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ARI vs Autograff: which auto repair software fits your shop?

Last verified October 20, 2026.

ARI costs $39.99 a month, or $59.99 for Pro Plus, and puts invoicing, inspections and inventory in one app for mobile mechanics and small shops. Autograff ShopOS runs the same work, from a mobile mechanic invoicing from their phone to a multi-bay shop with staff and a job board, with no monthly software fee when used with ShopOS Payments.

Both are built for the mechanic who is also the business: quoting, inspecting, invoicing and getting paid without an office behind them. The difference is in what the monthly price covers, what costs extra as you use it, and whether the same system still fits when you add a van, a bay or a person to answer the phone.

Quick answer: ARI vs Autograff

Choose Autograff ShopOS if you want no monthly software fee, photo-backed inspections and online booking without moving to a higher plan, no per-use credits, and a system that grows with you from one van to several bays: unlimited users, an AI receptionist on Pro for the calls you cannot take under a car, and migration and onboarding included.

Choose ARI if you want a fixed low monthly subscription with no contract, prefer to keep a payment processor you already use, and rely on the specific third-party tools it connects to. ARI runs on web, iOS, Android and Windows.

ARI vs Autograff at a glance

Entry price

Autograff

$0/month with ShopOS Payments

ARI

$39.99/month, or $33.33/month paid yearly ($399.99 upfront)

Higher tier

Autograff

Pro $350/month, or $300/month on an annual contract

ARI

Pro Plus $59.99/month, or $49.99/month paid yearly ($599.99 upfront)

Pricing basis

Autograff

Per shop, unlimited users

ARI

Per subscription

Usage charges

Autograff

None

ARI

ARI credits meter some advanced features per use

Contract

Autograff

Monthly or annual

ARI

No contract required

Free trial

Autograff

Base is $0 with ShopOS Payments; free trial on Pro

ARI

Yes, capped at 5 invoices, estimates, inspections, clients and vehicles

Invoicing and estimates

Autograff

Yes

ARI

Yes, both tiers

Digital inspections

Autograff

Photo-based, attached to the repair order

ARI

Yes, both tiers, but image attachments are Pro Plus only

Inventory

Autograff

Yes

ARI

Yes, both tiers

Appointments and reminders

Autograff

Yes

ARI

Yes, both tiers

Parts ordering

Autograff

Yes

ARI

PartsTech and Nexpart

Vehicle history

Autograff

Yes

ARI

CarFax

Payments

Autograff

ShopOS Payments

ARI

Square, 360Payments, PayPal, Stripe or Helcim

Customer financing

Autograff

Not included

ARI

Wisetack

AI capabilities

Autograff

AI receptionist, AI Insights, AI Copilot (Pro)

ARI

AI estimating; AI damage detection metered per use

Support

Autograff

Dedicated account manager on both plans

ARI

Priority support on Pro Plus only

Data migration

Autograff

Included

ARI

No setup fee stated

Multi-location

Autograff

Supported

ARI

Not a published focus

In short: ARI is a small-shop and mobile toolkit for $39.99 to $59.99 a month, with photo attachments on the higher plan and some advanced features metered by credit. ShopOS Base has no monthly software fee with ShopOS Payments, includes photo inspections and online booking, has no usage metering and no seat limit, and adds an AI layer on Pro for the phone and stalled jobs.

Verified against ari.app/auto-repair-software-price on October 20, 2026. Confirm current terms with each vendor before deciding.

How much does ARI cost?

ARI publishes two plans and states that there are no hidden fees and no contract required.

ARI published pricing, October 20, 2026. Yearly figures are the effective monthly rate when the year is paid upfront.
PlanMonthlyPaid yearly (per month)
ARI Pro$39.99$33.33/mo ($399.99/yr)
ARI Pro Plus$59.99$49.99/mo ($599.99/yr)

The difference between them is worth reading carefully, because the cheaper plan is missing things most shops assume are standard. ARI Pro does not include image attachments, priority support, the white-labeled client portal, or white-labeled booking and client-facing pages. Pro Plus adds all of those plus a one-time allotment of 3,000 ARI credits.

