7 Best Hostaway Alternatives to Know in 2026

Are you wondering whether Hostaway is the right property management system (PMS) for your vacation rental (VR) business? Launched in 2015, Hostaway is a vacation rental PMS designed to help short-term rental (STR) managers centralize channel distribution, guest communication, task automation, booking management, and payment processing. 

Hostaway’s large marketplace of 300+ integrations – spanning pricing tools, accounting software, cleaning management, and smart devices – makes it a good option for professional operators seeking to build a customized tech stack with third-party tools and tech-heavy automation.

However, that does not mean Hostaway is the right solution for every operator. Some VR managers have found their margins impacted by the platform’s payment costs – including a 1% Application Fee (applied on top of standard processing charges) and 1.8% Booking Engine Fee (charged to guests on direct bookings). Other short-term let businesses using Hostaway may tire of having to manage certain content updates manually on major channel extranets (e.g., Booking.com, Expedia) and end up seeking alternatives with deeper OTA automation.  

If these or other factors are currently holding your business back, we’ve put together this guide to help you find a Hostaway alternative that may offer deeper OTA connectivity, broader payment flexibility, and more predictable cost control.

This guide compares the leading Hostaway alternatives for 2026 through an operations-focused framework. It evaluates each option against key criteria, including: 

Whether you’re an independent vacation rental host, a growing multi-property manager, or a PMC overseeing hundreds of units, the guide will help you identify which platform best aligns with your operational requirements and growth stage.

eviivo is an all-in-one PMS used by over 28,000 vacation rentals, hotels and accommodations worldwide. It is recognized for scaling operations with AI and automation, providing deep OTA synchronization and instant reconciliation, supporting trust-accounting automation natively, and reducing reliance on third-party tools. 

Suitable for all sizes of STR businesses – from independent hosts to large PMCs managing hundreds of listings – eviivo Suite™ consolidates the following into one platform:

One operational difference between eviivo and Hostaway lies in the depth of OTA listing-content synchronization. While Hostaway syncs content with Airbnb and Vrbo, it doesn’t support full listing synchronization with other key channels such as Booking.com and Expedia. 

By contrast, eviivo Channel Manager maintains a comprehensive, full-content synchronization across major OTAs, including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Priceline, Google Vacation Rentals, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Agoda and Homes & Villas by Marriott. This means property managers using eviivo can centrally distribute a full set of listing data, including:

For PMCs distributing across multiple OTAs for tens or hundreds of properties, eviivo’s “update once, distribute everywhere” model reduces recurring extranet work, lowers manual workload, and helps prevent listing inconsistencies from compounding as portfolios grow.

eviivo also gives operators more methods to handle payments. eviivo Suite’s Payment Manager connects natively with 50+ payment service providers (PSPs) – including Stripe, PayPal, Worldline, Clover, Worldpay, and Fiserv. By contrast, Hostaway currently offers just two integrated payment processors: Stripe and Braintree. PMCs and STR hosts focused on increasing margins may benefit from the greater negotiating leverage and broader payment flexibility that eviivo offers, which can help reduce transaction costs and cater to a wider range of guest payment preferences.

For operators processing high booking values, Hostaway’s percentage-based charges – namely, the 1% Application Fee and 1.8% Booking Engine Fee – can quickly erode net revenue and margins. In contrast, eviivo applies a flat $0.50 fee per confirmed booking (where optional messaging and/or payment services are used), providing a predictable cost structure that preserves margins as booking values increase. For example, on a $1,000 direct booking:

eviivo’s Owner Manager supports PMCs managing numerous monthly owner statements and payouts with automated calculation and application of management fees, OTA commissions, card fees and pass-through costs, including their instant recalculation whenever a booking value changes. The platform’s ability to bulk generate statements – with one-click approvals and a secure owner portal for easy distribution – enables transparent, easy owner reporting. Together, with full support for trust accounting and cash accounting, eviivo helps PMCs simplify month-ends by keeping manual workloads down with accounting automation as portfolios grow. 

