Dispatch software costs
How much does Curb cost?
Curb publishes no rate card and no monthly per-vehicle price. Its billing unit is widely reported as a share of card processing — commonly quoted at 3.75%–3.95% — plus roughly $0.15–$0.20 per transaction, so the bill tracks card revenue, not fleet size. Two costs sit outside that headline: Curb's in-car hardware, and passenger service and reservation fees, indicatively up to $2–$3 a ride. Confirm every figure on your own quote.
The billing unit
What you are actually paying for
Curb's model is transactional rather than a software licence. Instead of a per-vehicle monthly fee, it is widely reported to take a share of card processing — commonly quoted at 3.75%–3.95% — plus roughly $0.15–$0.20 per transaction, with service and reservation fees charged to the passenger. The practical consequence is that the bill moves with fare volume and card mix, not headcount. A quiet month costs less; a strong month costs more. Two fleets with identical car counts can pay very differently. Treat every figure as indicative and confirm it against your own agreement.
The rest of the bill
Costs that sit outside the headline rate
Payment processing you cannot shop
Because the fee is a share of card processing, Payment processing you may not be able to shop. The commonly quoted 3.75%–3.95% bundles the software and the payment rail together, so the two cannot easily be separated or priced against alternatives. Confirm the exact split on your own agreement.
Per-transaction fees on top of the percentage
The percentage is not the whole line. Widely reported figures add roughly $0.15–$0.20 to every card transaction, which is invisible on a single fare and material across a busy month. Short urban trips are hit hardest, because a flat per-transaction fee is a larger share of a small fare. Ask for the current per-transaction figure in writing.
Fees your passengers pay, not you
Rider service and reservation fees — indicatively up to $2–$3 a trip — are commonly described as charged to the passenger rather than appearing on your invoice, which makes them easy to leave out of a cost comparison. They still land on your customer at your point of sale and affect how your fare reads next to a rideshare quote. Ask for the current passenger fee schedule.
Hardware and the cost of leaving
In-car meters, terminals and screens are part of the model and are commonly described as subsidised through the fee structure rather than billed up front. That keeps day-one cost low and pushes it into the transaction economics and into exit. Ask who owns the kit, who pays to remove or refit it, and what notice ends the agreement.
Run the numbers
A worked example
Take a 30-driver fleet. TaxiDex lands on Professional: 30 × £9 = £270 a month, or 30 × $11 = $330 — comfortably above the £79/$100 minimum, so the minimum does not bind. Curb has no equivalent line, because it bills volume rather than drivers. Put your own card revenue in: at a hypothetical $100,000 of monthly card fares, the commonly quoted 3.75%–3.95% is roughly $3,750–$3,950, before per-transaction and rider fees. Check the percentages against your own agreement.
Competitor figures quoted anywhere on this site are indicative market numbers, not quotations we hold. Confirm the current rate — and the line items around it — directly with the vendor.
Do this first
Questions that get you a straight answer
Ask these of Curb, of us, and of anyone else on your shortlist. The answers are more revealing than the headline rate, and they are the numbers a quote is actually built from.
Free guide
Compare the whole cost, not the headline rate
The buyer's guide has the requirements worksheet and the weighted scorecard we use, plus how each pricing model behaves as a fleet grows. Vendor-neutral — it works just as well for shortlisting someone other than us.
Does Curb charge a monthly fee per vehicle?
Not in the way a dispatch platform does. Curb's model is widely reported as transactional: a share of card processing, commonly quoted at 3.75%–3.95%, plus roughly $0.15–$0.20 per transaction, with service and reservation fees charged to the passenger separately. That means there is no per-vehicle line to budget and no published rate card to check it against. Your monthly cost is whatever your card volume produces. Ask Curb to put the percentages, the per-transaction fee and any hardware terms in writing.
Is TaxiDex cheaper than Curb?
They are not the same unit, so the honest answer is that it depends on your card volume. TaxiDex is a flat software fee: £11/$14 per active driver on Starter (1–20), £9/$11 on Professional (21–100), and from £7/$9 on Enterprise (100+), with a £79/$100 monthly minimum and a 14-day free trial. Curb's cost, on commonly quoted figures, scales with fares taken on card. Work out your own monthly card revenue, apply the indicative percentage, and compare it with your driver count at our rate.
What do passengers pay on top of the fare?
Curb is reported to charge riders service and reservation fees, indicatively up to $2–$3 a trip, on top of the metered fare. That is not on your invoice, but it is money leaving your customer's pocket at your point of sale, and it shapes how your price reads against a rideshare quote. Ask for the current passenger fee schedule in writing, and ask which fees appear under your brand and which under Curb's.
Do I need Curb's hardware, and what happens if I leave?
Curb's model is widely reported as hardware-tied — in-car meters, payment terminals and driver screens connected to its consumer app and municipal integrations. Confirm what is actually required in your market. That kit is commonly described as subsidised through the fee structure rather than invoiced up front, which means the cost lands in the transaction economics and in what it takes to leave. Before signing, ask who owns the hardware, who pays to remove or refit it, and what notice ends the agreement.
How do I work out what Curb will actually cost my fleet?
Take three numbers off your own accounts: monthly card fare volume, monthly card transaction count, and active driver count. Apply the commonly quoted 3.75%–3.95% to the first and $0.15–$0.20 to the second for an indicative Curb figure, then multiply the third by the TaxiDex rate for your band. Add what riders pay in service fees. If Curb's own quote differs from the public figures, trust the quote — we hold no rate card for any rival.
Related
Keep reading
- Feature by feature: TaxiDex compared with Curb.
- Already decided to move? The honest map of Curb alternatives, including when staying put is the right call.
- Before you give notice, check what your fleet actually owns.
Get a number you can compare
Bring your driver count and your current rate. We will price it on the call against what you pay now — including telling you when switching is not worth it.