Lodgify and Smoobu are two popular vacation rental software options. If you’re having a hard time choosing between the two, we’ve created this side-by-side Lodgify vs Smoobu comparison to help you decide.
We’ve looked into their pricing and customer support reviews, and an overview of their main features. We’ve also included some other alternatives to Lodgify and Guesty, if you want more options to compare.
Lodgify vs Smoobu: An Overview
Lodgify is an easy-to-use vacation rental software. Their best-known features are their channel manager and direct booking website builder. With Lodgify, you can easily create your own website where you can take direct bookings, and sync those bookings with OTAs. Read our full Lodgify review.
Smoobu is an all-in-one vacation rental software that offers many of the same features as Lodgify. They are less expensive than Lodgify, but they are also a bit less advanced. All the features are included in the price regardless of the number of properties—which is a plus for smaller property management companies who’ll get to use all of the features.
Pricing
 |  |
|---|---|
| ✅ Plans start at $32/mo | ✅ Plans start at $17.50/mo |
| Calculate your cost | Calculate your cost |
| ✅ Free Trial | ✅ Free Trial |
| 7 days | 14 days |
Winner: Smoobu
Lodgify is a more expensive option, but they do offer volume discounts (the more properties you have), and they offer a variety of plan options. They do have a cheaper plan that starts at $12/mo. The downside to this plan is that there’s an additional 1.9% booking fee and you need to pay for a whole year in advance.
Smoobu is cheaper, and they have a generous trial period of two weeks. After 14 days, you will be downgraded to their limited basic plan if you don’t decide to buy the professional one.
If you opt for a yearly subscription with Smoobu, you’ll get a 20% discount (and the price for a single property will be $17.50 instead of $22). The pricing works on a per-property basis, but if you manage more than 20 properties, you need to request a quote.
Features
| |
|---|---|
| ✅ Multi Calendar | ✅ Multi Calendar |
| View and manage the details of all bookings from one calendar | View and manage the details of all bookings from one calendar |
| ✅ Unified Inbox | ✅ Unified Inbox |
| Read and reply to messages from different channels using a unified inbox | Read and reply to messages from different channels using a unified inbox |
| ✅ Channel Manager | ✅ Channel Manager |
| Sync all your listings across multiple channels – Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia | Sync all your listings across multiple channels – Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, Trip.com, Vacation-apartments |
| ✅ Booking Website Builder | ✅ Booking Website Builder |
| Create a booking website that gathers guest information and payments directly | Create a booking website that gathers guest information and payments directly |
| ✅ Owner Portal | ✅ Owner Portal |
| Keep your property owners in the loop with access to reports | Grant portal access to owners and generate monthly owner statements |
| ✅Performance Reports | ✅Performance Reports |
| Generate and export reports on revenue, bookings, cancellations, and other entities | Generate and export reports on revenue, bookings, cancellations, and other entities |
| ✅ Accounting Features | ❌ Accounting Features |
| Keep track of income and payments, and sync with apps like Quickbooks via Zapier | No accounting features, but integrates with payment platforms (Stripe, PayPal, Sumup, and Swikly) and has custom invoice templates |
| ✅ Automation Tools | ❌ Automation Tools |
| Automate check-in procedures and guest messages | Automate guest messages only |
| ✅ Task Management | ❌ Task Management |
| Manage your team’s responsibilities and oversee task assignments | Integrates with task management tool VR Scheduler |
| ❌Digital Guest Guide | ✅Digital Guest Guide |
| No such feature | Provide guests with personalized digital guidebooks with all crucial information |
Winner: Lodgify
Both Lodgify and Smoobu have a similar set of features and they offer everything you need to manage your properties more efficiently. However, Lodgify has more advanced options like the accounting feature, automation tools, task manager, and a more robust booking website builder.
The Lodgify website builder also comes with more website templates. Compare this Lodgify website example to this Smoobu website example. But Smoobu can be a great option if you already have a website, and just want to add direct bookings (like this website, built with Webflow and Smoobu).
Compared to Lodgify, Smoobu integrates with more vacation rental tools (across several categories, including cleaning and maintenance, luggage, online check-in, smart locks, payments, and more). But Lodgify has a Zapier integration which allows you to connect with over 1,000 apps.
A feature that separates Smoobu from most vacation rental software is their digital guest guidebook. You can create your own guest guides with relevant information about the booking and property (including a map), and personalize them for different properties.
Customer Support
| |
|---|---|
| 4.3 Custom Support rating on Capterra – Email and phone | 4.6 Custom Support rating on Capterra – Email and phone |
Winner: Smoobu
Smoobu has a slightly higher rating than Lodgify, but the reports on customer support experiences are similar.
The support team members for both platforms are friendly and professional, but both software have received some bad reviews about the support reps not being knowledgeable enough to help them, or about the delayed response time.
Lodgify offers customer support 7 days a week in 5 languages, while Smoobu’s team is available 6 days a week in 7 languages, so it’s a close call in these departments as well.
Conclusion – Lodgify or Smoobu?
When comparing Smoobu vs Lodgify, they come out to be pretty comparable. While Lodgify has a few more advanced features on their ‘Ultimate’ plan and a better website builder (numerous templates), Smoobu is more affordable.
Smoobu compensates for the lack of built-in features with a long list of integrations. If you’re looking for a budget alternative to Lodgify, Smoobu can be a solid, and cost-effective solution for smaller property management companies.
Fortunately, they both offer free trials, so you can try them out without any obligation to sign up. Get started with a free Lodgify 7-day free trial, or a Smoobu 14-day free trial.
Alternatives to Lodgify and Smoobu
While Lodgify and Smoobu both offer great vacation rental management software, there are other alternatives to consider. If you’re looking for another affordable alternative to Lodgify, we recommend checking out OwnerRez. Read our review of OwnerRez vs Lodgify.
Compare vacation rental software options with our spreadsheet.
View spreadsheetAnd if you’re looking for more alternatives to compare, check out our post on Lodgify alternatives to learn about other vacation rental management software platforms.
Our top pick overall for vacation rental management software is Uplisting. They are our top pick and one of the most popular choices among property owners and managers. What makes them stand out are numerous features (and the pace at which they’re adding new ones), their product reliability, and their excellent customer support.
