Tekmetric runs the shop floor for independent auto repair businesses: repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates and authorizations, inventory and vendor management, a labor guide, and real-time reporting on every job. Its Job Clock lets a technician start and stop a timer on each job so the shop can compare billed time against actual time — but Tekmetric’s own support documentation states plainly that the job clock exists to track efficiency, “not to pay your technicians.” A separate Employee Timesheets report tracks arrival, break, and departure time, and anyone with reporting permission can add, edit, or delete a time card — with no described required reason, edited-entry flag, or approval step distinct from that same permission. Keito is the layer in between: AI-drafted time entries a technician confirms, a separate reviewer settles payroll status with any change reasoned and recorded, before the hours become evidence behind a paycheck.
Illustrative review queue
Illustrative pay period
Hours reviewed
Entries confirmed
52
Repair orders covered
138
Technicians reviewed
9
Hours tied to each shift
Technician, repair order, and shift on every entry
Reviewed before payroll runs
A separate reviewer confirms hours before the batch closes
Evidence behind payroll
Reviewed hours back payroll and labor-cost reporting
Tekmetric’s Job Clock lets a technician start and stop a timer on each job in a repair order’s Work-In-Progress tab, and the Technician Hours report compares that clocked time against the hours actually billed to the customer to calculate efficiency. Tekmetric’s own support article on the owner/shop-admin job clock is explicit: it is there “to track efficiency of your technicians, not to pay your technicians.” A separate Employee Timesheets report handles shop-level clock in, break, and clock out, and its support article describes adding, editing, and deleting a technician’s time card for anyone with reporting permission — without describing a required reason for the change, an edited-entry flag, or an approval step distinct from that same permission. Keito answers the question that leaves open: did a separate reviewer actually confirm each technician’s hours, with a recorded reason for any change, before those hours became a labor cost and a paycheck.
Set up technicians, service advisors, and reviewers in Keito in days — Tekmetric keeps running repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates, and shop reporting exactly as it does today.
Keito drafts a time entry from the shift a technician worked, so they confirm hours for that shift instead of relying on a job-efficiency clock Tekmetric’s own documentation says is not built to determine pay.
A separate reviewer approves payroll status before the period closes, then hands the approved hours to payroll or whichever system tracks labor cost.
A job-efficiency clock built into shop management software, not a payroll gate
Tekmetric is published as shop management software for independent auto repair shops: repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates and digital authorizations, inventory and vendor management, a labor guide for recommended job times, and real-time reporting across the job board and tech board. Its Job Clock is real, documented functionality — a technician starts and stops a timer on each job, and the Technician Hours report compares clocked time to billed time to calculate efficiency. Tekmetric’s own support documentation is explicit that this job clock is “to track efficiency of your technicians, not to pay your technicians,” and that owner/shop-admin permissions let someone edit a technician’s clocked time directly on the job card with no described required reason. A separate Employee Timesheets report covers shop-level clock in, break, and clock out, with reporting permission allowing a time card to be added, edited, or deleted — again without a described required reason, edited-entry flag, or approval step distinct from that same permission. Keito’s argument is not that auto repair shops need a new repair-order, inspection, or estimating platform — Tekmetric already publishes all of that. It is that the hours behind a paycheck deserve a reviewer distinct from whoever can edit the time card, and a recorded reason for any change, not a job-efficiency clock built for a different purpose or an editable timesheet with no described review status. Keito drafts a time entry from the shift worked, the technician confirms it, and a separate reviewer settles payroll status before the hours become evidence for a paycheck. The boundary is deliberate: Keito has no repair orders, inspections, estimating, or inventory management, and it claims no native Tekmetric integration, automatic import, or synchronisation. Tekmetric keeps running the shop floor; Keito is where the hours behind it get an independent, reasoned review.
Choose Tekmetric when the shop needs repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates, inventory, and reporting running from one platform
Choose Keito when the problem is that Tekmetric’s job clock tracks efficiency, not pay, and its timesheet edit permission has no described reason, review status, or edit record
Prove it in one pay period: Keito runs alongside Tekmetric, reviewing technician hours without touching repair orders or estimates
Workflow fit
Keito keeps Tekmetric alternative connected to client, project, billable status, approval, and invoice context before the work reaches finance.
Choose Tekmetric when the shop needs repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates, inventory, and reporting running from one platform
Choose Keito when the problem is that Tekmetric’s job clock tracks efficiency, not pay, and its timesheet edit permission has no described reason, review status, or edit record
Prove it in one pay period: Keito runs alongside Tekmetric, reviewing technician hours without touching repair orders or estimates
Keito drafts a time entry from the shift a technician worked; they confirm and correct it instead of relying on a job-efficiency clock Tekmetric’s own documentation says is not built to determine pay.
Tekmetric documents adding, editing, and deleting a technician’s time card under a single reporting permission, and editing clocked job time under a similar owner/shop-admin permission, but no described required reason, edited-entry flag, or approval step distinct from those same permissions; Keito’s reviewer settles payroll status for every entry, with a reason recorded for any change, before the period closes.
