Smoobu pricing is the most straightforward in the vacation rental software category: one paid plan at $27/month, flat rate, no per-property fee, no hidden booking commissions. That simplicity is rare and, for the right operator, genuinely refreshing.
Most competitors charge per property, per booking, or hide the real cost behind custom pricing conversations. Smoobu just tells you what it costs. That alone puts it ahead of half the category on pricing transparency.
Breaking down the Smoobu plan structure
The free tier exists and is usable: one property, one OTA channel, basic features. It’s good for testing the platform or getting started with a first Airbnb listing before you’re ready to pay for software.
The Standard plan at $27/month is where most hosts operate. You get all 70+ OTA integrations, full messaging automation, multi-property calendar management, a direct booking widget, and guest communication tools. For the price, it’s genuinely comprehensive.
There’s a Plus plan for larger operations, but it’s custom-priced — you’ll need to contact Smoobu. The jump from Standard to Plus is mainly about additional support tiers and account management features. Most small-to-mid hosts never need it.
Who Smoobu’s $27/month is right for
Honestly, Smoobu Standard is the right choice for a specific and fairly common situation: you manage 1-15 properties, you want to be on 4-10 OTAs, and you want a setup that works reliably without requiring you to become a software expert.
The flat $27/month is particularly valuable for hosts with multiple properties. A 5-property host pays the same as a 1-property host. On per-property tools like iGMS ($14/property), that same 5-property setup costs $70/month. On Lodgify Professional ($47/month), you save $20 versus Smoobu but lose the European OTA coverage Smoobu does well.
European hosts especially benefit from Smoobu. The tool was built in Germany and has native integrations with regional European OTAs — FeWo-direkt, Atraveo, and others — that competitors treat as secondary markets. If you’re listing in Germany, Austria, France, or similar markets, that coverage difference matters.
Where Smoobu’s pricing model has limitations
$27/month is cheap, but cheap doesn’t mean right for everyone. Here’s when Smoobu’s pricing model stops making sense.
If you need enterprise features — owner accounting, team management with role-based access, revenue analytics beyond basic reporting — Smoobu’s Standard plan doesn’t cover it, and the jump to Plus means a custom pricing conversation. At that point you might as well evaluate Guesty or Hostaway, which are built for those use cases from the ground up.
Also worth noting: Smoobu doesn’t have a real direct booking website product. There’s a booking widget you can embed, but it’s not a full hosted website with SEO capability. If direct bookings are part of your strategy, Lodgify at $47/month gives you a real direct booking site that Smoobu doesn’t match.
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FAQ
Does Smoobu charge per property?
No. The Standard plan at $27/month covers unlimited properties (within reasonable limits). This is one of the main reasons small-to-mid hosts prefer Smoobu over per-property pricing models.
Is the Smoobu free plan worth using?
For one property and one channel, yes. It’s a genuine free tier with real API connections — not a hobbled 14-day trial. If you’re a single-listing host just getting started, the free plan is a reasonable place to begin.
What do you get on Smoobu Standard vs free?
The main upgrades on Standard: access to all 70+ OTA channels (free tier is limited to 1), multi-property support, full messaging automation, and priority support. For anyone managing more than one listing or wanting full channel coverage, Standard is necessary.
Can I switch from Smoobu to another tool later?
Yes, and it’s not as painful as some migrations. The main effort is reconnecting your OTA channels on the new platform and recreating your message templates. Your reservation history stays in Smoobu (it doesn’t migrate), but most hosts don’t need historical data to transfer.
Why the flat pricing model matters more than you think
Most hosts underestimate how much per-property pricing compounds over time. If you start with one property at $14/month (iGMS model) and scale to 8 properties over three years, you’re paying $112/month for the same core features you’d be getting from Smoobu at $27/month. That $85/month difference over 24 months is over $2,000 in extra cost for identical functionality.
This is the hidden advantage of Smoobu’s flat pricing: the cost doesn’t punish growth. When you add your fourth or fifth property, you pay nothing more. That predictability makes budgeting easier and removes one of the financial barriers to expansion.
Comparing total cost of ownership at different scales
At one property: Smoobu Standard ($27/month) costs more than iGMS ($14/month). This is the one scenario where Smoobu isn’t the obvious price winner. If you manage a single listing and have no expansion plans, iGMS is cheaper.
At three properties: Smoobu at $27/month is cheaper than iGMS at $42/month. The crossover point is around two properties — above that, Smoobu’s flat pricing saves money consistently.
At ten properties: Smoobu at $27/month versus iGMS at $140/month, versus Lodgify at $47/month. The gap becomes significant. Smoobu’s cost per property at ten units is $2.70/month — hard to beat in the category.
What you should realistically budget for beyond the subscription
If you add PriceLabs for dynamic pricing ($20/month per property), that’s a real additional cost. At five properties, PriceLabs adds $100/month to your stack. The combination of Smoobu + PriceLabs at five properties runs $127/month — still competitive versus alternatives that bundle pricing features at higher base costs.
Payment processing for any direct bookings you capture via Smoobu’s booking widget is typically 2.9% via Stripe. This is external to the Smoobu subscription and applies regardless of which tool you use.