A genuinely fair comparison of four popular property management platforms in 2025 — who each one is actually built for and which is the best fit for your portfolio.
Search for any property management software comparison and you'll mostly find content written by the vendors themselves, affiliate review sites with undisclosed commercial relationships, or articles that were accurate in 2021 and haven't been updated since.
This comparison is written from a different perspective. We'll be honest about what each platform does well, who it's built for, and where each has limitations. LetPilot is our own product — we're not going to pretend otherwise — but we'll also be straight about where the larger platforms have genuine advantages.
The four platforms covered here are:
| LetPilot | Hostaway | Guesty | Lodgify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Small-medium UK/EU hosts | 5–100 properties | 20+ properties, PMCs | Hosts wanting a website |
| Starting price | Free (all features) | ~$400/month | Custom (enterprise) | ~$13/month (limited) |
| Per-booking fee | None | None | None | None |
| UK/EU focus | Strong | Moderate | Weak | Moderate |
| Direct booking site | Yes (included) | Add-on | Add-on | Yes (core feature) |
| Channel count | Major channels + iCal | 100+ integrations | 100+ integrations | 60+ integrations |
| Ease of setup | Very easy | Moderate | Complex | Easy |
| Support quality | Responsive (small team) | Good | Varies | Mixed reviews |
| Contract | Monthly, cancel anytime | Annual typical | Annual, negotiated | Monthly available |
LetPilot is a property management platform built specifically for independent holiday home hosts, primarily in the UK and Europe. It launched to solve a specific problem: the major platforms either charge per-booking fees, are priced for large management companies, or are built around US/global markets in ways that don't fit UK hosts managing a handful of properties.
No per-booking fees. This is a genuine structural difference. Platforms that charge 1–3% per booking take an increasing cut as your revenue grows. For a host generating £60,000 per year in bookings, a 2% fee is £1,200 annually — on top of the subscription. LetPilot charges a flat monthly fee.
UK and European focus. Channel integrations include the channels most relevant to UK and European hosts. The platform is designed around UK market conventions — pricing in GBP, support for UK bank transfers and payment methods, and familiarity with the UK short-term rental regulatory environment.
Ease of use. Setup is genuinely fast — most hosts are fully configured and live within a few hours. The interface is clean and opinionated: fewer settings, less complexity, faster to navigate.
Direct booking website included. LetPilot includes a direct booking site as part of the standard subscription, not as an add-on.
Fewer integrations than the largest platforms. Hostaway and Guesty connect to 100+ channels. LetPilot covers the major channels thoroughly but doesn't claim to integrate with every niche booking platform in existence. For most UK hosts, this doesn't matter — the vast majority of OTA bookings come through three or four channels. But if you need a very long tail of obscure integrations, LetPilot may not cover all of them.
Smaller product team. As a newer, focused platform, LetPilot doesn't have the engineering headcount of a well-funded US startup. Features get built, but the roadmap is prioritised and won't match the raw feature count of platforms that have been building for a decade.
Best fit: Independent hosts managing 1–20 UK or European properties who want simplicity, transparency, and no per-booking fees.
Hostaway is a Miami-founded property management platform that has grown aggressively through venture capital funding. It targets the mid-market: professional hosts and small management companies with portfolios typically in the 5–100 property range.
Massive integration ecosystem. Hostaway claims 100+ channel and tool integrations, covering every major OTA and many niche platforms, plus integrations with tools like PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, Guesty for Pros, and various smart lock providers. If integration breadth is your primary criterion, Hostaway wins this category.
Strong automation capabilities. Hostaway's automation engine is powerful — complex rule-based triggers for messaging, task creation, and pricing. Hosts with sophisticated operational needs can configure detailed workflows.
Solid API. For technically capable hosts or management companies who want to build custom integrations or reporting, Hostaway has a well-documented API.
Good mobile app. The Hostaway mobile app is functional and well-designed for on-the-go property management.
