BayRobin vs Protractor: Which Fits Your Shop? (2026)
Protractor is shop management software with built-in accounting, Epicor parts and labor guides and inventory. BayRobin is an AI front office that answers and books every call. Here's how to choose.
Protractor is shop management software for auto repair; its site says it is "driven by" Vehlo. Its standout is built-in accounting: a general ledger, receivables, payables, tax tracking and banking, so many shops don't need a separate accounting package. Every plan includes Epicor parts and labor guides, parts inventory, parts and labor matrices, integrated payments and basic digital inspections. Protractor says shops create 6.3 million repair orders a year in it.
More on this topic: Shop software pricing and alternatives, every guide in one place.
BayRobin is an AI receptionist and front office for independent shops. It answers every call, gets the year, make, model and the concern, books the appointment, texts back missed calls, and runs the job through inspection, an estimate approved by text, the invoice, a pickup text and a review request. This post is for owners comparing the two.
The short answer
Choose Protractor if you want shop software that also keeps your books, with Epicor parts and labor guides, inventory and matrices. Protractor doesn't list an AI receptionist. Choose BayRobin if your problem is the phone: you want calls answered and booked, missed callers texted, and inspections and estimates included, at a much lower monthly price, and you'll keep accounting and parts elsewhere.
Key takeaways
- Protractor costs $399, $599, $1,099 or $1,299 a month ($359, $539, $989 or $1,169 billed yearly). Its CRM and online service scheduler are a $249 a month add-on.
- Every Protractor plan includes integrated accounting, Epicor parts and labor guides, inventory and basic inspections; advanced inspections start on Performance, and a website and call tracking on Prestige.
- Protractor offers 24/7 online booking, Text-to-Pay and one-click consumer financing. Its pages don't mention AI or call answering.
- BayRobin has no accounting, labor guide, parts ordering, inventory or financing.
- BayRobin is a front office more than a full shop management system: the AI receptionist, missed-call text-back, online booking and reminders come with inspections, repair orders, invoices and a dispatch board on every plan, and AI call time is paid from the plan's monthly credits.
Disclosure: we make BayRobin, so weigh our view accordingly. Everything we say about Protractor comes from its own public pages or published reviews, checked in October 2026 and linked at the end. BayRobin is new and does less than Protractor in several areas; we list them.
BayRobin vs Protractor at a glance
| BayRobin | Protractor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI receptionist and front office for independent shops | Shop management software with integrated accounting |
| Answers calls | AI receptionist on every plan, 24/7 | No call answering listed; call tracking on Prestige and Elite |
| Accounting | None | General ledger, receivables, payables and banking built in |
| Starting price | $149/month | $399/month, or $359 billed yearly |
Pricing compared
Both publish prices. Protractor's prices are for new customers or upgrades, with integrated payments carrying transaction fees. Its pricing page doesn't mention a free trial, contract terms, setup fees or user limits.
| BayRobin plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Starter | $149/month: 3 users, 2,000 credits a month (about 150 AI call minutes), every feature |
| Pro | $249/month: 8 users, 5,000 credits a month (about 400 AI call minutes), every feature |
| Shop | $399/month: 20 users, 12,000 credits a month (about 1,000 AI call minutes), every feature plus payroll |
Every plan has every feature, including inspections, repair orders, invoices and the dispatch board; only payroll is Shop-only. Plans are month to month with no contract or setup fee, and a plan's price doesn't go up while you stay on it. Yearly billing is 10× the monthly price (two months free). Credits also pay for the phone number, call minutes and call summaries, so the AI-minute figures are approximate. The launch offer is free until your first 10 booked jobs, with no card up front: jobs booked by the AI receptionist or your online booking page count.
| Protractor plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Core | $399/month, or $359 billed yearly: accounting, Epicor parts and labor guides, inventory, matrices, payments, basic inspections |
| Performance | $599/month, or $539 billed yearly: adds AutoServe1 advanced inspections |
| Prestige | $1,099/month, or $989 billed yearly: adds the Digital Marketing Suite (website, SEO, call tracking) |
| Elite | $1,299/month, or $1,169 billed yearly: everything above |
| Advanced Tools add-on | $249/month: CRM and online service scheduler |
The two solve different problems. Protractor Core at $399 replaces your shop software and possibly your accounting package; BayRobin at $149 to $399 answers your phone and runs the front office. Protractor's built-in accounting is worth real money if you'd otherwise pay for one. If you're on Protractor and missing calls, adding BayRobin Starter costs $149 a month.
Feature by feature: BayRobin vs Protractor
| BayRobin | Protractor | |
|---|---|---|
| Answering calls | AI receptionist answers 24/7 with your shop's name, asks what's wrong or what service they want, the year, make and model, rough mileage, whether they'll wait or drop off, and their name, then books an open time | Not listed |
| Missed-call text-back | Missed-call text-back within a minute, on by default, message editable; replies land in your shared inbox; STOP honored | Not listed |
| Online booking | Online booking page (a link) that offers real open times, asks for texting consent and turns each booking into a scheduled job | 24/7 online booking widget; CRM and online scheduler add-on at $249 |
| Customer updates | Reminder text about a day before each appointment booked ahead; the customer replies C to confirm or R to reschedule | Automated status texts and Text-to-Pay |
| Inspections | Digital inspections on the technician's phone browser: each item green, yellow or red with notes and photos, and recommended work from the findings | Basic inspections on every plan; AutoServe1 advanced inspections from Performance |
| Estimates | Repair orders of labor (hours at your labor rate), parts and fees, built from canned jobs; the customer approves or declines each service on one link, and phone approvals are recorded with your name | Repair orders with parts and labor matrices |
| Labor and parts | No labor guide or repair data (no MOTOR, ALLDATA or ProDemand); you set your own labor hours and prices. No parts ordering, parts catalogs or inventory | Epicor parts and labor guides; parts inventory; core and warranty tracking |
| Payments and financing | Approved work becomes the invoice, sent by text with a pay link; card payments through your own Stripe account, or PayPal; no consumer financing | Protractor Payments (through 360 Payment Solutions); one-click consumer financing |
| Accounting | No QuickBooks or Xero sync | Integrated accounting: general ledger, receivables, payables, tax, banking |
What comes with BayRobin
Many independent shops pay for shop management software, a phone or answering add-on, a texting tool and a review tool, then copy the same customer between them. BayRobin puts the parts that win the job and bring the customer back in one place, starting at $149/month. If you're weighing Protractor, check which of these you'd pay extra for there.
