Torque DMS vs Garage Hive: Which is Right for Your Workshop?
Date Published
Garage Hive is a UK workshop management platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, with genuinely positive user reviews praising both its features and how quickly the team ships requested changes.
What Garage Hive genuinely does well
- Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central — a serious, enterprise-grade accounting foundation rather than a bespoke system built from scratch
- Reviewers specifically praise development speed: feature requests reportedly get built and shipped "often by the next day"
- Strong reporting suite — Average Invoice Value, Gross Profit, and other real KPIs are tracked out of the box, not bolted on
- Choice of accounting integration: built-in Business Central, or Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks
- Transparent, published pricing — a genuine point in its favour, since many competitors hide pricing behind a sales call
Where the comparison actually differs — including real pricing
Garage Hive publishes a starting price of £145/month on a rolling monthly contract — credit to them for being upfront about it, which is rarer in this category than it should be. Torque DMS, by contrast, charges no subscription fee at all, funded instead by optional commission on partner services you choose to use. Some Garage Hive reviewers note they wish it was cheaper, even while acknowledging it delivers value for the price — worth weighing against a genuinely free alternative.
Garage Hive is workshop-focused. If your business also sells vehicles, you would need a separate system for the forecourt — Torque DMS covers both from one shared customer and vehicle record.
Honest bottom line
Garage Hive has real, specific things going for it — a Microsoft Dynamics backbone, fast iteration, and transparent pricing are not small things in this category. If £145/month fits your budget and you only need workshop coverage, it's a legitimate shortlist candidate. If you want the same calibre of reporting without a subscription fee, or you need sales and service combined, that's where Torque DMS differs.