Total Drive alternative
The things you use every day in Total Drive. £12 a month, everything included.
Total Drive charges £18 to £26 a month depending on the tier, with online booking from £23 and 3D aids from £24. Instructor Office has every feature, including an Apple Watch app and AI that writes your debriefs, for £12 a month including VAT.
Total Drive prices from their pricing page, checked 30 October 2026.
Five reasons instructors look elsewhere, and what we do about them
“Got a bit pricey over the years”
£12 a month including VAT for the whole app, AI included, with nothing locked away. One plan, one price.
Getting your data back out
Download your pupils, diary, payments and progress as spreadsheets whenever you like, from the app. No forms, no waiting.
Some things only on the website
Instructor Office is one app. Your phone, iPad and laptop show the same diary, the same history and the same money pages.
Pupils missing updates
The Learner Office app sends your pupil a notification when you message them, when you are on the way, and before their driving test’s cancel-by date.
Typing everything twice
Talk through the debrief and it is written up. Say “Ollie paid £120” and it is recorded. Photograph a mock sheet and it is filled in.
These are themes from public reviews of Total Drive on Google Play and Trustpilot between May 2025 and October 2026. One quote is from a Trustpilot review dated 5 May 2026.
Side by side
Checked 30 October 2026 against Total Drive’s own website and app store page.
| Feature | Instructor Office | Total Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Price and plans | ||
| Monthly price, one instructor | £12 inc. VAT, everything and all the AI | £18, £23, £24 or £26 by tier |
| Every feature in the cheapest plan | Yes, one plan with everything, AI included | No: online booking from £23, 3D aids from £24 |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | 30 days, no card |
| Money-back guarantee | No: try free first, cancel any time | 3 months |
| Phone, wrist and car | ||
| Apple Watch app | Yes | Not listed |
| CarPlay | Yes | Yes |
| Android Auto | Not yet | Yes |
| Full app in a web browser | Yes, the same app | Web Admin; some features web-only |
| Works with no signal | Yes, automatically | Yes, switched on by hand |
| AI | ||
| AI features | 9, all included | None advertised |
| Debriefs written from a recording | Yes | Not found |
| Voice assistant | Yes, phone and watch | Not found |
| Paper mock sheet read from a photo | Yes | Not found |
| Pupils | ||
| Free pupil app | Yes | Yes, plus parent app |
| Live “on the way” with a map | Yes | Not found |
| Pupils book your free slots | Yes | From the £23 tier |
| Push notifications for pupils | Yes | Yes, message centre and lesson changes |
| Digital DL25 mock test | Full tickable sheet and timer | Fault counts only |
| Teaching aids | Road Sketch on a satellite map | 2D scenes, DoodlePad; 3D from £24 |
| Money and admin | ||
| Card payments from pupils | Into your own Stripe, matched automatically, no commission | Built in; fee not published |
| Lesson reminders | Free in the pupil app; pupils tap to confirm, you are told if they don’t | Free, 24 or 48 hours before |
| Making Tax Digital | Quarterly figures and export; no direct filing | Links to Xero, QuickBooks and others |
| Expenses with receipt reading | Yes, receipts read by AI | Expenses; receipt capture not found |
| Several instructors in one school | Yes: team diary without pupil names, leads, branding | Yes |
| Your data | ||
| Download all your data yourself | Yes: one tap, one spreadsheet, any time | Finance CSV; full backup on written request |
| Bringing your data over | AI import tool: file, photos or voice | Their staff import it |
Where Total Drive is ahead today (Android Auto and direct links to accounting software), we have said so. See all sources.
Your data, always yours
In. And out. Whenever you like.
Bring your pupils over with the import tool: a file, photos of Total Drive’s screens, or your voice. And download everything you keep in Instructor Office, in one spreadsheet, any time. No written requests, no waiting.
Questions from Total Drive users
Will my pupils need a new app?
They can download Learner Office from the App Store, or just tap the private link you send them. It opens their lessons in the browser with no password and nothing to install.
Can I run both apps while I try it?
Yes. Most instructors keep their old app for a few weeks. Nothing in Instructor Office touches Total Drive.
What about card payments?
Link your own Stripe account and pupils pay by card in their app. The money goes straight to your Stripe and on to your bank, and every payment is added to the pupil’s account by itself. Or paste a payment link from SumUp, PayPal or Revolut. We never handle the money and take no commission.
Does it do Making Tax Digital?
It keeps your income, expenses and mileage by tax year and lays out the quarterly figures the way Making Tax Digital asks for. You or your accountant then submit them with HMRC-recognised software. It does not file to HMRC itself.
I run a school with several instructors.
Your school can pay for its instructors’ seats, see everyone’s week and gaps without seeing pupils’ names, and send new pupils to the team. See Instructor Office for driving schools.