Compare
Roadworthy vs Total Drive vs Pedal vs BookDrive
We're the new one. Total Drive has been the default for years, Pedal launched recently with a slick app and an AI assistant, and BookDrive is free for up to three pupils. So here is the comparison written the way we'd want to read it if we were choosing: the prices, the features, and an honest list of what they do that we don't.
The short answer
Yes — all four do the same core job: diary, pupil progress and payments. If you already run one of the others and you're happy, none of this is worth switching for on its own.
The difference is what each one optimises. Total Drive is the deepest and most established — teaching aids, enquiry manager, tiers up to £26/month. Pedal is the polished newcomer, one price, everything in. BookDrive is the free one: nothing to pay for up to three pupils, £10 a month after that. Roadworthy is the only one of the four built around the driving between lessons — your day ordered by pickup, a warning when two lessons are too far apart to make in time, and every free slot ranked by how little driving it adds before you accept the booking. BookDrive lists route optimisation as coming soon; ours is in the app today. Our CarPlay shows your whole day — the next pickup, the pupil brief and a warning when the next leg is too tight — not just call and navigate.
The honest catch: we're iPhone-only today, we're one of the newest, and we are not the cheapest for an instructor with only a few pupils.
What each one costs
Per instructor, as published on 23 September 2026.
Roadworthy
£13.99/month
or £109.99/year · 30-day free trial
One price, every feature. No tiers to climb for online booking. We take no cut of your lesson payments — the card fee is added to the pupil's checkout, so you receive the full lesson price.
Total Drive
£18–£26/month
inc. VAT · four tiers · 30-day free trial
The most established system in the UK, and the deepest: four tiers from £18 to £26 a month, a pupil app in your own branding, an enquiry manager, drawing on satellite maps, animated 2D scenarios and 36 3D teaching videos.
Pedal
£14.99/month
or £119.99/year · one tier · 30-day free trial
A well-made newcomer launched in 2026, like us: one price with everything in it, an AI assistant, in-app chat with pupils, pass rates by test centre and a website builder.
BookDrive
Free–£10/month
free for up to 3 pupils · Pro £10/month · 14-day Pro trial
Built by a Grade A instructor, free for up to three pupils, and £10 a month for unlimited pupils and Stripe payments. A 45-competency progress system, email reminders, a booking link and school plans from £79 a month. They have announced a major upgrade for 15 October 2026.
All four are a business expense you can put against tax. Among the paid plans the spread is a few lessons' income a year, so for a full diary price probably shouldn't decide this for you. With only a handful of pupils, BookDrive's free plan is a fair reason to start there.
Feature by feature
“Not advertised” means exactly that — we could not find it stated on their own site or App Store listing on 23 September 2026. It is not a claim that the feature is missing. If we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll correct it.
