Websites Like Airbnb: Vacation Rental Sites Compared for 2026
Key Takeaways
- Three of the websites like Airbnb hosts used to compare no longer take bookings: HomeAway was retired into Vrbo, Tripadvisor withdrew FlipKey, and CanadaStays now redirects to Vrbo.
- Airbnb is moving every home host onto a single service fee, so the familiar 3% is not a safe planning figure. Its help pages say the split structure is being phased out.
- Vrbo’s signup page publishes 5% commission plus 3% processing, but other Vrbo pages give different all-in figures. Check your own account.
- Booking.com publishes no global rate. Yours sits in the agreement you sign, and it applies to cleaning fees and cancellation charges too.
- Free to start rarely means free. Holidu adds channel commission and an onboarding fee to its 6%, and HomeToGo’s direct plans start at 15% per booking.
- In BC, Toronto and Quebec your registration number must appear on every listing on every platform. Switching sites does not switch off the rules.
Table of Contents
- What Changed on the List of Websites Like Airbnb
- Airbnb Sites Compared at a Glance
- Some Information About Airbnb
- Where Else Can You List Your Property?
- Airbnb Alternatives in Canada
- Airbnb Sites That No Longer Take Bookings
- Airbnb Comparisons Hosts Search For
- How to Choose Which Airbnb Sites to Use
What Changed on the List of Websites Like Airbnb
The vacation rental sites like Airbnb worth a Canadian host’s time in 2026 are Vrbo and Booking.com for volume, Holidu or HomeToGo for distribution, and Houfy or Plum Guide for a different fee model. Airbnb is migrating hosts to a single fee near 15.5%, and Vrbo publishes 5% plus 3% processing. HomeAway, FlipKey and CanadaStays no longer take bookings.
In this article, you can find 16 websites to place any type of vacation rental property, maximize your bookings online and, as a result, increase your profit. We provide a short description of each service and explain how they work. You can get to see how popular each of them is, read about the pros and cons and check fees for property owners (if any).
Online vacation rental services provide a great opportunity to reach your customers, see your first bookings in minutes and get profit hassle-free.
Fees and Canadian rules on this page were checked on 30 September 2026. Charges vary by country, account, payment model and software integration, and several platforms publish different figures on different pages. Confirm the rate in your own dashboard or agreement before you budget.
Airbnb Sites Compared at a Glance
Cost and coverage first, in two tables. Read the qualifications in the entries further down before relying on any single number, because several of these platforms publish different figures on different pages.
Global Platforms: What Hosts Pay
These are the websites like Airbnb that work more or less everywhere, and they carry most of the booking volume.
| Platform | What hosts pay | Strongest coverage | Property types |
| Airbnb | Migrating to one fee, usually 15.5%; some hosts still on 3% split | 220+ countries and regions | Whole homes, private rooms, shared rooms |
| Vrbo | Free to list. Signup page: 5% commission plus 3% processing. Other pages differ | Worldwide, strongest in North America | Private accommodation, no space shared with the host |
| Booking.com | Set per country and property type in your agreement | Worldwide, strongest in Europe | Homes, apartments, hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, rooms |
| Homestay | Guests pay 16% booking fee. Deposit option: 3% of the deposit, min 1 $/£/€ | Guests from 160 countries | Rooms with the host on site |
| Holidu | 6% Holidu fee (as low as 3%), channel commission from 15%, onboarding from €90, all excl. VAT | Europe, 29 offices | Holiday homes and apartments |
| HomeToGo | Flex: 15% per booking plus VAT. Flat: €249 per property a year plus 1.7% per booking | Worldwide | Whole properties, varies by plan and market |
Specialist and Regional Platforms: What Hosts Pay
The second group is smaller, and each of these reaches guests the big platforms do not always win.
