Compare · Total Drive
Roadworthy vs Total Drive
Looking at Roadworthy as a Total Drive 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 Total Drive 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 Total Drive 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. Total Drive doesn't advertise anything like it. Both run on CarPlay; ours also shows the next pickup, the pupil brief and a warning when the next leg is too tight.
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.
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.
Why an instructor moves from Total Drive
Four differences, all of them things you can check on both sites rather than take our word for.
Online booking is included, not a tier up
Total Drive puts online booking on the £23 Ultimate tier. On Roadworthy every feature is in the one £13.99 price, booking included.
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. Total Drive lets you allow travel time on the booking page; it does not advertise ordering your day or warning you about a tight leg.
CarPlay that knows your day
Both apps run on CarPlay. Total Drive's (added in v4.1) is for calling and navigating; ours also shows the next pickup, a live countdown, the pupil brief and a warning when the next leg is too tight to make.
You keep the whole lesson price
Payments settle to your own Stripe account and the card fee is added to the pupil's checkout, so you receive the full amount. Total Drive does not publish who absorbs the card fee.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 “Lesson Gaps”, plus “Gaps Plus” on higher tiers |
| 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 | No Not advertised |
| Works without signal | Yes Diary opens offline; changes send when signal returns | Yes Offline mode (v4.0.13) |
| CarPlay | Yes Next pickup, live countdown, pupil brief, tight-leg warning, one-tap navigation | Yes Added v4.1 — call and navigate |
| 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 |
| Pupils and money | ||
| Free app for pupils | Yes Roadworthy Student — separate free app | Yes Branded with your school name, logo and colours |
| Online booking page for new pupils | Yes Included at the one price | Yes On the £23 Ultimate tier and above |
| Take card payments | Yes Straight to your own Stripe account | Yes Listed as a feature |
| 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 Six-question log |
| 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 | Yes Added v4.1 |
| Terms your pupils sign | Yes Signed in the pupil app, kept with the exact wording | Partly Records the date terms were signed |
| More than one pickup per pupil | Yes | Yes Added v4.1 |
| Prepaid blocks of hours, drawn down automatically | Yes Pupil sees the balance in their app | Yes Prepaid credit used by online booking |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Running the business | ||
| Income, expenses and what you actually netted | Yes Weekly and monthly, with CSV export | Yes Income, expenses and bookkeeping |
| Mileage log for tax | Yes | Yes Business and personal, MTD-ready |
| Multi-instructor school view | Yes Per instructor or the whole school | Yes Multi-car schools |
| Enquiry manager for new leads | Yes An enquiries inbox, plus a booking page new pupils pay on and our directory | Yes |
| 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 |
| Animated scenarios and teaching videos | No | Yes About 30 2D scenarios on every tier; 36 3D videos on Pro and Elite |
| DVSA Standards Check triggers | Yes All four, from the test results you record | Yes “Standards Check Indicators” |
| MOT, tax and insurance reminders | Yes | No Not advertised |
| Test centre pass-rate statistics | Yes All 322 UK centres, first-attempt rates, from DVSA's published figures | Partly 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 |
| AI assistant | Yes Ask Roadworthy about your business, and voice notes that write up a lesson | No Not advertised |
| 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 | Years; the most established in the UK |
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 Total Drive? 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 Total Drive 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 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.
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 Total Drive 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. But we are iPhone-only, we are newer than Total Drive, and our free trial is 30 days against their 30 days. The full list of what Total Drive does better is on this page.
How much does Total Drive cost compared with Roadworthy?
Total Drive is £18–£26/month (inc. VAT · four tiers · 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 Total Drive?
Yes. Send us an export from Total Drive 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 Total Drive 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 →