Total Drive Alternatives for UK Driving Instructors (2026)
Total Drive is a well-established app. If you are weighing it against something else, here are five alternatives with their prices and payment charges taken from each vendor's own site on 19 September 2026.
Quick answer: Total Drive costs £18 to £26 a month, and online booking starts on its £23 Ultimate tier. The main alternatives are PassReady (£0 a month, online booking included, the pupil pays a booking fee on card payments), MyDriveTime (£19), DrivePro (£19.99), Passdesk (£19) and DriveInstruct (£10). You can bring your Total Drive diary into PassReady through Google Calendar.
People usually look for a Total Drive alternative for one of three reasons: the monthly bill, wanting online booking without moving up a tier, or wanting to know what card payments really cost. This page takes each alternative in turn. For a feature-by-feature table of PassReady, Total Drive and MyDriveTime, see our head-to-head comparison. For all fifteen apps in one table, see every UK driving instructor app compared.
We build PassReady. Every rival fact below comes from that company's own website, checked on 19 September 2026.
What Total Drive costs today
Total Drive's pricing page lists four tiers, VAT included: Basic £18, Ultimate £23, Pro £24 and Elite £26 a month. Online booking is in Ultimate and Elite. There is a 30-day trial with no payment details, and trainees get it free until they pass Part 3 or for up to 12 months. In-app card payments are optional; its payments page says you receive 100% of the lesson price the next day but doesn't publish the charge for the payment or who pays it. It says more than 8,600 instructors use it each week, and its diary syncs to Google Calendar and Apple iCal.
Total Drive and five alternatives at a glance
| App | Monthly price, one instructor | Pupils book online | Charge on card payments | Free trial | Trainees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Drive | £18 to £26 | From £23 (Ultimate) | Not published | 30 days | Free until Part 3 or 12 months |
| PassReady | £0 | Included | Pupil pays PassReady's 4.2% plus card processing, rounded up to the next whole pound | None needed | £0, and still £0 once qualified |
| MyDriveTime | £19 | Not stated on the pages we checked | Not published | 30 days | Free until you qualify |
| DrivePro | £19.99 Starter, £29.99 Pro | Included from Starter | Your own Stripe account (Stripe fees apply) | 14 days | Free during training |
| Passdesk | £19 | Included | 2.5%, processing included | 14 days, card needed | Free until qualified |
| DriveInstruct | £10 (Pro) | Included | 2% | 1 month | 12 months, up to 5 pupils |
All figures from each vendor's own site, 19 September 2026. “Not published” means we could not find it on their public pages.
The alternatives
1. PassReady: £0 a month
PassReady has no subscription and no tiers. Online booking, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments, DVSA-aligned progress tracking, reminders and Making Tax Digital records are all in the £0 product. It is funded by a booking fee on online card payments, paid by the pupil: PassReady's 4.2% plus card processing, rounded up to the next whole pound. On a £40 lesson the pupil pays £43 and you receive £40.23. Cash lessons are logged in the same diary for free.
The trade-off sits with the pupil, who pays about £3 on a £40 lesson. That is a normal booking fee, like the one on a gig ticket, and it funds the pupil's free app with theory practice and their progress tracker. Full examples are on the pricing page.
2. MyDriveTime: £19 a month
MyDriveTime is one price, £19 a month for an individual, with a 30-day trial and no card. Its PDI Best Start scheme is free until you qualify. We could not find its card payment charge on the pricing or finance pages we checked.
3. DrivePro: £19.99 or £29.99 a month
DrivePro Starter (£19.99, or £16.66 a month paid yearly) includes an online booking portal and card payments through your own Stripe account. Pro (£29.99, or £24.99 paid yearly) adds Making Tax Digital filing. 14-day trial, no card. Its FAQ says it handles new bookings rather than importing your lesson history.
4. Passdesk: £19 a month
Passdesk's Instructor plan is £19 a month for one person and up to 40 active learners, with a public booking page on every plan. Lesson payments cost 2.5% with processing included. The 14-day trial needs a card. Its pricing page offers free migration from your current diary app.
5. DriveInstruct: £10 a month
DriveInstruct Pro is £10 a month after a one-month trial and includes online booking and Stripe payments, with a 2% fee on payments. Its homepage compares itself directly with Total Drive's four tiers.
Adding up the real cost
The monthly price is only part of it. Every app pays a card processor on each payment (Stripe's standard UK rate is 1.5% + 20p), and most add their own charge. So for any subscription app, the cost is the monthly fee plus the charge on each card payment. Ask who pays that charge before you compare.
On PassReady there is no monthly fee and the pupil pays the booking fee, so a quiet month, a holiday or a week of cash lessons costs you nothing.
Moving from Total Drive to PassReady
- In Total Drive, turn on its Google Calendar sync so your lessons appear in Google Calendar.
- In PassReady, open the diary import and choose “Connect Google Calendar”. Access is read-only, and you pick which calendar to read.
- Check the preview, then bring your lessons across.
You can also upload a calendar file (.ics) or a CSV, or paste a calendar link. If you would rather not do any of that, email a photo or screenshot of your diary to hello@passready.co.uk and we'll add your pupils for you, free. The full walkthrough is in our guide to switching.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Total Drive?
If cost is the reason, PassReady is £0 a month with online booking and card payments included; the pupil pays a booking fee on card payments. MyDriveTime (£19), DrivePro (£19.99), Passdesk (£19) and DriveInstruct (£10) are subscription alternatives.
Is Total Drive free?
No. Its pricing page lists £18, £23, £24 and £26 a month. Trainees get it free until they pass Part 3 or for up to 12 months, and its pupil app is free to pupils.
Can I move my Total Drive diary to another app?
Total Drive syncs its diary to Google Calendar and Apple iCal. PassReady can read your lessons from Google Calendar, a calendar file or a CSV, or we can add your pupils from a photo of your diary sent to hello@passready.co.uk.
Sources (checked 19 September 2026)
- Total Drive: totaldrive.co.uk/instructor-software-pricing/, /take-card-payments/, /become-driving-instructor/ and homepage
- MyDriveTime: mydrivetime.co.uk/pricing and /pdi-best-start/
- DrivePro: drivepro.app/pricing
- Passdesk: passdesk.co.uk/pricing/
- DriveInstruct: driveinstruct.co.uk
- Stripe UK card rates: stripe.com/gb/pricing
- PassReady: passready.co.uk/pricing/
Paid more than you charge. £0 a month.
Online booking, card payments, DVSA progress and tax records with no tiers and no subscription. On a £40 lesson the pupil pays £43 and you receive £40.23. Cash lessons stay free forever.
Start free