| Platform | What hosts pay | Strongest coverage | Property types |
| Houfy | No commission. Free plan after a one-off $5.99 verification; paid plans $7.99 or $11.99 per listing a month | North America | Whole properties, direct booking |
| Plum Guide | 3% host service fee plus taxes, and a one-off £300/€300/$400 onboarding fee after the first stay | Major cities worldwide | Curated homes that pass its selection |
| Agoda Homes | Commission not published. Agoda says you see your rate during registration | Worldwide, strongest in Asia | Homes, apartments and rooms |
| Clickstay / Rentalsystems | Direct model: £1 activation plus 3% on payments, plus Stripe’s own fees. Legacy model: 10% | UK and Europe | Villas, apartments, cottages |
| TouristParadise | €149 a year plus VAT, €129 per extra ad plus VAT, no commission | German-speaking Europe | Holiday homes and apartments |
| Owner Direct | Not published; bookings complete on partner sites | North America and worldwide | Condos, homes, resort rentals |
Some Information About Airbnb
Popularity: high
Launched in 2008, Airbnb became a world-renowned online short-time rental service. Airbnb’s own figures put it at more than 9 million active listings and over 5.5 million hosts across 220 or more countries and regions. In addition to a short-term rental, the service offers local handcrafted activities organized by hosts.
Property Listing
Hosts can list their property with no fees, free of charge. There are no fees for sign-up and listing charges.
Terms & Fees
The fee structure is mid-change, and that matters more than any single number. Airbnb says it is transitioning all home hosts to a single service fee, and that the split-fee structure is being phased out and will go once every host has moved. On the single fee most hosts pay 15.5%, the rest typically 14% to 16%. Hosts still on the split structure usually pay 3%. The old rule of 14% for six or more listings no longer applies, so check which structure your account is on.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
It’s up to hosts what to charge from guests: however, the service provides tools to help set a market price depending on the region’s popularity, location, property type, travel trends and prices set by homeowners nearby. It’s easy to start: the service detects your location and shows an estimate for your possible monthly income, even prior to registration as a host or manager.
Hosts specify their unique schedule, pricing and rules for guests (no smoking, no pets, etc.) At the same time, Airbnb is ready to provide hosts with valuable recommendations along the way. Interaction with guests is available via the website or a mobile app. The communication between hosts and their guests is convenient and simple. The platform runs identity verification and offers a set of safety tools, though Airbnb is explicit that verification does not guarantee a person is who they say they are.
MasterHost’s specialists will help you to place your property on this platform. More information about the terms of cooperation is here.
Where Else Can You List Your Property?
Although Airbnb is one of the most convenient vacation rental services, there are a lot of similar services online. To increase the number of bookings it’s a good idea to use a few of them. Keep in mind that some online services are partners. It means that by listing your property on one of them, the listing will be placed on the other ones automatically.
Vrbo (formerly HomeAway)
Popularity: high
Vrbo is considered a reputable and safe online platform for vacation rentals, which has been connecting tourists to homeowners since 1995. Today Vrbo belongs to the Expedia Group of tourism services. One difference from Airbnb shows up at listing stage: Vrbo wants private accommodation, without living spaces shared with the host or with unrelated guests, so a spare room in an occupied home does not fit.
Property Listing
Free.
Terms & Fees
Vrbo’s host signup page publishes a 3% payment processing fee and a 5% commission. Treat that as one model, not a universal rate. Other Vrbo help pages give different all-in figures, and terms vary by market and by whether you connect through management software, so confirm yours in your dashboard.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Hosts set their own prices, individual rules and other terms of property use. The service only provides recommendations and convenient calculation tools like earning estimates. If you manage more than 10 properties, Vrbo suggests considering signing up as a property manager rather than an individual host. The VRBO support team is helpful and easy to reach. The system assists in payment collection: the fee is deducted automatically, and the funds are transferred to you according to the selected payment method. Because payouts run through the platform, a familiar set of booking scams follows, and our guide to common Vrbo scams and risks covers the red flags worth knowing.
Airbnb or VRBO: Which Is the Better Choice?
Booking.com
Popularity: high
Booking.com service appeared in 1996 as a small-sized Dutch startup company. Today it is a great representative of the most trusted and reliable services famous worldwide. The company reports more than 1.8 billion vacation rental guests since 2010.
Property Listing
Sign-up and property listing are free of charge.
