren't technical. Its free plan covers bookings, scheduling, inspections and invoicing, so a garage can move its day-to-day off paper without paying anything.

What it does

Built around how a workshop actually runs

Schedule

Your whole day in one place

Every bay and mechanic at a glance, with day, week and month views and live job status, from booked in to complete.

GarageActive schedule with jobs laid out by bay and colour-coded by status

Vehicle lookup

Type the plate, we fill in the rest

Enter a registration and the vehicle's details and MOT status are pulled straight from the DVLA and DVSA, alongside its full job history at your garage.

GarageActive vehicle page showing details, MOT status and job history for a number plate

Digital inspections

Show them, don't tell them

Mechanics capture photos and video on the job. Customers get a link to a clear inspection report, so they can see exactly what needs doing and why.

GarageActive digital inspection with photos, a video and mechanic notes, ready to share with the customer

Invoicing

From job to invoice in one click

Turn a finished job into a professional PDF invoice, with VAT worked out line by line.

GarageActive PDF invoice with services, parts and VAT broken down per line

And the rest

Everything around the job

GarageActive job details page

Jobs and bookings

Every job in one place, with its vehicle, customer, work and parts.

GarageActive team list with managers and mechanics

Team members

Invite managers and mechanics, each with the right level of access.

GarageActive booking confirmation email sent to a customer

Customer emails

Booking confirmations and invoices sent automatically.

Automated GarageActive MOT reminder email sent 30 days before expiry

MOT reminders

Reminders by email and SMS before a customer's MOT is due.

  • Service history

    A full history for every vehicle that comes through the door.

  • Your own subdomain

    Each garage gets its own address and workspace.

  • Your brand

    Logo and branding on customer-facing documents. Premium.

  • Help centre

    Built-in guides for every part of the product.

Stack

What it's built with

A TypeScript and PostgreSQL stack on managed services, backed by automated tests, CI and error monitoring so one developer can ship safely and keep a live product running.

Next.js & React
Framework
App Router and Server Actions, for the app, marketing site and help centre
TypeScript
Language
Strict mode, with database types generated from the schema and Zod validation
Supabase & PostgreSQL
Database
Relational schema written as SQL migrations, plus authentication
Tailwind CSS & shadcn/ui
Interface
Responsive UI from desktop to phone, with light and dark themes
Vitest & Playwright
Testing
Unit, component and end-to-end tests
GitHub Actions
CI
CI that type-checks, lints and runs every test suite on each pull request
Vercel
Hosting
Hosting, plus cron jobs for MOT reminders and data clean-up
Sentry
Monitoring
Error monitoring on client and server
Vercel Analytics & Speed Insights
Performance
Traffic and Core Web Vitals monitoring
Stripe
Payments
Embedded checkout, subscriptions and webhooks
Resend
Email
Booking confirmations, invoices and MOT reminder emails
PureSMS
SMS
MOT reminder texts, with delivery reports tracked by webhook
Cloudflare R2
Storage
S3-compatible storage for inspection photos
Bunny Stream
Video
Resumable inspection video uploads and HLS streaming
DVLA & DVSA APIs
Vehicle data
Vehicle details and MOT history from a number plate

Business model

A free plan with a paid upgrade

The free plan covers a small garage's day-to-day, so cost isn't a reason to stay on paper. Bigger workshops, and garages that want automated customer messaging, move to Premium, billed monthly or annually through Stripe.

  • Free

    £0

    No card required

    Bays
    3
    Team members
    4
    Inspection photos a month
    20
    Inspection videos a month
    1
    SMS a month
    None
    • Unlimited bookings
    • Unlimited invoicing
    • Vehicle lookup by reg
    • Digital inspection reports sent to customers
    • A subdomain for each garage
    • Email support

  • Premium

    £39.99a month

    Billed annually, or £49.99 paid monthly

    Bays
    10
    Team members
    10
    Inspection photos a month
    10,000
    Inspection videos a month
    100
    SMS a month
    100
    • Everything in Free
    • Automatic MOT reminders by email and SMS
    • Booking confirmation emails
    • Invoices emailed to customers
    • Garage logo on emails, invoices and reports, with no GarageActive branding
    • Priority email support

  • Enterprise

    Custom

    Quoted per garage group

    Bays
    100
    Team members
    Custom
    Inspection photos a month
    Custom
    Inspection videos a month
    Custom
    SMS a month
    Custom
    • Everything in Premium
    • Dedicated email support

Pricing as listed on garageactive.com in October 2026, excluding VAT.

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