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Travel · head to head

FareHarbor vs Smoobu

FareHarbor logo

FareHarbor

Travel

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Smoobu logo

Smoobu

Travel

All-in-one channel manager and PMS for hosts with a handful of holiday rentals

From
€29/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.; Smoobu the Flex plan carries a 0.9% fee on every booking, which on an apartment turning over €40,000 a year costs more than the entire annual subscription saving, and the pricing page presents Flex as the cheaper option.
  • They diverge on capability: FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Smoobu covers Channel manager.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FareHarbor and Smoobu actually diverge.

Attributes where FareHarbor and Smoobu differ
AttributeFareHarborSmoobu
Starting priceOn request€29/month
Pricing modelPer booking fee added at checkoutPer unit 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 Smoobu

  • Channel manager
  • Website builder
  • Guest messaging
  • Unified calendar
  • Invoicing and e-invoicing
  • Mobile apps

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 Smoobu
  • An attraction wanting waivers, manifests and OTA distribution in one system without an upfront licencenot Smoobu
  • A new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day onenot Smoobu
  • A multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departuresnot Smoobu

Smoobu

  • A host with three apartments in Berlin who needs Airbnb and Booking.com calendars kept in sync and wants a direct booking site to cut OTA commissionnot FareHarbor
  • An owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranetnot FareHarbor
  • A small manager who needs guest invoices that meet German documentation requirements without adding a separate accounting toolnot FareHarbor
  • A host testing dynamic pricing through the bundled trial before deciding whether to subscribe to PriceLabs separatelynot 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.

Smoobu

  • The Flex plan carries a 0.9% fee on every booking, which on an apartment turning over €40,000 a year costs more than the entire annual subscription saving, and the pricing page presents Flex as the cheaper option.
  • Pricing is per unit, so a ten unit portfolio pays roughly €31.50 plus nine additional units at about €9.60, and the headline monthly figure covers a single apartment only.
  • Write access is charged per account beyond the included seats, so a cleaner, a co-host and an owner all needing to edit bookings turn into a recurring per seat cost.
  • There is no trust accounting or owner statement generation, so anyone managing units on behalf of third-party owners has to build payout reporting outside the system.
  • Housekeeping and maintenance dispatch is minimal compared with manager-grade platforms, so cleaning coordination happens in WhatsApp or a separate tool once you are past a few units.

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

Smoobu

€29/month
  • Professional Flex$29/month
    • One unit included
    • 0.9% fee on every booking
    • Channel manager, website builder, messaging
  • Professional Prepaid$31.5/month
    • One unit included
    • No booking fee
    • Website builder, invoicing, chatbot, API access
  • Teams Pro+$49.5/month
    • Everything in Prepaid
    • E-invoicing
    • Two write-access accounts, extra accounts from about €12 each

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 Smoobu if

  • You need channel manager.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want website builder.
Smoobu review

Questions people ask

Is FareHarbor or Smoobu better?
Neither clearly leads. FareHarbor starts at On request and Smoobu at €29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FareHarbor or Smoobu?
FareHarbor starts at On request and Smoobu at €29/month.
Does FareHarbor or Smoobu 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 Smoobu is typically brought in for.
What can FareHarbor do that Smoobu cannot?
FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Customer checkout, Digital waivers, Manifests and dispatch. Smoobu covers Channel manager, Website builder, Guest messaging, Unified calendar.

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.

Smoobu: Which plan is actually cheaper, Flex or Prepaid?

Prepaid, for almost anyone with real occupancy. The 0.9% booking fee on Flex exceeds the subscription difference once annual revenue passes a few thousand euros.

FareHarbor: Who pays the booking fee?

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

Smoobu: How many properties does the entry price cover?

One. Every additional unit adds roughly €9.60 per month.

FareHarbor: Who owns FareHarbor?

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

Smoobu: Does it include dynamic pricing?

Only two months free on the Teams tier. Ongoing dynamic pricing means subscribing to PriceLabs or similar.

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.

Smoobu: Is there a contract?

Billing is monthly, yearly or two-yearly, with 30 days notice required to cancel; longer terms buy 10% or 20% off.

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