Terms & Fees
Commission is not a flat figure. Booking.com states that the exact percentage depends on your country, your property type and the agreement you sign when you join. It applies to the full booking amount, including cleaning and service fees, plus any no-show or cancellation charge you collect. Local taxes such as city taxes are excluded. The service sends monthly invoices on the sum to be paid.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
The inventory is broad rather than narrow: hotels, apartments, whole homes, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, and room-only stays all sit side by side, which makes it one of the few big platforms that takes a single room. The sign-up process is extremely fast and simple; hosts can import listing details from other travel sites. Other features include custom house rules and complete control over your schedule and bookings (you can add prerequisites, if necessary). Booking.com also runs host protection programmes. Liability cover and damage policies are separate products with their own eligibility, so check what applies to your listing rather than assuming your property is insured.
Homeowners and property managers can easily sync-up their calendars with other sites to reduce the risk of double bookings. Automatic replies and convenient messaging tools with the added translator improve the communication quality with guests. For a fuller walkthrough of the extranet, see our guide to understanding Booking.com.
Homestay
Popularity: medium
Homestay launched in 2013 to bring the offline vacation rental industry online and make individual property rentals a more popular option for tourists and businesspeople. Its niche stayed narrow and useful: rooms in a home where the host is present, which suits students and longer stays. Guests come from 160 countries.
Property Listing
Free.
Terms & Fees
The website enables guests to make a payment in the full amount upon arrival. Under that option guests pay a 16% booking fee, capped at 250 in dollars, pounds or euros. However, for some countries and currencies, a 25-percent deposit payment is available to protect yourself from cancellations and no shows. Watch the fee base here: the host service fee is 3% of the deposit, with a minimum of 1 $/£/€, not 3% of the whole stay. On a 1,000 stay with a 250 deposit, that is 7.50, not 30. The deposit is paid out after the scheduled arrival date, with the timing in your account depending on your bank and the payout conditions that apply.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Hosts are able to mention in their profile the preferred payment method (bank transfer, electronic payment systems like PayPal, cash, etc.) The person booking must be an adult, though younger guests can stay when accompanied by one. Hosts can select the preferred length of stay to get the most suitable guests.
Clickstay / Rentalsystems
Popularity: medium
Clickstay is a vacation rental platform advertising thousands of homes worldwide, which is operating since 2003 (Villarenters.com). It accentuates timely customer and host service support to solve any arising issues.
Property Listing
There is a £1 fee for a sign-up procedure in order to check your credentials, while to list property costs nothing.
Terms & Fees
There are two models, and the one you are on decides what you pay. On the direct payment model Clickstay charges 3% on payments taken through its system, excluding Stripe’s own fees. The older legacy model is still published: 10% commission on bookings made via the Clickstay website or checkout, with the renter charged 4.5% capped at £75, $120 or €90. Check which model your account uses before comparing it with a commission platform.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Hosts can advertise as many properties as they need from one account, a perfect option for property managers. Hosts manage their calendar and prices via mobile apps. There is London-based customer support on weekdays from 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
TouristParadise
Popularity: medium
TouristParadise appeared in 2004 as a Germany-based portal Ferienhausmiete.de. It now advertises 150,000 holiday properties, more than 16,000 hosts and over 15 million visitors a year.
Property Listing
When the free registration is complete, the functions become available for extensive testing.
Terms & Fees
The model is advertising rather than commission. An ad costs EUR 149 per year plus VAT, and each additional property costs EUR 129 per year plus VAT. There are no service fees, no booking fees, and no additional commissions, so the platform takes nothing from the rental income itself. Your own taxes and running costs are a separate matter.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
The site offers international reach with 8 online portals in different languages. Competent host’s support on weekdays.
Owner Direct
Popularity: medium
Owner Direct Vacation Rentals was launched back in 1994, and today it represents lots of vacation short-term rental homes of the world’s popular resorts. It began by connecting travellers with ski condos in British Columbia, which gives it a longer Canadian history than most names on this list.
Property Listing
To find out the full terms, you need to fill out the host’s form on their website. Owner Direct says it is gradually expanding direct listing opportunities through approved channel managers.
