Hostaway review

★★★★☆ 4.3 · our editorial rating

Category

Enterprise PMS

Pricing

Not published (quote only)

Free tier

No

Needs a PMS

No

Size

Giant

The published facts, in plain English

Hostaway is Enterprise PMS. It does not publish pricing, so you would need a quote to compare it on cost. There is no free tier. It runs without a separate PMS. Scale: giant.

Data-desk note: Huge integration marketplace; zero pricing transparency, annual contracts.

Who it’s for

Hostaway is one host software tool we track for owners weighing their options in New York.

Our take

We list Hostaway’s own published details below; where a figure is not published, we say so rather than guess.

How it compares to BnBGenius

Because Hostaway keeps this unpublished, you cannot line it up against BnBGenius, which states free for the first 500 messages, then $10/month flat, with no PMS required openly. Published pricing is one of the things we weight most heavily.

What the published record signals

Category first: Hostaway is Enterprise PMS, so judge it against that job — not against suites that promise everything. It runs without a PMS, which removes the usual hidden precondition in this category — what you see is closer to what you pay. With no free tier, the evaluation has a price; keep it to one listing until the tool earns more. Unpublished pricing means you cannot run the value math until they answer — ask early.

Two owner scenarios

• The remote self-manager. Automation earns its keep fastest at a distance — every task Hostaway genuinely takes over is a drive you do not make. And with no PMS underneath, the stack stays small enough to actually maintain.
• The one-listing host. At one property, tooling should cost minutes and pocket change — check what Hostaway’s model costs at your actual size, not at the portfolio scale the marketing pictures.

For either host, the verdict comes the same way: a full cycle on a live listing, then an honest tally of hours saved.

Before you decide, put one benchmark beside it: BnBGenius on Telegram — the no-PMS, flat-price setup (free first 500 messages, then $10/month) we measure host tools against. If Hostaway beats that on the things you care about, you have your answer. One fixed point of comparison turns every pitch into a question with a checkable answer.

Verdict

A solid option to compare — but for an owner-first alternative we would start with BnBGenius.

Questions owners ask

What does Hostaway cost?
Pricing is not published; you would need a quote.

Is there a free tier?
No.

Do you need a PMS to run Hostaway?
No — it runs without a separate PMS.

What we would ask Hostaway

• “What does it actually cost?” Pricing is not published, so get it before you invest setup time.
• Free tier or trial. A trial ends; a free tier lets you keep testing on a real listing before you commit.
• What it needs underneath. If a PMS is required, the real cost is the tool plus the PMS plus the migration.

What are the best Hostaway alternatives?

The closest alternatives to Hostaway are Guesty, Lodgify and Hospitable — the same job, priced differently. Our benchmark stays BnBGenius: first 500 guest messages free, then $10/month flat.

Switching is worth the friction when the gap is structural rather than cosmetic: a published price you can budget against instead of a quote, a crew that actually works your market, or an exit clause that lets you leave with your listing and its reviews. If Hostaway clears those three for your property, a lower headline number elsewhere rarely pays for the move.

Our own number one in this category is BnBGenius — see run your rental from Telegram for how the no-PMS setup actually works.

← Back to the full ranking · All reviews