If you run a heavy-duty diesel shop and you’re hunting for a real Fullbay review before you sit through a sales demo, here’s the short version: Fullbay is the shop management software most heavy-duty truck and trailer shops end up building their whole day around, and it’s not a car-shop tool with a diesel sticker slapped on it. It was built from the frame up for trucks, trailers, and fleets.
Below we break down what Fullbay actually does day to day, what it costs (and the pricing games you need to watch for), the major AI updates rolling out this year including the new Fullbay Next platform and the Pitstop acquisition, and where it beats Shopmonkey and Shop-Ware for diesel work. We also tell you flat out who should skip it.
Quick Answer
Fullbay is a web-based shop management platform built only for heavy-duty diesel truck, trailer, and fleet repair shops. It earns an STS Score of 9.2 (STS Gold) for its diesel-specific service order, parts, and invoicing workflow, plus responsive free support.
The catches: pricing isn’t listed publicly (you call for a quote), and there’s a real learning curve for shops new to this kind of software. It’s a strong fit for heavy-duty and fleet shops, and a poor fit for light-duty passenger car shops.
STS Verdict
The shop-management system heavy-duty and diesel shops actually build their day around, purpose built for trucks, not retrofitted from a car-shop tool. If you run heavy-duty truck, trailer, or fleet repair, it’s the strongest option we’ve evaluated in the category.
That 9.2 overall is our headline number. You can see how each category rolls up in the chart above, and if you want the math behind it, here’s how we score.
What Is Fullbay and Who Is It Built For?
Fullbay is a web-based shop management platform, meaning it runs in your browser with nothing to install on your shop computers. It was built specifically for heavy-duty diesel truck and trailer repair, not general auto work.
Here’s who it targets:
- Heavy-duty diesel truck and trailer repair shops
- Fire and ambulance (emergency vehicle) repair shops
- Fleet managers running their own maintenance
- Service managers and multi-location shop owners
What separates it from a tool like Mitchell 1 or Shopmonkey is the niche. Those platforms cover light and heavy work or lean toward passenger cars. Fullbay only does heavy-duty and diesel, so the parts catalogs, labor times, preventive maintenance schedules, and fleet approval flows are all built around trucks.
The footprint backs that up. Fullbay is one of the most widely adopted platforms in the heavy-duty category, with an enormous volume of real truck repair data feeding the platform.
What is Fullbay used for? Running the full repair cycle for a diesel shop: writing and tracking service orders, ordering and marking up parts, scheduling fleet preventive maintenance, tracking technician time, and invoicing customers, all in one place with a customer portal so fleets can approve work remotely.
What it’s not: a fit for a light-duty passenger car shop or a general automotive chain. If you’re a corner shop doing brakes and oil changes on sedans, this is the wrong tool, and its per-user pricing will feel heavy for what you’d use. For that kind of shop, look at our AutoLeap review instead.
Fullbay Core Features: What You Actually Get Day to Day
The heart of Fullbay is service order and work order management. You create a service order (SO) at intake, assign it to a tech, track it through the bay, and turn it into an invoice without re-keying anything. For fleets, that same flow handles multiple units under one customer.
The VIN decoder pulls vehicle details from the VIN so your writer isn’t typing out year, make, and model by hand. For repeat fleet trucks, it also ties back to that unit’s repair history, which matters when you’re diagnosing a recurring fault.
Parts and inventory. Inventory management covers parts tracking, a vendor portal for ordering, and parts markup controls so you set your margins once instead of pricing every line by hand. If you want to sanity-check what those markups do to your bottom line, run the numbers through our shop margin calculator before you lock in your matrix.
Preventive maintenance (PM) schedules. This is where Fullbay earns its keep with fleet work.
You set PM schedules per unit or per fleet, and the system flags what’s due. That’s the difference between chasing customers and having the work already lined up.
Invoicing and the customer portal. Real-time invoicing means the invoice builds as the work happens. Fleet managers log into the customer portal to see and approve work remotely, so a truck doesn’t sit in your bay waiting on a phone call that never gets returned.
2-way texting. You can text customers status updates and get replies in the same thread. Watch your text volume, though, because texts beyond your monthly allowance bill separately (more on that under pricing).
Technician tracking. You get technician productivity tracking and a technician-focused “wrench mode” that gives techs a stripped-down screen for punching in and out of jobs and logging notes without wading through the full service-writer view.
Timecard management. Fullbay handles timecards, but shop owners have flagged one annoying bug: when you delete a line on a timecard, the system kicks you back to the start screen and reselects every user instead of leaving you on the one you were editing. If you correct time a lot, that adds clicks.
Diesel-specific reference. Labor times lookup and wiring diagrams are built in, which matters when you’re pricing a heavy-duty job or chasing an electrical fault on a truck.
