Honest numbers: what a prestart book really costs over a year, and what the per-user and telematics systems charge for the same job.
A light vehicle prestart book costs about $19 to $22 for 50 duplicate checklists. A pocket Take 5 book is about $5 for 40. Here is one vehicle for a year.
| How the vehicle is used | Prestarts a year | Books | Paper, per vehicle | Site Safe, per vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days a week, one shift | 260 | 6 | about $120 | $59.99 |
| 7 days, one shift | 365 | 8 | about $160 | $59.99 |
| 7 days, two shifts | 730 | 15 | about $300 | $59.99 |
Paper assumes a 50-page duplicate light vehicle prestart book at about $20, which is the going rate. Site Safe is the in-app add-on paid yearly; fleet plans work out cheaper again.
Someone collects the carbon copies, someone files them, and someone finds last Tuesday's prestart when the safety department asks. A defect written in a book stays in the book until a supervisor reads it. The vehicle keeps running.
With a tag on the dash the prestart is in the right inboxes before the driver leaves the car park, a critical defect tags the vehicle out on the spot, and the record is a PDF you can forward.
Paper: 25 vehicles, 8 books each, about $4,000 a year in books alone, before Take 5 books and filing time.
Site Safe Fleet plan: $1,190 a year, with every record emailed and exportable.
Most prestart software charges per user. On a mine site a ute is shared by a dozen people, which is where per-user pricing gets expensive. Site Safe charges per vehicle and the people who scan the tag are free.
| System | Charged per | Price | 25 vehicles, about 40 workers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site Safe, Fleet plan | vehicle | $4.76 a vehicle a month | $119 a month | Drivers free. Take 5 included. |
| Prestart App | machine | from $10 a machine a month | $250 a month | Australian. Prestarts and faults; no Take 5. |
| Fleetio | vehicle | US$4 to $10 a vehicle a month | about $150 to $375 a month | US fleet maintenance system. Inspections are limited on the two cheaper plans. |
| Dashpivot (Sitemate) | user | not published; companies with 10 or more staff buy at least 10 licences | likely $300+ a month | General forms and inspection platform. |
| SafetyCulture | seat | US$24 a seat a month, free up to 10 seats | about $1,440 a month for 40 seats | General inspection platform. Every person who fills in a form needs a seat. |
| PROSTART (Teletrack) | asset | $31.90 an asset a month plus a hardwired tracker in each vehicle | about $800 a month plus hardware | Immobilises the vehicle until the prestart is done. Needs telematics installed. |
Prices checked 1 October 2026 from each company's public pricing page. US dollar prices converted at roughly 1.50 Australian dollars. Dashpivot's figure is an estimate because the price isn't published.
Contractors with a few vehicles working across several sites. Sites that want their own Take 5 and prestart on a QR code without rolling out accounts to a workforce. Anyone replacing books.
Everything is in every plan: prestarts, Take 5, your own forms, site checklists, offline, service reminders, PDF and CSV records.
Site Safe doesn't immobilise vehicles, track them, or schedule workshop maintenance. If you need telematics or a full maintenance system, PROSTART or Fleetio do that, at their prices.
It also isn't a general forms platform. It does prestarts and Take 5s, and does them properly.
Site Safe