Compare · Pedal
Roadworthy vs Pedal
Looking at Roadworthy as a Pedal alternative? Here's the comparison written the way we'd want to read it if we were choosing — the prices, the features side by side, and an honest list of what Pedal does that we don't. Every claim about them comes from their own published pages, checked on 23 September 2026.
The short answer
They overlap heavily. Both do the diary, pupil progress, payments and a free app for your pupils, and if Pedal is working for you, nothing below is worth switching for on its own.
Roadworthy is 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. Pedal doesn't advertise anything like it. And we're the only one of the two that runs on CarPlay.
The honest catch: we're iPhone-only today, and we're newer.
Price, head to head
Per instructor, as published on 23 September 2026.
Roadworthy
£13.99/month
or £109.99/year · 30-day free trial
One price, every feature. 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.
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.
Why an instructor moves from Pedal
Four differences, all of them things you can check on both sites rather than take our word for.
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. Pedal does not advertise ordering the day by pickup.
It is in the car with you
Roadworthy runs on CarPlay — next pickup, live countdown, the pupil brief and one-tap navigation. Pedal does not advertise CarPlay.
An online booking page for new pupils
Pupils pick a free slot and pay, on your own booking link. Pedal does not advertise online booking for new pupils.
Cheaper either way you pay
£13.99 against £14.99 a month, and £109.99 against £119.99 a year. Cheaper on both.
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 | Pedal |
|---|---|---|
| Running the day | ||
| Diary with recurring lessons, availability and time off | Yes | Yes |
| Filling a cancelled slot | Yes Ranked pupil list + one-tap offer | Yes “Gaps Tool” |
| Day ordered by pickup location, on a map | Yes | No Not advertised |
| Warning when two lessons are too far apart to make in time | Yes | 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 |
| Lesson route planning (your own training routes) | Yes Saved routes with map builder and skill tags | Partly Mentioned in their store listing; no route feature shown |
| Works without signal | Yes Diary opens offline; changes send when signal returns | Yes Listed as offline mode |
| CarPlay | Yes Next pickup, live countdown, pupil brief, tight-leg warning, one-tap navigation | 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. | No Not advertised |
| Pupils and money | ||
| Free app for pupils | Yes Roadworthy Student — separate free app | Yes Progress, messaging and paying online |
| Online booking page for new pupils | Yes Included at the one price | No Not advertised |
| Take card payments | Yes Straight to your own Stripe account | Yes “Get paid online” |
| Who pays the card fee | The pupil — you receive the full lesson price | Not published |
| DVSA syllabus progress and test readiness | Yes | Yes |
| Pupil-written reflective logs | Yes Pupils write their own after each lesson; you can read it but not edit it | Yes Reflective notes |
| 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 |
| Pupils tell you when they're free | Yes Shown when booking; free pupils offered cancelled slots first | No Not advertised |
| Terms your pupils sign | Yes Signed in the pupil app, kept with the exact wording | No Not advertised |
| More than one pickup per pupil | Yes | No Not advertised |
| Prepaid blocks of hours, drawn down automatically | Yes Pupil sees the balance in their app | Yes Block bookings (v1.2.1) |
| 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 Automatic reminders |
| Two-way chat with pupils inside the app | Yes A thread per pupil; they reply in the free Student app | Yes In-app messaging and broadcasts |
| Running the business | ||
| Income, expenses and what you actually netted | Yes Weekly and monthly, with CSV export | Yes Finance insights and late payments |
| Mileage log for tax | Yes | Partly Not advertised |
| Multi-instructor school view | Yes Per instructor or the whole school | Yes Schools supported |
| Enquiry manager for new leads | Yes An enquiries inbox, plus a booking page new pupils pay on and our directory | Partly Not advertised |
| Drawing on the road (satellite map sketches) | Yes Satellite, map or whiteboard — and shown to the pupil under that lesson | Yes SketchPad (v1.2.0) |
| Animated scenarios and teaching videos | No | Partly “Teaching aids” listed, not described |
| DVSA Standards Check triggers | Yes All four, from the test results you record | No Not advertised |
| MOT, tax and insurance reminders | Yes | Yes MOT and tax |
| Test centre pass-rate statistics | Yes All 322 UK centres, first-attempt rates, from DVSA's published figures | Yes |
| Website builder for your school | Partly No site builder. You get a bookable page pupils can pay on, and a listing in our directory | Yes Custom website |
| AI assistant | Yes Ask Roadworthy about your business, and voice notes that write up a lesson | Yes “Pedal Intelligence” (beta), can take actions |
| Practicalities | ||
| iPhone | Yes | Yes |
| Android | No In closed testing — not on Google Play yet | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
| How long it has been around | Launched 2026 | Launched 2026 |
Weighing them all up? Roadworthy vs Total Drive vs Pedal vs BookDrive →
Why instructors choose Roadworthy
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 Pedal? Send us your export and we'll put your pupils and diary into Roadworthy by hand — trying it doesn't mean typing everyone in twice.
What Pedal does that we don't
You searched for them, so you may already be using them — you'd spot a page that only listed our wins. Here are the honest reasons to stay where you are.
Stay on 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.
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 a good Pedal alternative?
It depends what you want from it. Roadworthy costs £13.99/month with every feature included, and it is the only one of the two built around the driving between lessons — your day ordered by pickup, tight-leg warnings, and free slots ranked by how little driving they add, plus CarPlay. But we are iPhone-only, we are newer than Pedal, and our free trial is 30 days against their 30 days. The full list of what Pedal does better is on this page.
How much does Pedal cost compared with Roadworthy?
Pedal is £14.99/month (or £119.99/year · one tier · 30-day free trial). Roadworthy is £13.99/month or £109.99/year with every feature included and a 30-day free trial. Prices checked on 23 September 2026.
Can I move my pupils across from Pedal?
Yes. Send us an export from Pedal and we will import your pupils and diary into Roadworthy by hand, so trying it does not mean typing everyone in twice. There is a page for it at rwapp.co/import.
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.
Does Roadworthy work on Android?
Not yet. The 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.
Is this comparison fair?
Every claim about Pedal comes from their own public pricing pages, feature pages and App Store listing, checked on 23 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 →