Smoobu and Lodgify are the two names independent hosts genuinely weigh against each other. Unlike a Smoobu versus Guesty comparison, where the size difference decides it for you, these two overlap enough that the choice is real. Both handle channels. Both include a booking website. Both are priced for someone running a few units rather than a few hundred.
The decision comes down to one question: is a direct-booking website something you will actually build, or something you like the idea of?
Smoobu: cheapest capable all-in-one
Smoobu is a German company, founded in 2014 and owned by the marketplace HomeToGo since 2021. It is consistently named as the cheapest genuinely capable channel manager, and it is the tool hosts pick specifically to avoid enterprise pricing. One subscription bundles the channel manager, calendar, a booking website with a direct engine through Stripe or PayPal, a digital guest guide, scheduled messaging, and invoicing.
Pricing is per unit, with a 14-day trial and no permanent free plan. The choice that matters is between a lower base plan that adds roughly a 0.9% booking fee and a slightly higher commission-free plan. Hosts with higher nightly rates usually take the commission-free option and come out ahead. Extra units cost less than the first.
The honest caveat is sync depth. Airbnb and Booking.com get deep, real-time integration. Vrbo, Google and HomeToGo connect over iCal, which can lag from minutes to a couple of hours and is behind most of the double-booking scares hosts report. Smoobu also syncs availability and rates but not listing content, so photos and descriptions still live in each OTA’s dashboard.
Lodgify: the direct-booking engine
Lodgify began in Barcelona in 2012 as a website builder, and that is still where it wins. You get 20+ branded templates, a free custom domain with SSL, integrated payments, and a booking widget you can embed in an existing WordPress or Squarespace site. Smoobu gives you a booking site; Lodgify gives you a website you would actually be happy to send a guest to.
The pricing catch is bigger than Smoobu’s. Plans are per property and month-to-month, but the Basic and Starter tiers add roughly a 1.9% fee on bookings processed through Lodgify, meaning your direct and manual bookings rather than your OTA reservations. Only Professional and Ultimate remove it. The uncomfortable part is the incentive: the fee scales with the exact channel you bought the tool to grow.
Beyond price, hosts flag thin built-in accounting, no native dynamic pricing, and channel-sync hiccups of its own.
Side by side
| Smoobu | Lodgify | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Cheapest capable all-in-one | Branded direct-booking website |
| Origin | Germany, 2014, HomeToGo-owned | Barcelona, 2012, website builder |
| Pricing | Per unit, cheaper per extra unit | Per property, month to month |
| Percentage fee | ~0.9% on base, none on commission-free | ~1.9% on Basic and Starter |
| Removing the fee | Modest step up | Requires Professional tier |
| Booking website | Included, functional | Included, genuinely strong |
| Deep API sync | Airbnb, Booking.com | Airbnb, Booking.com |
| Weak spots | Vrbo, Google, HomeToGo over iCal | Accounting, dynamic pricing, sync |
| Guest messaging | OTA inbox and email | OTA inbox and email |
How to decide
Pick Smoobu if most of your bookings come from Airbnb and Booking.com, you want your costs predictable, and a direct-booking site is a someday project. You will spend less and the feature gap will not bother you.
Pick Lodgify if you have a concrete plan to drive direct bookings, meaning you will actually point a domain at it, run some marketing, and take payments yourself. Budget for the Professional tier from the start, because the 1.9% fee on the cheaper tiers quietly cancels much of what direct booking saves you.
One honest note: if you cannot yet say how guests would find your direct-booking site, that is a marketing problem, and buying a better website builder does not solve it. Start with Smoobu, prove the demand, and move later if it materializes.
What neither one fixes
Look at the last row of that table again. Whichever you pick, the guest messaging both tools automate goes out over the Airbnb inbox or email.
This is the gap hosts complain about most, and it has nothing to do with which of these two you chose. Guests do not open the Airbnb app, frequently have notifications off, and skim past email. The forums are full of hosts who sent careful check-in instructions through the platform and still got a call at the door.
Measured WhatsApp read rates run around 60 to 70%, roughly three times a typical email open rate, and guests reply in a thread they already use all day. Notify My Guest connects to both Smoobu and Lodgify, and turns every confirmed booking into a personalized WhatsApp welcome from your own number, then covers every message after. If a guest’s number is missing its country code it fixes it, and if the guest is not on WhatsApp it tells you.
The bottom line
Smoobu for value and simplicity. Lodgify if direct bookings are a real strategy and you go straight to Professional. Then add WhatsApp on top, because neither one puts your messages where guests read them.
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