For STR operators and PMCs seeking stronger centralized control and automation as they scale, eviivo stands out through its: 

Guesty is a widely-used cloud-based vacation rental PMS with customers across 100+ countries. It is often favored by enterprise-level STR operators managing 1,000+ listings. Guesty helps streamline daily operations by integrating features such as channel management, guest messaging, automation workflows, and payment processing.

While Hostaway offers 32+ native channel connections, Guesty integrates with dedicated channel managers (e.g., Rentals United and SiteMinder) to extend distribution reach to 60+ additional channels. This gives PMCs that operate globally the option to expand their online exposure, including to niche and regional marketplaces. However, Guesty’s wider channel coverage may not suit other STR operators, as listing on many OTAs can increase operational complexity with diminishing returns to scale.

If your VR company wants to build and maintain a customized tech stack, both Hostaway and Guesty offer partner marketplaces that should cover your operational needs. Both advertise 200+ connections to third-party tools, covering: 

However, if your goal is to reduce overall tech costs and work within one streamlined platform, you may prefer a more comprehensive all-in-one PMS. Similarly, Guesty’s higher subscription price point versus Hostaway – on top of its comparable 1% Payment Gateway Fee on each booking – might be less suited to cost-conscious small to mid-sized STR businesses.

Overall, PMCs with thousands of listings, seeking broad distribution and advanced functionality, may find Guesty a good Hostaway alternative for reducing manual workloads. However, its higher price point may not suit smaller operations with fewer properties.

Hostfully is a cloud-based vacation rental PMS that offers core tools for daily operations, combining features such as a direct booking site, guest messaging inbox, multi-unit calendar, reporting, and channel management into one platform. The PMS processes over 96,000 bookings per month.

Hostfully supports property managers struggling to keep on top of guest messages across OTA extranets. It does this by connecting various channels to a unified inbox, from which its InboxAI feature generates multilingual reply suggestions using content from property listings and guidebooks. 

This AI-powered inbox helps property managers streamline guest communications, manage leads and reservations centrally, and coordinate more efficiently across teams.

Hostfully also offers proprietary guidebooks, whereas STR managers may need to use a third-party integration to achieve the same functionality with Hostaway. Hostfully’s digital guidebooks help to package property instructions, local tips, and travel itineraries that guests can access via PDF, QR code, or web link – again streamlining guest communications by pre-empting common queries. 

STR businesses who want to maximize online visibility beyond Hostaway’s connectivity can expand reach via Hostfully’s iCal support and third-party channel manager integrations, while others may prefer a PMS with a wider range of direct automated channel connections.

For VR businesses wanting to reduce in-stay guest communications without needing additional integrations or tools, Hostfully may serve as a strong solution.

Lodgify is a vacation rental PMS built for independent hosts and small-sized rental managers that usually supports portfolios of up to 30 units. 

Used in more than 170 countries, Lodgify positions itself as an accessible option that combines a channel manager, direct booking engine, reservation system, automation tools, and reporting within a single platform.

Vacation rental hosts hoping to use a pre-existing domain and undergo extensive website customization may find Lodgify better suited to their needs than Hostaway. Though Hostaway provides a website builder and booking engine, Lodgify claims that it offers fewer templates and customization options and doesn’t enable the use of custom domain names. 

In contrast, Lodgify’s website builder has customizable templates, enabling STR hosts to create their own direct booking website under a custom domain with pages optimized for search engines. Where hosts have an existing website (for example, using Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress), Lodgify offers integrations and an embeddable booking widget for guests to book. 

Lodgify also supports automated guest registration for markets where compliance reporting is mandatory (e,g,. Spain, Italy, France, Portugal) helping property managers collect guest data at check-in and submit it to local authorities. Combined with features such as property owner statements for multi-property managers, this gives smaller operators useful operational support for compliance and reporting as their portfolios grow, without requiring a more complex enterprise system.

Hospitable is a vacation rental PMS founded in 2016 that supports over 19,000 properties globally. It combines channel management, guest communication, dynamic pricing, direct booking tools, and operational automation in one place.

Hospitable is primarily designed for smaller operators and independent hosts who wish to automate more of their daily tasks, but who might find Hostaway’s advanced functionality more than they need. 