Terms & Fees
Owner fees are not published.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Its role has shifted, and that changes what listing there means. Owner Direct now says that reservations made through the site are completed on its partners’ site, and that the properties shown come from trusted partners including online travel agencies and channel managers.
Holidu
Popularity: high in Europe
It is a search engine for vacation and short-term rentals, which compares the prices on different services and informs travelers about the most appropriate options. It now presents itself as a management platform too, working with more than 35,000 hosts across 29 offices in Europe.
Property Listing
You can add your property and advertise it with any partner website to be automatically added to the Holidu catalog. Eligible listings are then distributed through supported integrations to 25 or more channels, including Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo.
Terms & Fees
Free to start is true of the upfront payment and misleading as a total. Holidu publishes a 6% fee per booking, reducible to as low as 3% with exclusivity and growth discounts. On top of that sits a channel commission starting at 15%, covering the booking platforms themselves, plus a one-time onboarding fee from €90 taken out of your first payout. All prices exclude VAT, and Holidu says combined booking fees typically land between 18% and 24% by country.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
One account covers listing, pricing and guest messaging across those channels, which suits a host who would rather manage one calendar than five. The catch is that the real cost only appears once the channel commission is added to Holidu’s own fee.
HomeToGo
Popularity: high
Hometogo is one of the top aggregators for short-term business and vacation rentals around the world. It searches over 1000 vacation rental online services.
Property Listing
After listing your offer at Hometogo, it automatically appears on partners’ websites. You can also list directly instead of arriving through a connected provider.
Terms & Fees
There are two ways in, and they cost very differently. Arrive through a connected booking provider and HomeToGo takes its commission from that provider for every booking, query or click, which is one factor in where a listing appears. List directly and HomeToGo publishes its own plans: Flex, with no subscription and 15% plus VAT per booking, or Flat, at €249 per property a year plus a 1.7% host fee per booking, with an off-platform variant at €448. Offers differ by market.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Aggregators are a smart choice to save your time and effort on adding the property to multiple catalogs at once.
Houfy
Popularity: growing in North America
Houfy is built around direct booking. Hosts keep control of pricing, policies and payment arrangements, and guests book the host rather than an intermediary.
Property Listing
The free plan needs a one-time $5.99 host verification before your listings show in search.
Terms & Fees
Houfy states plainly that it takes no commission on bookings. Paid plans run at $7.99 or $11.99 per listing per month.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
The economics are the draw. You trade reach for margin, so it works best if you already bring some demand of your own.
Plum Guide
Popularity: medium, high-end
Plum Guide is curated rather than open. Homes are submitted and assessed before they appear, so it suits a well-finished property in a major city more than a standard condo.
Property Listing
Listing is an application rather than a signup, since homes are assessed before they go live.
Terms & Fees
Hosts pay a 3% service fee plus any local and sales taxes on every booking, and a one-off onboarding fee of £300, €300 or $400 charged after check-in on the first booking.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
Plum Guide says almost 75% of its bookings come through a matchmaking service, where its team has already spoken to the guest before the booking is made.
Agoda Homes
Popularity: high in Asia
Agoda’s home-rental programme sits alongside its hotel business and accepts homes, apartments and rooms. For a Canadian property drawing visitors from Asia-Pacific, it reaches an audience Airbnb and Vrbo do not dominate.
Property Listing
Listings can be imported from Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia or Vrbo rather than built from scratch, and Agoda offers setup assistance.
Terms & Fees
Agoda does not publish a commission rate. Its partner material says rates vary by property location, type and partnership tier, and that you see yours during registration.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
The draw is reach into Asia-Pacific demand rather than price, since you cannot compare the rate until you have registered.
Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy
Popularity: medium, premium only
Marriott’s home-rental arm lists premium, professionally managed properties, from cabins and ski chalets to villas and townhouses.
Property Listing
Individual owners cannot list directly. Marriott states that individual homeowners need to sign up through one of its partner property management companies.
Terms & Fees
Marriott does not publish owner-facing fees.
