Travel · head to head
Apaleo vs Chekin
Apaleo
Travel
API-first hotel property management platform sold per room with a monthly floor
- From
- €8/month
- Rated
- -
Chekin
Travel
Guest check-in, identity verification and police registration for European rentals
- From
- €3.95/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Apaleo the €400 monthly floor means a property under fifty rooms pays well above the headline €8 per room, so a twenty five room hotel pays €16 per room and the advertised rate is misleading at the small end.; Chekin there is a three unit minimum on the published plans, so a single-property host cannot buy the entry tier at the advertised rate.
- They diverge on capability: Apaleo covers Open REST API, Chekin covers Police and authority registration.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Apaleo and Chekin actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Apaleo
- Open REST API
- Apaleo Store
- Multi-property inventory
- Apaleo Pay
- Unit group model
- Night audit and accounting export
Only in Chekin
- Police and authority registration
- Identity verification
- Tourist tax calculation
- Self check-in and digital keys
- Deposits and damage protection
- Upsells and branded guest app
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Apaleo
- A serviced apartment group building its own branded check-in and access flow that needs full PMS control through an API rather than a vendor-built kiosknot Chekin
- A European hotel group standardising twenty properties on one system with central rate management and DATEV-ready accounting exportsnot Chekin
- A new-build lifestyle hotel operating with no permanent front desk, where door locks, kiosks and messaging come from specialists and the PMS is the record of truthnot Chekin
- A revenue team that wants to plug Duetto or IDeaS into live inventory without paying a per-connection interface feenot Chekin
Chekin
- A manager with twenty apartments in Barcelona who must file guest data with the Ministry of the Interior for every arrival and cannot do it manually at scalenot Apaleo
- An Italian host needing Alloggiati Web submissions and city tourist tax collected from the guest rather than absorbednot Apaleo
- A property with no staffed reception issuing door codes only after identity documents have been verifiednot Apaleo
- An operator wanting damage deposits taken and released automatically instead of chasing bank transfersnot Apaleo
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Apaleo
- The €400 monthly floor means a property under fifty rooms pays well above the headline €8 per room, so a twenty five room hotel pays €16 per room and the advertised rate is misleading at the small end.
- Apaleo ships no point of sale, no spa or golf module and no conference and banqueting system, so full service hotels must buy and integrate three or four more products before the stack is complete.
- Because the model assumes you assemble the guest-facing layer from the Store, the real monthly cost is the platform fee plus several third-party subscriptions, and that total is nowhere on the pricing page.
- Support and documentation lean towards developers, so an operator without technical capacity or an implementation partner will find configuration and troubleshooting harder than with a conventional PMS.
- The product and integration ecosystem is strongest in German-speaking Europe, and North American buyers will find fewer local integrations for payments, tax rules and accounting than a US-focused PMS offers.
Chekin
- There is a three unit minimum on the published plans, so a single-property host cannot buy the entry tier at the advertised rate.
- The compliance value is regional; outside Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece there is often no authority integration to use and the product becomes an ordinary check-in form at a per property price.
- Transaction fees sit on almost every money-handling feature, including 1.5% plus EUR 0.99 on payments and 10% on unified inbox transactions, so the effective cost is far above the subscription for anyone using them.
- It is a layer on top of a PMS rather than a replacement, so you are paying a second per property subscription alongside your existing platform and reconciling two sources of guest data.
- Identity verification and self check-in sit behind the Premium tier and Premium only includes one premium feature, so an operator wanting both verification and digital keys must move to Enterprise.
Pricing, plan by plan
Apaleo
€8/month- Apaleo Platform$8/month
- €8 per room per month
- Minimum €400 per month regardless of room count
- All APIs included at no extra cost
Chekin
€3.95/month- Basic$3.95/month
- Minimum three units
- Online check-in and legal compliance filing
- Tourist taxes
- Premium$5.95/month
- Everything in Basic
- One premium feature of your choice
- Options: identity verification, self check-in and digital keys, branded guest app, digital guidebooks or e-invoicing
- Enterprise$7.95/month
- All premium features included
- Identity verification, self check-in, branded app, guidebooks, e-invoicing
- Custom pricing above volume thresholds
Which should you pick?
Choose Apaleo if
- You need open rest api.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want apaleo store.
Choose Chekin if
- You need police and authority registration.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want identity verification.
Questions people ask
- Is Apaleo or Chekin better?
- Neither clearly leads. Apaleo starts at €8/month and Chekin at €3.95/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Apaleo or Chekin?
- Apaleo starts at €8/month and Chekin at €3.95/month.
- Does Apaleo or Chekin run on more platforms?
- Apaleo runs on Web, API. Chekin runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- What is Apaleo best used for?
- Apaleo is most often used for a serviced apartment group building its own branded check-in and access flow that needs full pms control through an api rather than a vendor-built kiosk, a european hotel group standardising twenty properties on one system with central rate management and datev-ready accounting exports, a new-build lifestyle hotel operating with no permanent front desk, where door locks, kiosks and messaging come from specialists and the pms is the record of truth, a revenue team that wants to plug duetto or ideas into live inventory without paying a per-connection interface fee. Of those, a serviced apartment group building its own branded check-in and access flow that needs full pms control through an api rather than a vendor-built kiosk and a european hotel group standardising twenty properties on one system with central rate management and datev-ready accounting exports are not what Chekin is typically brought in for.
- What can Apaleo do that Chekin cannot?
- Apaleo covers Open REST API, Apaleo Store, Multi-property inventory, Apaleo Pay. Chekin covers Police and authority registration, Identity verification, Tourist tax calculation, Self check-in and digital keys.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Apaleo: What does Apaleo actually cost for a sixty room hotel?
€480 per month for the platform at €8 per room, plus payment processing from 0.6% and whatever Store integrations you add. Below fifty rooms you pay the €400 floor.
Chekin: Why would I buy this rather than use my PMS check-in form?
Because it files guest data with national police registration systems and calculates local tourist tax, which PMS check-in forms do not do.
Apaleo: Is API access charged separately?
No. All APIs are included in the per room fee, which is unusual in the PMS market where interface fees per connection are common.
Chekin: What does it really cost?
From EUR 3.95 per property per month with a three unit minimum, plus 1.5% plus EUR 0.30 on deposits, 1.5% plus EUR 0.99 on payments, 1% on upsells and 10% on unified inbox transactions.
Apaleo: Does it include a channel manager?
No. You connect one from the Store, such as SiteMinder, and pay that vendor separately.
Chekin: Does it work outside southern Europe?
The check-in, verification and key features do. The automated authority filing that justifies the price largely does not.
Apaleo: Can it run a full service hotel?
Only with additional systems. There is no native POS, spa or events module.
Chekin: Can I get both identity verification and digital keys on Premium?
No. Premium includes one premium feature. Both requires Enterprise at EUR 7.95 per property per month.
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