Accounting and inspections. Fullbay connects to QuickBooks Online for accounting sync, and it connects to Whip Around to pull fleet inspection data straight into your workflow. More on both under integrations.
Everything’s mobile-friendly, so techs can work from a tablet or phone in the field, which matters for mobile repair and roadside work.
Fullbay Pricing: How Much Does It Actually Cost?
Let’s get the frustrating part out of the way. Fullbay doesn’t publish dollar figures on its pricing page. It asks you to book a sales call for a quote, and every plan is an annual agreement billed monthly (not month-to-month).
How much does Fullbay cost per month? The most reliable public figure puts the Basic plan at $188/month, a flat-rate package that includes one Full User license. That’s your floor for a single-location shop getting started.
The plans tier up like this:
- Basic – simple shops, one location, up to five users
- Mid tier – established shops wanting to speed up operations
- Higher tier – shops optimizing processes and pushing efficiency
- Enterprise – complex or high-volume, multi-location operations
Fullbay doesn’t publish dollar figures on its own site, but the going rates are well documented: Basic $188/mo, Pro $258/mo, Elite $318/mo, with per-user add-ons varying by plan. Treat those as your budgeting baseline and confirm your exact quote with a rep.
What we can confirm on add-on costs:
- Extra users bill separately on top of your base plan
- Data migration (moving your existing records in) carries an extra fee
- Text alerts beyond your monthly allowance run $0.05 per text sent
Because extra users add up fast, the total cost for a shop with five or six techs is a lot more than the $188 headline. Ask the rep to quote your all-in monthly cost with your actual user count, your migration, and your expected text volume, not just the base plan.
Fullbay’s AI Push and What’s Coming with Fullbay Next
Fullbay has moved harder on AI this year than most shop platforms, and if you’re evaluating it now, these changes affect whether it’ll grow with your shop.
Pitstop acquisition. Fullbay bought Pitstop, an AI predictive maintenance and fleet intelligence platform, and is folding it into the product. The pitch: combine Fullbay’s repair data from those 5,000-plus shops with Pitstop’s failure-prediction AI to flag problems before a truck breaks down.
Fullbay says the Pitstop engine hits more than 94% accuracy at spotting potential failures. For a fleet, catching a failure before a roadside breakdown is worth real money in avoided downtime.
Fullbay Next. At the Fullbay Diesel Connect conference, the company announced Fullbay Next, an AI-native platform built from the ground up rather than bolted onto the old system. Fullbay calls it a major evolution, and the rollout begins with the smallest operations first.
Key Fullbay Next features:
- Dark mode and adaptive design that adjusts to different shop types
- A technician-focused “wrench mode”
- AI-assisted writing tools for service orders
- Workflow automation to cut repetitive steps
- Stronger reporting
- A role-specific AI assistant for techs, writers, and managers
Rollout timeline matters here. The first Fullbay Next release targets solo entrepreneurs and mobile repair operations. Shops with 3 to 19 employees get it in Phase 2 of the rollout.
So if you run a mid-size shop, you’re on the current platform for a while yet. Plan around that.
Ask Spike. Fullbay demoed “Ask Spike,” an AI assistant that lets you pull shop and operational info by asking a question instead of digging through menus. For a manager who wants “how many units did we turn last week” without building a report, that’s a time saver.
AI voice-to-text. There’s an AI feature that types as you talk, cleans up the notes, and keeps service orders readable. A tech under a truck can talk through what they found and get a clean write-up instead of thumb-typing on a greasy tablet.
AI translation. Fullbay launched an AI translation feature aimed at shops with English-as-a-second-language staff. If half your bay speaks Spanish first, cleaner communication on service orders cuts mistakes.
That’s a practical edge you won’t find on most competitors, and it fits the reality of a lot of diesel shops. The broader push toward tech in shops is something trade groups like the Automotive Service Association have tracked for years.
Fullbay Setup, Onboarding, and Learning Curve
Coming off paper or an old system, expect a real setup project, not a plug-and-play afternoon. You’re loading customers, units, parts, labor rates, and PM schedules. Data migration is available but, as covered under pricing, it costs extra, so build that into your first-year budget.
The learning curve is real, and we won’t sugarcoat it. Shop owners consistently say it feels overwhelming at first, especially if this is your first time on shop management software. Some features take a few weeks to click, and the platform can feel slow depending on what you’re doing.
The counterweight is support. Fullbay includes onboarding help and free ongoing customer support, and that’s one of the most praised parts of the whole product. It’s a big reason it lands a 9.3 for support (see the category breakdown in the chart above).
Who has it easier: experienced service managers who already think in service orders and PM schedules. Who struggles more: solo operators and owners who’ve run everything out of a notebook and a phone.
