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Travel · head to head

FareHarbor vs Hostfully

FareHarbor logo

FareHarbor

Travel

Booking and reservation software for tour and activity operators with no subscription fee

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Hostfully logo

Hostfully

Travel

Vacation rental property management platform with per-property pricing and digital guidebooks

From
$15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: FareHarbor the roughly 6% booking fee is added to the price your customer sees, so your headline price appears higher than a competitor absorbing their software cost, which is a direct disadvantage when guests price-compare.; Hostfully the advertised per property price excludes a platform fee that is not published anywhere on the pricing page, so no listed figure is a real monthly cost until sales quotes it.
  • They diverge on capability: FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Hostfully covers Channel management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FareHarbor and Hostfully actually diverge.

Attributes where FareHarbor and Hostfully differ
AttributeFareHarborHostfully
Starting priceOn request$15/month
Pricing modelPer booking fee added at checkoutPer property per month

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), 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 FareHarbor

  • Availability and capacity
  • Customer checkout
  • Digital waivers
  • Manifests and dispatch
  • OTA distribution
  • Gift cards and point of sale

Only in Hostfully

  • Channel management
  • Digital Guidebooks
  • Owner portal
  • Direct booking engine
  • Unified inbox
  • Pipeline and lead management

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

FareHarbor

  • A kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winternot Hostfully
  • An attraction wanting waivers, manifests and OTA distribution in one system without an upfront licencenot Hostfully
  • A new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day onenot Hostfully
  • A multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departuresnot Hostfully

Hostfully

  • A manager with thirty units who wants channel sync, an owner portal and a direct booking site under one subscriptionnot FareHarbor
  • A host who only wants professional check-in and local recommendation guidebooks and will buy Digital Guidebooks without the PMSnot FareHarbor
  • An operator pushing guests towards direct bookings who needs the Pro tier because the Growth tier taxes exactly that revenuenot FareHarbor
  • A property manager onboarding third-party owners who need visible reporting on their own unitsnot FareHarbor

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

FareHarbor

  • The roughly 6% booking fee is added to the price your customer sees, so your headline price appears higher than a competitor absorbing their software cost, which is a direct disadvantage when guests price-compare.
  • With card processing on top, the effective cost is commonly 9 to 11% of booking value, so a high-volume operator pays far more over a year than a flat subscription would cost.
  • There is no published rate card, so the fee you are quoted depends on the deal you negotiate and you cannot compare terms without going through onboarding.
  • FareHarbor is owned by Booking Holdings, so your reservation system, your customer data and your availability sit inside the group that owns the largest OTA competing for your direct bookings.
  • Because pricing is transactional, switching away is expensive in effort rather than money and operators tend to stay past the point where a subscription product would be cheaper.

Hostfully

  • The advertised per property price excludes a platform fee that is not published anywhere on the pricing page, so no listed figure is a real monthly cost until sales quotes it.
  • The Growth tier charges 1% on payments and 0.85% on direct bookings, so the operators most focused on direct revenue are penalised on the cheaper plan and effectively forced to Pro.
  • Pricing is per property, so a portfolio of small low-revenue units pays the same per listing as high-revenue ones and studio-heavy portfolios carry a disproportionate cost.
  • Accounting is lighter than manager-grade competitors, with no full trust accounting, so client fund segregation has to be handled outside the platform.
  • Digital Guidebooks are sold and priced separately from the PMS, so the product Hostfully is best known for is an additional line on the invoice rather than part of the subscription.

Pricing, plan by plan

FareHarbor

On request
  • FareHarbor$undefined/month
    • No monthly subscription and no setup fee
    • Booking fee of around 6% added to the customer checkout price
    • Card processing charged separately, giving an effective 9 to 11% of booking value

Hostfully

$15/month
  • Growth$15/month
    • 1 to 50 listings
    • $15 per property per month plus a platform fee
    • 1% payment gateway fee
  • Pro$25/month
    • 1 to 199 listings
    • $25 per property per month plus a platform fee
    • No payment gateway fee
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • 200 or more listings
    • Custom volume pricing plus a platform fee
    • Priority support

Which should you pick?

Choose FareHarbor if

  • You need availability and capacity.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want customer checkout.
FareHarbor review

Choose Hostfully if

  • You need channel management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want digital guidebooks.
Hostfully review

Questions people ask

Is FareHarbor or Hostfully better?
Neither clearly leads. FareHarbor starts at On request and Hostfully at $15/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FareHarbor or Hostfully?
FareHarbor starts at On request and Hostfully at $15/month.
Does FareHarbor or Hostfully run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is FareHarbor best used for?
FareHarbor is most often used for a kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winter, an attraction wanting waivers, manifests and ota distribution in one system without an upfront licence, a new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day one, a multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departures. Of those, a kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winter and an attraction wanting waivers, manifests and ota distribution in one system without an upfront licence are not what Hostfully is typically brought in for.
What can FareHarbor do that Hostfully cannot?
FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Customer checkout, Digital waivers, Manifests and dispatch. Hostfully covers Channel management, Digital Guidebooks, Owner portal, Direct booking engine.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

FareHarbor: What does FareHarbor cost?

No subscription. Around 6% is added to the customer checkout price, plus card processing, giving roughly 9 to 11% of booking value in total.

Hostfully: What is the platform fee?

Hostfully does not publish it. Ask for the total monthly figure for your listing count in writing before comparing plans.

FareHarbor: Who pays the booking fee?

By default the customer, shown at checkout. Operators can choose to absorb it into their own price instead.

Hostfully: Which tier is cheaper in practice?

Pro, for anyone with real direct booking volume. Growth is $10 less per property but adds 1% on payments and 0.85% on direct bookings.

FareHarbor: Who owns FareHarbor?

Booking Holdings, the parent of Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak.

Hostfully: Can I buy guidebooks alone?

Yes. Digital Guidebooks are priced separately and are commonly bought without the PMS.

FareHarbor: At what volume does a subscription tool become cheaper?

Broadly once annual bookings exceed a few hundred thousand in value, at which point 6% dwarfs a fixed monthly plan.

Hostfully: Is there a minimum property count?

No stated minimum, but per property pricing plus a platform fee makes it uneconomic for one or two units.

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