Smoobu is one of the more affordable vacation rental management software platforms on the market. While it’s a good option for many short-term rental hosts and property managers, it may not be the best fit for every business. In this post, we’re going over the best Smoobu alternatives, and how they compare.
Whether you’re looking for different features, pricing, or customer support, here’s a list of Smoobu competitors that might be a better fit for your vacation rental business.
There are many, many more vacation rental management software platforms than this, but these are some of the most popular on the market.
Compare vacation rental software options with our spreadsheet.
View spreadsheetUplisting vs Smoobu
Uplisting is a premium, comprehensive vacation rental management platform. They are quickly growing in popularity due to their focus on usability, reliability, and excellent customer support. They’re our top pick overall if you’re looking for the best vacation rental management software.
- Higher Price – Uplisting comes with a premium price tag, and starts at $100/mo for up to 5 properties.
- Better Customer Service – Uplisting has virtually no negative reviews. They are committed to making their customers happy, and they’re responsive to feedback (which they use to inform their frequent new feature releases).
- Limited Website Builder – Uplisting just has 1 template, and it’s not customizable. That said, their direct booking website template is clean, modern, and optimized for bookings.
Visit Uplisting.io to learn more.
OwnerRez vs Smoobu
OwnerRez is a robust platform built for property managers. If you have multiple properties to manage, OwnerRez can offer great value for the price, and it just costs a tad bit more than Smoobu’s minimum pricing.
- Flexible Pricing – OwnerRez has flexible pricing (only pay for the features you want). Depending on the features you want, you can get better value for the price compared to Smoobu, especially if you have a large number of properties to manage.
- Better Customer Support – The customer support from OwnerRez is outstanding. It’s one of the reasons they’ve been able to grow such a committed, satisfied user base.
- Similar Property Management Features – At similar price ranges, OwnerRez and Smoobu have very similar features – Property Management, guest automation, and Channel Management, etc. OwnerRez also has a Quickbooks Accounting Integration, and a robust Owner Commission Statements and Payouts feature.
Visit OwnerRez.com to learn more, or read our OwnerRez review.
iGMS vs Smoobu
iGMS is a comprehensive vacation rental management software platform. They have very similar features to Smoobu, and fairly garner the same reputation in reviews. Smoobu’s minimum pricing is a bit higher, though iGMS does have a Flexible pricing plan, where you just pay $1/booking.
- Flexible Pricing – iGMS starts at $20/property/mo. But they also have a flexible entry-level pricing option.
- Similar Feature Set – Smoobu and iGMS both have similar features.
- Better Customer Support – iGMS tends to score highly in online reviews when it comes to customer support.
Visit iGMS.com to learn more.
Lodgify vs Smoobu
Lodgify is a popular property management software known for its easy-to-use channel manager and direct booking website builder. While Smoobu and Lodgify share many of the same features, Smoobu tends to be less advanced.
- Similar (but higher) pricing – Lodgify plans start at $32/month with a free 7 day trial.
- More advanced features – Some of the more advanced features (like automation and accounting) offered by Lodgify aren’t available on the Smoobu platform.
- No Digital Guest Guide – Smoobu has a feature that allows you to create personalized digital guidebooks for your guests with the information they need for their stay, while Lodgify doesn’t.
Visit Lodgify.com to learn more and check out a comprehensive side-by-side Lodgify vs Smoobu comparison.
Hosthub vs Smoobu
Hosthub (formerly Syncbnb) has one of the best vacation rental channel management features. They’ve integrated with 200+ channels, by far the most of any short-term rental management software. But their website builder and direct booking engine require a setup fee.
- Similar Price Range – Hosthub starts at $15/property/mo. But the website builder and direct booking engine are add-on features that require a setup fee.
- Better Channel Management/Calendar Sync – Has real-time integration with 200+ channels. If what you’re mostly looking for is a way to keep your Airbnb, Vrbo, and other channels perfectly synced (and avoid double bookings), then Hosthub might be perfect for you.
- Fewer Features – Smoobu has a better website builder and booking widget features than Hosthub, which you can get as add-ons.
Visit Hosthub.com to learn more.
