Smoobu vs Beds24
Beds24 is by far the most configurable tool on the market — its own rules engine can model almost any pricing or booking logic. Smoobu is the tool that's running in 1–2 days without you first working through a wiki.
At a glance
| Smoobu | Beds24 | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat rate per property, published online | Tiered by rooms/bookings, two pricing tracks to choose from |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card | Roughly 30 days free (check current terms) |
| German UI & support | Yes — native German interface and support team | Interface partly localized, support runs primarily in English via ticket |
| Übernachtungssteuer | Built-in Berlin reporting (uenst-2a export) | Not built in — only reproducible manually via custom fee rules |
| OTA integrations | ~50 channels (all DACH-relevant ones) | 100+ channels, including many niche platforms |
| Automation / pricing rules | Core automations (messaging, pricing, tasks) | Own rules engine — can model almost any pricing/fee logic, requires a learning investment |
| Setup time | 1–2 days typical | 1–3 weeks typical (steep learning curve, wiki-based docs) |
| Best property count | 1–15 properties | 1 to 500+ properties — scales both ways thanks to an API-first design |
| Direct booking widget | Included — embed on any site | Included — own booking engine plus WordPress plugin |
| Payment integrations | Stripe (via API or direct booking site) | Stripe plus several other payment providers |
Pricing — what you actually pay
Smoobu publishes one simple flat rate per property. Beds24 also publishes its pricing, but the structure is more complex: you pick between a pay-per-booking model or a room-based subscription tier with unlimited bookings, whichever suits your booking volume better.
Smoobu
- Starter: ~€19–25/month · 1 property · all core features
- Professional: scales with property count · multi-user access
- Unlimited: flat annual rate regardless of property count
- All plans include channel manager, booking calendar, messaging, direct booking widget
- No percentage-of-revenue fee
- No minimum contract — monthly billing available
Prices vary slightly by region and are updated periodically — check the Smoobu site for current rates. The structure (flat per-property) is stable.
Beds24
- From roughly $9.99/month for a single property with core channel manager features
- Two billing tracks: pay-per-booking (cheap at low volume) or room-based with unlimited bookings
- No minimum contract, monthly billing available
- WordPress plugin, own booking engine, and API access included on all plans
- Often the cheapest fully-featured tool on the market at very low booking volume
Pricing structure as of July 2026 from Beds24's public rate card — confirm exact tiers on beds24.com before committing, as rates change.
Bottom line: At very low booking volume, Beds24 can cost less per month than Smoobu. But once you factor in the time it takes to configure the rules engine, that advantage usually evens out for 1–5 properties.
German market fit
If you operate in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, this is where the gap between the two products is largest.
Smoobu wins in DACH
- Übernachtungssteuer: Smoobu has built-in support for Berlin's city tax (uenst-2a), including automated guest statement export. This alone saves hours per filing period.
- German-language support: Support tickets answered in German. FAQs and onboarding materials in German. No translation layer needed.
- DACH OTA coverage: Airbnb, Booking.com, FeWo-direkt, Holidu, Wimdu, and other DACH-relevant channels all supported via direct API connections.
- SEPA-friendly: Payment flows designed for the European context, not just US credit card flows.
Beds24 in DACH
- The interface is partly localized, but the extensive documentation and support run primarily in English — you resolve most questions yourself via the wiki rather than by phone.
- No built-in Übernachtungssteuer reporting — you'd need to rebuild the city tax as a custom fee rule and assemble the export manually.
- Support runs entirely by ticket, no phone line. Response times are often 24–48 hours.
- Core OTA connections (Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, FeWo-direkt) are all available, but you configure mapping and rules yourself instead of getting them pre-set.
Which one is right for you?
- You have 1–15 properties and don't need an enterprise contract
- You operate in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland
- You file Übernachtungssteuer in Berlin or want automated city tax exports
- You want to see pricing before talking to sales
- You want to be up and running in 1–2 days
- You or your team are more comfortable in German
- You're testing direct bookings and want the embedded widget with minimal friction
- You want the most flexible pricing and booking rules engine on the market and accept a learning curve
- You're comfortable solving things yourself via wiki documentation rather than a support call
- Your portfolio could grow from 1 to 100+ properties without switching tools
- You want your own branded booking engine plus a WordPress plugin, not just a widget
- You need niche OTA channels beyond the DACH-common ones
- Budget at very low booking volume matters more to you than polish
What about switching later?
A valid concern. Both platforms export your booking history and reservation data as CSV. OTA connections need to be re-linked in the new platform — this takes a few hours per OTA but isn't technically difficult. Guest message templates need to be re-created.
The main switching cost is time: typically 2–4 hours for Smoobu → something else. For Beds24, it depends heavily on how many custom pricing rules you've built — anywhere from a few hours to a full day to recreate that logic in another system.
My recommendation: start with Smoobu if you run 1–15 properties and want to go live fast. If you find Smoobu's pricing rules too simple for what you need, Beds24 becomes the obvious fit at that point — and by then you'll know exactly which rules you need.
The verdict
For the typical Smoobu Hub reader — a host with 1–5 properties in the DACH region who wants to go live fast — Smoobu wins: faster setup, German-language support, built-in Übernachtungssteuer handling, and no wiki learning curve.
Beds24 is a genuinely impressive product for a different audience: technical hosts or agencies who want maximum control over pricing and booking logic and are willing to invest time in configuring it. If "the tool should do whatever I can dream up" matters more to you than "the tool should be running in two days," Beds24 is worth a close look.
Disclosure: I use Smoobu to manage my own property (Seumi in Berlin) and know Beds24 from publicly available documentation and user reports, not from running it myself long-term. The affiliate link below earns me a small commission if you sign up for Smoobu — at no extra cost to you. This comparison reflects my honest assessment and publicly available information as of July 2026.
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