Guide · Booking engines
Direct booking engines for small B&Bs and holiday homes compared
The short answer
A booking engine is the part of your website where guests pick dates and pay. For a small B&B or holiday home, the main choice is between a free engine (Freetobook, with paid extras), a monthly subscription with no commission (eviivo, Beds24, Lodgify, Smoobu) and a per-booking fee (Little Hotelier Basic adds 1%, Smoobu Flex 0.9%). Most also include a channel manager that keeps your Booking.com and Airbnb calendars in step.
What a booking engine does
A booking engine shows your availability and prices on your own website, takes the booking and, usually, the payment or a deposit. Most also include, or connect to, a channel manager: when a room is booked on your site, it is closed on Booking.com and Airbnb at the same time, and the other way round. That is what stops double bookings.
You don’t need a new website to add one: most give you a “Book now” button or a small widget to place on the site you have.
The main options
Prices below are those published on each company’s own site on 18 October 2026, excluding VAT where the provider says so. If you are not registered for VAT, you will often pay it on top. Prices change often: check the pricing page before you decide.
| Engine | How it charges | What is included | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freetobook | Booking engine free, no commission on direct bookings | Booking engine; channel manager £1.50 per platform booking (min £9, max £99 a month) plus £49 per channel to connect; card payments £139 a year (£99 for a single unit) | Widely used by UK and Irish B&Bs; prices in sterling |
| eviivo | From $50 a month for a single property; $0.50 per booking only with the messaging or payments add-ons | Property system, booking engine, channel manager, app; no commission | Prices shown in US dollars |
| Little Hotelier | Priced by number of rooms (no amount published); the Basic plan adds a 1% booking fee | Channel manager, booking engine, app; payments included on Pro | Aimed at 1 to 30 rooms; 30-day trial |
| Beds24 | From €15.50 a month, depending on units; €0.55 a month per channel link | Booking engine, payments, channel manager; no commission | Very flexible, more set-up work |
| Lodgify | From $14 a month (Basic, one property only) to $68 (Ultimate), billed yearly; 0% booking fee | Website and booking widget from the Starter plan ($26) | Built for holiday rentals rather than B&Bs |
| Smoobu | One unit from €28 a month on a two-year plan (€31.50 billed yearly), +€9.60 per extra unit; or €29 a month plus 0.9% per booking | Booking website, Stripe or PayPal payments, channel manager | Built for holiday rentals; 14-day trial |
| Cloudbeds | Quote only | Channel manager and booking engine, no added commission on direct bookings | Aimed at all sizes; more features than most small B&Bs need |
| The Booking Factory | Quote only | Property system, booking engine, channel manager, payments | Aimed at small hotels and guesthouses |
| GuestDiary | No price on its home page; ask for a quote | Booking engine and channel manager; no contracts | Based in Donegal, aimed at Irish and UK B&Bs |
Card payments always cost something on top: the payment provider (Stripe, PayPal or the engine’s own) takes a small percentage of each payment.
How to choose
A few rooms and mostly direct guests? A free engine such as Freetobook is the cheapest start. You pay only for the extras you switch on, such as the channel manager or card payments.
Listed on Booking.com and Airbnb? You need a channel manager to avoid double bookings. Compare the total monthly cost with your number of platform bookings: per-booking fees suit a small B&B, a flat subscription suits a busy one.
A self-catering cottage or two? Holiday-rental tools such as Lodgify or Smoobu handle cleaning fees, minimum stays and security deposits better than B&B tools.
Already using one? Keep it. In our review of 21 Irish accommodation websites, the properties with a booking engine used Cloudbeds, SiteMinder, The Booking Factory, BookingNet, GuestDiary and Freetobook. The problem was rarely the engine: it was a website that hid the “Book” button or sent guests to a contact form.
Questions to ask before you sign up
- Is there a commission on direct bookings, a monthly fee, or both?
- What does the channel manager cost, and per channel or per booking?
- Which card payment provider does it use, and at what rate?
- Can I take a deposit rather than the full amount?
- Does the booking page work well on a phone, and in other languages?
- Can I leave easily, with my bookings and guest list?
Once it is set up, make sure the button appears on every page of your site. Our guide on what Booking.com and Airbnb cost includes a calculator to see what moving some bookings to your own site could save.
We connect the booking system you choose
Every SiteAfter makeover puts your booking button on every page. The Complete makeover sets up Freetobook with you if you have no system yet.