| Feature | Roadworthy | Total Drive | Pedal | BookDrive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running the day | ||||
| Diary with recurring lessons, availability and time off | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly Diary, working hours and pickup zones; recurring lessons and time off not advertised |
| Filling a cancelled slot | Yes Ranked pupil list + one-tap offer | Yes “Lesson Gaps”, plus “Gaps Plus” on higher tiers | Yes “Gaps Tool” | No “Automatic slot filling” listed as coming soon |
| Day ordered by pickup location, on a map | Yes | No Not advertised | No Not advertised | Partly Their home page says it “optimises your route between lessons”; their feature list marks route optimisation as coming soon |
| Warning when two lessons are too far apart to make in time | Yes | No Not advertised | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Free slots ranked by how little driving they add | Yes “+4 min · best value” at the moment of booking | No Not advertised | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Lesson route planning (your own training routes) | Yes Saved routes with map builder and skill tags | No Not advertised | Partly Mentioned in their store listing; no route feature shown | No Not advertised |
| Works without signal | Yes Diary opens offline; changes send when signal returns | Yes Offline mode (v4.0.13) | Yes Listed as offline mode | No Not advertised |
| CarPlay | Yes Next pickup, live countdown, pupil brief, tight-leg warning, one-tap navigation | Yes Added v4.1 — call and navigate | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Calendar sync | Yes Apple, Google and Outlook via a subscribable feed, plus Apple Calendar read back for clash warnings. Google refreshes a feed on its own schedule. | Yes Google Calendar and Apple iCal | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Pupils and money | ||||
| Free app for pupils | Yes Roadworthy Student — separate free app | Yes Branded with your school name, logo and colours | Yes Progress, messaging and paying online | Partly Pupils book, pay and see progress on their website; the app is for instructors only |
| Online booking page for new pupils | Yes Included at the one price | Yes On the £23 Ultimate tier and above | No Not advertised | Yes Your own booking link |
| Take card payments | Yes Straight to your own Stripe account | Yes Listed as a feature | Yes “Get paid online” | Yes Stripe, on the £10 Pro plan |
| Who pays the card fee | The pupil — you receive the full lesson price | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| DVSA syllabus progress and test readiness | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes 45+ competencies scored per lesson, five stages |
| Pupil-written reflective logs | Yes Pupils write their own after each lesson; you can read it but not edit it | Yes Six-question log | Yes Reflective notes | Partly “Write reflections and notes”; not stated whether the pupil writes them |
| Pupils ask to cancel or move in their app | Yes You accept or decline; they're warned first if inside your notice | No Not advertised | No Not advertised | Yes Pupils reschedule or cancel from their phone |
| Pupils tell you when they're free | Yes Shown when booking; free pupils offered cancelled slots first | Yes Added v4.1 | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Terms your pupils sign | Yes Signed in the pupil app, kept with the exact wording | Partly Records the date terms were signed | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| More than one pickup per pupil | Yes | Yes Added v4.1 | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Prepaid blocks of hours, drawn down automatically | Yes Pupil sees the balance in their app | Yes Prepaid credit used by online booking | Yes Block bookings (v1.2.1) | Yes Pupil credit and remaining lessons tracked |
| Lesson and payment reminders | Yes Automatic and free on the pupil's phone through the Student app, plus one-tap from your own Messages or Mail. Paid SMS only to reach a pupil without the app. | Yes Advertised as free, 24/48 hours ahead; channel not published | Yes Automatic reminders | Yes By email, 24 and 72 hours ahead |
| Two-way chat with pupils inside the app | Yes A thread per pupil; they reply in the free Student app | Yes Message centre and broadcasts | Yes In-app messaging and broadcasts | No Messaging listed as coming soon |
| Running the business | ||||
| Income, expenses and what you actually netted | Yes Weekly and monthly, with CSV export | Yes Income, expenses and bookkeeping | Yes Finance insights and late payments | Partly Revenue analytics and “MTD compliant records”; expenses not advertised |
| Mileage log for tax | Yes | Yes Business and personal, MTD-ready | Partly Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| Multi-instructor school view | Yes Per instructor or the whole school | Yes Multi-car schools | Yes Schools supported | Yes School plans from £79/month for up to 9 instructors |
| Enquiry manager for new leads | Yes An enquiries inbox, plus a booking page new pupils pay on and our directory | Yes | Partly Not advertised | Partly Client waitlist management |
| Drawing on the road (satellite map sketches) | Yes Satellite, map or whiteboard — and shown to the pupil under that lesson | Yes Doodlepad, on every tier | Yes SketchPad (v1.2.0) | No Not advertised |
| Animated scenarios and teaching videos | No | Yes About 30 2D scenarios on every tier; 36 3D videos on Pro and Elite | Partly “Teaching aids” listed, not described | No Not advertised |
| DVSA Standards Check triggers | Yes All four, from the test results you record | Yes “Standards Check Indicators” | No Not advertised | No Not advertised |
| MOT, tax and insurance reminders | Yes | No Not advertised | Yes MOT and tax | Partly On school plans: MOT and insurance renewal alerts |
| Test centre pass-rate statistics | Yes All 322 UK centres, first-attempt rates, from DVSA's published figures | Partly Not advertised | Yes | No Tracks your own pupils' pass rate; test-centre figures not advertised |
| Website builder for your school | Partly No site builder. You get a bookable page pupils can pay on, and a listing in our directory | Partly Not advertised | Yes Custom website | Partly A booking page; no site builder advertised |
| AI assistant | Yes Ask Roadworthy about your business, and voice notes that write up a lesson | No Not advertised | Yes “Pedal Intelligence” (beta), can take actions | Partly “Leyah”, on their website, answers driving and instructor-exam questions |
| Practicalities | ||||
| iPhone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android | No In closed testing — not on Google Play yet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | Free for up to 3 pupils; 14 days on Pro |
| How long it has been around | Launched 2026 | Years; the most established in the UK | Launched 2026 | On the App Store since 2023 |
Why instructors choose Roadworthy
11 things, and the first three are the reason it exists: your constraint isn't teaching hours, it's the dead miles between them.
