Alternatives
Cloudbeds alternatives for hostels, with the prices written down
Cloudbeds is a good platform and a lot of hostels run on it. It is also priced by quote, shaped around rooms, and sized for bigger operations than most hostels are. Here are eight alternatives, judged on beds, Hostelworld and what they actually cost.
- Published on their pricing page
- HostelMateLite, up to 30 beds, channel manager included$0
- BananaDeskup to 10 beds, channel manager included$0
- SirvoyPro, the plan with the channel manager, billed yearly€0
- Only after a sales call
- Cloudbedsno rate cardquote after a call
- Mewsno rate cardquote after a call
- Beds24mixed dorms and privates need a custom quotequote after a call
The right Cloudbeds alternative depends on which of three things is wrong for you: a price you cannot see before a sales call, a platform built around rooms when your business sells beds, or a system sized for a bigger operation than yours. Fix the first and you land on Sirvoy, Beds24 or HostelMate. Fix the second and you land on the hostel-first tools: HostelMate, BananaDesk, FrontDesk Master, HostelSnap. If the third is your problem, you are probably fine where you are.
This page is not a takedown. Cloudbeds ranks first of thirteen for hostels on HotelTechReport, with 91% of 274 hostel reviewers recommending it, and its dorm handling is real. What follows is the comparison a hostel owner would make with a spreadsheet open, prices included, checked on each vendor's public page on 7 September 2026.
The two numbers a hostel PMS has to answer to
73.7%
of hostel bookings came through OTAs in 2025
Cloudbeds, 2026 State of Hostels report, 32 million bookings across 180 countries
20.7% vs 9.2%
cancellation rate on OTA bookings versus direct bookings
same report
Read those together and the job is clear: sell every bed on the channels, and make direct booking easy enough that fewer guests cancel. Whatever you run has to do both, at a price a hostel can carry in the low season.
Eight alternatives at a glance
Published means the number is on the vendor's own pricing page. Reported means the vendor does not publish one and the figure comes from third parties or our own quote, so treat it as a range, not a rate card.
| System | Monthly price | Built for | Dorm beds | Channel manager | Booking engine fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HostelMate | $19 (Lite, up to 30 beds) or $45 (Advanced), published | Hostels | Bed is the unit | Included on both plans | None |
| Cloudbeds | Not published. Reported around $180 to $320, roughly $15 per room with property minimums | Hotels, hostels, rentals | Yes, dorm room types with named beds | Included | None (Cloudbeds says no commission on its booking engine); card fees apply |
| BananaDesk | $35 to $155 by guest capacity, published | Hostels | Yes | Included | Free, or 4% if they collect |
| Sirvoy | Free (1 room), €11 to 12 Starter, €41 to 44 Pro, published | Small hotels, B&Bs, hostels | 4 beds count as 1 room | Pro only (includes Hostelworld) | None |
| Beds24 | From €15.50 for a single type; a hostel with dorms and privates needs a custom quote; €15.90 for one dorm plus one bed, published | Anyone who likes configuring | Yes | €0.55 per channel connection | None |
| FrontDesk Master | From $25 with channel manager, as listed on HotelMinder | Hostels | Yes | Included from Lite | None stated |
| HostelSnap | No monthly fee; 10 to 15 cents per dorm guest-night, 50 cents per private room-night, published | Hostels | Yes | Via a connection, not native | The per-night charge is the fee |
| Little Hotelier | Reported around $39 plus 1% of bookings, or around $109 Pro | Small hotels and B&Bs | Room-based | Included | 1% on Basics |
| Mews | Not published, quote only | Hotels and groups | Supported as a property type | Included | None stated |
Prices checked on each vendor's public pricing page on 7 September 2026. Cloudbeds and Mews publish none; the Cloudbeds range is what roommaster (September 2025), Hotel Tech Insight (May 2026) and CostBench (August 2026) report, and what we were quoted ourselves. Little Hotelier's page would not load for us that day, so its figures are as reported by two independent write-ups. Free options exist too: Sirvoy Free covers one room, Deskydoo is a free hostel PMS with no channel manager or booking engine mentioned and a warning that server upgrades may be charged later, and Hostelworld Inbox is free but sees one channel.
Why do hostels look for a Cloudbeds alternative?
Three reasons come up again and again, and none of them is that the software is bad.
