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Most booking software looks much the same in a demo. The differences show up three months in: a commission on every payout, an SMS bill you didn’t budget for, and the half hour you lose driving across town between back-to-back lessons.
Full disclosure: we make OnTime Bookings, so we’re not neutral. What we can be is specific. Below is the checklist we’d use to choose, then a side-by-side of platforms sold to Australian driving schools, with every feature checked on each vendor’s own website on 20 October 2026.
Your options fall into three groups: lesson marketplaces that list you next to rival instructors, general booking apps built for salons and clinics, and software built for driving schools. Ask each one these seven questions.
1. Whose brand does the learner book? On a marketplace, learners interact with the marketplace, and its terms may stop you booking them direct. A booking site in your school’s name builds a business you own. Check whether hosting is included.
2. Is there a cut of every booking? With per booking commission, your growth comes with an expensive pricetag! A flat monthly fee doesn’t grow as you do.
3. Can you sell hours instead of lessons? Many schools sell a 10-hour package that learners book as a mix of one-, 1.5- and two-hour lessons. Software that only counts “10 lessons” leaves you doing the maths.
4. Are SMS reminders included? Across 21 randomised trials, people who got a reminder were 25% less likely to miss their appointment (BMJ Open). Be aware of per mesasge SMS Reminder cost that other may platforms charges you! With OnTime bookings, SMS Reminders are included in the monthly subscription fees.
5. Does the diary know where you’ll be? Pickups are spread across suburbs. Good scheduling offers learners times close to lessons you’ve already booked. Each lessons is booked with an accurate pickup/drop-off location from google maps.
6. Can you accept Cash, PayId or BankTransfer along with card payments? Since 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for most card payments (ACCC). Card fees now come out of your lesson price, so you want cash, PayID and bank transfer on your booking site too.
7. Is the solution built, managed & supoprted in Australia? Look for GST tracking and recipient-created tax invoices (RCTIs) for contractor instructors, which need you both registered for GST (ATO). Ask where student data is stored: sending personal information overseas can add obligations under Australian Privacy Principle 8.
Monthly prices are shown as each vendor publishes them. “Not stated” means we couldn’t find it on the vendor’s website, not that the feature is missing.
| OnTime Bookings | BookingTimes | Bookeo | bookitLive | Teachworks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Driving schools | Many industries | Many industries | Many industries | Education businesses |
| Price from (monthly) | $59 + GST, 2 instructors | 99 + GST, + 39 per extra calendar | $39.95 incl. GST | $60 incl. GST (plan with online payments) | US$16.49 + per-lesson fee |
| Setup fee | $149 | From $69 | Not stated | Yes, amount not published | None |
| Booking commission | 0% | None | None | None stated | Per-lesson usage fee |
| Booking site in your brand | ✓ your own site, hosting included | ✓ your own domain, website included | Brandable page on Bookeo's domain | Page on bookitLive's domain (white label on Enterprise) | Logo and subdomain; widget for your site |
| Hour-based packages | ✓ any mix of lesson lengths | Packages (hours not stated) | Lesson passes | Lesson packages | Packages of hours |
| SMS reminders | Unlimited, included | Per SMS | Per credit | Per SMS pack | Per credit |
| Location-aware scheduling | Suburbs, services and times by day, plus distance from booked lessons | Suburbs per timeslot | Locations per staff member | Suburbs per instructor | Not stated |
| Cash, PayID, bank transfer | ✓ | PayID not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Direct debit; PayID not stated |
| RCTIs for contractors | ✓ (Multi plan) | ✓ | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data hosted in | Sydney | Sydney | North America and Europe | Sydney | United States |
| Free trial | 30 days | Demo only | 30 days | 14 days (card required) | 21 days |
| Best for | Solo instructors and growing schools with multiple instructors looking to grow their own business & brand supported by Australia team | Larger schools wanting accounting and RTO integrations | Schools wanting a low-cost general booker with Xero sync | Multi-service businesses wanting Australian hosting | Schools also running tutoring or music lessons |
Some tools on software directories had no working website or don’t serve Australia, so we left them out.
We built OnTime Bookings for one job: running a driving school. You get a booking website in your school’s name and colours, hosting included, and learners book and pay on your site, not ours. There’s no commission on any booking.
Packages work the way you sell them. Set up a 10-hour package and learners book it as any mix of lesson lengths, with the balance tracked for you. Reminders go out by SMS and email from your own mobile number, with no per-message charge.
The diary works around your week. Teach automatic Monday to Thursday and manual Friday and Saturday, or CBD suburbs in the morning and the western suburbs after 5pm. Location intelligence then only offers learners times within your chosen distance of lessons already booked.
Learners pay by card through your own Stripe account, or by cash, PayID or bank transfer. Multi-instructor schools get commission calculations and automatic RCTIs, and data is hosted in Sydney. Plans start at $59 a month plus GST for two instructors. See pricing or book a demo.
It depends on how you run your school. If you want your own brand, a flat fee and scheduling that understands pickups across suburbs, OnTime Bookings is built for that. Whatever you consider, run it through the checklist first.
Entry plans run from about 40 to 100 a month, and multi-instructor plans can pass $300. Setup fees, per-lesson fees, per-SMS charges and per-instructor pricing all change what you pay.
Only if you pay contractor instructors and you’re both registered for GST. You’ll need a written agreement, and the ATO expects each RCTI within 28 days.
A marketplace can fill gaps in a new diary, but learners book under its brand. Your own site costs a flat fee, and every repeat booking and referral builds your school’s name.
1. Robotham et al., “Do text messages reduce the number of missed appointments?”, BMJ Open 2016 — accessed 2026-10-20 — meta-analysis of 21 RCTs (risk ratio 0.75); healthcare appointments, used as an analogy
2. ACCC — Card surcharges — accessed 2026-10-20 — “From 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for payments made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos cards.” Payment-method discounts (e.g. PayID) still allowed. Time-sensitive
3. RBA — Removal of card payment surcharges from 1 October 2026 (FAQs) — accessed 2026-10-20 — background: implemented via card-network “no-surcharge” rules, not a legislated ban. Don’t call it “illegal”
4. ATO — Tax invoices (recipient-created tax invoices) — accessed 2026-10-20 — RCTI conditions: both GST-registered, written agreement, issue within 28 days
5. OAIC — APP guidelines, Chapter 8: cross-border disclosure of personal information — accessed 2026-10-20 — “can add obligations”: APP 8 binds APP entities; businesses under $3m turnover are generally exempt (exemption unchanged as of Oct 2026)