| Included | What it does |
|---|---|
| AI receptionist | AI receptionist answers 24/7 with your shop's name, asks what's wrong or what service they want, the year, make and model, rough mileage, whether they'll wait or drop off, and their name, then books an open time |
| Urgent calls | Urgent calls (won't start, brakes failing, overheating, unsafe to drive) get the earliest open time or a transfer to that day's on-call person, your choice; it suggests they don't drive it |
| Missed-call text-back | Missed-call text-back within a minute, on by default, message editable; replies land in your shared inbox; STOP honored |
| Online booking and reminders | Online booking page (a link) that offers real open times, asks for texting consent and turns each booking into a scheduled job. Reminder text about a day before each appointment booked ahead; the customer replies C to confirm or R to reschedule |
| Vehicles and recalls | Vehicles on each customer, matched by VIN, then plate, then year, make and model; a VIN fills in year, make, model, trim and engine from NHTSA's free decoder; mileage on each job. Open NHTSA safety recalls for the vehicle's year, make and model on the repair order and inspection, marked "may apply" with a link to the VIN check |
| Inspections and estimates | Digital inspections on the technician's phone browser: each item green, yellow or red with notes and photos, and recommended work from the findings. Repair orders of labor (hours at your labor rate), parts and fees, built from canned jobs; the customer approves or declines each service on one link, and phone approvals are recorded with your name |
| Invoices and pickup | Approved work becomes the invoice, sent by text with a pay link; card payments through your own Stripe account, or PayPal. Ready for pickup: one button texts the customer their vehicle is ready, with the total and a pay-by-card link |
| Bringing customers back | Service-due texts by miles or months (mileage estimated from the vehicle's own readings), and texts about declined work 14 and 90 days later. One Google review request by text once an invoice is paid in full |
| Dispatch | Dispatch board on every plan: day and week views with one row per technician, drag to reassign or move, clash check, one-click text of the new time |
What BayRobin doesn't do
| Labor guide and repair data | No labor guide or repair data (no MOTOR, ALLDATA or ProDemand); you set your own labor hours and prices |
| Parts | No parts ordering, parts catalogs or inventory |
| Mobile app | No native app: technicians use My day in their phone's browser |
| Accounting | No QuickBooks or Xero sync |
| Financing | No consumer financing |
| Other shop software | No live connection to other shop software; forward calls to it and add bookings there yourself |
| Languages | The receptionist speaks English only |
Where Protractor is the better choice
Your books in the same system
Protractor's integrated accounting covers the general ledger, receivables, payables, tax tracking and banking. BayRobin has no accounting at all.
Parts, labor and inventory
Epicor parts and labor guides, inventory, matrices and core and warranty tracking on every plan. BayRobin prices from your own canned jobs and tracks no stock.
Financing
One-click consumer financing for bigger repairs. BayRobin has none.
Scale
Protractor says shops create 6.3 million repair orders a year with it, and lists 26 customer service awards.
Where BayRobin is the better choice
It answers the phone
BayRobin's receptionist answers 24/7, asks about the vehicle and the concern, never diagnoses, and books an open time. Protractor lists call tracking on its top plans but no call answering. See the AI receptionist.
Missed callers get a text
Within a minute, with replies in your inbox. See missed-call text-back.
Customers come back
Estimate follow-ups, declined-work and service-due texts, and a Google review request after each paid invoice, on every plan.
Price
From $149 a month, month to month, with no setup fee and a locked price.
Who should choose which
Choose Protractor if
- You want shop software and accounting in one system.
- You need parts and labor guides, inventory and matrices.
- You offer financing on big repairs.
Choose BayRobin if
- Calls you can't answer are costing you work.
- You want booking, reminders, inspections and estimates at a low flat price.
- Or you're keeping Protractor and only want the phone covered.
Using BayRobin alongside Protractor
Forward the calls you miss to BayRobin. It books the appointment on its own calendar and texts you the vehicle, the concern and the recording, and you add the job to Protractor. The two don't connect.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Protractor cost?
As of October 2026: Core $399, Performance $599, Prestige $1,099 and Elite $1,299 a month, or $359, $539, $989 and $1,169 billed yearly. The CRM and online scheduler add-on is $249 a month.
Does Protractor include accounting?
Yes. Integrated accounting with a general ledger, receivables, payables, tax tracking and banking is on every plan.
Does Protractor have an AI receptionist?
Not that we found on its pages in October 2026.
Can BayRobin replace Protractor?
Not for shops that use its accounting, parts guides or inventory. It can sit in front of your phone while you keep Protractor.
Try it on your own shop's phone
Put BayRobin on your missed calls for a week and count the bookings. Set up your services and hours, make a test call about a real car, and listen to how it handles it. BayRobin is free until your first 10 booked jobs, no card up front. Start free or see pricing.
Related: how BayRobin handles the AI receptionist, missed-call text-back, inspections, estimates and invoices and Ready for pickup texts, or how it works for general repair shops.
Sources
Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in October 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.
