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Comparison

Cloudbeds vs Hostfully

Pricing, pros and cons, and buyer-fit side-by-side. Pick the one that matches your operation — or see why neither should.

Property Management Software

Cloudbeds

All-in-one hospitality management platform for independent properties

Best for Scale

Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage

Contact sales • No free trial

Property Management Software

Hostfully

Vacation rental property management software with strong channel distribution and owner-facing tools

Best Overall

A strong all-around STR PMS for managers graduating into multi-channel operations

From $15/listing • No free trial

Visit Cloudbeds →Visit Hostfully →
✓Editorial verdict

Which Should You Pick: Cloudbeds or Hostfully?

Pick Cloudbeds if you operate an independent hotel, hostel, or mixed-inventory hospitality business with 20+ properties and need 300+ OTA connections, front-desk and housekeeping modules, revenue management tools, and commission-free direct bookings at hotel scale. Pick Hostfully if you manage 1–19 vacation rental listings and want messaging automation that handles 70% of guest communication, 100+ integrations with Zapier, and transparent per-property pricing starting at $15/property/mo on Growth (1–50 listings), before a platform fee whose amount Hostfully does not publish with no sales call required.

Editorial perspective from the Cloudbeds side; factual claims about Hostfully are drawn from its review.

Pricing Side-by-Side

Contact sales • No free trial

Flex

Custom quote

Small independent properties

  • Core PMS functionality
  • Channel manager for major OTAs
  • Built-in booking engine
Try Cloudbeds

One

Custom quote

Growing independent hotels

  • Everything in Flex
  • Expanded reporting and analytics
  • Enhanced channel distribution
Try Cloudbeds

Experience

Custom quote

Multi-property operators

  • Everything in One
  • Multi-property management tools
  • Revenue management features
  • Advanced integrations
Try Cloudbeds

Enterprise

Custom quote

Large portfolios and hotel groups

  • Everything in Experience
  • Dedicated account management
  • Custom integrations and API access
  • Priority support
Try Cloudbeds

From $15/listing • No free trial

Growth

$15/property/mo

1-50 listings

  • Full-scale property management solution
  • Channel manager and direct booking site
  • Unified inbox with templates and triggers
  • Mobile app
  • Owner portal and owner financial reports
  • Platform fee applies (amount unconfirmed)
Try Hostfully

Pro

$25/property/mo

1-199 listings

  • Everything in Growth
  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager
  • Additional onboarding support
  • Annual business review
  • Better fit for growing multi-property teams
  • Platform fee applies (amount unconfirmed)
Try Hostfully

Enterprise

Custom quote

Custom

  • Everything in Pro
  • Tailored onboarding
  • Priority customer support
  • Additional 1:1 customer success meetings
Try Hostfully

What each tool does well — and where it falls short

What Cloudbeds does well

  • Operational efficiency through deep integration

    Users praise the all-in-one platform that centralizes reservation management, reduces errors, and streamlines processes. OTA integrations across 300+ channels simplify multi-channel distribution.

  • Intuitive interface and ease of use

    Users consistently highlight the ease of use and intuitive design, appreciating how it streamlines hotel management tasks in one platform despite the system's breadth.

  • Strong customer support

    Multiple users note excellent support quality through chat and dedicated account managers, helping offset the platform's complexity.

  • Commission-free direct bookings

    Built-in booking engine charges zero commission on direct reservations, making it attractive for operators building a direct-booking strategy.

What Hostfully does well

  • Broad STR-specific feature set without forcing separate channel manager and owner portal tools
  • Strong multi-channel distribution and direct API connectivity across major OTAs
  • Good fit for growing vacation rental managers that need owner-facing workflows

Where Cloudbeds falls short

  • Reporting system limitations

    Users note significant flaws in the reporting system, with some reports being completely unreadable by accountants due to accuracy issues — a dealbreaker for operators who need clean financials.

  • Hidden fees and aggressive upselling

    Users report constant upselling of features expected to be included at the advertised price. ITQlick notes users report unexpected charges for add-on features.

  • Technical reliability issues

    Users experience connectivity problems, system bugs, and availability matrix glitches that can block inventory and prevent guest bookings during critical periods.

  • Opaque pricing makes cost comparison difficult

    Cloudbeds publishes no prices — all four plans require custom quotes. Third-party sources give conflicting figures ($99–$180 starting points), making budgeting impossible before engaging sales.

