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Maritime · head to head

Danaos vs Harbour Assist

Danaos logo

Danaos

Maritime

Ship management suite covering purchasing, maintenance, crewing and safety in one database

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Harbour Assist logo

Harbour Assist

Maritime

Marina, harbour and boatyard management software for United Kingdom and European operators

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Danaos sales, implementation and support are concentrated in Greece and Cyprus, so an owner elsewhere gets a thinner local bench and has to rely on remote support across time zones.; Harbour Assist no pricing is published, and the mandatory setup and data migration fee means the first-year cost is materially above the recurring subscription, which is easy to miss when budgeting.
  • They diverge on capability: Danaos covers Planned maintenance, Harbour Assist covers Berth and mooring management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Danaos and Harbour Assist actually diverge.

Attributes where Danaos and Harbour Assist differ
AttributeDanaosHarbour Assist
PlatformsWindows, Web, On-premiseWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maritime).

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 Danaos

  • Planned maintenance
  • Purchasing
  • Inventory
  • Crewing
  • Safety and quality
  • Dry-docking
  • Budgeting
  • Ship to shore replication

Only in Harbour Assist

  • Berth and mooring management
  • Contracts and licences
  • Recurring invoicing
  • Customer portal
  • Boatyard work orders
  • Team tasking
  • Online reservations
  • Reporting

What people use each for

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

Danaos

  • A Greek or Cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one databasenot Harbour Assist
  • A third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structurenot Harbour Assist
  • An owner whose procurement and maintenance data never reconcile because they sit in separate productsnot Harbour Assist
  • A fleet needing full function on board when the satellite link is slow or intermittentnot Harbour Assist

Harbour Assist

  • A trust port managing several hundred moorings with annual licence renewals and arrears chasingnot Danaos
  • A sailing club combining membership, berthing and bar accounts under one customer recordnot Danaos
  • A boatyard scheduling lifts and winter storage alongside berth contractsnot Danaos
  • A harbour office cutting phone traffic by moving invoice payment and service requests to a customer portalnot Danaos

Where each one falls short

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

Danaos

  • Sales, implementation and support are concentrated in Greece and Cyprus, so an owner elsewhere gets a thinner local bench and has to rely on remote support across time zones.
  • The suite is configuration-heavy, and a superintendent generally cannot change a maintenance form or approval route without vendor involvement, which turns small changes into chargeable requests.
  • The architecture is traditional, with vessel-side installations replicating to shore, so the browser experience trails newer cloud entrants and IT carries software to maintain on every ship.
  • Public documentation and product information are sparse, so a buyer cannot evaluate the product independently and is dependent on vendor demonstrations and reference calls.
  • Because everything shares one database, partial adoption gives away most of the benefit and replacing a single module later means unpicking the whole suite rather than swapping a component.

Harbour Assist

  • No pricing is published, and the mandatory setup and data migration fee means the first-year cost is materially above the recurring subscription, which is easy to miss when budgeting.
  • The vendor explicitly does not discount, so a small harbour has no negotiating room even when the entry point is a stretch for its budget.
  • Ownership by ClearCourse, a private-equity-backed consolidator of vertical software, brings the pricing and roadmap risks that come with that model, and buyers should ask about uplift terms before committing.
  • It is built for United Kingdom and Irish harbour practice, so an operator elsewhere gets a system full of concepts that do not match local regulation.
  • There is no marketplace or booking demand attached, so unlike Dockwa it fills no berths for you; visitor income still depends on your own marketing.

Pricing, plan by plan

Danaos

On request
  • WAVES$undefined/year
    • Quoted by fleet size and modules licensed
    • Vessel installations and shore server scoped separately
    • Implementation, data migration and training charged as services

Harbour Assist

On request
  • Harbour Assist$undefined/month
    • Quoted by size and complexity of the operation
    • Directory listings place the entry point near GBP 400 per month
    • Mandatory setup and installation fee covering customisation, data migration and training

Which should you pick?

Choose Danaos if

  • You need planned maintenance.
  • You work on Windows, Web, On-premise.
  • You also want purchasing.
Danaos review

Choose Harbour Assist if

  • You need berth and mooring management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want contracts and licences.
Harbour Assist review

Questions people ask

Is Danaos or Harbour Assist better?
Neither clearly leads. Danaos starts at On request and Harbour Assist at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Danaos or Harbour Assist?
Danaos starts at On request and Harbour Assist at On request.
Does Danaos or Harbour Assist run on more platforms?
Danaos runs on Windows, Web, On-premise. Harbour Assist runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Danaos best used for?
Danaos is most often used for a greek or cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one database, a third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structure, an owner whose procurement and maintenance data never reconcile because they sit in separate products, a fleet needing full function on board when the satellite link is slow or intermittent. Of those, a greek or cypriot owner replacing a mix of legacy planned maintenance and purchasing systems with one database and a third-party ship manager that must report vessel operating expenditure to multiple owners in a consistent structure are not what Harbour Assist is typically brought in for.
What can Danaos do that Harbour Assist cannot?
Danaos covers Planned maintenance, Purchasing, Inventory, Crewing. Harbour Assist covers Berth and mooring management, Contracts and licences, Recurring invoicing, Customer portal.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Danaos: Is this the same company as the listed shipowner Danaos Corporation?

No. Danaos Management Consultants is the software business and a separate entity, although the names are shared and both are based in Piraeus.

Harbour Assist: How much does Harbour Assist cost?

It is quoted by size and complexity. Directory listings put the entry point near 400 pounds a month, and every client also pays a setup fee for customisation, migration and training.

Danaos: Does it run on board with poor connectivity?

Yes. Vessels run local installations that replicate to shore, which is a deliberate design choice for constrained satellite links.

Harbour Assist: Does it bring visitor bookings?

No. It takes online visitor reservations through your own website but has no consumer marketplace, so demand generation remains your responsibility.

Danaos: Can I license only the planned maintenance module?

Technically yes, but the value comes from the shared database linking maintenance, purchasing and budgets, so partial adoption is uncommon.

Harbour Assist: Who owns it?

ClearCourse, a private-equity-backed group that acquires vertical software businesses in the United Kingdom.

Danaos: Is pricing published?

No. Everything is quoted by fleet size and by the modules licensed.

Harbour Assist: Does it handle swinging moorings and drying berths?

Yes, and that is one of the reasons British harbours choose it over marina software designed around American pontoon dockage.

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