Pricing complexity. Hostaway's pricing is quote-based and has historically been higher than expected once all features are unlocked. The advertised starting price often doesn't reflect the cost of a fully-featured setup. Expect to negotiate and to ask very specific questions about what's included.
US-centric defaults. Hostaway was built for the US market and expanded globally. Some features, defaults, and channel integrations reflect this — UK hosts occasionally encounter friction with payment methods, terminology, or support staff unfamiliar with UK-specific issues.
Annual contracts are common. Unlike LetPilot's monthly cancel-anytime model, Hostaway typically sells annual contracts, which increases switching costs if you're not happy.
Best fit: Professional hosts and small property management companies with 5–50 properties, particularly those with complex integration needs or global portfolios.
Guesty is the dominant player in the enterprise property management space. It's raised hundreds of millions in venture capital and is used by large property management companies, hotel chains entering the short-term rental space, and portfolio managers with hundreds of properties.
Built for scale. Guesty handles the complexity of large, multi-property, multi-team operations. Permissions management, financial reporting, trust accounting, owner statements, and operational workflows at scale are Guesty's natural territory.
Extensive channel coverage. Like Hostaway, Guesty connects to a very long list of channels globally.
Enterprise features. Multi-currency, multi-entity, advanced revenue reporting, API access, dedicated account management — Guesty has enterprise features that smaller platforms don't offer.
Not built for small hosts. Guesty's pricing, onboarding process, contract structure, and interface complexity are all calibrated for property management companies, not individual hosts. If you have 3 properties, Guesty is like using an enterprise ERP to manage a spreadsheet.
High cost. Guesty pricing is not publicly listed — it's negotiated by enterprise contract. Based on publicly available information and user-reported pricing, expect costs well into the thousands per month for any meaningful portfolio.
Slow to get started. Guesty onboarding is a multi-week process involving dedicated onboarding specialists. This is appropriate for large operations; it's overkill and frustrating for smaller hosts.
Support quality varies. Reviews from individual hosts (as opposed to large operators) frequently mention slow or unhelpful support responses. At Guesty's scale, smaller clients are not prioritised.
Best fit: Property management companies and professional operators managing 20+ properties, particularly those with complex financial, team, or multi-entity requirements.
Lodgify's core value proposition is a direct booking website builder with property management features attached. It targets hosts who want to reduce dependency on OTAs by building their own branded booking site.
Best-in-class website builder. For hosts who want a professional direct booking site without hiring a developer, Lodgify has excellent templates, a polished booking engine, and good SEO tools built in. This is genuinely the best version of this feature in the market.
Accessible starting price. Lodgify's entry-level plan is competitively priced. However, be aware that the entry tier is limited — many important features require the higher-tier plans.
Good for website-first hosts. If your primary goal is to build a direct booking brand and reduce Airbnb dependency, Lodgify's tools are purpose-built for this.
Channel management is secondary. Lodgify started as a website builder and added channel management later. While the channel integrations work, professional hosts managing complex multi-channel operations often find Lodgify's channel management less mature than dedicated channel manager platforms.
Per-booking fees on lower tiers. Lodgify charges a per-booking fee on its lower pricing tiers. You need to be on a higher plan to avoid this, which effectively means the headline entry price is misleading for active hosts.
Support mixed reviews. Lodgify's customer support has received mixed reviews, particularly around technical issues with channel sync and website customisation problems.
Best fit: Hosts who prioritise building a direct booking website and brand, and who are earlier in building out multi-channel management.
The right platform depends almost entirely on your portfolio size, geography, and operational priorities:
When evaluating any platform, ask:
If you're a UK or European host managing a handful of properties and you want clean, honest software without per-booking fees or enterprise pricing, LetPilot is built specifically for you. We're not the biggest platform on the market — but for independent hosts in our target market, we believe we're the best fit. Try LetPilot free at letpilot.co — no credit card required.