That image attachment line matters most. A digital inspection without photos is a checklist. If showing a customer the worn pad is part of how you sell work, ARI Pro is not the plan you want, and the real comparison starts at $59.99.

ARI offers a free trial limited to five invoices, estimates, inspections, clients and vehicles.

What are ARI credits?

ARI meters certain advanced features by credit, separately from the subscription. This is not a criticism — it is a reasonable way to price usage-based features — but it means the monthly figure is not the whole cost, and it is easy to miss.

ARI credit costs as published, October 20, 2026
FeatureCredit cost
OBD port locator40 credits per use
Repair reports and upcoming maintenance150 credits
Vehicle diagnostics and full maintenance20–30 credits
AI damage detection on inspections10 credits per use
Mass email or SMS marketing1 credit per contact

Pro Plus includes 3,000 credits once, not monthly. At 150 credits each, that is roughly twenty repair reports before you are buying more. For a mobile mechanic that may last a long time; for a shop running marketing campaigns at one credit per contact, less so. Model it against your own volume rather than treating the allotment as unlimited.

Autograff ShopOS pricing

  • ShopOS Base: $0/month when you process payments through ShopOS Payments. Core shop management, unlimited users, no per-seat software fee.
  • ShopOS Pro: $350/month, or $300/month on an annual contract. Adds the AI receptionist, AI Insights and AI Copilot.

Data migration and onboarding are included, and there is no usage metering on either tier.

Which is better for a mobile mechanic?

Both work from a phone, and both cover the core of a mobile job: an estimate on site, an inspection, an invoice and a payment. ShopOS lets you invoice from your phone and collect deposits on the go, and its online booking can take the customer's address and open it in Google Maps. More on that in ShopOS for mobile mechanics.

The differences show up in the plan detail. On ARI Pro, inspections have no image attachments; photos need Pro Plus at $59.99. On ShopOS Base, photo-based inspections are included with no monthly software fee when you use ShopOS Payments. ARI's repair reports, diagnostics and AI damage detection draw on credits; ShopOS has no per-use charges.

And there is the phone. A mobile mechanic is usually under a car when it rings. ShopOS Pro's AI receptionist answers, handles the question and books the job, including after hours. Neither ARI plan includes call handling.

What changes as you grow?

The strain usually shows up in four places, and ShopOS is built so that none of them means changing systems.

Phone volume. Calls that go unanswered outside hours do not call back. Neither ARI tier includes call handling; ShopOS Pro answers them.

Several people in the system at once. ARI is priced per subscription rather than per shop with unlimited users. Once you have a second technician, a service writer and an owner all needing the record, the seat question starts to matter. ShopOS includes unlimited users on both plans.

Knowing which jobs have stalled. Small operations hold the job board in one person's head, and that works until it does not. ShopOS AI Insights surfaces stalled approvals and parts delays as alerts. ARI reports on what happened; it does not flag what is stuck.

Fleet accounts. Fleet customers send batched work and want a return-to-service date they can plan around. That needs approval status and job state visible to someone outside your business. This is the specific gap we have written about in why it takes so long to get a repair approved.

Where do ARI and Autograff differ?

AI: estimates versus the front desk

ARI applies AI to estimating and to damage detection on inspections, which is metered at 10 credits per use.

ShopOS Pro applies it to the parts of the day that are not the repair:

  • AI receptionist answers calls, handles questions and books appointments, including after hours.
  • AI Insights surfaces stalled approvals, parts delays and jobs needing attention.
  • AI Copilot answers questions about your shop from live shop data.

Different problems. ARI's version speeds up writing an estimate. ShopOS's version is about the calls and the jobs you are not getting to.

Inspections and what the customer sees

Both support digital inspections. The difference is in the plan detail: ARI's image attachments and white-labeled client portal are Pro Plus features, so photo-backed inspections under your own branding require the $59.99 tier, and AI damage detection on those inspections is metered per use. ShopOS includes photo-based inspections attached to the repair order.

