Against the category
How we compare on the money questions
Santara AI takes 0% commission on channel bookings and on upsells, at every plan level and any portfolio size, and 3% commission only on direct bookings made through its booking site. This page sets that against what the five biggest platforms in short-term rental actually charge, using their published pricing pages, help documentation and independent reviews as at August 2026.
Santara AI
- No commission on channel bookings
- Yes
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- Partial
- No commission on guest upsells
- Yes
- No onboarding or setup fee
- Yes
- No annual contract or lock-in
- Yes
- Published price at every tier
- Yes
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- Yes
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
Hospitable
- No commission on channel bookings
- No
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- Yes
- No commission on guest upsells
- No
- No onboarding or setup fee
- Yes
- No annual contract or lock-in
- Yes
- Published price at every tier
- Yes
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- No
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
Hostaway
- No commission on channel bookings
- Yes
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- Yes
- No commission on guest upsells
- Yes
- No onboarding or setup fee
- No
- No annual contract or lock-in
- No
- Published price at every tier
- No
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- Partial
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
Guesty
- No commission on channel bookings
- No
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- No
- No commission on guest upsells
- Yes
- No onboarding or setup fee
- Partial
- No annual contract or lock-in
- Partial
- Published price at every tier
- No
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- Partial
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
Lodgify
- No commission on channel bookings
- No
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- No
- No commission on guest upsells
- Yes
- No onboarding or setup fee
- Yes
- No annual contract or lock-in
- Yes
- Published price at every tier
- Yes
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- Partial
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
OwnerRez
- No commission on channel bookings
- Yes
- No per-reservation or booking fee
- Yes
- No commission on guest upsells
- Yes
- No onboarding or setup fee
- Yes
- No annual contract or lock-in
- Yes
- Published price at every tier
- Yes
- Dynamic pricing without a per-property surcharge
- Partial
Why?
Guesty Lite carries a 1.9% booking fee. Lodgify takes 1.9% on direct bookings. Hospitable processes direct bookings at 1% or 4%. Santara AI takes 0% on channel bookings and upsells, at every tier; its only commission is 3% on direct bookings made through your Santara AI booking site. The rest is a subscription.
Why?
You pay per property, per month. The subscription does not change with volume, so a busy season does not raise it. Santara AI takes no per-reservation fee on channel bookings; direct bookings through its booking site carry a 3% commission.
Why?
Upsells are included in your plan. Santara AI takes 0% on upsells such as a late checkout, transfer or breakfast. Hospitable processes upsells at 10%.
Why?
There is no onboarding fee and no setup fee. Migration, property setup and staff training are included in the plan. Hostaway onboarding fees are reported from $300 to $1,000+.
Why?
Month to month, and your data exports in full on the way out. Hostaway defaults to annual contracts.
Why?
Hostaway is quote-only, and Guesty publishes Lite but quotes mid and upper tiers. Every Santara AI tier has a price on the page.
Why?
Hospitable charges roughly $15 per property per month for dynamic pricing. Ours is built in, and if you already run PriceLabs you connect it and ours stands down.
Competitor pricing is from public price pages as at August 2026 and changes often — check it before you decide. Where a vendor is quote-only we mark it as no published price, not as a worse product.
How it actually runs
Santara AI
- Proactive daily operations brief
- Yes
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- Yes
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- Yes
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- Yes
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Yes
- Owner-ready statements
- Yes
- White-label for management companies
- No
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- Yes
- Direct booking site
- Yes
Hospitable
- Proactive daily operations brief
- No
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- No
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- No
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- Partial
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Yes
- Owner-ready statements
- No
- White-label for management companies
- No
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- No
- Direct booking site
- Yes
Hostaway
- Proactive daily operations brief
- No
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- No
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- Partial
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- Yes
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Partial
- Owner-ready statements
- Yes
- White-label for management companies
- Yes
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- Partial
- Direct booking site
- Yes
Guesty
- Proactive daily operations brief
- No
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- No
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- Partial
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- Yes
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Yes
- Owner-ready statements
- Yes
- White-label for management companies
- Yes
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- Partial
- Direct booking site
- Yes
Lodgify
- Proactive daily operations brief
- No
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- No
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- No
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- No
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Partial
- Owner-ready statements
- No
- White-label for management companies
- No
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- No
- Direct booking site
- Yes
OwnerRez
- Proactive daily operations brief
- No
- One-tap WhatsApp and Zalo staff plans
- No
- Built for on-site teams, not solo desk hosts
- Partial
- Maintenance tickets with photo evidence
- Partial
- AI guest messaging with human approval
- Partial
- Owner-ready statements
- Yes
- White-label for management companies
- Partial
- Multi-currency and SE Asia operating reality
- No
- Direct booking site
- Yes
Comparison reflects each platform’s standard product as published in August 2026. Several competitors offer adjacent capability through third-party integrations rather than natively; a partial mark indicates native but limited, or available only on higher tiers. Santara AI does not offer white-label, and our own row says so.
Published pricing, August 2026
| Platform | How it’s charged | Takes a cut? |
|---|---|---|
| Santara AI | Per door, from the first. $29 for one, $25 each to 10, $18 from door 11, $12 from door 41. No onboarding fee. | Only on direct bookings — 3%; 0% on channel bookings and upsells |
| Hospitable | Free tier, then approx. $29 / $59 / $99 per month with per-property fees above the included count. Dynamic pricing add-on approx. $15 per property per month. | Yes — upsells processed at 10%; direct bookings 1% or 4% plus card processing |
| Hostaway | Quote-only. Independent reviews report roughly $25–$50 per listing per month, onboarding fees from $300 to $1,000+, annual contracts by default. | Onboarding fee and annual lock-in |
| Guesty | Lite from approx. $16 per month billed annually for 1–3 listings; mid and upper tiers quote-only. | Yes — 1.9% booking fee on Lite |
| Lodgify | From approx. $14 per month; automation gated to the approx. $42 Professional tier and above. | Yes — 1.9% on direct bookings |
| OwnerRez | Flat per-property pricing; 0% commission on channel bookings and upsells, 3% only on direct bookings made through your booking site. | Only on direct bookings — 3%; 0% on channel bookings and upsells |
Competitor pricing and feature information is summarised in good faith from publicly published pricing pages, help documentation and independent reviews as at August 2026. Plans and features change frequently — confirm current terms directly with each provider before relying on this comparison. All product and company names are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification only.
PMS vs OMS — two different jobs, and only one of them is why we exist.
FAQ
About this comparison
How was this comparison put together?
From publicly published pricing pages, help documentation and independent reviews as at August 2026, summarised in good faith. Plans change frequently — confirm current terms directly with each provider before relying on it.
What does a partial mark mean?
Natively supported but limited, or available only on higher tiers. It does not mean the capability is reachable through a third-party integration.
Do you take a commission on guest upsells?
No. 0% commission on upsells. Late checkout, transfers, breakfast — upsells themselves are included in your plan.
Why publish reasons to buy a competitor?
Because they are true. If 60+ channel connections or full trust accounting is your priority today, another platform is the better buy and we would rather say so.
Do you replace my channel manager?
Both, yes. Santara AI holds your properties, rooms, rates, availability and reservations itself, and it is the channel layer too: 54 sales channels connect and sync here — Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, Traveloka, Expedia and the rest — all from inside the app. There is no second channel manager to keep paying for, and migration off your current platform is free.
Get your next morning back.
0% commission on channel bookings and upsells. No annual contract — leave any month.