Per-licence or per-fleet

CDS alternative for UK chauffeur operators

CDS charges per person who edits. Kairo charges per fleet.

CDS is one flat licence for each user who edits bookings, with free viewers and a strong partner network. Kairo prices by vehicle count with office seats included, publishes its terms, and imports your data before you commit.

Research checked 20 October 2026. Competitor statements are limited to the sources listed on this page and should be confirmed with the vendor.

Start with the operating decision

Chauffeur Drive Systems has sold browser-based dispatch to chauffeur companies from Stirling since 2016, priced per user who edits data with free view-only logins. The comparison below sets fleet-size pricing, published terms, a migration process and a 30-day trial against CDS's partner network and per-licence model, so you can weigh what matters most to your operation.

Published commercial modelCDS

One published figure: 90 pounds a month plus tax, per licence, charged for each user who edits data. View-only logins are free and unlimited. No setup fee is stated either way.

Kairo commercial modelKairo

£99 / £199 / £349 a month by fleet size, on the website, before you speak to anyone

What CDS is built for

Chauffeur Drive Systems sells a browser-based booking and dispatch system built only for chauffeur and niche transport companies. It is owned and run by its two founders, charges one flat licence per editing user with unlimited free viewers, and leads on its CDS Connect partner network, GNET integration and white-label passenger apps, with founder-led support and three live training sessions a week. The vendor says 350 companies in more than 25 countries use it. For a one-dispatcher firm that farms work in and out with other operators, it is a mature and inexpensive option.

Official CDS site

Why operators look at Kairo

No published terms, no published migration process and no bulk data export, on a price that rises with every person who needs to edit a booking.

Feature and commercial record

Kairo details reflect the current product and published Kairo terms. Competitor details reflect the sources below, checked 20 October 2026.

Comparison point	Kairo	CDS
Published pricing	£99 / £199 / £349 a month by fleet size, on the website, before you speak to anyone	One published figure: 90 pounds a month plus tax, per licence, charged for each user who edits data. View-only logins are free and unlimited. No setup fee is stated either way.
Contract / minimum term	Monthly or annual billing, chosen at signup	Not stated. CDS advertises no contract, but publishes no terms and conditions: no minimum term, notice period or cancellation process appears anywhere on its site.
Getting started	Free 30-day trial, with your bookings, clients, drivers and vehicles imported for you	A demo, arranged by phone or contact form. A free trial appears only in blog posts from 2019 to 2023, with lengths from one to three months; the current pricing and contact pages do not offer one.
Done-for-you migration	Core data imported free. Managed Launch (£495) adds rate cards, integrations and training, with a 14-day guarantee	Not published. CDS says moving from another chauffeur system is not easy and offers online support, but describes no import tool, file format or migration service for clients, bookings or rate cards.
AI quoting from an inbound enquiry	Reads the enquiry and drafts the booking, ready for you to price and send	Partly. A May 2026 blog post describes AI that turns a pasted email, PDF or monitored mailbox into a hire record matched to the booker. The price comes from the rules engine, not the AI, and the feature is not on the product or pricing pages.
Per-mile + per-minute tariff engine	Yes, per-mile plus per-minute with vehicle-class multipliers, VAT shown either way	Per-mile or per-kilometre, per-hour, fixed and per-passenger formulas per vehicle class, with zone, fuel, unsociable-hours and date uplifts. Per-minute pricing, waiting time and minimum fares are not published, and nothing says whether passenger prices are shown with tax included or added on.
Driver app	Driver web app works on any phone; native iOS and Android apps are live	Yes, iOS and Android, plus a browser web app. The app belongs to the driver, so jobs from every CDS company they drive for appear in one place. The vendor's own driver-app page still links to old store listings that no longer resolve.
Partner / subcontractor job flow	Built in: dispatch jobs to your partner fleet, they accept or decline, you track the split	Yes, and a strength. CDS Connect passes jobs to other CDS operators, or to non-CDS firms through a web app, with accept or reject on arrival, two pricing models and the originating operator always invoicing the client. GNET is integrated for a per-job fee.
Xero + Stripe	Native Xero sync and Stripe payment links	Stripe for card payments, with tokenised card storage. CDS says it links with many accounting systems but names none: Xero, Sage and QuickBooks do not appear anywhere on its site.
Getting your data out	Ask us. We'll export your tenant's data for you	Not published. Reports and invoices can be downloaded, but no bulk export of clients, jobs or invoices is described, and there are no published terms covering data ownership or what happens when you leave.

