A spreadsheet is a great start for invoices and customer lists. Here is where it stops keeping up, and what Karzen does instead.
| What to compare | Karzen | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Work orders | Created in a few clicks, seen by the whole team | A file or a tab per job, copied from a template |
| Estimates and invoices | An approved estimate becomes the invoice, in French or English | Templates copied and pasted, formulas to watch |
| Canadian taxes | GST, QST, HST and PST for every province and territory | Formulas you build and keep up yourself |
| Vehicle history | Every visit by customer, plate or VIN, in one search | Spread across several files |
| Digital inspection | Included: basic in Essentials, full with photos in Pro | A checklist, photos kept somewhere else |
| Teamwork | Several PCs and tablets at once, unlimited users | One person at a time, or competing versions |
| Appointments | A shared calendar for bays and technicians | A table to keep up to date |
| Reports | Sales, taxes and unpaid invoices for any period, ready to export | Tables to build and refresh |
| Tire storage | Included in Pro | A list to keep up to date |
| Backups | Encrypted backups in Canada | Depends on who copies the file, and when |
| Without internet | Keeps working on the shop’s network | Yes, on one computer |
| Cost | $199 (Essentials) or $349 (Pro) a month, CAD, per shop | Often already paid with Microsoft 365, plus the time to build and keep it up |
This comparison describes common ways repair shops use spreadsheets. Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation; Karzen is not affiliated with it.
If someone in the shop enjoys keeping the spreadsheets up, they can be shaped exactly the way you want.
With a handful of jobs a week, a template and a customer list can be enough.
Customer, vehicle, estimate, work order and invoice stay connected, with no copying between files.
Counter, technicians and managers work at the same time on PCs and tablets, without overwriting each other.
We import your customer and vehicle lists, and every report still exports to CSV for Excel.