Which hotel channel manager should you pick <em>without a billing surprise</em>?
A room sold on Booking.com has to vanish from Airbnb within seconds. That's the whole job. The bill, though, runs from about €15 to several hundred a month.
A channel manager pushes your rates and availability to every booking site you sell on, and pulls their reservations back into your calendar. Without one, you update Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb by hand, and a few minutes of lag is enough to sell the same room twice.
The short answer. No PMS yet? Sirvoy bundles calendar, engine and channel manager from €41 a month. Travel agents send you guests too? eviivo, from $50 before tax. Keeping your current PMS? SiteMinder connects to 450+ of them, on quote. Rather pay on what you sell? HotelRunner, as a percentage. Running several properties? Channex, $7 per hotel.
One thing no tool does: remove the OTA's commission. The channel manager distributes; Booking.com still bills you.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The right channel manager for your case
Calendar, engine and channel manager from €41/month, no-card trial
OTAs plus travel agentsOTA and GDS in one tool, from $50/month before tax
Pay as a percentage1.25% of revenue, $29.95/month minimum
If you keep your PMS450+ PMS integrations, quote only
Cheapest per useFrom €15.50/month plus €0.55 per link, no contract
For multiple properties78 channels, no per-channel fee, $7 per hotel on top of the base
7 hotel channel managers, side by side
The right-hand column tells you how you pay: flat fee, per link, percentage or quote. That's what decides your peak-season bill, far more than the entry price.
| Best for | Billing model | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sirvoy | Cheapest all-in-one | Flat fee by room count | 4.0/5 | Pro from €41/month | ✓ | Small hotels and B&Bs | Visit → |
| 2 | eviivo | OTAs plus travel agents | Flat fee plus per-room add-ons | 4.0/5 | $50/month before tax | — | Hotels with corporate guests | Visit → |
| 3 | HotelRunner | Pay as a percentage | 1.25% of revenue, $29.95 minimum | 3.9/5 | Sell: 1.25% of revenue, $29.95/month minimum | — | Seasonal hotels | Visit → |
| 4 | SiteMinder | If you keep your PMS | Quote plus usage fees | 3.8/5 | Quote only, plus usage fees | — | Hotels with an existing PMS | Visit → |
| 5 | Cloudbeds | Most channels claimed | Quote, all-in-one One plan | 3.7/5 | Quote only | — | Hotels and hostels switching PMS | Visit → |
| 6 | Beds24 | Cheapest per use | Base plus €0.55 per link | 3.6/5 | €15.50/month | — | Hands-on owners | Visit → |
| 7 | Channex | For multiple properties | $130 base plus $7 per hotel | 3.5/5 | $130/month plus $7 per hotel | — | Groups, managers, PMS vendors | Visit → |
Prices from the vendors' official pages or carried over from our other hotel rankings, in 2026, before tax. Dollar and euro amounts are the ones each vendor displays. SiteMinder and Cloudbeds show no amounts.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared these channel managers
Search "best hotel channel manager" and the first page is mostly vendors ranking themselves first: eviivo's list puts eviivo on top, HotelRunner's puts HotelRunner on top. The independent directories skip prices entirely. None of them tells you what distribution costs a 15-room hotel, or how each vendor actually bills.
We read every vendor's official pricing page, and carried over unchanged the scores and prices already published in our hotel PMS and booking engine rankings: a tool gets one score across our site. We logged connected channels, connection type, contract terms and the hidden fees (per link, per booking, percentage of revenue). Then we read hotelier reviews, starting with the bad ones: double bookings, disputed contracts, support.
The ranking follows the score. Sirvoy and eviivo tie at 4.0; Sirvoy goes first because its channel manager comes in a plan with a listed euro price and a no-card trial. Little Hotelier and D-EDGE stay out of the ranking because neither publishes a price we could check.
- PMS and channel syncDirect, two-way connections with OTAs and your PMS, channel count, real-time updates. This is what prevents overbooking, so it carries the most weight.30%
- Real costThe monthly bill for a 15-room hotel with the add-ons it needs, not the headline price.25%
- Commission and feesPer-channel, per-link, per-booking or percentage fees on top of the subscription.20%
- Contract and supportMinimum term, notice period, setup fees, and what hoteliers say about support.15%
- Booking flowWhether a direct booking engine is included, to win back some commission.10%
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
Channel manager pricing shifts every year. Get the changes before your renewal
Sirvoy
Sirvoy is a property management system (PMS: your room calendar, check-ins and invoices) that also pushes your rates and availability to booking sites once you're on Pro. Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Agoda and Hostelworld are connected. If you're starting from a spreadsheet, it's the shortest path to having everything in one place.
