Everyone else manages the work. We manage what fills it.
The field splits into POS suites you have to migrate onto, bolt-ons that move tickets and send texts, and paper. The rows below that decide whether a service department makes money — promise dates, an approval trail, capacity-capped reactivation and a real P&L — are the ones nobody else fills in.
| Capability | CONQRD | Lightspeed | Citrus Lime | Ascend | Hubtiger | Velodrop | Bikebook | Paper tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps your current POSNo migration, no second inventory to keep straight. | Yes | Is a POS | Is a POS | Is a POS | Yes | Yes | Yes | n/a |
| Intake with photosThe customer describes the problem before they arrive. | Yes | No | Booking | Not documented | Partial | Booking | Booking | No |
| Two-way messagingThe customer can reply, and the reply lands somewhere. | Yes | Add-on | Not documented | One-way | Yes | Yes | Partial | No |
| Line-item approvalApprove or decline the added work, not the whole job. | Yes | No | Not documented | Partial | Yes | Not documented | Yes | No |
| Promise dates and auto-throttleReady dates computed from tech hours; intake caps itself. | Yes | No | Estimate | Partial | Not documented | Partial | Limits | No |
| Approval audit trailTimestamped, printable, and it holds up in a dispute. | Yes | No | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | No |
| Capacity-capped reactivationCampaigns that stop sending once the bench is booked. | Yes | Add-on | No | No | Reminders | Reminders | Not documented | No |
| Service P&L by job typeRevenue per bay-hour, effective labour rate, quote variance. | Yes | Basic | Basic | Partial | Basic | Not documented | Basic | No |
Compiled from each vendor’s own public documentation in September 2026. “Not documented” means exactly that — we could not find it published, not that the product cannot do it. If we have a row wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
What each one is for
None of these are bad products. They are aimed at a different problem.
Lightspeed
$89–289 plus card processing
Retail POS with a bike vertical. Service orders schedule out, but there is no capacity model and no customer approval flow; two-way texting comes from an add-on.
Citrus Lime
$139–749 plus card processing
UK cloud POS and ecommerce, newer to the US. A workshop module in every tier with a mechanic calendar and online booking. Messaging is template SMS and email.
Ascend
Not published
Trek-dealer POS, well liked for inspections and tech workload. SMS is one-way, so customers cannot reply.
Hubtiger
$52–125
The strongest bolt-on: booking, two-way SMS and photo quote approval. Stops before computed promise dates, capacity-capped campaigns and margin reporting.
Velodrop
$59–129
Booking, SMS, photo documentation and its own capacity scheduling. Quote approval and P&L are not documented.
Bikebook
£49.99
UK-based. Booking with deposits, capacity limits and one-tap add-on approval. No reactivation or margin reporting documented.
iKeono
$49–149
Two-way texting inside Lightspeed and Ascend, plus text-to-pay. Texting only — no booking, capacity or approvals.
Paper tag
Pennies
Carbon repair tags and a whiteboard. Cheap, familiar, never goes down, and leaves no record of what was approved.
What you pay, and what it has to earn back
We are not the cheapest line on this list, and we would not believe a service revenue layer that was.
| Tool | Monthly | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| iKeono | $49–149 | Texting |
| Hubtiger | $52–125 | Service bolt-on |
| Velodrop | $59–129 | Service bolt-on |
| Lightspeed | $89–289 | POS, plus processing |
| Citrus Lime | $139–749 | POS and ecommerce, plus processing |
| CONQRD | $199–399 | Service revenue layer |
Growth runs $3,588 a year. At an $85 tune-up that is about 42 jobs — under one extra tune-up a week, recovered from a customer list you already own.
Illustrative arithmetic, not a customer result. We have not published case studies yet, and we are not going to invent one.
Why the price sits where it does
Against the texting tools. iKeono, Hubtiger and Velodrop run $49–129 and do booking and messaging well. Ask any of them how many bikes your January campaign can take, or which job types you are underpricing.
Against a POS. Lightspeed and Citrus Lime reach $289 and $749 before card processing, and getting their workshop module means moving the whole shop. We are cheaper than the migration alone.
Annual by default. This trade is seasonal, and a monthly plan gets cancelled every November — right before the winter reactivation work that pays for it.
Find out what your winter list is worth
A short call, your own numbers. We will walk the bench through a real week and show you what the quiet months could carry.