Autocab is the biggest name in UK taxi dispatch, with roughly 40% of the market and Uber as its owner. That scale brings real advantages and one strategic question every independent operator should think about deliberately.
See the comparison Our pricingStraight answer. Autocab is a strong system and the default choice for large UK fleets for good reasons. If iGo network work would be a meaningful part of your revenue, that alone can justify the cost. If you are an independent under about 50 vehicles who does not want network work, you are buying a lot of platform you will not use.
Founded in 1989 and acquired by Uber in 2020, Autocab is the largest taxi dispatch supplier in the UK, reported to serve over 2,000 operators. The platform covers intelligent booking and auto-dispatch, multi-company management, a self-service account portal, driver and passenger apps, and real-time analytics. Its iGo network lets operators pass and receive work from each other, and integrates with Uber.
| Taxi Dispatch (us) | Autocab | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Cloud SaaS, published pricing | Cloud and hybrid, quote-based |
| Indicative cost | £30/month for the first 5 drivers, £2 per additional driver | Reported from around £120/month for comparable packages, quote-based |
| Setup fee | £0 — setup, tariff build and data import included | Setup fee usually applies |
| Contract term | Monthly rolling, no minimum term | Typically multi-year |
| Commission per job | None — you keep 100% of every fare | Varies; network work usually carries commission |
| Best suited to | Independent operators who want low fixed cost and no lock-in | Large fleets that want iGo network work and Uber integration |
This deserves a direct treatment rather than a hint, because operators raise it with us constantly.
Uber acquiring Autocab in 2020 means the dispatch system used by a large share of UK independent operators is owned by a company those operators also compete with. Autocab has consistently said the businesses run separately, and there is no public evidence to the contrary.
The honest position is this: it is a commercial and strategic judgement, not a technical one, and it is yours to make. Some operators are entirely relaxed about it and value the Uber integration as a source of work. Others are not comfortable routing their booking data through a competitor's infrastructure on principle. We are not going to tell you which of those is correct — but you should decide it consciously rather than by default.
Network work is the strongest argument for Autocab and it is worth evaluating properly rather than dismissing. Ask for:
For a firm in a busy area with spare capacity at off-peak times, this can be genuinely good business. For a firm that is already flat out on Friday nights and quiet on Tuesday afternoons, it often is not.
Reported pricing for comparable Autocab packages starts around £120 per month and is quote-based above that, usually with a setup fee and a multi-year term. That is a reasonable price for what it is. It is simply a different order of commitment from £30 per month with no setup fee and 30 days notice, which is where we sit.
Over three years, the difference for a 15-driver fleet is not marginal. Work it out on real numbers before you sign — our true cost breakdown has the worked examples.
Choose Autocab if network work matters to you, you run a large or multi-depot fleet, and a multi-year contract is acceptable.
Look at Taxi Dispatch if you are an independent under ~50 vehicles who wants your own customers, your own apps, a published price and no lock-in — and if you would rather your dispatch data did not sit with a competitor.
Straight answers, no sales script. Still stuck? Ask us directly — we answer the same working day.
There is no single best system, only the best fit for your fleet size. Autocab and iCabbi are strong for large fleets that want network integration and have the budget for it. Cordic suits established operators comfortable with on-premise. Taxi Dispatch is built for independent operators under about fifty vehicles who want low fixed cost and no lock-in.
On total monthly cost for a small fleet, Taxi Dispatch is among the lowest in the UK market at £30 per month for five drivers with no setup fee and no per-job commission. Free tiers exist elsewhere but usually cap features, charge per SMS or take a percentage, so compare the total bill rather than the headline.
The three reasons we hear most are cost creeping up at renewal, being locked into a multi-year contract, and support that takes days to answer when the board goes down on a Friday night. Feature gaps are a distant fourth — most systems do the core job adequately.
The risk is real but manageable, and it is mostly about timing. Switch mid-week rather than before a bank holiday, run both systems in parallel for a week, and move your account customers first. Data import from any major UK system is straightforward; the harder part is retraining controllers, which takes about three days.
Yes. Your phone number belongs to your telephony provider, not your dispatch supplier, so it moves with you. Your customer and booking data is yours under GDPR and your current supplier must provide it on request. We handle the import free of charge.
Check the notice period, the auto-renewal clause, the price escalation clause and the data export terms. Multi-year auto-renewing contracts with 90-day notice periods are common in this market, and operators frequently discover the window has closed. Diarise your notice date the day you sign.
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Ask on WhatsAppOn Autocab now? Ask us what switching involves — contract terms, data export, the lot.
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