What is special about it? Pros and cons
If you already work with a management company, ask whether it is a Marriott partner. If you self-manage, this channel is closed to you.
Airbnb Alternatives in Canada
Airbnb alternatives in Canada are fewer than the global lists suggest, and one name on almost every list has quietly gone. CanadaStays now resolves to Expedia’s redirect infrastructure and no longer runs as a marketplace you can list on. That leaves Vrbo and Booking.com at the top of the websites like Airbnb available here, with a small set of domestic cottage directories below them.
Canadian Cottage Directories and What They Cost
Those directories sell advertising instead of taking commission. Enquiries reach the owner directly rather than running through a booking engine, which means you answer, you screen and you take payment.
| Site | Coverage | What owners pay |
| Cottages in Canada | Canada-wide, around 2,970 rental and for-sale listings | Paid annual advert. Check the current rate for your province on its owner listing page. Over 28,000 owners since 2002 |
| Chalets au Québec | Quebec and parts of Atlantic Canada, around 3,900 cottages | $170, $220 or $380 a year depending on package, 40 photos on each |
| Cottages Canada | Several provinces, a few hundred listings | Advertising only. The site states it charges no commission, no fees and no percentage |
Registration Rules Follow the Property, Not the Platform
The bigger point, however, has nothing to do with which site you pick.
- British Columbia. Register with the provincial short-term rental registry and show the number on the listing. It costs $100 a year where you live and $450 where you do not, plus a $1.50 service fee. Registration does not override principal-residence rules, local licensing or zoning.
- Toronto. Principal residences only, $390 a year to register, entire-unit rentals capped at 180 nights across the year rather than per platform, plus a 6% Municipal Accommodation Tax. The city notes the registration fee rises annually.
- Quebec. Any rental of 31 consecutive days or less for payment needs CITQ registration, and the number must appear on every listing and advertisement. On transactional platforms the certificate’s expiry date has to be shown too.
Enforcement now runs through the platforms themselves. In BC, medium and major platforms check registration numbers against the registry daily through an API, and where that check fails the platform must stop advertising the listing, block new bookings and cancel existing ones. A suspended registration is treated differently: platforms must stop advertising and prevent new bookings, but existing bookings are not required to be cancelled on that basis. Quebec requires transactional platforms to obtain and verify your certificate. So a smaller site is not a quieter one, and rules change often enough to be worth checking with your municipality before you list.
Airbnb Sites That No Longer Take Bookings
Four of the websites like Airbnb on earlier versions of this list are no longer places you can send a guest.
What Closed, and Where Those Listings Went
Each of these still turns up in older comparison articles, which is the reason they are worth naming here.
| Site | What happened |
| HomeAway | Expedia Group consolidated its vacation rental brands under Vrbo and retired the HomeAway brand in the US in 2020; homeaway.com now redirects to Vrbo |
| FlipKey / Tripadvisor Rentals | Tripadvisor withdrew direct vacation-rental bookings in 2024 and subsequently closed FlipKey and Niumba |
| CanadaStays | Now resolves to Expedia’s redirect host and no longer runs as a separate Canadian marketplace |
| TheHolidayOutlet | theholidayoutlet.co.uk did not resolve on repeated checks, and theholidayoutlet.com serves a parked-domain page |
Airbnb Comparisons Hosts Search For
Four of these comparisons are live choices and three are questions with a one-word answer, because the other platform no longer exists.
How Each Alternative Differs From Airbnb
The table is the short version. The notes underneath give the detail on each one.
