Lodgify, AvaiBook and Smoobu are full channel managers, built for hosts who run many properties across many platforms. Amplistay has a different shape: your own booking page first, with your bookings gathered around it. Here is a straight comparison, including the places where we are weaker.
The short version
- Amplistay fits a host with one to a handful of properties who wants their own page, direct bookings, and a way to sell extensions to guests who are already booked, with a channel manager built in for Airbnb and Booking.com (set your prices once and they apply everywhere), every booking in one place, and the rental agreement and online check-in handled in the simplest way. Setting it up is free, and going live is a single plan of $19 / €19 per month per website, tax included, with no commission.
- Lodgify is the closest match if your priority is a polished website plus direct bookings, with a real channel manager behind it.
- AvaiBook is the safe pick in Spain if you need invoicing and a full channel manager today.
- Smoobu is the lean all-rounder: channel manager, booking system and website builder at a fair price per property.
Side by side
| Amplistay | Lodgify | AvaiBook | Smoobu | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | ||||
| 1 property | $19/motax included, free until you go live | $16–26/moStarter plan | €40/mono website | €29–35/mo |
| Extra property | $9/mo | Rises per property | Rises per unit | Rises per property |
| Website with your domain | Included | Included | +€17/mo | Included |
| Commission on direct bookings | 0%only Stripe's fee | 1.9%0% on Ultimate | 2% | 0.9%0% on Prepaid |
| Payment methods |
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| Features | ||||
| Direct bookings with online payment | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Website not tied to its booking engine | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Extend a stay | ✓ | Extras only | Extras only | Extras only |
| Channel manager (Airbnb, Booking.com…) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Online check-in and guest registration | ✓with SES Hospedajes (Spain) | ✓Ultimate plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Invoicing | Coming soon | ✓Ultimate plan | ✓ | ✓ |
Approximate prices. Card and payment processing fees (Stripe or similar) are charged separately with every option.
What Amplistay does differently
Free until you go live, then no commission. Setting up and trying everything is free with no time limit: the website, the booking page, extensions, the guide, the agreement and guest registration. You only pay when you switch it on, $19 / €19 per month per website, tax included, with everything in it (connecting Airbnb and Booking.com included), and Amplistay takes no percentage of your bookings.
The channel manager is part of it, not another tool to maintain. Lodgify, AvaiBook and Smoobu are channel managers first, with a website added on. Amplistay starts from your own page and includes the channel manager for Airbnb and Booking.com (and more on request). You connect each one yourself from the dashboard in a few clicks: no calls, no extra accounts. Airbnb only allows one channel manager per account, so connecting it to Amplistay disconnects the previous one there.
Your page comes first. Building your page takes about 10 minutes with no technical knowledge, and it is free to build and preview. You decide later how to publish it and how to get paid.
Extensions are a core feature, not an add-on. A guest who is already staying can open your link, pick an extra night, an early check-in or a late check-out, and pay. Availability is checked against your calendar, and it works whichever platform the original booking came from. The other tools sell extras too, but as general-purpose items rather than as a flow built around extending an existing stay.
Your website isn't tied to a booking engine. You choose how guests pay: only a contact form, Stripe, the software you already use (like the AvaiBook widget), or your own payment gateway. A website doesn't have to take bookings at all. The website builders of the other three are built around their own booking engines.
Lower payment fees with Redsys (Spain). If you have a Redsys terminal (TPV) with your bank, guests still book on your Amplistay page, with your calendar, availability and prices, but the money goes through your own terminal. Stripe charges a percentage plus a fixed fee on every card payment, while a bank terminal's rate is negotiated with your bank and can be far lower, close to zero on many cards. It works in euros, and Amplistay takes no commission on those payments.
Online contract and check-in, simple for you and for your guests. Everything is set up on a single screen: a few short fields for the house guide (wifi, directions, house rules…), paste your rental agreement, and switch on guest registration. In Spain, you enter your SES Hospedajes details once and test the connection on the spot. It's just as simple for guests: every booking has its own "Your stay" page, with no app and no sign-up, showing their dates and the house guide. From their phone they sign the agreement and send one link to their group; each person fills in their own entry and it saves itself. You see what's missing on each booking and, in Spain, send the report to SES Hospedajes with one button, never automatically. We never ask for photos of documents.
Set your prices once, and they apply everywhere. Your nightly prices, seasons, weekends, holidays, minimum and maximum stay and days without check-in are set in Amplistay once, and they go to Airbnb, Booking.com and your own page. Bookings and guest messages from Airbnb and Booking.com come back into Amplistay, so you answer from one place. Connecting each platform is done by you from the dashboard: no calls, no extra accounts.
You pay per site, and extra units cost little. A published site costs $19/month with one unit; each extra unit on the same site adds $9/month.
All your bookings in one place. Bookings from Airbnb and Booking.com arrive by themselves in your Amplistay bookings list, next to the ones from your own page, and you can set each as confirmed, blocked or cancelled. A platform that isn't connected yet can still be added with its calendar link (iCal), and Amplistay gives you its own calendar link so your other calendars never double-book. That's a simple extra: it only blocks dates, on a schedule.
Where the others are stronger
We would rather you choose with the full picture:
- Invoicing. AvaiBook, Smoobu and Lodgify (Ultimate plan) already issue invoices. At Amplistay it's next on the list, not available yet.
- Dynamic pricing and team tools. If you run a larger portfolio or a team, those tools are built for that. Amplistay is aimed at small hosts.
Which one should you choose?
- One to five properties, and you want your own page, direct bookings and an easy way to keep everything together: Amplistay.
- You need invoicing right now: AvaiBook (especially in Spain), Smoobu or Lodgify.
- You already have a channel manager you like: keep it. Amplistay can sit next to it, reading your calendar link (iCal) so dates never clash, as we explain in You Don't Have to Ditch AvaiBook or Lodgify to Take Direct Bookings.
Prices and features were checked in September 2026 from each vendor's public pricing pages and independent reviews. Plans change often, so confirm the current details on Lodgify, AvaiBook and Smoobu before you decide.