BayRobin vs Shopmonkey: Shop Software Compared (2026)
Shopmonkey is a cloud shop system with MOTOR labor data, parts ordering, a built-in phone number and a tech app. BayRobin is an AI front office that answers and books every call. Here's which one fits your shop.
Shopmonkey is cloud shop management software for auto repair, founded in 2016, which says it has more than 10,000 customers. Every plan includes two-way text and email, a built-in phone number with call forwarding, digital inspections, parts ordering through PartsTech, RepairLink and Nexpart, payments and a mobile app for technicians. Higher plans add MOTOR labor data, ALLDATA and QuickBooks Online.
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 vehicle and the concern, books the appointment, texts back missed calls, and carries the job through an inspection, an estimate approved by text, the invoice, a pickup text and a review request. This post is for owners deciding which of the two they need, or whether to run both.
The short answer
Choose Shopmonkey if you want a full shop management system with MOTOR labor and parts data, parts ordering, inventory, a technician app, QuickBooks and buy now, pay later. Choose BayRobin if you want every call answered and booked by an AI receptionist, with text-back, booking, inspections, estimates and invoices included at a lower flat price, and you can work without a labor guide or parts ordering.
Key takeaways
- Shopmonkey is the deeper shop system: MOTOR labor and parts data and ALLDATA from Clever, parts ordering on every plan, inventory, purchase orders, time clocks, QuickBooks Online and a tech app.
- Shopmonkey gives every plan a built-in phone number and call forwarding. Its CRM Essentials add-on includes a Front Desk Concierge that it says will "answer every call, book appointments, and handle shop questions"; the page doesn't say whether that's AI.
- Shopmonkey starts at $239 a month with 3 users ($215 billed yearly); extra users are $20 a month. CRM Essentials, which also has online booking and the review manager, is a paid add-on listed at $314 or $349 a month.
- BayRobin has no labor guide, parts ordering, inventory, financing, accounting sync or native app.
- 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 Shopmonkey 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 Shopmonkey in several areas; we list them.
BayRobin vs Shopmonkey at a glance
| BayRobin | Shopmonkey | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI receptionist and front office for independent shops | Cloud shop management system for auto repair |
| Answers calls | AI receptionist on every plan, 24/7 | Built-in number and call forwarding; Front Desk Concierge in the CRM Essentials add-on |
| Labor and parts data | None: your own canned jobs and prices | MOTOR and ALLDATA from Clever; parts ordering on every plan |
| Starting price | $149/month (3 users) | $239/month (3 users), or $215 billed yearly |
Pricing compared
Both publish their prices. Shopmonkey prices by plan with a set number of user licenses and saves up to 10% for yearly payment. Its add-on prices show two figures each, and its page lists a one-time $500 data migration fee.
| 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.
| Shopmonkey plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Basic (3 users) | $239/month, or $215/month billed yearly: two inspection templates, texting, built-in phone number, parts ordering, payments |
| Clever (4 users) | $399/month, or $359/month billed yearly: adds unlimited inspections, MOTOR parts and labor, ALLDATA, inventory, QuickBooks Online |
| Genius (5 users) | $499/month, or $449/month billed yearly: adds automated estimate follow-ups, MOTOR diagrams and the Google Reviews manager |
| Multi-Shop | Contact for pricing |
| Extra users | $20/month each |
| CRM Essentials add-on | Listed at $314/month and $349/month: online booking, Front Desk Concierge, campaigns, review manager |
| Other fees | Card reader $299 + $10/month per device; processing fees on request; $500 one-time data migration |
On Shopmonkey, a three-person shop that wants unlimited inspections, labor data and QuickBooks is on Clever at $399 a month with four users, and online booking and the Front Desk Concierge are in CRM Essentials on top. BayRobin Starter is $149 a month for three users and Pro $249 for eight, with the receptionist, text-back, booking, reminders, inspections, estimates and review requests included, but no labor data or parts ordering. If your service writers live in MOTOR labor times, that gap matters more than the price difference. Every Shopmonkey plan, user license and add-on is broken down in Shopmonkey pricing, and other shop systems are in Shopmonkey alternatives.
