Travel · head to head
Apaleo vs Ola
Apaleo
Travel
API-first hotel property management platform sold per room with a monthly floor
- From
- €8/month
- Rated
- -
Ola
Travel
India focused ride hailing app from Bengaluru based ANI Technologies, competing directly with Uber across Indian cities
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Ola has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; Ola ola has entered and subsequently scaled back international operations in markets including the UK and Australia at different points, so current availability outside India should be verified directly rather than assumed from past expansion news.
- They diverge on capability: Apaleo covers Open REST API, Ola covers Car ride hailing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Apaleo and Ola actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Ola
- Car ride hailing
- Auto-rickshaw booking
- Bike taxis
- Ola Money
- Outstation and rentals
- Ola Electric integration
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 Ola
- A European hotel group standardising twenty properties on one system with central rate management and DATEV-ready accounting exportsnot Ola
- 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 Ola
- A revenue team that wants to plug Duetto or IDeaS into live inventory without paying a per-connection interface feenot Ola
Ola
- A rider in an Indian city choosing between Ola and Uber based on driver availability and price at the time of bookingnot Apaleo
- Someone wanting an auto-rickshaw or bike taxi booked through an app rather than hailed on the streetnot Apaleo
- A traveller wanting outstation or multi-hour car rental booked through the same app used for city ridesnot Apaleo
- A rider preferring UPI or Ola Money wallet payment integration over card-only paymentnot 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.
Ola
- Ola has entered and subsequently scaled back international operations in markets including the UK and Australia at different points, so current availability outside India should be verified directly rather than assumed from past expansion news.
- Fares are dynamic with demand-based surge like the rest of the category, and India-specific vehicle categories like auto-rickshaws can have less predictable pricing than standard car tiers.
- Ola Electric, the electric scooter manufacturing business, is a separate company from the ride hailing app despite shared branding, and confusing the two when researching the company is a common and understandable mistake.
- Driver cancellation rates and surge pricing behaviour have drawn periodic complaints from Indian riders, a pattern common across the ride hailing category in high-demand Indian metro areas specifically.
- Support and dispute resolution for fare or safety issues is handled entirely within the Indian regulatory and customer service framework, which may differ from what a rider is used to in other markets.
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
Ola
Free- OlaFree
- App is free; riders pay per trip at dynamic, demand-based fares
- Fares vary by vehicle type, including auto-rickshaw and bike taxi options priced lower than cars
- No published flat rate card, fares vary by city, time and route
Which should you pick?
Choose Apaleo if
- You need open rest api.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want apaleo store.
Choose Ola if
- You need car ride hailing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS, Android.
- You also want auto-rickshaw booking.
Questions people ask
- Is Apaleo or Ola better?
- Neither clearly leads. Apaleo starts at €8/month and Ola at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Apaleo or Ola?
- Ola has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at €8/month for Apaleo and Free for Ola.
- Does Apaleo or Ola run on more platforms?
- Apaleo runs on Web, API. Ola runs on iOS, Android.
- Can I use Ola for free?
- Yes. Ola has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Apaleo starts at €8/month.
- 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 Ola is typically brought in for.
- What can Apaleo do that Ola cannot?
- Apaleo covers Open REST API, Apaleo Store, Multi-property inventory, Apaleo Pay. Ola covers Car ride hailing, Auto-rickshaw booking, Bike taxis, Ola Money.
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.
Ola: Does Ola operate outside India?
It has entered and later scaled back operations in some international markets including the UK and Australia at different points; current availability outside India should be checked directly rather than assumed.
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.
Ola: Is Ola Electric the same company as the Ola ride hailing app?
No, Ola Electric is a separately listed company that manufactures electric scooters. It shares branding and some ownership history with the ride hailing business but is a distinct company and product.
Apaleo: Does it include a channel manager?
No. You connect one from the Store, such as SiteMinder, and pay that vendor separately.
Ola: Can I book an auto-rickshaw through Ola?
Yes, auto-rickshaw booking is a standard vehicle category in the app across supported Indian cities, alongside cars and bike taxis.
Apaleo: Can it run a full service hotel?
Only with additional systems. There is no native POS, spa or events module.
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