Fullbay Pros and Cons: What Real Users Are Saying
Here’s the honest scorecard based on our analysis of the feature set and what shop owners and techs report.
Pros
- Built only for heavy-duty diesel, not a car-shop tool stretched to fit
- Complete service order workflow from intake to invoice with no re-keying
- Strong technician productivity tracking plus wrench mode for the bay
- Customer portal lets fleet managers approve work remotely
- Solid PM scheduling for fleet maintenance customers
- Real-time invoicing that builds as the job runs
- Responsive free customer support, praised consistently
- QuickBooks Online integration for accounting sync
- Active product development with a serious AI roadmap
Cons
- Steep learning curve for shops new to this software
- Reporting and invoice customization are limited; owners want more flexibility
- Inventory has occasional bugs, slow loading, and thin adjustment detail
- Accounting sync only goes to QuickBooks, no Sage support
- Extra user fees and migration costs push the real price well past the headline
- No public pricing; you have to call for a quote
- Trial billing and refund policy have burned at least one shop owner
- Platform can feel slow depending on what you’re loading
The reporting gap is the one we’d push hardest on during a demo. If you live in your numbers, ask the rep to show you exactly which reports you can customize before you sign, because owners routinely wish they had more control there.
Fullbay Integrations: QuickBooks, Whip Around, and What’s Missing
Does Fullbay integrate with QuickBooks? Yes.
Fullbay connects to QuickBooks Online and pushes invoices, payments, and customer records over so your books stay in sync without double entry. The catch worth knowing: this is the only accounting platform it migrates to.
Whip Around. Fullbay connects to Whip Around to pull fleet inspection data straight into the shop workflow.
For a fleet customer, a failed inspection item can flow toward a repair instead of getting lost on a clipboard. That inspection-to-repair link is the integration fleet managers care about most.
The gap. If you run your books on Sage, you’re out of luck for now.
At least one shop owner flagged the QuickBooks-only limitation as a dealbreaker and asked Fullbay to add Sage. If Sage is your accounting system, confirm your plan before you commit, because there’s no workaround inside the product today.
For shop owners, the accounting sync is the integration that matters. For fleet managers, it’s the inspection data flow. Know which one you’re buying for and pressure-test that specific piece on your demo.
Fullbay vs. The Competition: How It Stacks Up for Diesel Shops
Who are Fullbay’s competitors? The names that come up most are Shopmonkey, Shop-Ware, and Mitchell 1. Here’s how Fullbay lines up against each for diesel work.
| Feature | Fullbay | Shopmonkey | Shop-Ware | Mitchell 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target shop type | Heavy-duty diesel/fleet ✓ | Light-duty auto | Independent auto | Light and heavy |
| Diesel-specific tools | Deepest ✓ | Limited | Limited | Moderate |
| Fleet PM scheduling | Strong ✓ | Basic | Basic | Moderate |
| Pricing transparency | Call for quote | Public tiers ✓ | Call for quote | Call for quote |
| AI features | Predictive PM + Ask Spike ✓ | Some | Some | Limited |
| QuickBooks integration | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ | Yes ✓ |
| STS Score | 9.2 | See review | 9.1 | See review |
Fullbay vs. Shopmonkey. Shopmonkey is built for light-duty auto repair. Fullbay wins clearly on heavy-duty specificity, fleet PM scheduling, and fleet approval workflows.
Shopmonkey’s edge is a more polished, simpler interface and public pricing you can see without a phone call. If you turn wrenches on trucks, that’s not enough to move you.
Fullbay vs. Shop-Ware. Shop-Ware targets independent car repair shops and does digital inspections well, which we cover in our Shop-Ware review.
For a diesel-only shop, Fullbay’s truck and fleet tools win. Shop-Ware may give you more reporting flexibility, so if custom reports are your priority, weigh that.
Fullbay vs. Mitchell 1. Mitchell 1 covers a broader mix of light and heavy work and has deep repair information.
But it’s a wider tool, not a diesel-first one. For a shop that only does heavy-duty, Fullbay’s focused fleet and PM tools fit the daily job better.
Want to line these up side by side yourself? Use our comparison tool to stack Fullbay against any of them.
Fullbay for Fleet Managers vs. Independent Shop Owners
These are two different buyers, and Fullbay treats them differently. Figure out which one you are before you book a demo.
If you’re a fleet manager, this is where Fullbay shines. Remote work approval through the customer portal, fleet-wide PM scheduling, full vehicle history per unit, predictive maintenance through the Pitstop AI, and Whip Around inspection data all point at your job. You’ll use almost every fleet feature it has.
If you’re an independent shop owner, the strength is daily workflow: service order speed, technician productivity, real-time invoicing, and QuickBooks sync. The friction is cost. Per-user pricing climbs as you add techs, so a growing shop needs to budget for that headcount.
