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Travel · head to head

Lodgify vs Ola

Lodgify logo

Lodgify

Travel

Direct booking website builder and channel manager for vacation rental owners and small managers

From
$16/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ola logo

Ola

Travel

India focused ride hailing app from Bengaluru based ANI Technologies, competing directly with Uber across Indian cities

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ola has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Lodgify the 1.9 per cent booking fee on Starter and Professional applies to direct reservations, the exact bookings you built the site to win, so an owner turning over 200,000 dollars direct pays around 3,800 dollars a year on top of the subscription unless they move to Ultimate.; 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: Lodgify covers Website builder, Ola covers Car ride hailing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lodgify and Ola actually diverge.

Attributes where Lodgify and Ola differ
AttributeLodgifyOla
Starting price$16/monthFree
Pricing modelPer month by property count and planFree app, pay per ride with dynamic pricing
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidiOS, Android

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 Lodgify

  • Website builder
  • Channel manager
  • Booking engine
  • Unified inbox
  • Automated messaging
  • Rental agreements
  • Multi-calendar
  • Damage deposits

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.

Lodgify

  • An owner with three holiday cottages who wants a branded site to cut Airbnb commissionnot Ola
  • A manager consolidating Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com calendars to stop double bookingsnot Ola
  • A rural property with weak OTA visibility that relies on repeat direct guestsnot Ola
  • A host adding rental agreements and deposit collection to bookings taken off-platformnot Ola

Ola

  • A rider in an Indian city choosing between Ola and Uber based on driver availability and price at the time of bookingnot Lodgify
  • Someone wanting an auto-rickshaw or bike taxi booked through an app rather than hailed on the streetnot Lodgify
  • A traveller wanting outstation or multi-hour car rental booked through the same app used for city ridesnot Lodgify
  • A rider preferring UPI or Ola Money wallet payment integration over card-only paymentnot Lodgify

Where each one falls short

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

Lodgify

  • The 1.9 per cent booking fee on Starter and Professional applies to direct reservations, the exact bookings you built the site to win, so an owner turning over 200,000 dollars direct pays around 3,800 dollars a year on top of the subscription unless they move to Ultimate.
  • Operations tooling is thin: there is no real housekeeping scheduling, task assignment or owner statement generation, so managers past roughly twenty units outgrow it.
  • Prices shown are annual-commitment rates; paying monthly costs substantially more, which makes the headline figure misleading for anyone unwilling to commit for a year.
  • The website templates are constrained, and heavy design customisation means editing within a narrow theme system rather than having real control over layout or markup.
  • Payment processing is effectively tied to a small set of gateways, so operators in markets without local acquiring support may struggle to take payments in their own currency without extra cost.

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

Lodgify

$16/month
  • Starter$16/month
    • Billed annually, higher month to month
    • Website builder and booking engine
    • Channel manager
  • Professional$42/month
    • Billed annually
    • Payment automation
    • More integrations and higher limits
  • Ultimate$103/month
    • Billed annually
    • No booking fee on direct reservations
    • Priority support

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 Lodgify if

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

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.
Ola review

Questions people ask

Is Lodgify or Ola better?
Neither clearly leads. Lodgify starts at $16/month and Ola at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lodgify or Ola?
Ola has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $16/month for Lodgify and Free for Ola.
Does Lodgify or Ola run on more platforms?
Lodgify runs on Web, iOS, Android. Ola runs on iOS, Android.
Can I use Ola for free?
Yes. Ola has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lodgify starts at $16/month.
What is Lodgify best used for?
Lodgify is most often used for an owner with three holiday cottages who wants a branded site to cut airbnb commission, a manager consolidating airbnb, vrbo and booking.com calendars to stop double bookings, a rural property with weak ota visibility that relies on repeat direct guests, a host adding rental agreements and deposit collection to bookings taken off-platform. Of those, an owner with three holiday cottages who wants a branded site to cut airbnb commission and a manager consolidating airbnb, vrbo and booking.com calendars to stop double bookings are not what Ola is typically brought in for.
What can Lodgify do that Ola cannot?
Lodgify covers Website builder, Channel manager, Booking engine, Unified inbox. Ola covers Car ride hailing, Auto-rickshaw booking, Bike taxis, Ola Money.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lodgify: Does Lodgify charge commission on direct bookings?

Yes on the two lower tiers. Starter and Professional take 1.9 per cent of each direct booking; the Ultimate plan removes it.

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.

Lodgify: At what point is Ultimate cheaper than Professional?

Roughly once your direct booking revenue passes about 38,000 dollars a year, at which point the 1.9 per cent fee exceeds the price difference between the plans.

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.

Lodgify: Is Lodgify a full property management system?

No. It is a website, booking engine and channel manager. Housekeeping, task management and owner accounting are largely absent.

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.

Lodgify: Can it run a hotel?

It is designed for whole-unit vacation rentals. Room-level hotel inventory, folios and night audit are not part of the product.

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