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Travel · head to head

Kayak vs Travelport Smartpoint

Kayak logo

Kayak

Travel

Travel search app comparing flights, hotels and car hire across other booking sites, owned by Booking Holdings

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Travelport Smartpoint logo

Travelport Smartpoint

Travel

Travelport GDS booking desktop for travel agents, now on version 12

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Kayak has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Kayak it is owned by Booking Holdings, the same parent as Booking.com and Priceline, so its comparison results are not fully independent of its own group's commercial interests.; Travelport Smartpoint travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • They diverge on capability: Kayak covers Flight, hotel and car comparison, Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kayak and Travelport Smartpoint actually diverge.

Attributes where Kayak and Travelport Smartpoint differ
AttributeKayakTravelport Smartpoint
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree to users, revenue from referral commissions and advertisingquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWindows, Web

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 Kayak

  • Flight, hotel and car comparison
  • Price alerts
  • Price prediction
  • Flexible date search
  • Trip planning tools
  • Explore/anywhere search

Only in Travelport Smartpoint

  • Graphical and cryptic modes
  • Multi-GDS content
  • Smartpoint Cloud
  • Automation scripting
  • Marketplace distribution
  • Queue and PNR management

What people use each for

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

Kayak

  • Comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasingnot Travelport Smartpoint
  • Setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price dropsnot Travelport Smartpoint
  • Searching flexible dates or nearby airports to find a cheaper farenot Travelport Smartpoint
  • Comparing car hire prices across rental companies for a tripnot Travelport Smartpoint

Travelport Smartpoint

  • A retail agency already on a Travelport segment agreement needing the current supported desktop versionnot Kayak
  • A TMC running mixed cryptic and graphical booking teams on one workspacenot Kayak
  • An agency migrating from an older Smartpoint build after Travelport retired 8.1 to 9.1not Kayak
  • A consolidator wanting Apollo, Galileo or Worldspan content behind a single agent interfacenot Kayak

Where each one falls short

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

Kayak

  • It is owned by Booking Holdings, the same parent as Booking.com and Priceline, so its comparison results are not fully independent of its own group's commercial interests.
  • Some airlines opt out of listing on metasearch sites entirely, so Kayak's results are not a complete view of every available fare in the market.
  • Revenue comes from referral commissions, and prominence in results can be influenced by which suppliers pay Kayak more, not purely by lowest price.
  • The actual booking typically completes on a third party site, so problems with a booking, cancellation or refund are handled by that site's customer service, not Kayak's.
  • Displayed prices can change or fail to match by the time a user reaches the booking site, since Kayak is not always querying live inventory in real time for every listed fare.

Travelport Smartpoint

  • Travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • Pricing is never published and is folded into a segment incentive agreement, so two agencies of similar size can be paying materially different effective rates with no way to compare.
  • Cryptic command knowledge is still needed for a meaningful share of servicing tasks, so a newly hired agent takes months to reach full productivity.
  • It is a Windows-weighted desktop product, and agencies wanting fully remote or Mac-based teams need Smartpoint Cloud or virtual desktop infrastructure to compensate.
  • Switching to Sabre or Amadeus means retraining staff on a different command language and renegotiating a separate incentive deal, which locks agencies into their existing GDS relationship longer than pure product quality would justify.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kayak

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Unlimited search and price alerts
    • No subscription tier

Travelport Smartpoint

On request
  • Travelport Smartpoint$undefined/year
    • Usually bundled into a GDS segment agreement
    • Distribution and version entitlement managed per country via the Marketplace
    • Segment incentive payments to the agency

Which should you pick?

Choose Kayak if

  • You need flight, hotel and car comparison.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want price alerts.
Kayak review

Choose Travelport Smartpoint if

  • You need graphical and cryptic modes.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want multi-gds content.
Travelport Smartpoint review

Questions people ask

Is Kayak or Travelport Smartpoint better?
Neither clearly leads. Kayak starts at Free and Travelport Smartpoint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kayak or Travelport Smartpoint?
Kayak has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kayak and On request for Travelport Smartpoint.
Does Kayak or Travelport Smartpoint run on more platforms?
Kayak runs on iOS, Android, Web. Travelport Smartpoint runs on Windows, Web.
Can I use Kayak for free?
Yes. Kayak has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Travelport Smartpoint starts at On request.
What is Kayak best used for?
Kayak is most often used for comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasing, setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price drops, searching flexible dates or nearby airports to find a cheaper fare, comparing car hire prices across rental companies for a trip. Of those, comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasing and setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price drops are not what Travelport Smartpoint is typically brought in for.
What can Kayak do that Travelport Smartpoint cannot?
Kayak covers Flight, hotel and car comparison, Price alerts, Price prediction, Flexible date search. Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes, Multi-GDS content, Smartpoint Cloud, Automation scripting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kayak: Does Kayak charge a booking fee?

No, Kayak itself is free to use; it earns referral commissions from the airlines, hotels and sites it sends bookings to.

Travelport Smartpoint: Do we pay a separate licence fee for Smartpoint?

Usually not directly. It is typically bundled into a GDS segment agreement in which Travelport pays incentives per booked segment.

Kayak: Do I book directly through Kayak?

Usually the booking completes on the airline, hotel or travel site's own platform after Kayak hands off the click, though some direct booking options exist for select content.

Travelport Smartpoint: What happened to older Smartpoint versions?

Travelport retired versions 8.1 through 9.1 as of 30 April 2026; agencies must be on Smartpoint 12.0 to keep signing on to Travelport+ or Apollo.

Kayak: Is Kayak owned by an airline or hotel chain?

No, it is owned by Booking Holdings, which also owns Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda.

Travelport Smartpoint: Is there a browser version?

Yes, Smartpoint Cloud runs in a browser for agents without a managed Windows desktop.

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