If you run a mobile or solo operation, keep an eye on Fullbay Next. Its first rollout phase targets exactly you, and that’s likely a more accessible entry point than the full current platform.
If you’re multi-location, the Enterprise plan exists, but the lack of public pricing makes budgeting an expansion harder. Get the per-location, per-user math in writing before you plan growth around it.
Not sure which tier fits? Our find-your-match tool can help you narrow it down.
What Shop Owners Are Asking
“Will Fullbay actually save my writers time, or is it just another screen?”
The time savings come from not re-keying data: the VIN decoder fills vehicle info, parts markup prices lines automatically, and the invoice builds as the job runs. Where it slows down is reporting and timecard edits. Net, most diesel shops come out ahead on writing and closing service orders.
“Is the 20% service order revenue jump they advertise real?”
Fullbay claims shops see a 20% increase in service order revenue within six months. That’s a vendor number, so treat it as a best case, not a promise. Ask the rep to show you the math and a reference shop your size on the demo before you bank on it.
“Can my techs use it on a tablet in the bay?”
Yes. It’s mobile-friendly and the wrench mode gives techs a stripped-down screen for punching jobs and logging notes. The AI voice-to-text also lets a tech talk through findings instead of typing with greasy hands.
“We run on Sage, not QuickBooks. Are we stuck?”
For now, yes. Fullbay only syncs to QuickBooks Online, and Sage support isn’t there. If Sage is a hard requirement, confirm your workaround with a rep before signing, because there isn’t one inside the product today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fullbay worth it?
For a heavy-duty diesel or fleet shop doing steady service order volume, yes. The workflow gains from one system handling service orders, parts, labor, and invoicing usually justify the cost. For a solo operator or light-duty car shop, the per-user pricing and learning curve make it a harder sell.
How much does Fullbay cost per month?
The Basic plan starts around $188/month and includes one Full User license. Extra users, data migration, and text alerts over your allowance ($0.05 per text) cost more. Fullbay doesn’t post prices publicly, so call for a quote based on your user count.
What is Fullbay used for?
Fullbay runs the full repair cycle for heavy-duty diesel shops: writing and tracking service orders, ordering and marking up parts, scheduling fleet preventive maintenance, tracking technician time, and invoicing customers, all in one online system with a customer portal for remote approvals.
Who are Fullbay’s competitors?
The main alternatives are Shopmonkey and Shop-Ware for independent auto repair, and Mitchell 1 for a broader light-and-heavy mix. None of them match Fullbay’s diesel-only focus on fleet PM scheduling and truck-specific workflows.
Does Fullbay integrate with QuickBooks?
Yes. Fullbay connects to QuickBooks Online and syncs invoices, payments, and customer records. It does not currently support Sage, which is a known limitation for shops that run their books outside of QuickBooks.
Is there a free trial for Fullbay?
Fullbay offers a trial period, but shop owners have warned that it doesn’t send a reminder when the trial ends, and one reported a charge over $600 with no refund. Put the end date on your calendar and confirm the billing policy in writing first.
What type of shops use Fullbay?
Mostly small-to-midsize heavy-duty truck and trailer repair shops, diesel fleet shops, and fire and ambulance repair operations. It’s a poor fit for light-duty passenger car shops or general automotive chains.
Final Verdict: Is Fullbay Worth It?
Is Fullbay worth it? For a heavy-duty diesel shop moving real weekly service order volume, yes, and it’s not close in the category.
The workflow gains from running service orders, parts, labor, PM schedules, and invoicing in one truck-focused system usually pay for the subscription. Fullbay’s own claim of a 20% revenue lift within six months is a vendor number worth asking about on a demo, not a guarantee, but the efficiency logic behind it holds up for a busy shop.
Where it stumbles is the entry point. Solo operators and shops just starting out will feel the per-user pricing and the learning curve.
If that’s you, watch for the Fullbay Next solo and mobile tier rolling out this summer, which is aimed squarely at smaller operations. And before you sign anything, get an all-in quote (users plus migration plus texts) and pin down the trial-end billing date so you don’t get surprised.
Fullbay is the right call if you run heavy-duty truck, trailer, fleet, or emergency vehicle repair and want one system for the whole job. Fullbay may not be the right fit if you’re a light-duty car shop, you run your books on Sage, or you need heavy reporting customization out of the box. You can browse the rest of our shop software reviews to compare, and if you’re a Fullbay rep with an update or a correction, get in touch.
STS Verdict
The strongest shop management software we’ve evaluated for heavy-duty diesel and fleet repair, built for trucks from the ground up rather than adapted from a car-shop tool. Docked slightly on pricing transparency and a real learning curve, but the diesel-specific workflow, fleet tools, and free support make it the category pick.