The day ordered by pickup
Every pupil's pickup on a map and the day ordered for the shortest drive from your base. Neither Total Drive nor Pedal advertises it, and BookDrive lists route optimisation as coming soon.
A warning before you take the bad booking
When two lessons are too far apart to make in time, you hear about it while you are accepting the booking — not while you are sitting in traffic.
Every free slot priced in driving
Slots ranked by the extra miles they would add: "+4 min · best value" instead of a 40-minute unpaid detour.
You keep the whole lesson price
Payments land in your own Stripe account and the card fee goes on the pupil's checkout. None of the others publishes who absorbs it.
Online booking without climbing a tier
Included at the one price. Total Drive puts it on their £23 tier.
One price, everything in it
No Basic/Pro/Ultimate/Elite ladder to work out which version of the app you are allowed.
Cheaper than Total Drive and Pedal, either way you pay
£13.99 against £14.99 a month, and £109.99 against £119.99 a year. Cheaper on both.
CarPlay that knows your day
Not just call and navigate: the next pickup, a live countdown, the pupil brief and a warning when the next leg is too tight to make — on the car's screen, which is where you are between lessons. Total Drive added CarPlay in v4.1; Pedal and BookDrive do not advertise it.
A whole school, not just one instructor
Add instructors on a join code, see the diary per instructor or as one school view, set each instructor's own prices and base postcode, and track what a school-provided pupil owes the school in commission. Total Drive charges per tier; we charge per instructor at the one price.
Prepaid blocks the pupil can see
Sell ten hours and the balance falls as you complete lessons — and the pupil sees what's left in their app, with a warning before it runs out.
Your lessons in any calendar
A subscribable feed for Apple, Google or Outlook that stays right when you move a lesson, instead of leaving a stale copy behind.
Every one of those is in the table above — none of it is a claim you have to take on trust. Read more on pickup routing, booking the cheapest slot and CarPlay.
Already on one of the others? Send us your export and we'll put your pupils and diary into Roadworthy by hand, so trying it doesn't mean typing 40 pupils in twice.
What they do that we don't
Every comparison page on the internet is written by the winner. Here's ours the other way round — the honest reasons you might pick one of the others.
Pick Total Drive if…
- Your branding in front of pupils. Their pupil app carries your school name, logo and colours. Ours is called Roadworthy Student and looks like ours, not yours.
- Google updates faster. A change you make shows in Google sooner with their sync than with our feed, which Google refreshes on its own schedule. Ours reaches Google, Apple and Outlook, and reads your own calendar back to warn about clashes — theirs doesn't advertise that.
- Teaching aids. About 30 animated 2D scenarios you can draw on, and 36 3D teaching videos on their top tiers. Our sketches cover drawing on the real road; we have no animations or videos.
