Softwr

Travel · head to head

Lodgify vs SiteMinder

Lodgify logo

Lodgify

Travel

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

From
$16/month
Rated
-
SiteMinder logo

SiteMinder

Travel

Hotel channel manager and distribution platform

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • 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.; SiteMinder quote-only pricing scaled by rooms and channels, so comparison requires a sales conversation
  • They diverge on capability: Lodgify covers Website builder, SiteMinder covers Wide channel reach.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lodgify and SiteMinder actually diverge.

Attributes where Lodgify and SiteMinder differ
AttributeLodgifySiteMinder
Starting price$16/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by property count and planquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Cloud

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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
  • Unified inbox
  • Automated messaging
  • Rental agreements
  • Multi-calendar
  • Damage deposits

Only in SiteMinder

  • Wide channel reach
  • Rate management

Both cover

  • Channel manager
  • Booking engine

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 SiteMinder
  • A manager consolidating Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com calendars to stop double bookingsnot SiteMinder
  • A rural property with weak OTA visibility that relies on repeat direct guestsnot SiteMinder
  • A host adding rental agreements and deposit collection to bookings taken off-platformnot SiteMinder

SiteMinder

  • Hotels selling across several OTAs that must not double-booknot Lodgify
  • Properties wanting direct bookings alongside OTA distributionnot Lodgify
  • Groups managing rates centrally rather than channel by channelnot 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.

SiteMinder

  • Quote-only pricing scaled by rooms and channels, so comparison requires a sales conversation
  • A channel manager only, so a property management system is still needed alongside it
  • Sync depends on the OTAs at the other end, and their API changes and outages present as your problem
  • Setup and channel mapping is more involved than the marketing suggests

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

SiteMinder

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the SiteMinder review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Lodgify if

  • You need website builder.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want unified inbox.

Choose SiteMinder if

  • You need wide channel reach.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want rate management.

Questions people ask

Is Lodgify or SiteMinder better?
Neither clearly leads. Lodgify starts at $16/month and SiteMinder at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lodgify or SiteMinder?
Lodgify starts at $16/month and SiteMinder at On request.
Does Lodgify or SiteMinder run on more platforms?
Lodgify runs on Web, iOS, Android. SiteMinder runs on Web, Cloud.
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 SiteMinder is typically brought in for.
What can Lodgify do that SiteMinder cannot?
Lodgify covers Website builder, Unified inbox, Automated messaging, Rental agreements. SiteMinder covers Wide channel reach, Rate management. Both handle Channel manager, Booking engine.

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.

SiteMinder: What does SiteMinder cost?

It quotes per property based on rooms and channels and does not publish standard rates.

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.

SiteMinder: What does a channel manager actually do?

It keeps rates and availability in step across every booking site, so a room sold on one channel is immediately closed on the others. Without it, double bookings are inevitable.

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.

SiteMinder: Is it a full property management system?

No. It handles distribution; reservations, housekeeping and billing still need a PMS.

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.

Share

Related pages

Other head to heads