Where Hostfully falls short

  • Higher starting cost than lightweight PMS options for solo hosts
  • Enterprise-grade breadth can be more software than a 1-3 listing host needs
  • Some advanced pricing and implementation details still require a sales conversation

Which Should You Pick

Pick Cloudbeds if

Multi-property operators seeking all-in-one hospitality management with strong OTA integrations and commission-free direct bookings.

Skip Cloudbeds if

Small operators on tight budgets concerned about hidden fees, upselling tactics, or needing robust reporting capabilities.

Pick Hostfully if

Small-to-mid-sized vacation rental managers running 5-200 listings across multiple channels who need a full STR operating system with channel distribution, owner-facing tools, and guest messaging in one platform.

Skip Hostfully if

You're a hobbyist with one or two listings who only needs basic messaging automation or simple calendar sync — Hostfully is more software than you need at that scale.

Where Cloudbeds and Hostfully actually differ

  • Cloudbeds is a hotel/hostel/vacation rental hybrid with front-desk, housekeeping, and revenue management modules designed for hospitality operations across 157 countries. Hostfully is vacation-rental-specific with messaging automation, a panoramic calendar, and an integration marketplace — no front-desk, housekeeping, or hotel-grade revenue management features.
  • Cloudbeds connects to 300+ OTAs with 400+ marketplace integrations and an open API. Hostfully has 100+ integrations with Zapier support but does not publish a comparable OTA channel count or hold any documented preferred-partner designations — Cloudbeds' distribution breadth is dramatically wider.
  • Hostfully publishes transparent tiered pricing: $15/property/mo (up to 4 listings) or $25/property/mo on Pro (1–199 listings), with no per-booking fees and no sales call. Cloudbeds is quote-only across four plans with no published dollar amounts — third-party sources cite $99–$180/mo starting points, and users report hidden fees and aggressive upselling of add-on features.
  • Hostfully automates up to 70% of guest messaging through templates and sequences — a core strength consistently cited by reviewers. Cloudbeds has a unified inbox and guest communication tools but does not document equivalent messaging automation depth or publish an automation efficiency metric.
  • Hostfully holds 25.6% market share in vacation rental PMS per the 2025 Comparent survey, serving 40,000+ clients managing 62,000+ properties. Cloudbeds serves 22,000+ properties but its vacation rental user base is a fraction of that headline number — the majority are hotels and hostels.

Common objections

Cloudbeds has 300+ OTA channels versus Hostfully's undocumented channel count — doesn't that make Cloudbeds the obvious distribution winner for any operator?
For hotels chasing every marginal booking across metasearch, GDS, and regional OTAs, Cloudbeds' 300+ channels are real value. For vacation rental operators with 1–19 listings, 90%+ of bookings come from Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and direct — channels Hostfully covers with its multi-channel sync. Most of Cloudbeds' extra channels are hotel-focused OTAs that whole-home rental operators can't meaningfully monetize. And Hostfully's Zapier support lets you connect STR-specific tools like PriceLabs, Turno, and RemoteLock more flexibly than Cloudbeds' Zapier-free ecosystem. Channel count without segment relevance is a misleading metric.
Cloudbeds has commission-free direct bookings and Hostfully also charges zero per-booking fees — so what actually differentiates them on direct booking economics?
On commission, they're equivalent — both charge zero on direct bookings. The difference is everything around it. Cloudbeds bundles its booking engine with hotel-grade PMS features at opaque pricing that requires a sales conversation and documented upselling. Hostfully gives you direct booking support at a published $15/property/mo on Growth or $25/property/mo on Pro with no surprises. For a 10-listing vacation rental operator, Hostfully's $25/property/mo Pro plan with zero booking fees is fully budgetable before you talk to anyone. Cloudbeds at the same scale requires a quote, likely comes in at a comparable or higher price, and adds features — front-desk, housekeeping — you'll never use for whole-home rentals.
Cloudbeds has documented reporting accuracy flaws and Hostfully has documented performance issues — which operational risk is worse?
Different failure modes with different consequences. Cloudbeds' reporting flaws produce financials that accountants have called unreadable — a back-office problem that compounds during tax season and audits. Hostfully's sluggish performance and bugs disrupt daily operations — frustrating but typically not data-integrity failures. If your biggest risk is financial accuracy for owner reporting or compliance, Cloudbeds' reporting weakness is the more dangerous flaw. If your biggest risk is daily operational speed and reliability, Hostfully's performance issues are the more disruptive pain. Neither platform is a clean reliability winner, but the risks affect different parts of your business.

Keep Digging

Cloudbeds

Enterprise-grade hospitality platform with broad channel coverage

Hostfully

A strong all-around STR PMS for managers graduating into multi-channel operations