Softwr

Travel · head to head

Apaleo vs Hostaway

Apaleo logo

Apaleo

Travel

API-first hotel property management platform sold per room with a monthly floor

From
€8/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Hostaway logo

Hostaway

Travel

Vacation rental management platform for professional operators

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Hostaway quote-only pricing scaled by listing count, with an onboarding fee commonly reported, so entry cost is real
  • They diverge on capability: Apaleo covers Open REST API, Hostaway covers Multi-channel distribution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Apaleo and Hostaway actually diverge.

Attributes where Apaleo and Hostaway differ
AttributeApaleoHostaway
Starting price€8/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer room per monthquote
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud

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 Hostaway

  • Multi-channel distribution
  • Unified inbox
  • Automation
  • Owner statements

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 Hostaway
  • A European hotel group standardising twenty properties on one system with central rate management and DATEV-ready accounting exportsnot Hostaway
  • 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 Hostaway
  • A revenue team that wants to plug Duetto or IDeaS into live inventory without paying a per-connection interface feenot Hostaway

Hostaway

  • Managers running portfolios across several booking channelsnot Apaleo
  • Operators whose margin goes to manual guest messaging and turnover coordinationnot Apaleo
  • Companies producing owner statements for managed propertiesnot 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.

Hostaway

  • Quote-only pricing scaled by listing count, with an onboarding fee commonly reported, so entry cost is real
  • Built for professional operators; single-property hosts find the cost per unit hard to justify
  • Channel sync inherits the reliability of the booking platforms it connects to
  • Depth in individual modules is shallower than dedicated point tools

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

Hostaway

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Hostaway review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Apaleo if

  • You need open rest api.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want apaleo store.
Apaleo review

Choose Hostaway if

  • You need multi-channel distribution.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud.
  • You also want unified inbox.
Hostaway review

Questions people ask

Is Apaleo or Hostaway better?
Neither clearly leads. Apaleo starts at €8/month and Hostaway at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Apaleo or Hostaway?
Apaleo starts at €8/month and Hostaway at On request.
Does Apaleo or Hostaway run on more platforms?
Apaleo runs on Web, API. Hostaway runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud.
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 Hostaway is typically brought in for.
What can Apaleo do that Hostaway cannot?
Apaleo covers Open REST API, Apaleo Store, Multi-property inventory, Apaleo Pay. Hostaway covers Multi-channel distribution, Unified inbox, Automation, Owner statements.

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.

Hostaway: What does Hostaway cost?

It quotes by listing count and modules and does not publish rates. An onboarding fee is commonly part of the arrangement.

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.

Hostaway: Hostaway or Guesty?

They compete for the same professional operator market with broadly similar feature sets. Differences usually come down to quoted price, onboarding and specific channel or PMS integrations.

Apaleo: Does it include a channel manager?

No. You connect one from the Store, such as SiteMinder, and pay that vendor separately.

Hostaway: Is it worth it for one or two listings?

Generally not. It is built for portfolios, and the per-unit cost is hard to justify below a handful of properties.

Apaleo: Can it run a full service hotel?

Only with additional systems. There is no native POS, spa or events module.

Share

Related pages

More on Apaleo

More on Hostaway

Keep looking

Other head to heads