Published pricing

Kairo

£99 / £199 / £349 a month by fleet size, on the website, before you speak to anyone

CDS

One published figure: 90 pounds a month plus tax, per licence, charged for each user who edits data. View-only logins are free and unlimited. No setup fee is stated either way.

Contract / minimum term

Kairo

Monthly or annual billing, chosen at signup

CDS

Not stated. CDS advertises no contract, but publishes no terms and conditions: no minimum term, notice period or cancellation process appears anywhere on its site.

Getting started

Kairo

Free 30-day trial, with your bookings, clients, drivers and vehicles imported for you

CDS

A demo, arranged by phone or contact form. A free trial appears only in blog posts from 2019 to 2023, with lengths from one to three months; the current pricing and contact pages do not offer one.

Done-for-you migration

Kairo

Core data imported free. Managed Launch (£495) adds rate cards, integrations and training, with a 14-day guarantee

CDS

Not published. CDS says moving from another chauffeur system is not easy and offers online support, but describes no import tool, file format or migration service for clients, bookings or rate cards.

AI quoting from an inbound enquiry

Kairo

Reads the enquiry and drafts the booking, ready for you to price and send

CDS

Partly. A May 2026 blog post describes AI that turns a pasted email, PDF or monitored mailbox into a hire record matched to the booker. The price comes from the rules engine, not the AI, and the feature is not on the product or pricing pages.

Per-mile + per-minute tariff engine

Kairo

Yes, per-mile plus per-minute with vehicle-class multipliers, VAT shown either way

CDS

Per-mile or per-kilometre, per-hour, fixed and per-passenger formulas per vehicle class, with zone, fuel, unsociable-hours and date uplifts. Per-minute pricing, waiting time and minimum fares are not published, and nothing says whether passenger prices are shown with tax included or added on.

Driver app

Kairo

Driver web app works on any phone; native iOS and Android apps are live

CDS

Yes, iOS and Android, plus a browser web app. The app belongs to the driver, so jobs from every CDS company they drive for appear in one place. The vendor's own driver-app page still links to old store listings that no longer resolve.

Partner / subcontractor job flow

Kairo

Built in: dispatch jobs to your partner fleet, they accept or decline, you track the split

CDS

Yes, and a strength. CDS Connect passes jobs to other CDS operators, or to non-CDS firms through a web app, with accept or reject on arrival, two pricing models and the originating operator always invoicing the client. GNET is integrated for a per-job fee.

Xero + Stripe

Kairo

Native Xero sync and Stripe payment links

CDS

Stripe for card payments, with tokenised card storage. CDS says it links with many accounting systems but names none: Xero, Sage and QuickBooks do not appear anywhere on its site.

Getting your data out

Kairo

Ask us. We'll export your tenant's data for you

CDS

Not published. Reports and invoices can be downloaded, but no bulk export of clients, jobs or invoices is described, and there are no published terms covering data ownership or what happens when you leave.

Switching from CDS?

Start a free 30-day trial and send us an export from CDS. We import your bookings, clients, drivers and vehicles for free. If you want rate cards, integrations and staff training handled too, Managed Launch does that for a one-off fee. Questions first? Call 0161 524 6855.

Start free trial How switching works

Sources

Vendors change features, pricing and terms. Confirm current details with CDS before making a decision.