- You cannot see the price. There is no rate card on cloudbeds.com; you book a demo, then you get a number. The most-read first-hand hostel review of the platform, from Hostelgeeks, puts it plainly: their disappointments lie around the fact that prices are not listed on the website. For a 30-bed hostel deciding between two tools on a Tuesday, that is a real cost.
- The invoice is sized for hotels. Third-party write-ups put the entry tier around $180 to $220 a month, roughly $15 per room with a per-property minimum, and onboarding is quoted as a separate project. We were quoted $176 a month plus a $160 setup fee. Per bed, in a dorm-heavy hostel, that arithmetic gets uncomfortable fast.
- It is built for a bigger operation than most hostels. The cons that HotelTechReport reviewers list are the ones you would expect from a platform serving 10 to 200 room properties: limited reporting depth, reservation editing constraints, a mobile app that lags the desktop. A 40-bed hostel pays for the breadth and uses a fraction of it.
- Support is online, and nobody is assigned to you. The same Hostelgeeks review notes support is largely online-based, with no staff member attached to a property. Fine for a hotel with an IT contact. Harder at 11 p.m. with a group at the door.
What does Cloudbeds cost, as far as anyone can tell?
Only a quote is real, and Cloudbeds does not publish one. What exists is a band that several independent sources agree on, plus our own experience asking.
The per-room mechanic matters more than the headline. A dorm-heavy hostel modelled as rooms pays a hotel's minimum while earning a fraction of a hotel's revenue per unit. That is the part to check against your own invoice before anything else.
- Reported entry pricing: around $180 a month for the Flex tier, $220 for One and $320 for Experience, per roommaster's write-up from September 2025.
- Reported per-room rate: roughly $15 per room per month for the entry tier, with per-property monthly minimums, per Hotel Tech Insight in May 2026.
- Reported contract range: $200 to $1,000 a month across seven verified buyer reports, per CostBench in August 2026, with implementation quoted separately.
- What we were quoted: $176 a month plus a $160 setup fee, the figures on our side-by-side with Cloudbeds.
- What we could not verify: contract length and cancellation terms. Ask before you sign, and ask in writing.
The eight alternatives, one at a time
Each entry answers the question a hostel owner actually asks, then gives the price with the date we checked it, what the tool does well, where it falls short, and the one-line comparison with Cloudbeds.
HostelMateIs HostelMate a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes, if the dorm is the business. HostelMate is built with the bed as the native unit, publishes its price, and includes the channel manager on the $19 plan. It is not the right pick for a mostly-private-room property that depends on a long list of integrations.
This is our product, so read the limits as carefully as the strengths.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- $19 a month on Lite for up to 30 beds, $45 on Advanced, no per-booking fee on any channel including your own website. how beds are counted explains what counts as a bed.
- Does well
- bed-level inventory, mixed and female-only dorms as settings, Hostelworld treated as a first-class channel, group holds across dorms, a booking engine with no commission, and a data import a person does for you from whatever export your old system gives.
- Falls short
- the integrations list is far shorter than Cloudbeds' few hundred; the Lite plan caps at 30 beds; if you run a multi-property hotel group with several currencies, Cloudbeds and Mews are built for that and we are not.
- Fits
- dorm-heavy hostels from a dozen beds up, single properties or a couple of them, owners who want the invoice to be a number they can read on a public page.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- cheaper by a wide margin at hostel size, simpler to train seasonal staff on, and shaped around beds; narrower everywhere a hotel would notice.
Is BananaDesk a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes for a hostel that wants everything in one price and does not mind that price stepping up with capacity. BananaDesk is hostel-only, publishes every tier, and includes the channel manager in all of them.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- $35 a month for up to 10 guests, $59 to 35, $83 to 55, $119 to 80, $155 above that; annual billing takes two months off. The booking engine is free if you collect payment yourself, or 4% if BananaDesk collects through Stripe.
- Does well
- pricing by guest capacity rather than rooms, which is the right unit for a hostel; no commission on OTA bookings; a 14-day trial without a card.
- Falls short
- the capacity steps mean a growing hostel pays more each time it adds beds, and the 4% option quietly turns the booking engine into a commission channel if you let them collect.
- Fits
- small and mid-size hostels in Latin America especially (Argentine pesos are accepted at the official rate), and anyone who wants a single all-in number.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- a fraction of the price at hostel size and hostel-shaped from the start; a much smaller platform, with fewer integrations.