Tokeet vs Smoobu
Tokeet is one of the more affordable vacation rental management softwares on the market, matching Smoobu’s price range. Though on the cheaper end, they have managed to get our attention with their great customizable website builder.
- Similar Price Range – Tokeet’s Owner Plan starts at $20/listing/mo, and drops to $6.50/listing/mo at 10 properties.
- Great Website Builder Feature – Tokeet is one of our personal picks for having one of the best website builders.
- Worse Customer Support – While Smoobu has their own fair share of negative reviews, Tokeet tends to struggle a bit when it comes to customer service. Tokeet has plenty of positive reviews, but there are enough negative ones to make the trend hard to ignore.
Visit Tokeet.com to learn more. We’ve also put together an exhaustive overview of Tokeet.
Hospitable vs Smoobu
Hospitable (formerly Smartbnb) was built for guest messaging automation, and they do an excellent job at it. They’ve recently added several features like direct bookings and task management, making them a viable option if you’re looking for a replacement for Smoobu.
- Almost Similar Pricing – Hospitable starts at $40/mo for 2 properties.
- Newer Features – Hospitable has excellent automation and channel management features, but some of their newer features are still working out the kinks.
Visit Hospitable.com to learn more.
Hostaway vs Smoobu
Hostaway offers more advanced features and integrations than Smoobu, and might be a better fit if you’re managing lots of properties. Their support and onboarding are personalized, so to get started, you’ll need to request a demo and get customized pricing.
- Higher price – Hostaway pricing plans are customized and start at $100/mo.
- Better customer support – Hostaway has glowing reviews for their customer support and onboarding process.
- No free trial – They don’t offer a free trial like Smoobu, and instead you’ll need to request a demo and go through a personalized onboarding process.
Visit Hostaway.com to learn more.
Guesty vs Smoobu
Guesty is a full-service software solution for larger, established vacation rental property management companies. In 2021, Guesty acquired Your Porter App and turned it into Guesty for Hosts, which is a more affordable option for hosts with up to 3 properties.
- Higher price – Guesty is one of the more expensive vacation rental software platforms on the market. Guesty pricing plans are customized and require a quote.
- Worse customer support – Both Smoobu and Guesty have their fair share of negative reviews that include complaints of poor customer support experiences. But Guesty scores even lower in this area.
- No free trial – Guesty doesn’t offer a free trial like Smoobu, and instead you’ll need to request a demo and go through a personalized onboarding process. Unless you have 1-3 properties, in which case you can sign up for Guesty for Hosts (formerly Your Porter App).
Visit Guesty.com to learn more. Or visit Guesty for Hosts, if you manage 1-3 properties.
Other Alternatives
Aside from these platforms, there are many, many more options you could look into. Here are a few that almost made our list, and are worth a look if you want to compare more options.
- Hostfully – Hostfully is comparable to many of the options on our list, with a comprehensive feature set including channel management, direct bookings, and guest messaging automation. They don’t offer a free trial, but you can request a demo. Their $400 setup fee is waived with an annual subscription. Use code EGNTNJ494 for $100 off your Hostfully subscription.
- Lodgix – If you’re familiar with WordPress development, Lodgix is an option that might be a good fit for you.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of more Smoobu alternatives: Rentals United, Streamline VRS, Cloudbeds, Kigo, LiveRez, Escapia, Avantio, Reservation Key, Barefoot, Bookerville, ResNexus, Host Tools, Hometime, Eviivo, Ciirus, Your Rentals, Booking Sync, MyVR, Booking Automation, Bookster, Fantastic Stay (Vreasy), Hostify, and literally hundreds more.
Other Website Builders
If you’re just looking for a way to create a website for your vacation rental (and you don’t need direct bookings or vacation rental property management software), you can use a more general website builder like Squarespace or Wix.
Check out our posts on the best vacation rental website builders or how to build a direct booking website for more ideas on creating a website for your short-term rental business.
Summary & Recommendations
Our most often recommended Smoobu alternatives are Uplisting and OwnerRez.
For more vacation rental software recommendations, check out our review of the best property management software platforms, as well as our software comparison spreadsheet.
