Best Direct Booking Website Builders for Vacation Rentals (2026)
Ownia, Lodgify, Smoobu, Hospitable, Beds24, Hostaway and Boostly compared: what each costs for a direct booking website, and which fits your rental.
By Anthony, Founder of Ownia · · 5 min read
A direct booking website lets guests book your vacation rental without going through Airbnb or Booking.com, so you avoid their 15-18% fees and keep the guest relationship. Many tools can give you one, but they are built for very different hosts and priced in very different ways.
This guide compares the main options in 2026, with prices taken from each tool's public pricing page in October 2026, for one property, in euros. A disclosure: I am the founder of Ownia, which is one of the tools below. I have tried to describe every option fairly, including where others are a better fit than Ownia.
The Quick Comparison
| Tool | What it is | Cheapest plan with a booking website (1 property) | Booking fee | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ownia | Direct booking website builder | Free | 3.7% per booking | Included in the 3.7% |
| Beds24 | Channel manager and PMS | €16.60/month on 2 channels (+€19/month for your own domain) | None | Paid by you |
| Lodgify | Vacation rental software suite | Starter: €28/month, €23/month billed yearly | None | Paid by you |
| Smoobu | Channel manager and PMS | €29/month (Flex, + 0.9% per booking) or €31.50/month billed yearly (Prepaid) | 0.9% on Flex only | Paid by you |
| Hospitable | Guest messaging and automation platform | Professional: €59/month, €51.92/month billed yearly | None | Paid by you |
| Hostaway | PMS for professional property managers | Pricing on request | Pricing on request | Pricing on request |
| Boostly | Direct booking websites and marketing for hosts | Pricing on request | Pricing on request | Pricing on request |
What a Booking Website Costs Per Year
For the tools with public pricing, here is the yearly cost of taking direct bookings on one property, assuming €1,000 bookings paid with standard European cards (Stripe: about 1.5% + €0.25 per booking where you pay it yourself):
| Tool | €10,000 of direct bookings a year | €25,000 of direct bookings a year |
|---|---|---|
| Ownia (Free plan) | €370 | €925 |
| Beds24 | ~€350 | ~€580 |
| Lodgify Starter (yearly) | ~€430 | ~€655 |
| Smoobu Prepaid (yearly) | ~€530 | ~€760 |
| Hospitable Professional (yearly) | ~€775 | ~€1,005 |
Two things stand out:
- A subscription costs you money before your direct channel exists. In the first months, when you might receive a handful of direct bookings, a no-subscription model like Ownia's costs the least: nothing with no bookings, €185 for €5,000 of bookings.
- At higher volume, a low fixed subscription wins. Beds24 becomes cheaper than Ownia above about €9,200 of direct bookings a year, Lodgify above about €12,700, Smoobu above about €17,000, and Hospitable above about €28,600.
The Tools, One by One
Ownia
A direct booking website builder with no monthly fee for your first property. You pay 3.7% per booking, card fees included, whatever card your guest uses. Calendars sync with Airbnb and Booking.com through iCal. The booking site is automatically translated into more than 80 languages, with AI-assisted descriptions, automated guest emails, review collection, SEO settings and your own domain.
Best for: hosts with one to a few properties who want to start taking direct bookings without a fixed cost. Less suited to: large multi-platform portfolios that need an API channel manager.
Beds24
A channel manager and property management system with a booking engine included and no commission, €16.60/month for one property on two channels, plus €19/month to use your own domain for the booking page. Deep and highly configurable, which also makes setup more technical.
Best for: cost-conscious hosts who need a real channel manager and are comfortable with a detailed setup. Full comparison: Ownia vs Beds24
Lodgify
A vacation rental suite with a polished website builder and a channel manager. Its booking fee is now 0% on all plans. A booking website starts at €28/month (€23/month billed yearly), with automation and dynamic pricing on higher plans.
Best for: hosts who want an all-in-one suite with well-designed website templates. Full comparison: Ownia vs Lodgify
Smoobu
A property management system built around a channel manager, with a website builder included. €29/month plus 0.9% per booking on Flex (the fee also applies to bookings from connected channels), or €35/month (€31.50 billed yearly) with no booking fee on Prepaid.
Best for: independent hosts managing several properties across several platforms. Full comparison: Ownia vs Smoobu
Hospitable
An automation platform focused on guest messaging, with AI-drafted replies, dynamic pricing and smart lock automations. Its free plan covers platform sync and a unified inbox, but the direct booking website starts with Professional, at €59/month (€51.92/month billed yearly).
Best for: hosts whose biggest time sink is guest communication across platforms. Full comparison: Ownia vs Hospitable
Hostaway
A property management system aimed at professional property managers, with a channel manager and a direct booking website. Hostaway does not publish its prices: you get a quote after a demo.
Best for: professional managers running a portfolio of listings who want an enterprise-grade platform.
Boostly
A direct booking specialist offering booking websites alongside marketing training and coaching for hosts. Prices are not published: you book a call to get a proposal.
Best for: hosts who want hands-on help with their direct booking marketing, not just a website.
How to Choose
Ask yourself three questions:
- How much do I expect to take in direct bookings this year? If it is still small or uncertain, avoid paying a subscription for a channel that does not exist yet. If it is already large, a low fixed fee will usually cost less than a percentage.
- Do I need a channel manager? If you run several properties across several platforms with frequent last-minute bookings, choose a tool with direct API connections (Beds24, Smoobu, Lodgify, Hospitable, Hostaway). For one or two properties, iCal sync is usually enough.
- What else do I need to automate? Guest messaging points to Hospitable, an all-in-one suite to Lodgify or Smoobu, owner and team management to Hostaway or the top plans of the others.
Key Takeaways
- Every tool here can give you a direct booking website, but they are priced in two ways: a monthly subscription (Beds24, Lodgify, Smoobu, Hospitable, Hostaway) or a percentage per booking with no subscription (Ownia).
- For one property, Ownia is the cheapest option while your direct channel is small; Beds24 is the cheapest above about €9,200 of direct bookings a year.
- Card processing is included in Ownia's fee; on the other tools, you pay it to your payment provider on top.
- Hostaway and Boostly do not publish their prices.
- The right choice depends less on the price list than on what you need: a direct booking website, a channel manager, automation, or all three.
Want to start with direct bookings at no fixed cost? Create your free site with Ownia and go live today.