Bookalet vs Lodgify vs SuperControl

Owners usually search Bookalet vs Lodgify when they want a cheap UK diary on a site they already have. Add SuperControl and you have the three UK products this comparison is actually about. Bookalet vs SuperControl is the other pair: iCal channels and a widget versus UK agency pipes. Pick the one that matches your channels, not the cheapest login.

I ship whichever stack fits. Website plus Airbnb and Booking.com as a two-way API is usually Lodgify. A Bookalet-only owner with almost no OTAs does not need SuperControl for sport, and does not need Lodgify either. The wider UK table is best holiday let software UK.

Bookalet pricing and what you do not get

Bookalet pricing is why it wins first conversations: £139 Lite, £189 Pro, £239 Team per year ex VAT, per account not per property. 30-day trial. No booking commission on the pricing page. You get a diary, a Bookalet widget, and Stripe from Lite. Airbnb and Booking.com are two-way iCal on Pro and above — Bookalet polls every 20 minutes. Imports typically dates plus name; rental value is often typed in after payout. Lite has no channel management. Pro’s Airbnb and Booking.com sync is iCal, not a Lodgify or SuperControl API.

There is an optional drag-and-drop website builder from £149/year ex VAT. Bookalet calls it search-engine friendly. Widget-on-your-site is still the default. You do not get Sykes. cottages.com is named for iCal on the agents page. If you will never list on OTAs, Lite’s missing channel row is a feature. If you already have Airbnb open, Bookalet vs Lodgify is decided by whether iCal is enough. Saving the subscription and giving Airbnb a cut of every week is not cheap. I’d rather you spent the extra on an engine that can lock the diary than congratulate yourself on a low annual fee.

Bookalet vs SuperControl

SuperControl is the other UK incumbent. The Owner product publishes £250 joining plus £555.35 a year for 1–3 properties, ex VAT, and 1% plus VAT on named OTA API bookings. Sykes is a date-blocking cross-update, not a first-class API. cottages.com and Hoseasons APIs currently want three properties. SuperControl pricing is the bill. The real gap versus Bookalet is channel depth and ops (owner accounts on Team), not “diary versus OS.” One cottage without agency channels does not need SuperControl. A portfolio that lives on Sykes does not need Bookalet.

Lodgify sits between them for owners who want OTA APIs plus a site without buying agency software. The pairwise essay with SuperControl is Lodgify vs SuperControl. I’m not going to pretend Bookalet grew a Sykes API. I’m also not going to put a one-cottage owner onto SuperControl because it “sounds professional.” If Bookalet already takes the booking on a site you like, and iCal is enough, keep Bookalet.

Bookalet widget on an existing site

The Bookalet widget is the common path: copy embed code from Publish Widgets and paste HTML into WordPress Custom HTML, Elementor, or another CMS. Fine if the theme does not fight the iframe and guests can finish on a phone. Do not install the WordPress.org plugin — it closed on 18 December 2024 for a security issue. Same class of fight as a Lodgify WordPress embed, or a Lodgify widget on a theme that was never built for checkout. A widget is checkout inside someone else’s layout. It will not rank the farm, and it will not make the site distinctive.

If the widget is dying on mobile, changing diary brands will not save you. Fix the page. If the diary cannot talk to Airbnb, changing the theme will not save you either. Those are two different jobs. Pro iCal is the Bookalet answer to the second one. A Lodgify API is the answer if you need rates and messages, not just blocked dates.

Who should pick which

Bookalet: UK, one or few cottages, existing site, barely on Airbnb, or happy with iCal on Pro. Lodgify: you want Airbnb, Booking.com and a bookable website without SuperControl. SuperControl: Sykes dates to keep blocked, or cottages.com / Hoseasons as an API (three properties), or you run enough units that owner-services are the job.

If you migrate, treat it as a diary project. Rebuild rates, connect channels before you switch the old one off, test a booking that blocks the other side. iCal-only as the bridge is how dates get lost. I’ve done that work. It is winter work, not a peak-season cutover.