Is Sirvoy a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes for a small property that wants a published price and a clean, simple system. Read the plan lines carefully though: the channel manager, and with it Hostelworld, only arrives on Pro.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- Free for one room, Starter at €11 a month billed yearly (€12 monthly), Pro at €41 (€44 monthly). Prices scale with rooms, and for hostels Sirvoy counts four beds as one room. No commission, no contract, 14-day trial.
- Does well
- the free and Starter tiers are genuinely usable for a tiny place; the booking engine is commission-free on every plan; no contract, and a 14-day trial with no card.
- Falls short
- no OTA connections at all below Pro, so a hostel selling on Hostelworld and Booking.com is a €41 customer, not an €11 one; the four-beds-per-room rule means dorm inventory is still translated into rooms for billing.
- Fits
- guesthouses and small hostels with a handful of dorms, owners who value simplicity over configurability.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- a published, lower price and a lighter system; less depth in reporting and automation, and the bed is not the native unit.
Is Beds24 a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes if you or someone on the team enjoys configuring software. Beds24 is the cheapest serious option on this page and among the most flexible, and it asks you to build much of the setup yourself.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- from €15.50 a month, pay as you go, no contract and no setup fee. Their own hostel example prices one dorm plus one bed at €15.90. Each channel connection (one room type to one channel) adds €0.55 a month; extra logins €2 each.
- Does well
- price, honesty about price (a live calculator with a hostel type and a bed count), deep configurability, an API that the DIY crowd builds on.
- Falls short
- the learning curve is real, mixed-type properties need a custom quote, and the interface has a wiki-and-forum feel that a seasonal front desk may not love.
- Fits
- hostels with a technically minded owner or manager, and anyone who wants to pay for exactly what they connect.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- a tenth of the reported price and far more control; far more of the work is yours.
Is FrontDesk Master a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes, with one caveat about where the price comes from. FrontDesk Master is a hostel-first PMS with a long track record in the backpacker world, and its listed entry price is among the lowest with a channel manager included. The number is from a directory listing, because the vendor's own site would not load for us on the day we checked.
- Price, as listed on HotelMinder
- PMS Lite plus channel manager from $25 a month, Pro plus channel manager from $26, a standalone channel manager from €11; 30-day trial, no setup fee. Confirm with them directly.
- Does well
- hostel workflows, a channel manager included from the lowest tier, and pricing that flexes with how busy you are rather than how many rooms you own.
- Falls short
- the pricing page itself is behind a quote form on the vendor side, which is the thing this page exists to complain about; the interface shows its age in places.
- Fits
- budget-conscious hostels that want a hostel-specific tool and are happy to talk to sales once.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- hostel-shaped and a fraction of the reported price; smaller company, smaller ecosystem.
Is HostelSnap a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Yes for a hostel that would rather pay per guest than per month. HostelSnap charges nothing monthly and a few cents per occupied bed-night, which is a different bet on your own occupancy.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- no monthly fee. Booking engine only, 10 cents per dorm guest-night; the full PMS, 15 cents; private rooms 50 cents per room-night. Card fees on top.
- Does well
- the cost follows occupancy, so a slow month costs almost nothing; the booking engine gives guests an OTA-style experience on your own site.
- Falls short
- the channel manager is a connection through MyAllocator or Cloudbeds rather than a native one, which is a strange dependency for a Cloudbeds alternative; a busy 100-bed hostel at high occupancy pays more per year than most flat plans.
- Fits
- small and seasonal hostels, and owners who want to pay only when beds are full.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- no fixed cost at all against a quoted monthly minimum; far less platform around the core.
Is Little Hotelier a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Only for a small property that is mostly private rooms. Little Hotelier is a B&B and small-hotel tool from SiteMinder's stable, and the reported pricing includes a percentage of bookings on the entry plan.
- Price, as reported
- Basics around $39 a month plus 1% of all bookings, Pro around $109 scaling with rooms. Two independent write-ups agree; the vendor's own pricing page would not load for us on 7 September 2026.
- Does well
- simple, well supported, tightly bundled channel manager and booking engine for a small hotel.
- Falls short
- it thinks in rooms, so a dorm is a workaround; the 1% on Basics is a commission by another name.
