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Travel · head to head

Skyscanner vs TicketingHub

Skyscanner logo

Skyscanner

Travel

Flight, hotel and car hire metasearch engine that compares prices across booking sites and earns referral fees rather than selling the ticket itself

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
TicketingHub logo

TicketingHub

Travel

Ticketing and booking for tours and attractions with no subscription, only a percentage per booking

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Skyscanner has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Skyscanner because Skyscanner is not the merchant of record for most bookings, customer service, cancellations and fare accuracy responsibility sit with whichever partner site the traveller is referred to, not with Skyscanner itself.; TicketingHub the 3 per cent applies to cash and walk-up sales recorded in the system, not only to online bookings, which operators frequently miss and which makes on-site revenue more expensive than expected.
  • They diverge on capability: Skyscanner covers Flight price comparison, TicketingHub covers No monthly fee.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Skyscanner and TicketingHub actually diverge.

Attributes where Skyscanner and TicketingHub differ
AttributeSkyscannerTicketingHub
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree for travellers, referral fees from booking partnersPer booking, 3 per cent of booking value
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb, iOS, 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 Skyscanner

  • Flight price comparison
  • Flexible date and destination search
  • Hotel and car hire comparison
  • Price alerts
  • Direct booking for select flights
  • Multi-city and layover search

Only in TicketingHub

  • No monthly fee
  • Ticket scanning
  • Walk-up sales
  • Booking widget
  • OTA connections
  • Session and capacity management
  • Reporting
  • Multi-currency and language

What people use each for

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

Skyscanner

  • A traveller wanting to compare flight prices across many airlines and agents quickly before deciding where to booknot TicketingHub
  • Someone with flexible travel dates wanting to browse the cheapest dates or destinations without a fixed itinerarynot TicketingHub
  • A traveller wanting hotel or car hire price comparison across multiple sites in one searchnot TicketingHub
  • Someone who wants a price alert on a specific route to book when the fare drops, before committingnot TicketingHub

TicketingHub

  • A seasonal walking tour company that closes for four winter months and refuses to pay a subscription through themnot Skyscanner
  • A small attraction wanting door scanning and online booking in one systemnot Skyscanner
  • A transport operator selling timed boarding tickets with capacity limitsnot Skyscanner
  • A new experience business unwilling to commit to fixed software cost before it has volumenot Skyscanner

Where each one falls short

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

Skyscanner

  • Because Skyscanner is not the merchant of record for most bookings, customer service, cancellations and fare accuracy responsibility sit with whichever partner site the traveller is referred to, not with Skyscanner itself.
  • Prices shown in comparison results can occasionally be inaccurate or unavailable by the time the traveller reaches the partner site, since prices are pulled from partner feeds that update on their own schedule.
  • Booking through a smaller, unfamiliar third-party travel agent surfaced in comparison results carries more risk around customer service quality and fare rules than booking directly with an airline or a well-known agency.
  • The referral fee business model can create an incentive to surface partners paying higher commission prominently, and Skyscanner does not publish which listed results are influenced by commission versus pure price ranking.
  • The newer direct booking option covers only some flights, so most bookings still route the traveller through a third-party partner site, meaning the core experience remains a redirect rather than a self-contained transaction.

TicketingHub

  • The 3 per cent applies to cash and walk-up sales recorded in the system, not only to online bookings, which operators frequently miss and which makes on-site revenue more expensive than expected.
  • At meaningful volume the model is expensive: a hundred thousand pounds of ticket revenue costs three thousand pounds a year, well above what a subscription platform with a lower booking fee would charge.
  • The 3 per cent excludes card processing, so the total take on each ticket is materially higher than the headline rate implies.
  • Enterprise discounts exist but are negotiated privately, so the published price is not the price for anyone with scale and there is no way to benchmark what a good deal looks like.
  • The product is a ticketing engine rather than an operations platform, with limited resource scheduling, customer relationship tooling and reseller management compared with the larger competitors.

Pricing, plan by plan

Skyscanner

Free
  • SkyscannerFree
    • Free to search and compare for travellers, no subscription or comparison fee charged
    • Revenue comes from referral or affiliate fees paid by airlines, agents and hotel sites on completed bookings
    • Skyscanner does not hold the payment or booking relationship for most results, the partner site does

TicketingHub

On request
  • Standard$undefined/month
    • No monthly fee and no setup fee
    • 3% taken on every successful booking
    • Applies to website, OTA, card, cash and walk-up sales

Which should you pick?

Choose Skyscanner if

  • You need flight price comparison.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want flexible date and destination search.
Skyscanner review

Choose TicketingHub if

  • You need no monthly fee.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want ticket scanning.
TicketingHub review

Questions people ask

Is Skyscanner or TicketingHub better?
Neither clearly leads. Skyscanner starts at Free and TicketingHub at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Skyscanner or TicketingHub?
Skyscanner has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Skyscanner and On request for TicketingHub.
Does Skyscanner or TicketingHub run on more platforms?
Skyscanner runs on iOS, Android, Web. TicketingHub runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Skyscanner for free?
Yes. Skyscanner has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. TicketingHub starts at On request.
What is Skyscanner best used for?
Skyscanner is most often used for a traveller wanting to compare flight prices across many airlines and agents quickly before deciding where to book, someone with flexible travel dates wanting to browse the cheapest dates or destinations without a fixed itinerary, a traveller wanting hotel or car hire price comparison across multiple sites in one search, someone who wants a price alert on a specific route to book when the fare drops, before committing. Of those, a traveller wanting to compare flight prices across many airlines and agents quickly before deciding where to book and someone with flexible travel dates wanting to browse the cheapest dates or destinations without a fixed itinerary are not what TicketingHub is typically brought in for.
What can Skyscanner do that TicketingHub cannot?
Skyscanner covers Flight price comparison, Flexible date and destination search, Hotel and car hire comparison, Price alerts. TicketingHub covers No monthly fee, Ticket scanning, Walk-up sales, Booking widget.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Skyscanner: Does Skyscanner sell the ticket or hotel room?

For most results, no. It compares prices and refers the traveller to the airline, agent or hotel site to complete the actual booking and payment; it has recently added direct booking for some flights only.

TicketingHub: What does TicketingHub cost?

There is no subscription. It takes 3 per cent of every successful booking, plus your card processing separately.

Skyscanner: How does Skyscanner make money if it is free to use?

It earns referral or affiliate fees from airlines, travel agents and hotel booking sites when a comparison click leads to a completed booking on their site.

TicketingHub: Does the 3 per cent apply to cash sales?

Yes. It applies across the board, including cash and in-person walk-up sales entered into the system, which is the detail most operators overlook.

Skyscanner: Is Skyscanner the same kind of company as Booking.com or Expedia?

No. Those are merchants of record that process payment and hold the booking directly, earning commission or package margin. Skyscanner is a metasearch comparison layer that mostly refers travellers elsewhere to book.

TicketingHub: At what volume does a subscription platform become cheaper?

Roughly once ticket revenue passes about fifty thousand pounds a year, where 3 per cent begins to exceed a typical monthly subscription plus a lower booking fee.

TicketingHub: Can I negotiate the rate?

Yes for high volume. Enterprise rates are available but are not published, so you will need to ask directly.

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