directio vs Passdesk

Directio is a web platform for driving-school businesses, combining classroom content, scheduling, payments, paperwork, state credentials, and a marketing website. Its classroom supports editable lessons, quizzes, video, PDFs, images, and AI-assisted curriculum import. Scheduling includes parent self-service booking, instructor and vehicle conflict checks, lesson series, and automatic email reminders. A family portal shows progress timelines and lets families book or cancel lessons, sign waivers, record supervised drives, and download completion certificates. Stripe handles tuition through one-time, installment, and buy-now-pay-later options including Klarna or Affirm. Free costs nothing with unlimited students, enrollments, instructors, and vehicles; Studio costs $29 a month and adds a custom website and domain. Both charge a 2.5% payment fee capped at $15 per student. State coverage varies, and electronic DMV submission is limited to supported states on Pro.

Passdesk provides driving-school management software and a self-management toolkit for solo learners in the UK and Ireland. Its school workspace combines lesson scheduling, payments, learner progress, theory practice, route planning, and waitlists. Instructors can schedule repeating lessons, send reminders, and enforce cancellation policies. Stripe supports card checkout and saved cards, including deposits and policy-based charges for late cancellations or no-shows. Learner progress covers five test categories and adapts to manual or automatic transmission. Theory practice includes 14 DVSA categories and timed mock tests, but is switched off in Ireland because an RSA theory bank is not available. Route tools include test-centre practice routes, route drawing, GPX uploads, and phone recording. The in-car mobile flow can queue lesson data offline and sync after reconnection. Calendar syncing is available with Google Calendar and Outlook; the UK expense ledger exports tax information to Xero and FreeAgent. Plans start at £9.99/mo, and schools have a 14-day trial while solo learners have a 7-day trial; neither needs a card to start. The maker says data is hosted in London and encrypted in transit and at rest using TLS 1.2+, but it does not yet hold ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials certification.