- Reminders that reach a pupil without the app. Theirs are advertised as free, 24/48 hours ahead, though they do not publish the channel. Ours are free and automatic for any pupil who has the Student app; reaching one who hasn't means paid SMS.
- Theory practice for your pupils. A theory and hazard-perception suite pupils can buy inside their app. Ours has none — pupils use a separate theory app.
- Years of being the default. The most used system in the industry, and that is a real reason to pick it.
Pick Pedal if…
- They are on Android today. Our Android app is built and in closed testing, but it is not on Google Play. If you teach on an Android phone, Roadworthy is not ready for you.
- A website for your school. They will build you one. We list you in our directory and give you a booking link.
- An assistant that takes actions. Theirs can act on what it finds — offering to send payment reminders, for example. Ask Roadworthy answers questions about your business and our voice notes write up a lesson, but neither sends anything for you.
Pick BookDrive if…
- It costs less, or nothing. Free for up to three pupils for as long as you like, and £10 a month for unlimited pupils, against our £13.99. If you teach a handful of pupils, that is hard to argue with.
- They are on Android today. Our Android app is built and in closed testing, but it is not on Google Play. If you teach on an Android phone, Roadworthy is not ready for you.
- Records they call Making Tax Digital compliant. Their store listing says so. We give you a CSV export for your accountant and do not claim MTD compliance.
- Cheaper for a school. School plans from £79 a month for up to nine instructors, about £8.78 each. We charge per instructor at the one price.
- Built by a Grade A instructor. That is their headline, and it shows in a progress system of 45 competencies scored every lesson.
Where we'd tell you not to bother
- If your phone is Android, we aren't ready for you. The app is built and in closed testing, but it isn't on Google Play yet.
- If you want the biggest name, that's Total Drive. We're newer — which is also why the person who built the app answers your email, and why the thing you ask for tends to turn up in the next release rather than a roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
Is Roadworthy the same as Total Drive, Pedal or BookDrive?
They do the same core job — diary, pupil progress and payments. The difference is that Roadworthy is built around the driving between lessons: your day ordered by pickup location, a warning when two lessons are too far apart to make in time, and every free slot ranked by how little driving it adds. Neither Total Drive nor Pedal advertises anything like that, and BookDrive lists route optimisation as coming soon. Roadworthy is £13.99/month with every feature included, it comes with a free app for your pupils, and its CarPlay shows your whole day rather than just calling and navigating.
Which is cheapest?
BookDrive, if you teach three pupils or fewer: its Starter plan is free, and Pro with unlimited pupils is £10 a month. Among the rest, Roadworthy is cheapest either way you pay. Monthly it is £13.99, then Pedal at £14.99, then Total Drive from £18 (inc. VAT), whose online booking sits on the £23 tier. Annually it is £109.99 against Pedal's £119.99.
Does Roadworthy work on Android?
Not yet. The Android app is built and in closed testing, but it is not on Google Play. Total Drive, Pedal and BookDrive are all on Android today. If you teach on an Android phone, use one of them for now and join our list.
Do you take a cut of my lesson payments?
No. Payments settle to your own Stripe account and you are the merchant of record. The card fee is added to the pupil's checkout as a booking fee, so you receive the full lesson price. Our only charge is the subscription.
Can I move my pupils over without typing them all in again?
Yes. Send us an export from whatever you use now and we will import your pupils and diary by hand. There is a page for it at rwapp.co/import.
How do I know this comparison is fair?
Every claim about Total Drive and Pedal comes from their own public pricing pages, feature pages and App Store listings, checked on 23 September 2026, and about BookDrive on 25 September 2026. Where we could not verify something we say "not advertised" rather than "no". If something here is wrong or out of date, email us and we will fix it — including if the fix makes them look better.
Try it on your own diary
Every feature is included in one subscription — £13.99/month after a 30-day free trial. No card commission, no per-booking charges.
Download on the App StoreOn Android? It's coming soon — join the list →