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Travel · head to head

Roomsy vs Smoobu

R

Roomsy

Travel

Per room hotel and hostel PMS with published prices and monthly minimums

From
Free
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

  • Only Roomsy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Roomsy every tier has a monthly floor, so a twelve room property on Essential pays $80 rather than $48 and the advertised per room rate is only real above the break-even room count.; 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: Roomsy covers Booking calendar, Smoobu covers Website builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Roomsy and Smoobu actually diverge.

Attributes where Roomsy and Smoobu differ
AttributeRoomsySmoobu
Starting priceFree€29/month
Pricing modelPer room per monthPer unit per month
Free tierYesNo

Identical on both: 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 Roomsy

  • Booking calendar
  • Online booking engine
  • Hostel bed management
  • Invoicing and reporting
  • Multi-property

Only in Smoobu

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

Both cover

  • Channel manager

What people use each for

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

Roomsy

  • A twenty five room motel wanting OTA sync and a direct booking engine on a published price with no sales callnot Smoobu
  • A hostel needing dorm bed inventory rather than room-only modellingnot Smoobu
  • An owner running a very small property who wants a free booking calendar and engine before paying anythingnot Smoobu
  • A two-property operator wanting one login and consolidated occupancy figures without enterprise pricingnot 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 Roomsy
  • An owner wanting automated check-in instructions and pre-arrival messages sent per channel without logging into each extranetnot Roomsy
  • A small manager who needs guest invoices that meet German documentation requirements without adding a separate accounting toolnot Roomsy
  • A host testing dynamic pricing through the bundled trial before deciding whether to subscribe to PriceLabs separatelynot Roomsy

Where each one falls short

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

Roomsy

  • Every tier has a monthly floor, so a twelve room property on Essential pays $80 rather than $48 and the advertised per room rate is only real above the break-even room count.
  • Channel management is not on the free or Starter tiers, so the cheapest paid plan cannot connect to Booking.com and buyers regularly select it and then have to upgrade.
  • Some OTA connections are routed through SiteMinder rather than built directly, which introduces a third party into your distribution and a second place for a sync failure to occur.
  • There is no revenue management or dynamic pricing, so rates are manual and go stale unless someone maintains seasonal rules by hand.
  • There is no native point of sale or food and beverage module, so a property with a bar or restaurant runs a separate till and reconciles revenue outside the system.

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

Roomsy

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Booking calendar
    • Reporting
    • Invoicing
  • Starter$2/month
    • $2 per room per month
    • $40 monthly minimum
    • Booking engine and core PMS
  • Essential$4/month
    • $4 per room per month
    • $80 monthly minimum
    • Two-way channel manager to major OTAs
  • Pro$6/month
    • $6 per room per month
    • $160 monthly minimum
    • Additional users and advanced reporting

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 Roomsy if

  • You need booking calendar.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want online booking engine.
Roomsy review

Choose Smoobu if

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

Questions people ask

Is Roomsy or Smoobu better?
Neither clearly leads. Roomsy starts at Free and Smoobu at €29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Roomsy or Smoobu?
Roomsy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Roomsy and €29/month for Smoobu.
Does Roomsy or Smoobu run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Roomsy for free?
Yes. Roomsy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Smoobu starts at €29/month.
What is Roomsy best used for?
Roomsy is most often used for a twenty five room motel wanting ota sync and a direct booking engine on a published price with no sales call, a hostel needing dorm bed inventory rather than room-only modelling, an owner running a very small property who wants a free booking calendar and engine before paying anything, a two-property operator wanting one login and consolidated occupancy figures without enterprise pricing. Of those, a twenty five room motel wanting ota sync and a direct booking engine on a published price with no sales call and a hostel needing dorm bed inventory rather than room-only modelling are not what Smoobu is typically brought in for.
What can Roomsy do that Smoobu cannot?
Roomsy covers Booking calendar, Online booking engine, Hostel bed management, Invoicing and reporting. Smoobu covers Website builder, Guest messaging, Unified calendar, Invoicing and e-invoicing. Both handle Channel manager.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Roomsy: What does a thirty room hotel pay?

$120 a month on Essential, which is above the $80 floor. Below twenty rooms you pay the floor instead of the per room rate.

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.

Roomsy: Which plan includes the channel manager?

Essential at $4 per room per month with an $80 minimum. Free and Starter do not include it.

Smoobu: How many properties does the entry price cover?

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

Roomsy: Is the free plan usable?

For a booking calendar, invoicing and a direct booking engine, yes. Without OTA connections most properties will outgrow it quickly.

Smoobu: Does it include dynamic pricing?

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

Roomsy: Does Roomsy take commission on bookings?

No. You pay the subscription only.

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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