Hostfully vs Hostaway: The Best PMS for Short-Term Rentals in 2026
We'd run Hostaway.
We read through both companies' own websites instead of review round-ups, and here's the short version: Hostaway builds pricing and guest messaging tools into the platform itself, and that saves more hours than Hostfully's bundled guest-experience extras once you're past your first unit.
Here's the full breakdown of what each platform offers, what it costs, and why we landed there. On G2, Hostaway sits at 4.8 out of 5 across 415 reviews. Hostfully sits at 4.5 out of 5 across 63 reviews.
What Hostaway offers
Hostaway's channel manager syncs calendars in real time across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google. It has a unified inbox with AI-drafted replies and automated messaging. Dynamic pricing, AI revenue management, and a direct booking engine are all built into the core platform. Owner statements and owner portals come built into the base plan.
Hostaway claims its automation handles up to 90% of guest communication. It also claims that with dynamic pricing, customers earn 25.1% more revenue per listing on average. Those numbers come from Hostaway itself and haven't been independently audited. Test them against your own portfolio before you rely on them.
What Hostfully offers
Hostfully's core plan includes a central calendar and a unified inbox with InboxAI. Channel sync covers 60+ channels, and a direct booking site is built in for branding. Digital rental agreements with e-signatures and pre-arrival guest forms come standard, along with task management for cleaning and maintenance crews.
2 things Hostaway doesn't have: Screen & Protect (damage protection up to $50K) and Hostfully Devices (smart lock and thermostat management). Both are sold as add-ons. If you've ever had a guest break something expensive with no protection in place, you know why that add-on exists. Digital Guidebooks are also native to the platform, 1 guidebook free, paid tiers for more.
Pricing: The clearest comparison
Hostfully publishes its rates. Growth tier runs $15 per property a month plus a platform fee, a 1% payment gateway fee, and a 0.85% direct booking fee. Pro tier runs $25 per property a month plus platform fee, with no gateway or booking fee. Enterprise is custom for 200+ units.
Hostaway starts at $100 a month, then moves to custom quotes based on your portfolio. On top of that: A 1.8% fee on bookings made through its own booking engine, and a separate onboarding fee.
Multi-channel syncing and OTA reservations
This is where the 2 platforms split. Hostaway treats dynamic pricing and revenue management as a core, built-in feature. If you're running direct and OTA reservations across a growing number of listings, that means 1 less tool to manage for pricing. Hostfully's own site doesn't list dynamic pricing among its features, so you're likely pairing it with a separate tool like PriceLabs or Wheelhouse regardless of which PMS you choose. We broke down PriceLabs' latest pricing features here if you want the full picture on what a dynamic pricing tool catches that manual pricing misses. If a PMS is only 1 piece of your setup, here's the full tech stack we'd build for direct bookings.
On the guest-facing side, it runs the other direction. Digital rental agreements, damage protection, and smart device management live inside Hostfully, native or as add-ons. On Hostaway, those same functions run through outside partners. Trust accounting works the same way on both platforms: Neither one builds it in-house, both plug into outside tools like Clearing or VRPlatform.
The Host Camp Take
If you're managing 1 or 2 units and want the guest experience handled without stacking separate software, Hostfully's the pick. Its built-in guidebooks, rental agreements, and damage protection save you from buying 3 different tools. A direct booking site comes with both platforms too. Here's our full guide to what to build into one if you're starting from scratch.
Neither Hostaway nor Hostfully fit what you need? Hospitable also launched a free PMS, check it out if you're only running 1 or 2 listings. This isn't the only PMS shootout we've run either. We put Guesty up against Lodgify the same way.
Past that point, pricing and guest communication become the 2 things eating your time, and that's where Hostaway pulls ahead. Built-in dynamic pricing and an inbox that drafts replies for you mean fewer tools bolted together as your unit count climbs. Run your numbers through Does It Pencil to see where you stand.