The draw is the price. Pro starts at €41 a month billed yearly, and you see that number before you talk to anyone. The 14-day trial needs no credit card. SiteMinder and Cloudbeds won't show you a figure at all.
The catch is reach. The list covers the big booking sites, not the long tail of niche OTAs, and GDS (the systems travel agents book through) isn't mentioned. If tour operators or regional sites bring you a real share of guests, check the list first.
- Channel manager included in Pro from €41/month
- Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Agoda, Hostelworld
- 14-day trial, no credit card
- ✓Listed price, no sales call
- ✓Calendar, engine and distribution in one tool
- ✓Free plan for a single room
- ✗Fewer channels than the specialists
- ✗No GDS mentioned
- ✗Price climbs with room count
Our first pick for an independent hotel starting from scratch. If you already run a PMS you like, a standalone channel manager further down makes more sense.
eviivo
eviivo bundles a PMS, a booking engine and a channel manager. What sets it apart is reach beyond the OTAs (online travel agencies like Booking.com and Expedia): it also distributes to the GDS, the networks travel agents and corporate bookers use. Few tools with a public price do that.
The base is $50 a month before tax for one property, then add-ons stack up per room. A 15-room hotel that adds the payments module pays $15 more a month. Price out every add-on you need before you compare, because that's where the bill moves.
Support scores lower than the rest of the product in our grid, and the published price is the floor, not the typical bill.
- OTA and GDS distribution in one tool
- From $50/month before tax
- PMS and booking engine included
- ✓Public price, rare in this category
- ✓Covers corporate and agent business
- ✓Multi-property from $125
- ✗Add-ons billed per room
- ✗Base price is a floor, not a typical bill
- ✗Support scores below the rest
The right call if part of your business comes through travel agents. For a B&B that only sells on Booking.com and Airbnb, Sirvoy costs less.
HotelRunner
HotelRunner lists its price, just not as a flat fee. You pay a percentage of revenue with a monthly minimum. On Sell, the plan with the channel manager, that's 1.25% with a $29.95 floor. Below $2,396 in monthly revenue you pay the floor; above it, the percentage kicks in.
Run it on your peak month. At $10,000 of revenue, Sell costs $125. At $30,000, $375. The model is kind to slow months and heavy on busy ones. Complete charges 1% instead of 1.25%, so at high volume it can beat Sell despite the higher minimum.
Users praise how fast rate and availability updates reach every channel. The complaints are about customer service, and one reviewer disputes a subscription charge taken after she stopped using the app. Put your cancellation date in writing.
- Public price from $29.95/month
- Channel manager, engine and website in Sell
- Month to month
- ✓Low cost in low season
- ✓Fast rate updates, per users
- ✓No sales call to start
- ✗Percentage bites in high season
- ✗Customer service criticized
- ✗Channel count not on the pricing page
A smart pick for seasonal or newly opened hotels. Once your revenue stays above a few thousand dollars every month, a flat fee comes out cheaper.
SiteMinder
SiteMinder is the channel manager hoteliers with under 50 rooms recommend most. Its strength is connectivity: more than 450 PMS integrations. If your property system is old or obscure, odds are it's on the list. An Opera connection exists too, at extra cost.
The price isn't shown. The pricing page calculates a figure for 5 rooms but leaves it blank, so you go through sales. Then add usage fees: commission on completed stays from the marketplace and metasearch, plus a per-transaction fee on GDS bookings.
For independents it's month to month, with 30 days' written notice and no minimum term unless you pick a fixed-term contract. Even so, reviewers say a sales rep promised no contract and then the opposite, others describe a costly double booking and support replies that don't solve anything. Get the term and notice period written into the quote.
- 450+ PMS integrations
- Most recommended under 50 rooms
- Month to month for independents, 30 days' notice
- ✓Connects to almost any PMS
- ✓Engine and metasearch in Plus
- ✓14-day trial
- ✗No price shown
- ✗Usage fees on top of the subscription
- ✗Support and contracts criticized
The safe choice if you're keeping your PMS and need it to talk to every channel. Get the full quote, usage fees included, before you compare it to a listed price.
Cloudbeds
Cloudbeds claims 450+ channels, Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo and Expedia among them, with real-time sync between its PMS, its engine and the OTAs. The channel manager sits in the One plan, which bundles everything. Cloudbeds adds no commission of its own; the OTA's commission is still yours to pay.
