Hoist vs Mechanic Desk

Hoist is built and supported in New Zealand and sells one flat plan with every feature switched on. Mechanic Desk is a longer-established Australian platform, sold here through a New Zealand reseller, on four price tiers. The features Hoist includes as standard that you should check the price of on any tier elsewhere: two-way customer texting with replies threaded against the customer, a connected mailbox so workshop email sits beside the job, and deferred work tracking so the thing a customer declined in March is waiting on the vehicle in September. Mechanic Desk has a native mobile app, barcode scanning, multi-site management and parts ordering with BNT and Autolign, none of which Hoist has today; our app releases in September 2026. Both cover work orders, scheduling, invoicing and NZ reminder scheduling.

Yes, and it is free. Customers, vehicles and service history come across and we do it for you rather than handing you an import template. Worth being straight here: Mechanic Desk also imports your data free, and says so on their features page, so this is not a reason to pick one over the other. Talk to whoever you choose early, so there is time to take a clean export.

Hoist is $140/month + GST, with 3 users included and $10/month per extra user. Mechanic Desk publishes four NZ tiers: $85 for 1 user, $115 for 3, $150 for 6 and $250 for 15, with extra users at $15/month and texts at 10c. We will say the obvious thing rather than bury it: on the monthly line alone Mechanic Desk often comes in under us, and their texts are 2c cheaper. Two places the gap closes. Extra users are $15 there against $10 here, so every person past the included count costs you half as much on Hoist. And two-way customer texting, a connected mailbox and deferred work tracking are in our one price, so if you want those, price them on their side before you compare the headline numbers. If the lowest possible monthly figure is what decides it, take a good look at their Starter tier. If you would rather have everything switched on and know the bill will not move as you grow, that is the case for us.

Live chat, phone and email, included for every Hoist customer at no extra cost, from people in New Zealand working your hours. Mechanic Desk is sold here through a New Zealand reseller that offers local implementation and phone support. Worth asking either of us the same question: who picks up, where are they, and how fast.