Feature by feature: BayRobin vs Shopmonkey
| BayRobin | Shopmonkey | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Built-in phone number and call forwarding; Front Desk Concierge (CRM Essentials) answers calls and books appointments |
| 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 | Not described |
| Missed-call text-back | Missed-call text-back within a minute, on by default, message editable; replies land in your shared inbox; STOP honored | Front Desk Concierge turns missed calls into follow-up tasks; a text-back isn't described |
| Texting | Texts from the shop's inbox thread per customer; STOP honored | Unlimited two-way text and email on every plan |
| Online booking | Online booking page (a link) that offers real open times, asks for texting consent and turns each booking into a scheduled job | Appointment Scheduler in CRM Essentials |
| Reminders | Reminder text about a day before each appointment booked ahead; the customer replies C to confirm or R to reschedule | Automated text or email appointment reminders |
| 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 | Digital inspections with photos, video and markup; 2 templates on Basic |
| 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; open estimates get follow-up texts on day 2, 5 and 10 | Estimates by text or email with e-signature; automated estimate follow-ups on Genius |
| 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 | MOTOR and ALLDATA from Clever; PartsTech, RepairLink and Nexpart on every plan |
| 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 | Online and in-person payments; buy now, pay later with a flat 6% merchant fee |
| Reviews | One Google review request by text once an invoice is paid in full | Google Reviews manager on Genius and in CRM Essentials |
| Technician app | No native app: technicians use My day in their phone's browser | Shopmonkey for Techs app on iOS and Android |
| Accounting | No QuickBooks or Xero sync | QuickBooks Online from Clever; QuickBooks Desktop for a fee; its own accounting add-on |
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 Shopmonkey, 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 Shopmonkey is the better choice
Labor data and parts in the system
Shopmonkey sources labor guides, parts and maintenance lookups from MOTOR, and orders parts through PartsTech, RepairLink and Nexpart. BayRobin has none of that: you set labor hours and prices on your own canned jobs.
Running the floor
Inventory, purchase orders, time clocks, customizable workflow and a technician app for time, VIN scans and inspections. BayRobin's My day is a web page with Start, Complete, photos and notes.
Accounting and financing
QuickBooks Online from Clever, its own accounting and bookkeeping add-ons, and buy now, pay later for customers. BayRobin has no accounting sync or financing.
Size and track record
Shopmonkey says it has more than 10,000 customers and $110 million invested. BayRobin is new.
Where BayRobin is the better choice
An AI receptionist on every plan
BayRobin's receptionist answers 24/7, asks the year, make, model and mileage and whether they'll wait, never diagnoses, and books an open time. Shopmonkey's Front Desk Concierge sits in a separate add-on and its page gives few details. See the AI receptionist.
Missed callers get a text
A caller nobody talked to gets a text within a minute, with replies in your shared inbox. See missed-call text-back.
Customers come back on their own
Service-due texts by miles or months, declined-work texts 14 and 90 days later, and a review request after every paid invoice, on every plan.
Lower price, no fees
From $149 a month for three users, no setup or migration fee, month to month, and the price is locked while you stay on your plan.
Who should choose which
Choose Shopmonkey if
- Your service writers need MOTOR labor times and parts ordering inside the estimate.
- You track inventory and purchase orders.
- You want QuickBooks sync or buy now, pay later.
- Your technicians want a native app.
Choose BayRobin if
- Calls go to voicemail while you're in the bay and you want them answered and booked.
- Your estimates are mostly repeat jobs you can price once as canned jobs.
- You want booking, reminders and review requests without an add-on.
- Or you're keeping Shopmonkey and only want the phone covered.
Using BayRobin alongside Shopmonkey
You can keep Shopmonkey and forward the calls you miss to BayRobin. The receptionist books the appointment on BayRobin's calendar and texts you the vehicle, the concern and the recording, and you enter the job in Shopmonkey. The two don't sync.
Switching instead? BayRobin imports customers, jobs and invoices from CSV or Excel exports, with a column preview and undo; vehicles come over later from each job's details. See switching from your shop software.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopmonkey answer calls with AI?
Shopmonkey includes a built-in phone number and call forwarding, and its CRM Essentials add-on has a Front Desk Concierge that answers calls and books appointments. As of October 2026 its page doesn't say how it works or whether it's AI, so ask for a demo.
How much does Shopmonkey cost?
$239, $399 or $499 a month for Basic, Clever and Genius ($215, $359 and $449 billed yearly), with 3, 4 and 5 users. Extra users are $20 a month. CRM Essentials is a paid add-on.
Is BayRobin cheaper than Shopmonkey?
Yes on the sticker: $149 for three users against $239. But BayRobin has no labor data, parts ordering, inventory or QuickBooks, which Shopmonkey's higher plans include.
Can I move from Shopmonkey to BayRobin?
Customers, jobs and invoices can come over from export files in one import with undo. It's not a live sync, and vehicles aren't imported.
Try it on your own shop's phone
Make a test call about a real repair and hear the receptionist book it. 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.