For example, if you’re aiming to simplify guest messaging, you can set up Hospitable’s automated guest replies (that can be sent without manual improvement) and sentiment analysis, which detects issues in guest messages and signals where manual intervention may be needed. Hospitable uses AI to answer guest inquiries in the host’s preferred tone, helping property managers maintain fast response times and support performance metrics such as Airbnb Superhost status without constant oversight.

For growth-minded STR operators and PMCs, both Hospitable and Hostaway provide a useful foundation for owner reporting and scalable financial operations, with features such as: 

However, differences emerge over owner payouts: Hospitable can transfer funds directly to property owners’ bank accounts, whereas it claims Hostaway focuses on reporting and does not natively execute payouts. If you’re looking to submit owner payouts without needing additional tools, you may find Hospitable’s tools save you more time.

Smoobu, founded in 2014, supports 70,000 vacation rentals listings that are primarily based in Europe. 

Designed for independent hosts and smaller STR operators, Smoobu’s PMS brings channel management, a booking engine, website builder, guest communication, dynamic pricing together into one system.

Smoobu is geared toward smaller hosts and lean STR teams that want simple day-to-day operations without a heavy setup burden. Its core features include:

Together, these features make Smoobu a practical fit for single-property hosts and smaller portfolios seeking reliable core automation and collaboration without the complexity of a more enterprise-oriented platform. If additional functionality is needed, Smoobu’s 40+ integrations extend workflows into payments, online check-in, cleaning and maintenance, smart home tools, and guest experience.

While Hostaway also provides a website builder, it does not offer the ability to configure a custom domain directly within the platform. Smaller independent hosts who wish to manage domain configuration within their PMS may prefer Smoobu’s more self-contained, accessible direct website tooling.

The platform also centralizes distribution through a multi-property calendar that lets hosts manage availability, base rates, fees, and price adjustments from one interface. Its channel manager connects to 100+ booking channels, including Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, Agoda, and Trip.com, using a mix of two-way API and iCal integrations (depending on the channel). Combined with the aforementioned booking engine, which shares live availability for direct reservations, this setup gives smaller property managers broad distribution and reliable calendar control – without the heavy configuration burden of more complex systems.

Founded in 2009OwnerRez is a vacation rental management platform that combines core operations, channel distribution, guest communication, CRM, direct-booking tools, and financial workflows in one system.

OwnerRez is built to fit both individual properties and portfolios of various sizes, helping operators keep bookings and guest interactions organized as they scale.

OwnerRez’s direct booking functionality makes it particularly relevant for property managers who place a high value on branding, website ownership, and direct-channel customization. Operators can choose between: 

To handle direct booking payments, OwnerRez integrates with 20+ credit card processors and allows PMCs to configure distinct payment methods for different properties.

OwnerRez’s property management module also supports STR portfolios by following a trust and escrow accounting model. It collects guest payments in a separate escrow account and generates owner and property manager payout statements with commission calculations, expense recording, and receipt attachments for reimbursable costs. 

In terms of platform integrations, larger PMCs or tech-heavy teams may find Hostaway’s broader ecosystem of 300+ integrations provides the flexibility they need. However, operators who would prefer to rely on core PMS functionality rather than manage a wide range of third-party connections may find OwnerRez’s smaller pool of 100+ integrations sufficient.

Each platform covered in this guide addresses a distinct set of operational priorities – from increasing booking margins and broad channel distribution to accessing entry-level direct booking tools. The right Hostaway alternative for you depends on where the gaps in your current setup are costing you most:

For STR managers and PMCs seeking stronger OTA automation and reconciliation, low-cost payments and native trust accounting, eviivo provides a scalable alternative to Hostaway that is designed to reduce extranet dependency, streamline operations, and support portfolio growth. It combines:

In integrating these features, eviivo centralizes core operations while helping vacation rental businesses reduce manual workload and protect margin.

Is a more consolidated all-in-one setup your priority? Then book a demo of eviivo today.

All information in this article is accurate at the time of publication and is based on publicly available sources and user feedback.