Comparison
Passly vs Total Drive
Two capable diary apps for UK driving instructors, two very different philosophies. Total Drive packs features into tiers from £18 to £26 a month; Passly puts everything on one £14.99 plan and adds a marketplace that brings you pupils. Here's the honest, feature-by-feature picture.
The quick verdict
Passly gives every instructor online booking, card payments, lesson gap filling and a free marketplace listing on one £14.99 plan, with the payment fee published upfront (a flat 1.5%), against Total Drive's £18 to £26 tiers, where booking and enhanced gap tools only arrive on the higher tiers and the card fee is revealed at sign-up. Even if you'd use its deep teaching extras (theory tests, 3D videos, offline mode), the whole business costs less, more transparently, with Passly.
| Feature | Passly | Total Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Diary & calendar | ||
| Online diary on web and mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud diary, every change saved instantly, no sync button | Yes | Offline-first, syncs when reconnected |
| Recurring lessons (weekly / fortnightly) | Yes | Yes |
| Working hours & unavailability | Yes | Yes |
| Double-booking / conflict detection | Yes | Not advertised |
| Calendar feed to Google & Apple Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Pick-up & drop-off locations | Yes | Yes |
| Lesson gap filling (offer empty slots to pupils) | Yes | Yes (Gaps Plus on Ultimate/Elite) |
| Offline mode | — | Yes |
| Online booking & growing your diary | ||
| Pupils book online from your real availability | Yes, on every plan | Ultimate & Elite tiers only |
| Embeddable booking widget for your own website | Yes | Not advertised |
| Free marketplace listing & public profile | Yes | — |
| Leads / enquiry inbox | Yes | Yes |
| Done-for-you instructor website (optional) | From £29/mo | — |
| Pupil records & progress | ||
| Pupil records, notes & full lesson history | Yes | Yes |
| Per-pupil pricing & lesson types | Yes | Yes |
| Syllabus progress tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Live progress record shared with the pupil | Yes | Yes |
| Driving test & mock test logging | Yes | Yes |
| Reflective logs | — | Yes |
| Digital terms & conditions signing | — | Yes |
| Waiting list | — | Yes (school feature) |
| CSV export of your pupil data, any time, free | Yes | Backup on request at termination |
| Pupil app & portal | ||
| Free pupil portal / app | Web portal, no download needed | Branded native app |
| Pupils see lessons, progress & balances | Yes | Yes |
| Pupils book & manage lessons themselves | Yes | Gaps & booking on higher tiers |
| Parent visibility of progress | Via shared record | Yes |
| Messaging & reminders | ||
| In-app messaging with pupils | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic lesson reminders (included free) | Yes, email, in-app & push | Yes, app push |
| SMS text reminders | — | 4p per text |
| Automatic payment reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast a message to all pupils | — | Yes |
| Payments & finances | ||
| In-app card payments from pupils | Yes, Stripe | Yes, Adyen, plus platform fee |
| Commission on your lesson money | 1.5% flat, published, plus standard Stripe fees | Platform fee set at sign-up, not published |
| Prepaid lesson credits & packages | Yes | Yes |
| Discounts, coupons & block-booking pricing | Yes | Rate customisation on higher tiers |
| Refunds handled in-app | Yes | Via support email |
| Income & expense tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Mileage tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Profit & loss and financial reports | Yes | Yes |
| CSV export for your accountant | Yes | Yes |
| Direct sync to QuickBooks / Xero (MTD) | CSV export | Yes |
| Teaching aids | ||
| 3D animated driving videos | — | Pro & Elite tiers |
| Drawable road scenarios / doodlepad | — | Yes |
| Theory test suite | — | Add-on, £4.99 per pupil |
| Driving schools & multi-instructor | ||
| Multi-instructor diaries & management | Yes | Yes |
| School-wide takings & finances | Yes | Yes |
| Allocate pupils to instructors | Yes | Yes |
| Role-based access (instructor finances private) | Yes | Yes |
| Per-instructor price | £14.99 flat | Tiered by school size |
| Pricing & contract | ||
| Monthly price (one instructor) | £14.99, one plan, everything included | £18 to £26 depending on tier |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Cancel any time, self-serve | Yes | Web form only, ends at period end |
| Fees refundable | No lock-in to refund | Non-refundable per subscriber agreement |
Comparison based on publicly available information from totaldrive.co.uk, app store listings and Total Drive's subscriber agreement, checked July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Where Total Drive shines
Total Drive is the feature heavyweight, used by thousands of instructors since 2018. Its Smart Gaps tool for filling cancellations is genuinely good, the branded pupil and parent app is polished, and extras like 3D driving videos, the doodlepad and the theory suite matter if you teach with visual aids. It also syncs income straight into QuickBooks, Xero and other MTD software.
The trade-off is complexity: four tiers, online booking held back to the £23+ plans, an unpublished platform fee on every card payment, and a subscriber agreement where fees are non-refundable and your data backup must be requested in writing within 10 days of leaving.
Where Passly is different
Passly is built around one idea: everything an ADI needs, on one plan, at one honest price. Online booking, the embeddable widget, Stripe payments, credits and discounts, progress tracking, the pupil portal and full school features are all included at £14.99, nothing is held back for an upsell.
And Passly works to fill your diary, not just organise it: your free marketplace listing and public profile turn learners searching in your area into leads in your inbox. Your data is yours too: export pupils, lessons and payments as CSV whenever you like, and cancel self-serve in a couple of clicks.
Passly vs Total Drive: your questions
Is Passly cheaper than Total Drive?
Yes. Passly is one plan at £14.99 a month with everything included: online booking, payments, the pupil portal and school features. Total Drive's tiers run from £18 (Basic) to £26 (Elite), and online booking and enhanced gap tools only arrive on the Ultimate and Elite tiers. Total Drive also charges a platform fee on card payments that's set at sign-up rather than published; Passly's is a flat 1.5% on top of standard Stripe processing fees, published here where you can see it before you sign up.
What does Total Drive have that Passly doesn't?
Total Drive has been around since 2018 and has built some things we haven't yet: an offline mode, teaching aids like 3D driving videos and a doodlepad, a theory test add-on, reflective logs, digital T&C signing, a waiting list and direct sync to accounting software. If those are the features you use every day, Total Drive is a solid choice: this comparison is meant to be honest, not one-sided.
What does Passly do better than Total Drive?
Simplicity and growth. One price with nothing gated behind tiers, online booking and an embeddable widget included for everyone, a free marketplace listing that brings you new pupils, transparent payment costs, and a pupil portal that works in the browser with no download. Passly is also cloud-first: every change saves straight to your account, so there's no offline copy to fall out of step with what your pupils see. And you can export your data as CSV whenever you like: Total Drive's terms only provide a backup if you request one in writing within 10 days of leaving.
Can I switch from Total Drive to Passly?
Yes. Start a free 14-day trial, add your pupils (or send us your export and we'll help you bring it across), share the portal link with your learners and you're running. There's no contract, so you can run both side by side while you decide.
Try it yourself
See your whole week in one place
14 days free, no card required, £14.99 a month after, with online booking, payments and the marketplace included from day one.