Reviewers approve technician hours and hand the evidence to payroll or whichever system tracks labor cost, through exports the team designs and tests itself.
The difference is not just recording time. It is whether the record can support billing, project decisions, and client conversations.
Product shape
A standalone workspace for reviewed, payroll-ready technician hours and labor-cost evidence.
Tekmetric publishes shop management software for independent auto repair shops — repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates, inventory, a labor guide, and reporting.
How time is captured
AI drafts a shift-specific entry from the work that happened; the technician confirms it, and a separate reviewer approves before it becomes a labor cost or paycheck.
Tekmetric’s Job Clock times each job in the Work-In-Progress tab, and a separate Employee Timesheets report tracks shop-level clock in, break, and clock out.
Stated purpose of clocked time
Every reviewed hour is meant to back payroll and labor-cost evidence from the start.
Tekmetric’s own support documentation states the Job Clock tracks efficiency, “not to pay your technicians” — billed hours drive pay in many shops instead.
Review before payroll
A reviewer distinct from the editor settles payroll status per entry, with any change reasoned and recorded, before the period closes.
Tekmetric’s published material describes permissions that let staff edit job-clock time or add, edit, and delete timesheet cards, with no required reason, edited-entry flag, or approval step distinct from those same permissions.
Pricing and adoption
Published flat team pricing and a setup measured in days, run alongside Tekmetric.
Tekmetric publishes per-shop USD plans with a Start tier around $199 monthly (or $179 billed annually) up to a Scale tier around $439 monthly (or $409 annually), with unlimited users and repair orders and an Enterprise tier priced on request.
Data movement
Team-designed, tested exports and API handoffs moved in deliberate stages.
No native Keito-Tekmetric import or automatic synchronisation is assumed in either direction; Tekmetric’s own reporting covers job efficiency and shop sales, not payroll review.
It is software an independent auto repair shop adopts instead of, or alongside, Tekmetric, which runs repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates, and shop reporting. Because Tekmetric already covers that much of the shop floor, an alternative rarely replaces all of it at once. Keito is the alternative for the review gap behind Tekmetric’s Job Clock: AI-drafted entries the technician confirms, approved by a separate reviewer before those hours become a paycheck.
It does both. Tekmetric’s Job Clock lets a technician start and stop a timer on each job, and a separate Employee Timesheets report tracks shop-level clock in, break, and clock out. What Tekmetric’s own support documentation states plainly is that the job clock exists “to track efficiency of your technicians, not to pay your technicians,” and it does not describe a required reason, edited-entry flag, or approval step distinct from the permissions that let staff edit that clocked time.
The gap is a reviewer and a recorded reason, not job timing. Tekmetric already times each job and reports on efficiency, but its own documentation says that clock is not for pay, and its timesheet-permission articles do not describe an approval step distinct from editing, a required reason field, or an edit record. Keito adds that layer: it drafts a time entry from the shift worked, the technician confirms it, and a separate reviewer settles payroll status, with a reason recorded for any change, before the hours become evidence for a paycheck. Tekmetric still owns repair orders, inspections, estimating, and shop reporting; Keito owns the independently reviewed hours record.
Choose Tekmetric when the shop needs repair orders, digital vehicle inspections, estimates and authorizations, inventory and vendor management, a labor guide, and real-time shop reporting running from one platform — it already covers all of that for independent auto repair businesses. Keito does not reproduce any of it: no repair orders, no inspections, no estimating, no inventory. It is the wrong choice if the immediate need is a shop management platform rather than an independently reviewed record of technician hours.
Each reviewed record keeps the technician, repair order reference, shift, duration, description, payroll status, reviewer, approval state, and pay period, tied to the specific shift a technician worked rather than a job-efficiency clock or timesheet entry that could be edited or deleted under the same permission used to run the shop. That package backs the payroll run and gives an owner a reviewed answer when a technician’s hours are questioned.
No. Keito claims no native Tekmetric integration, automatic import, or two-way synchronisation — Tekmetric’s own repair orders, estimates, inspections, and Job Clock belong to its platform, not Keito’s. Capture in Keito is its own workflow: AI-drafted, typed, timed, and manually entered records that pass review before becoming payroll evidence. A shop can keep Tekmetric for repair orders, inspections, and estimating and run Keito alongside it as the independent review layer for technician hours, with any transfer between them designed and tested by the team.
Solo includes 1 licensed user, unlimited AI agents, Mac desktop and iOS apps, Stripe payments, and standard CSV and Excel exports. Pro adds your team. Business adds integrations, planning, advanced reporting, and stronger controls.
1 licensed user
For independent consultants, freelancers, and small studios running work with AI agents.
Team collaboration
For teams that need shared workspaces, approvals, and team-level project visibility.
Advanced operations
For organizations that need integrations, planning, advanced reporting, and stronger controls.
AI agents do not require licenses on any plan.
Solo, Pro, and Business can use API keys for agent workflows.
Solo, Pro, and Business include standard CSV and Excel data export.
Start with Solo, add people on Pro when you need reviewers or collaborators, and see how Keito turns tracked effort into clearer reports.