Dispatch software costs
How Much Does Sherlock Taxi Cost?
Sherlock Taxi does not publish a rate card, and we hold no verified one. Indicative figures commonly quoted put it near £2.50–£10 per vehicle per month, tiered by fleet size, with the lowest rate widely reported to require 500+ vehicles. Two costs sit outside that rate: ...and a one-time implementation fee, for which we hold no Sherlock figure at all. Across dispatch platforms in this class one-off implementation is commonly quoted from roughly £1,200 to £15,000 depending on fleet size and migration scope — a category range, indicative only, not Sherlock's number., and whatever minimums or modules your custom enterprise term commits you to. Confirm both in writing.
The billing unit
What you are actually paying for
Sherlock is commonly described as billed per vehicle on the licence rather than per trip. We hold no rate card confirming that, so treat the unit as unconfirmed and get its definition in writing on your own quote. Indicative tiers commonly quoted run from roughly £10 a car at smaller fleet sizes down to about £2.50 above 500 vehicles, so the unit rate is widely reported to fall in steps as you add cars, not smoothly. Treat those tiers as unverified. The consequence for budgeting: whether a parked or seasonal car still counts as licensed, and whether shrinking moves you back down a tier mid-term, are contract questions with no published answer.
The rest of the bill
Costs that sit outside the headline rate
Implementation, commonly quoted at £7,500–£15,000
The figure most often repeated for a Sherlock rollout is a one-time project fee in the £7,500–£15,000 range. We hold no rate card confirming it, so treat it as indicative. Ask what that covers, what triggers change-requests at extra cost, and whether any of it is refundable if you abandon the rollout.
Dispatcher seats and back-office logins
A per-vehicle licence prices cars, not the people using the system. Nothing published tells you whether dispatcher, accounts and control-room logins are unlimited or licensed separately, and that distinction can move the bill materially. Get the seat position in writing before you sign, including what a seat costs to add mid-term.
Bespoke configuration and module bolt-ons
Sherlock is positioned as a premium, ERP-style platform with bespoke algorithmic dispatch — configuration that is scoped per customer rather than switched on from a list. Ask which capabilities sit in the base licence and which are chargeable modules or professional-services days, and get the day rate for post-go-live changes in writing.
The contract term itself
We hold no Sherlock contract documentation, so we cannot tell you whether the term is a custom enterprise commitment or a rolling monthly option. Term length, any minimum billable vehicle count, uplift clauses at renewal and the notice period are all real costs and none of them are published — get every one in writing on your own quote. Term length, any minimum vehicle count you are billed against regardless of how many cars are actually working, uplift clauses at renewal and the notice period are all real costs. None are published; all are hedged until your own quote confirms them.
Run the numbers
A worked example
Take 40 cars worked by 40 active drivers — state that assumption, because the two counts are rarely the same. On TaxiDex 40 active drivers is Professional at £9/$11: 40 × £9 = £360 a month, or 40 × $11 = $440. That is above the £79/$100 minimum, so the minimum does not bind. If those 40 cars are worked by 55 shift drivers, the TaxiDex line is 55 × £9 = £495 while a per-vehicle licence would not move — count both numbers for your own fleet. Setup is a one-time fee, scoped and quoted on the demo call. On the Sherlock side, indicative figures commonly quoted put a fleet under 100 vehicles nearer the £10 end, plus a one-time implementation fee often quoted at £7,500–£15,000 — both unverified, so price them from your own quote.
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 Sherlock Taxi, 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 Sherlock Taxi publish its pricing?
No public rate card that we can verify. The figures that circulate — roughly £2.50 to £10 per vehicle per month depending on fleet size, and a one-time implementation fee commonly quoted between £7,500 and £15,000 — are indicative, not confirmed. We hold no Sherlock rate card and have not found a published one. Treat every number on this page as a starting question for your own quote, rather than a price you can budget against.
Why is Sherlock's cheapest per-car rate hard to reach?
The low end of the commonly quoted range is widely reported to apply only at 500+ vehicles. If that holds, a 30- or 80-car fleet is pricing against the top of the range, not the headline. This is the single most useful thing to pin down on a quote call: ask for the exact vehicle count at which each tier begins, in writing, and whether tier changes apply mid-term or only at renewal.
Is Sherlock Taxi worth it for a small or mid-size fleet?
It depends on whether you need what the implementation fee buys. Sherlock is positioned for very large, complex fleets wanting bespoke algorithmic dispatch. If your dispatch problem is standard — nearest driver, ETA-aware allocation, account jobs — a project fee commonly quoted in five figures is a lot of budget for capability you may get out of the box elsewhere. If your problem genuinely is bespoke, the fee may be rational. Price the capability, not the brand.
How does TaxiDex pricing compare?
TaxiDex publishes its rate card: £11/$14 per active driver on Starter (1–20 drivers), £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. Setup is a one-time fee, scoped and quoted on the demo call. The minimum only binds below about seven drivers. The passenger app and web booker carry your brand; the driver app is TaxiDex-branded.
What about switching costs and migration?
Switching cost is not just the new licence. Ask your current vendor for the notice period and any exit or data-export charge, and ask the new vendor what migration of drivers, vehicles, accounts, fares and live bookings involves. TaxiDex runs a published 14-day migration protocol: both systems live in parallel, the old one still licensed as rollback, and cutover shift by shift. That is a protocol, not a guaranteed go-live date.
Related
Keep reading
- Feature by feature: TaxiDex compared with Sherlock Taxi.
- Already decided to move? The honest map of Sherlock Taxi 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.