Its own FAQ explains a common trap. An iCal connection (a shared calendar file) handles one room type at a time and refreshes with a delay. That gap is where many double bookings come from. Cloudbeds pushes direct connections instead, and you should ask every vendor for the same.
The weak spots are well known: no public price and patchy support follow-up. Public reviews average around 3.3 out of 5 across 500+ reviews, praising the channel manager and faulting the follow-through.
- 450+ channels claimed
- Real-time sync with PMS and engine
- No commission added by Cloudbeds
- ✓Everything in one plan, One
- ✓Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia
- ✓Direct connections rather than iCal
- ✗No public price
- ✗Support follow-up rated weak
- ✗Means switching PMS too
A good fit if you're replacing your PMS anyway. If you keep yours, SiteMinder or Channex handle distribution without ripping anything out.
Beds24
Beds24 has the most granular pricing here. A base from €15.50 a month, then €0.55 per link, where a link is one room type mapped to one channel. A hotel with 4 room types on 3 channels has 12 links, so €6.60 more: roughly €22 a month to start. No contract, no minimum term, no setup fee.
The booking engine is included with no commission. Airbnb and Booking.com are connected; the pricing page doesn't give a total channel count.
The low price costs you time. The tool has a reputation for a steep learning curve, and its handful of public reviews, around 2 out of 5, complain about a confusing calendar. Budget half a day for setup and watch one channel closely in week one.
- From €15.50/month
- €0.55 per link, nothing more
- No contract, no setup fee
- ✓Lowest entry cost on this page
- ✓Commission-free engine included
- ✓Per-link billing, no tiers
- ✗Steep learning curve
- ✗Calendar called confusing
- ✗Channel count not listed
The cheapest option if you have time to configure it. If nobody on your team enjoys settings screens, Sirvoy costs a bit more and asks far less of you.
Channex
Channex is a pure channel manager: no calendar, no engine. It connects 78 channels, all included with no per-channel fee, Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb among them, and plugs into 474 PMS and tech partners. Each hotel gets 20 room types and 200 rate plans.
It has the clearest pricing on the page, but it isn't built for a single hotel. The $130 platform fee makes one property cost $137 a month. At ten hotels, you pay $200, or $20 per hotel. PMS vendors even resell it under their own brand through the WhiteLabel offer.
No contract, no setup fee, 30 days' notice. If you run one hotel, ask whether your PMS already uses Channex under the hood: that's often the cheapest way to get it.
- 78 channels, no per-channel fee
- 474 tech partners
- No contract, no setup fee
- ✓Clearest public pricing
- ✓Very low cost per hotel at scale
- ✓White-label option
- ✗$130 base is steep for one hotel
- ✗No calendar or engine
- ✗Built for technical teams
The best price per hotel once you run several, or if you build software. For a single property, an all-in-one like Sirvoy costs less.
What do you already run, and where do your rooms sell?
The first question isn't price, it's what you already have. A standalone channel manager only makes sense if it talks to your PMS. Without one, an all-in-one saves you two subscriptions and two connections to babysit.
You don't have a PMS yet
Go all-in-one. Sirvoy Pro from €41 a month, eviivo from $50 before tax, Cloudbeds One on quote. One tool, one connection, nothing to keep in sync between two vendors.
You have a PMS you like
Keep it and add a standalone channel manager. First check it's on the integration list: 450+ at SiteMinder, 474 partners at Channex. No integration, no sync.
Travel agents or corporate bookers send you guests
You need GDS distribution. eviivo includes it. SiteMinder charges per GDS transaction. The other tools on this page don't lead with it.
Your business is highly seasonal
A percentage protects your quiet months. HotelRunner Sell costs $29.95 under $2,396 of monthly revenue, then 1.25%. Beds24 has no contract and bills per link, so you can switch links off out of season.
You run several properties
Channex wins per hotel: a $130 base, then $7 per property, cheaper still from 500. Sirvoy adds €20 a month per property. SiteMinder has a Groups and Chains offer, with a 1 to 3-year initial term.
You rent apartments, not rooms
Your needs are vacation rental ones: cleaning, access codes, guest messaging. Smoobu (from €29 a month plus 0.9% of bookings, or €35 with no commission) fits better. Read our dedicated ranking before picking a hotel tool.
- List the channels you sell on today and the ones you want next.
- Check your PMS is on the vendor's integration list.
- Ask, channel by channel, whether the link is an API or iCal.
- Count your room types: they drive per-link pricing.
- Get the term and notice period written into the quote.
