What is the best ECU Tuning tool? Part1; Autotuner vs. Kess3

What is the Best ECU Tuning Tool?

In the world of chip tuning and remapping, the debate over the best ECU tool has always been heated. For this reason, manufacturers of programmers are constantly competing to add new features or even create better programmers to stay ahead in the market. This not only benefits the companies but also the consumers, as they can make the best choice with the diversity available in the market and gain the most from free market competition.

In this series of articles, we intend to introduce you to the best programmer available in the market. We will do this through head-to-head comparisons between 8 of the best and best-selling products worldwide.

In this article, we focus on Autotuner and Kess3.

Autotuner is one of the best and newest programmers on the market, released in 2019 and made in Luxembourg. In contrast, Kess3 is produced by the established Italian company Alientech. The comparison will be made by naming important parameters that a programmer needs to be equipped with, and we will compare the performance of each in those fields to ultimately find the better programmer.

Speed of Reading and Writing ECU File:

Let's start with Kess3.

Kess3 generally has an acceptable speed. After you initiate a read or write operation on an ECU, Kess3 displays the status in the right corner of the screen at every moment, allowing you to keep track of the ongoing process of reading and writing the ECU. Thanks to its microprocessor, which is approximately 7 times more powerful than its predecessor, Kess3 offers satisfactory speed for reading and writing many ECU models.

However, the processing speed of operations in AutoTuner is remarkably good! It can be confidently stated that no other ECU tuning tools on the market match the speed of AutoTuner, and this programmer is considered an exception in this regard.

This impressive speed is achieved thanks to the Cortex x M4 microprocessor and the efforts of the electronic engineers involved in its development.

In conclusion, we must say that although Kess3 has a satisfactory speed, it doesn't stand much of a chance because it has been compared to one of the best in the world in this field!

The winner in this parameter is AutoTuner.

ECUs Compatibility List:

Although Kess3 is a relatively new ECU tuning tool, its manufacturer, Alientech, is very experienced and has a history of producing programmers like KessV2 and K-TAG. This experience may be why Kess3 has the upper hand when it comes to reading and writing older vehicles, giving it a relative advantage in this area. However, that’s not the whole story!

In newer vehicles and protocols, Autotuner is slightly better. This advantage of Autotuner is particularly noticeable in reading and writing products from Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and BMW. For the products from these three companies, Autotuner performs better and more accurately than Kess3.

Moreover, this slight advantage in reading and writing is also maintained with TCUs, where Autotuner is a bit better as well.

The conclusion from the previous two paragraphs is as follows: Kess3 is better for reading and writing older vehicles, while Autotuner is the winner among newer products and, of course, in TCU reading and writing. It is also worth mentioning that Kess3 performs better than Autotuner in vehicles from lesser-known automotive manufacturers like the Chinese companies Geely and Chery.

All of this leads us to declare the competition between these two well-known programmers in this parameter as equal.

Price:

As of now, at the time of writing this text, the price of the Autotuner programmer is €4,900. The price of Kess3 Car/LCV OBD Option is €3,690.

Keep in mind that Autotuner does not require an annual subscription, but after the first year, you will need to pay €1390 annually for Kess3.

Therefore, the total cost for each of these tools will depend on the options you need, as you may have to purchase separate cables for some vehicles to use the bench cables with Autotuner. Thus, comparing the final price of these two depends on your usage (although it is important to note that Autotuner does not require a subscription).

Additionally, it should be mentioned that you do not need to pay a more fee for updates for these two programmers; both will be updated automatically.

User Interface:

In terms of user interface, both of these ECU tuning tools are undoubtedly among the best on the market and have exceptional user interfaces. It can almost be said that you will not encounter any specific issues while working with Kess3 and Autotuner (except for the fact that Kess3 is somewhat sensitive to good and stable internet connections).

In this section as well, equality is the fairest conclusion.

Support and Assistance:

Over time, it has been proven that user support is an important part of the policies of both companies. Timely responses to tickets have been confirmed for both companies (although in a few instances, some users have faced issues).

However, our final opinion is that in this field, Alientech performs slightly better, as their filters for responses are less frequent and the response is quicker. Therefore, in this section, Kess3 narrowly wins.

Specific Advantages and Disadvantages:

One of the advantages of both programmers is having the DTC Off option. Aside from this, Autotuner has a data logging option, which is not available in Kess3 (although recently Alientech has attempted to compensate for this by introducing a device called "Dyno Drive"). Data logger is one of the significant and clear advantages of Autotuner over Kess3.

Aside from the mentioned points, there are no other specific drawbacks or advantages in these two programmers.

Conclusion:

Kess3 or Autotuner? Which one is the better ECU tuning tool?

We strive to be as honest as possible with you and not evade answering any questions, especially in this series of articles that has comparative content. For this reason, if we say in response to which of these two programmers is better: "Our recommendation is that if you have a sufficient budget and your workshop sees many vehicles for remapping daily, purchase both of these programmers," you might think we are not being sincere, but this statement is completely straightforward and honest! Both of these programmers are among the best in the market (the top three), and choosing between them will be quite challenging.

However, to assist you in summarizing this article, we conclude as follows: if your workshop primarily deals with older vehicles and focuses on them, we recommend Kess3. On the other hand, if you work with newer vehicles (especially Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Porsche), consider purchasing Autotuner.

 

The best way to contact us and get answers to your questions is via WhatsApp +44 781 8419 058 and email info@ninjaremap.com