- Fits
- guesthouses and small hotels with a dorm or two on the side.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- cheaper and simpler for a small hotel; the same room-shaped model, with fewer places to configure around it.
Is Mews a good Cloudbeds alternative for a hostel?
Not on price, and only for a hostel that is really a hotel group. Mews is quote-only like Cloudbeds, built for hotels and multi-property operators, and lists hostels as a property type it serves. If you left Cloudbeds because you could not see the price, Mews is the same problem with a different logo.
- Price, checked 7 September 2026
- not published. Three tiers (Essentials, Advanced, Enterprise), all behind a quote form.
- Does well
- an open, API-first platform with a large marketplace and documented dorm and bed configuration; strong for groups and for properties with developers on hand.
- Falls short
- the price question, the onboarding weight, and a feature surface most hostels will never touch.
- Fits
- larger hostel groups, hybrid properties, anyone who has outgrown the small tools and wants to build on the platform.
- Versus Cloudbeds
- a peer, not an escape. Choose between them on marketplace and support, not on cost.
How to choose, in five questions
Score each one honestly and the shortlist writes itself.
- 01
What is your unit? If most of your revenue is beds in shared rooms, pick a tool where the bed is native (HostelMate, BananaDesk, FrontDesk Master, HostelSnap). If it is rooms with a dorm on the side, a hotel-shaped tool is fine.
- 02
Can you read the price? If a vendor will not put a number on a public page, assume the number is designed for a hotel and check it per bed before you sign anything.
- 03
Is Hostelworld a first-class channel? For most hostels it is the biggest one. Check it is connected natively, on the plan you are actually buying (Sirvoy: Pro only).
- 04
How fast does new staff learn it? Hostels turn over staff every season. Every day of training on a hotel-grade screen is a day paid twice a year.
- 05
Which integrations do you actually use? Count the ones you opened this month, not the ones on the marketplace page. Three that work beat three hundred that exist.
How hard is it to leave Cloudbeds?
Less hard than the notice period in your contract, which is usually the longest item on the timeline. Cloudbeds lets you export reservations and guest data; a hostel PMS imports them, remaps channels one at a time, and runs alongside the old system for a week or two while the team settles.
how to move off Cloudbeds without losing a booking walks the order of operations. If you are still weighing whether to move at all, the ten-system comparison puts ten systems side by side, and the pricing page has our own numbers without a form in the way.
Ready to Manageyour dream Hostel?
The questions people ask before switching
Cloudbeds does not publish a price. Independent write-ups report the entry tier at around $180 to $220 a month, roughly $15 per room with a per-property minimum, and contracts from $200 to $1,000 a month depending on size and modules. We were quoted $176 a month plus a $160 setup fee. Only a quote for your own property is a real number.
By the reviews, yes: it ranks first for hostels on HotelTechReport, with 91% of 274 hostel reviewers recommending it, and it handles dorm beds, gender-specific dorms and linked private-or-dorm inventory natively. The reasons hostels leave are price you cannot see, an invoice sized for hotels, and a platform larger than they need, not missing dorm features.
On a flat monthly price with a channel manager included, HostelMate at $19 for up to 30 beds and Beds24 from around €16 are the lowest published. Sirvoy Starter is €11 but has no channel manager. HostelSnap has no monthly fee at all and charges 10 to 15 cents per dorm guest-night, which is cheapest of all for a small, seasonal hostel and not for a full one.
Three, each with a catch. Sirvoy Free covers one room and no channels. Deskydoo is a free hostel PMS whose site mentions no channel manager or booking engine and warns that server upgrades may be charged later. Hostelworld Inbox is free and only sees Hostelworld. Free is fine while you sell on one channel; the day you add a second, you need a calendar that sees both.
They are peers. Both are quote-only, hotel-first platforms with large marketplaces and documented dorm support. Choose between them on integrations and support rather than price, and only if you are a hostel group or a hybrid property; a single dorm-heavy hostel is paying for scale it will not use with either.
Yes. Reservations and guest data export, and they map closely to how hostel systems store the same information. Export everything while your subscription is live, keep the raw files, and read the notice period in your contract first, because that, not the import, sets your go-live date.
Every price on this page was read off the vendor's own public page on 7 September 2026, except where the row says reported. If one has changed, tell us and we will fix it. our side-by-side with Cloudbeds has the fuller side-by-side, and how to move off Cloudbeds without losing a booking covers the move itself.