This page does not pick a winner. It gives you the questions to ask each vendor and a plain list of what stays the same for your books whichever way you go.
Works with your POS, back-office & accounting stack
They overlap but are different products, so compare them with the same questions: what does each quote cover, does it fit your registers and pumps, how are reports exported to QuickBooks, and what does support look like. We do not sell either, and your books need the same checks with both.
By the FuelCFO team. Where this page describes a vendor's product, the details come from the vendor's own public descriptions and can change, so confirm them with the vendor. Figures in diagrams are illustrative.
Petrosoft, based in Pittsburgh, describes CStoreOffice as a cloud back office for convenience stores and fuel retailers, alongside the SmartPOS register, Fuel-Central and services for scan data and invoices. PDI Technologies is a software company for convenience retail and fuel, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, and describes PDI Enterprise as covering accounting automation, pricebook control, fuel inventory, bank reconciliation and period close reporting for multi-site operators. They are not identical products, so a direct ranking would not mean much. We sell neither.
The right answer depends on your registers, your pumps, your number of stores and the support near you. A general ranking would be a guess. We are not affiliated with either vendor, so we have no reason to push one.
Make sure you are comparing the same thing. One quote may include a register and another only back-office software. Petrosoft sells both a register and a back office, while PDI covers a wide range for convenience retail and fuel, so ask each vendor to list what is in the price.
Ask each vendor the same questions and write down the answers. Details like who pays for installation and who answers at night are easy to forget by the time you decide.
Scan data, electronic invoices, tank monitoring and loyalty may run through the system. Ask what each vendor includes, and what would have to be replaced if you move.
If your accountant cannot get monthly totals out of the system, the books suffer whichever you pick. Ask how data is exported for QuickBooks Online and test a sample.
What stays the same for your books is in what stays the same. For the Petrosoft side, see Petrosoft back office. For the PDI side, see PDI back office. Every guide is in the Petrosoft hub.
We tell you what your books need from the system, using your actual files.
If a vendor uses terms you do not follow, we explain what it means for QuickBooks.
If you move, we keep days and departments continuous in the books.
Registers, pumps, lottery and the reports your accountant needs.
Write down what you cannot do without.
A demo should be tested against this list.
Ask the same questions in the same order.
So the answers can be compared fairly.
Ask about cost, support hours and who does the setup.
Write what they said, not what you hoped.
Ask for important answers in writing.
Details are easy to forget by decision time.
Confirm how data can be exported to QuickBooks Online.
Test a sample month if you can.
If totals cannot be exported cleanly, the books suffer either way.
Deposits and settlements still need matching to statements.
Tax and lottery still have to stay out of income.
Fees still need recording.
Each store still needs its own place in QuickBooks.
A reviewed close still matters.
The vendor provides it. We do not.
You want the same questions for both.
You want to know if one system suits several sites.
You want to compare before you switch.
You want your books to stay clean across a change.
We do not sell either system, so you can show us a quote without a sales pitch.
Book a 30-minute call. We then take about 48 hours to review the records you have and send you what we found, at no charge.
If you go ahead, we agree what we own, what you send and the dates for each step.
The first close is the slowest. After that, the same rhythm repeats.
Petrosoft vs PDI: fuel balances and variance history checked first.
5 services →Petrosoft vs PDI: store, lottery and vendor balances confirmed as of the change date.
9 services →Tax records checked for gaps before they become yours.
4 services →The acquisition or cutover recorded, with each store kept separate.
3 services →FAQ
More guides on the same system, or send us a day or a month for a free review.
Monthly bookkeeping for stores that run PDI: daily reconciliation, month-end close and PDI totals posted into QuickBooks Online.
Read more →How we find the first bad day, fix the map and close the months.
Read more →What each is generally used for, how to choose, and what your books need either way.
Read more →Send us a day or a month and we'll show you where the three systems disagree.
Get started →FinTruction · Construction Clients
Real US-based contractors. Same team, same operational discipline that we now bring to gas stations. Construction is a different vertical - but the muscle (multi-stream books, cost reconciliation, niche specialization) is the same one stations need.
"They didn't just record transactions and call it a day. They built a custom chart of accounts around how a remodeling company actually runs, did a full catch-up on years of bookkeeping inside QuickBooks Online, and now stay on top of my monthly bookkeeping and payroll."
Oniel Campbell
"Sahil and his team have been handling the bookkeeping and job costing for my painting business. They've done a great job cleaning up my books, using integrations to give me accurate, timely job costing and solid weekly data. Reliable, and the team is very detailed."
Dalton Mayberry
"They rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up, with real job costing, WIP, and retainage."
Carl Moore
Owner, Hearth & Haus
"They set the accounts up properly first, then cleaned up everything I never entered."
Rolian
"When I came to them I had no financial structure in place at all. No job costing, no WIP tracking, books were behind, no real way to tell if any job was actually making money. They came in, did a full cleanup, and set up job costing and WIP tracking inside QuickBooks."
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Gas station & c-store accounting questions, answered.