Scale and multi-location

ShopOS runs a single mobile mechanic and a multi-location operation on the same system, priced per shop with unlimited users. ARI does not publish multi-location as a focus and prices per subscription. If you run or plan to run more than one site, ask ARI directly how that is handled before committing.

Which is better for your shop?

Autograff ShopOS may fit better if you want no monthly software fee, photo inspections without a plan upgrade, no per-use credits, lose jobs to calls you cannot take, plan to add people or bays, or do fleet work. That holds whether you work from a van or run several bays.

ARI may fit better if you want a fixed subscription with no contract, have a payment processor you do not want to change, or depend on a specific tool in its integration list.

Try both on the jobs you actually do this week, from the estimate to getting paid.

Related reading

Comparison methodology: ARI pricing, plan contents, credit costs, free trial terms and integrations verified against ari.app/auto-repair-software-price and ARI's published credits explainer on October 20, 2026. Competitor features and commercial terms change. Confirm current details with the vendor. If you identify an error, contact contact@autograff.ai.

Frequently asked questions

How much does ARI cost?
ARI Pro is $39.99 a month, or $33.33 a month when the year is paid upfront at $399.99. ARI Pro Plus is $59.99 a month, or $49.99 a month paid yearly at $599.99. ARI states there are no hidden fees and no contract is required, and offers a free trial capped at five invoices, estimates, inspections, clients and vehicles. Some advanced features are metered separately through ARI credits.
What is the difference between ARI Pro and ARI Pro Plus?
Both include invoicing, inspections, inventory, accounting, appointments, reminders, time tracking, payments and reporting. Pro Plus adds image attachments, priority support, a white-labeled client portal with no ARI branding, white-labeled booking and client-facing pages, and a one-time allotment of 3,000 ARI credits. Image attachments are the difference most shops notice first, since photo-backed inspections are not available on Pro.
What are ARI credits and what do they cost?
ARI credits meter certain advanced features on a per-use basis, separately from the monthly subscription. ARI publishes these rates: OBD port locator 40 credits per use, repair reports and upcoming maintenance 150 credits, vehicle diagnostics and full maintenance 20 to 30 credits, AI damage detection on inspections 10 credits per use, and mass email or SMS marketing at 1 credit per contact. ARI Pro Plus includes a one-time allotment of 3,000 credits; ARI Pro users buy credits as needed.
Is Autograff cheaper than ARI?
On software subscription, yes. ShopOS Base has no monthly fee when used with ShopOS Payments, against $39.99 a month for ARI Pro, or $59.99 for Pro Plus if you want photos on inspections. ARI also meters some advanced features through credits; ShopOS has no usage charges.
Does ARI have an AI receptionist?
No. ARI applies AI to estimating and to damage detection on inspections, the latter metered at 10 credits per use. Call answering and appointment booking are not part of either ARI plan. ShopOS Pro includes an AI receptionist that answers calls and books appointments, including outside business hours.
Can I migrate from ARI to Autograff?
Yes. Migration and onboarding are included with ShopOS. Confirm which records transfer, including customers, vehicles, inventory, open jobs and inspection history, before you schedule the move.
Is Autograff good for mobile mechanics?
Yes. ShopOS works from a phone: build the estimate on site, run a photo inspection, send the invoice and collect payment or a deposit on the go. Online booking can take the customer's address and open it in Google Maps, and on Pro the AI receptionist answers the calls you cannot take under a car. The same system carries on if you add people or bays.

See it for yourself.

Thirty minutes on a screen share and you'll see the real product run. The phone answered, the job on the board, the invoice paid. The price on this page is the price, with no setup fee and no annual contract. Cancel any time.

Autograff is built by operators. Our COO spent 25 years running service departments and fleets, and our CEO ran vehicle operations at DiDi, Moove and OCN. We've been the shop and we've been the customer, usually in the same week.

Book a demoSee full pricing

Or start with the product overview: Explore ShopOS, auto repair shop software

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