| Comparison | The real difference | Where it leaves you |
| Booking.com vs Airbnb | Booking.com takes single rooms, and sets your commission in the agreement rather than publishing it | Worth both if you want international and room-only demand |
| Houfy vs Airbnb | No commission at all. You pay a flat plan instead of a booking fee | Better margin, but you supply more of the demand |
| Plum Guide vs Airbnb | Entry is by assessment, not signup, at 3% plus an onboarding fee | Only for a well-finished home in a major city |
| Holidu or HomeToGo vs Airbnb | A distribution layer sitting over Airbnb, not a replacement for it | Use alongside Airbnb, never instead of it |
| HomeAway vs Airbnb | HomeAway was retired into Vrbo in 2020 | Compare Airbnb with Vrbo instead |
| FlipKey vs Airbnb | Tripadvisor closed its rental brands | Use Vrbo or Booking.com |
| CanadaStays vs Airbnb | CanadaStays now redirects to Vrbo | Use Vrbo or a Canadian cottage directory |
Booking.com vs Airbnb
Both take whole homes, but only one takes a single room. Booking.com lists guest houses, bed and breakfasts and room-only stays beside apartments and hotels. Costs are published differently too. Airbnb states its fee and is moving hosts to about 15.5%, while Booking.com sets yours in the agreement you sign, and charges commission on your cleaning fee and on any cancellation charge you collect.
Houfy vs Airbnb
The difference here is the fee model rather than the audience. Airbnb takes a service fee on every booking. Houfy takes no commission at all and charges you directly instead: a one-time $5.99 verification on the free plan, or $7.99 to $11.99 per listing a month. You trade reach for margin, so it works best if you already bring some demand of your own.
Plum Guide vs Airbnb
Airbnb accepts almost any property. Plum Guide assesses homes before they appear, so listing there is an application rather than a signup. The costs differ in shape too: 3% per booking plus taxes, and a one-off onboarding fee of £300, €300 or $400 charged after your first stay. It suits a well-finished city home rather than a standard condo.
Holidu or HomeToGo vs Airbnb
Neither is really a rival to Airbnb. Both push your listing out to several booking sites, Airbnb included, rather than replacing it. That is why their pricing reads strangely beside a marketplace fee: Holidu charges 6% plus a channel commission from 15%, and HomeToGo’s direct plans start at 15% per booking or €249 a year.
HomeAway vs Airbnb
Searches for HomeAway vs Airbnb still run every month, and only one side of the comparison exists. Expedia Group consolidated its vacation rental brands under Vrbo and retired HomeAway in the United States in 2020, and homeaway.com now lands on Vrbo. Compare Airbnb with Vrbo instead: Airbnb takes whole homes, private rooms and shared spaces, while Vrbo wants private accommodation with no space shared with the host.
FlipKey vs Airbnb
This one catches people out, because the brand stayed visible long after the bookings stopped. Tripadvisor withdrew direct vacation-rental bookings in September 2024, cancelled stays checking in from 1 November 2024, and later closed FlipKey and Niumba. So FlipKey vs Airbnb is no longer a channel comparison. One is a live marketplace, the other is gone.
CanadaStays vs Airbnb
Canada’s best-known domestic marketplace is no longer a marketplace. Its domain now resolves to Expedia’s redirect infrastructure and does not open as a booking site, so there is nothing left to weigh against Airbnb. Canadian hosts wanting a domestic channel are better served by the cottage directories above, or by Vrbo, which is where the traffic was pointed.
How to Choose Which Airbnb Sites to Use
Most hosts do not need every one of the Airbnb sites listed above. Two or three channels suits many properties, since past that the calendar admin starts eating the extra bookings. The right number depends on your property and how much of the work you do yourself.
- Pair Airbnb with one broad platform. Vrbo reaches families and groups; Booking.com reaches international travellers and also takes a single room.
- Check the eligibility rule before you write the listing. Vrbo wants private accommodation, Homestay wants a room in an occupied home, Plum Guide vets, and Marriott needs a management company.
- Compare total cost, not headline commission. Holidu adds channel commission and onboarding on top of its 6%, and Booking.com charges commission on your cleaning fee.
- Read which fee model your account is on. Airbnb is mid-migration, Vrbo publishes different figures in different places, and Clickstay still runs a legacy 10% model alongside its 3% one.
- Sync calendars, and show your registration number everywhere. Syncing reduces double bookings rather than eliminating them, and a missing number can pull a listing down in BC, Toronto or Quebec.
Running three calendars, three inboxes and three sets of house rules is where most hosts stop enjoying the business, and that is the part professional Airbnb management is built to absorb.