What distribution costs a 15-room hotel
Take a 15-room hotel with 4 room types, sold on 3 channels. Three pricing models compete: flat fee, per link and percentage of revenue. Amounts before tax, in the currency each vendor shows.
Flat fees: known in advance
Sirvoy Pro starts at €41 a month billed yearly, with calendar and engine; the amount rises with room count. eviivo starts at $50, plus $1 to $3 per room per add-on: payments alone add $15 for 15 rooms. Channex costs $137 for a single hotel, with no calendar or engine.
Per link: the lowest, if you watch it
Beds24: a base from €15.50, plus 4 room types times 3 channels, so 12 links at €0.55. About €22 a month. Each extra channel adds €2.20. It's the cheapest here, as long as you're happy configuring it yourself.
Percentage: light in winter, heavy in summer
HotelRunner Sell: $29.95 while you sell under $2,396 a month, then 1.25%. At $10,000 in a month, $125; at $20,000, $250. Run last year's revenue month by month before you compare it to a flat fee.
Quotes: what to demand
SiteMinder, Cloudbeds, Mews and Little Hotelier publish no amounts. Ask for a figure for your room and channel count, plus a written list of usage fees: commission on marketplace and metasearch stays at SiteMinder, per-transaction GDS fees, setup fees.
What the channel manager won't remove
The OTA keeps its commission on every booking it brings, whatever tool you use. A channel manager saves time and prevents double sales. To pay less commission, sell more direct with an engine on your own site.
The cost of one overbooking
A room sold twice means walking a guest to another hotel, often on your dime, and a hit to your OTA rating. One hotelier describes a large and expensive double booking despite having a tool. Weigh the subscription against that risk before picking the cheapest.
- Divide your yearly bill by room nights sold online: that's your real price.
- Run the percentage on your best month, not the average.
- Count every Beds24 link: room types times channels.
- Ask for the annual discount: Sirvoy lists €41 yearly versus €44 monthly.
What makes a channel manager go wrong
Hotelier complaints keep coming back to the same points. None shows up on a pricing page, and each one can be checked before you sign.
iCal sync instead of a direct connection
OverbookingiCal handles one room type per connection and refreshes on a timer, not in real time. Two bookings inside that window and the room sells twice. Require a two-way API connection (software talking directly to software) for every channel.
- Require
- Two-way API
Thinking "no commission" covers Booking.com
CostCloudbeds adds no commission, and that's true for Cloudbeds. The OTA's commission doesn't move. Don't book that saving in your budget.
- Always owed
- The OTA's commission
Per-link fees that grow quietly
CostAt Beds24, every room type mapped to every channel costs €0.55 a month. Add a channel or a room type and the bill climbs. Channex, by contrast, charges nothing per channel.
- Beds24
- €0.55 per link per month
Usage fees on top of the subscription
CostSiteMinder takes commission on stays from its marketplace and metasearch, and charges per GDS booking. HotelRunner and Smoobu Flex take a percentage. Ask for those fees in writing, with a worked example on your busiest month.
- Ask for
- A written fee list
The verbal "no contract"
TermsSiteMinder reviewers say they were promised no contract, then told otherwise. A HotelRunner user disputes a charge taken after she'd stopped using it. Smoobu cancels at renewal. Beds24 and Channex have no contract at all.
- Usual notice
- 30 days
Different rates per channel without checking parity
RatesPricing a little higher on an OTA to absorb its commission, and lower direct, is a good move. Read the parity clauses in your OTA contract first. SiteMinder Plus manages rate parity for you.
- Built-in
- SiteMinder Plus
Other tools you'll run into, and why they're not ranked
These names come up in every comparison. Some are strong for a specific audience; others don't publish anything we could verify.
Little Hotelier: SiteMinder's small-property sibling
QuotePMS plus channel manager from the SiteMinder group, for B&Bs and hotels under 30 rooms. Owners find it easy, with 4.4 out of 5 across 770 public reviews. The only prices we found came from a competitor's article, so we don't publish any.
- For
- Under 30 rooms
Mews: channel manager inside a modern PMS
Score 3.8Mews includes the channel manager in its Pro plan, priced per room on quote. It's a PMS first: worth a look if you're switching property systems, not to bolt distribution onto your current one.
- Included in
- Mews Pro, quote
D-EDGE: the Accor group's distribution arm
QuoteD-EDGE claims more than 20,000 users of its channel manager across 22+ countries, with a hub linking PMS, revenue management and central reservations. No price, no channel count on the page: we can't rank it on this page's core criteria.
