Found a free repair shop management software — how many tickets will it handle, and when will we outgrow it?

When we started out with 2 technicians, we used a similar free cloud tool. Right after ticket 300, a prompt popped up saying, "You've reached your monthly limit, please upgrade." The upgrade cost was double the market rate. We had no choice but to pay because our warranty records for those 300 units were trapped inside, and they offered no bulk export option to migrate away.

Here is a simple checklist to run through: 1) How many technician seats can you create on the free tier? 2) Does the generated PDF repair form display your shop's branding, or the software vendor's ads? 3) Is there a daily limit on the customer status lookup portal? If the answers look bad, don't waste your time.

If you're logging 20 devices a day, don't bother with free tools. Four hundred repairs a month means nearly 5.000 customer files a year. If their server goes down tomorrow, you won't have anyone to call. Pick a standard shop management plan in the 400-600 TL per month range and save yourself the headache.

Does this software have clear terms of service? Where is your data hosted? In these free offerings, are they paying for server bills through ads, or by monetizing your customer data? Have you looked into that?

Two years ago we installed a similar 'free for life' desktop tracking app. The PC crashed, and when we tried to reach the dev, turns out the college kid who built it graduated and quit software altogether. All our past service history and customer numbers vanished into thin air, spent days digging through old paper notebooks.

there's no such thing as a free lunch, exactly like that. without sms integration after 100 devices customers gonna call fifty times a day asking about their device. that phone traffic will cost u way more than what the software actually costs.

Entrusting continuous operations in commercial enterprises to free or non-committed tools carries severe operational risks. In systems lacking a service level agreement (SLA), it will not be possible to claim any legal remedies in the event of data loss.

I've been down this road, let me tell you. Start with a small trial; don't commit to everything at once.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

How did you solve this? If code ownership isn't in the contract, you have no bargaining power when leaving.

When you try to change everything at once, nothing settles. honestly good luck with that.

The cheap-looking path usually ends up costing more later. When making a decision, first look at what data you have on hand.

Hope this helps.

I'd say don't rush. If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

The real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on.

Here's how it went for us. If scope grows, either time or budget must grow. There is no third option.

Most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval. Correct me if I'm wrong.

my perspective changed after experiencing that. if scope grows, either time or budget must grow but like there is no third option.

of course, it vaaries if your situation is different.

following.

Let me summarize what's been said so far. Most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval.

My questions are cleared up, thanks. Implementing a change request process doesn't slow things down, it speeds them up.

If scope grows, either time or budget must grow. There is no third option. Good luck with that.

Thanks for writing this, that's the right way. If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong.

Everyone rushing into free repair shop software gets stuck at the same point. Hope this helps.

i've been down this road, let me tell you then honestly any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.

if you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong and just leaving this note it might be useful.