- Users
- 20,000+
RoomCloud: the Italian connector
QuoteRoomCloud connects 200+ PMS and shows Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Agoda, Vrbo and Google Hotel Ads. Its own page gives conflicting channel counts and no price, so it stays unranked.
- PMS integrations
- 200+
Octorate: established, but no price to check
QuoteOctorate is one of the channel managers hoteliers mention most. Some users call its Booking.com and Airbnb sync generally reliable; another left after losing money. Its pricing page no longer loads, so we publish neither price nor channel count.
- Price
- Quote
Smoobu: great, for vacation rentals
Score 4.4Smoobu connects Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and 100+ portals, with website and engine included: Flex at €29 a month plus 0.9% of bookings, Prepaid at €35 with no commission. Hosts praise the sync; some report double bookings and slower support. It targets apartments, not hotels.
- Price
- From €29/month
What hoteliers wish they'd known first
These tips come from hotelier reviews, official price lists and vendor guides. They matter as much as the tool you pick.
Ask for the connection type, channel by channel
SyncThe same tool can be connected directly to Booking.com and by iCal to a small site. Ask for a table: channel, connection type, what syncs (availability, rates, restrictions, bookings).
- Get
- A written table
Get the full bill priced
CostSubscription, per-channel or per-link fees, percentage or usage commission, setup fee: four lines, not one. Ask for the quote for your exact room and channel count.
- Lines to price
- 4
Price differently per channel
CommissionA slightly higher rate on the OTA and a lower one direct absorbs part of the commission. A channel manager does it with one rule. Respect the parity clauses in your contract.
- Rule
- Higher on OTA, lower direct
Check your PMS is listed before any demo
IntegrationIf your PMS isn't on the integration list, the demo is wasted time. SiteMinder lists 450+, Channex 474 partners, RoomCloud 200+. Otherwise, switch to an all-in-one.
- SiteMinder
- 450+ PMS
Get term and notice in writing
Terms30 days at SiteMinder for independents, at Smoobu and at Channex. One to three years for groups at SiteMinder. If it's not in the quote, it doesn't exist.
- Usual notice
- 30 days
Switch in low season, one channel at a time
MigrationReconnect your biggest channel first, check three days of bookings, then move the rest. Keep the old tool live until the last channel is moved, so no room is ever sold without sync.
- Order
- Biggest channel first
Need more than distribution? Go here
This page judges the tools that distribute your rooms. These rankings go deeper on a neighboring need.
Hotel channel manager · FAQ
How much does a hotel channel manager cost?
From about €15 to well over $100 a month among tools with public prices. Beds24 starts at €15.50 plus €0.55 per link, HotelRunner at $29.95 or 1.25% of revenue, Sirvoy Pro at €41, eviivo at $50, Channex at $137 for one hotel. SiteMinder and Cloudbeds are quote only.What's the difference between a channel manager and a PMS?
The PMS runs the inside of the hotel: calendar, check-ins, invoices. The channel manager runs the outside: it pushes rates and availability to OTAs and pulls their bookings back. Sirvoy, eviivo and Cloudbeds One do both; SiteMinder and Channex only do the second.What's the best channel manager for a small hotel?
An all-in-one, unless you already love your PMS. Sirvoy Pro starts at €41 a month with the calendar and engine included, and its trial needs no card. eviivo starts at $50 if you also sell through travel agents. Under 30 rooms, Little Hotelier is the SiteMinder group's option, on quote.Two-way connection or iCal: does it matter?
Yes, a lot. iCal is a shared calendar file that blocks dates, one room type at a time, on a refresh delay, with no rates. A two-way API connection pushes rates, restrictions and availability in real time. Most double bookings blamed on a tool trace back to an iCal link.Does a channel manager remove OTA commissions?
No. The channel manager distributes your rooms; Booking.com or Expedia still take their commission on every booking they bring. When Cloudbeds says no commission, it means its own. To pay less, grow direct bookings with a commission-free engine on your website.Can a channel manager prevent overbooking?
Mostly, if every connection is direct and two-way. Ask the vendor for a table: channel, connection type, what syncs. Even with a good tool, reviewers report double bookings, so watch your biggest channel closely in the first weeks.Do channel managers lock you into a contract?
It depends. Beds24 and Channex have no contract. SiteMinder is month to month for independents with 30 days' notice, but 1 to 3 years for groups. HotelRunner runs monthly. Whatever a sales rep says, get the term and notice period in writing.How many channels do I actually need?
Usually fewer than vendors advertise. Most independent hotels sell through Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb, plus their own website. Count the channels that bring you bookings today, then check the per-link or per-channel cost of adding more.