Webkio vs Checkfront
Both charge a plan and a percentage. The question is which percentage, and whether you run tours or a hire counter.
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| Feature | Webkio | Checkfront |
|---|---|---|
| Fee on an online booking | 2% Starter, 1% from Growth up | A percentage per booking - see their page |
| Timed sessions with shared resources | No - items are booked against dates | Yes, and it is what it is built for |
| Hiring items out by the day | Native, per vertical | Supported |
| Deposit held on the card, not taken | Yes, per item, with partial capture | Check their current terms |
| OTA and reseller connections | None | Yes, with no extra fee |
| Your own website around the booking | The whole site, same plan | A booking widget on your site |
| A shop or blog on the same site | Yes | Bookings are the product |
| Passing the fee to the customer | No - the fee is ours, not a line item | Optional, per their pricing page |
Comparison reflects Webkio's built-in capabilities; competitor features vary by plan and available apps. Always check each provider's current plans.
Last reviewed 27 October 2026.
This is the one comparison here where the fee really is the story. Checkfront publishes a single plan: a monthly subscription plus a percentage of every online booking, which you can absorb or add to the guest's total. Webkio charges a flat plan plus 2% per online payment on Starter and 1% from Growth Business up. Read their rate off their own pricing page and put it beside ours - we are not going to quote a competitor's percentage that could be out of date by the time you read this. On fit it is less one-sided, because Checkfront is built for timed tours with shared resources and Webkio is built for hiring things out by the day.
The verdict
For a hire business, we are the simpler buy and usually the cheaper one: 1 to 2% per online payment on your own site, with the deposit held rather than taken. Do the sum with their current rate rather than ours. For a tour operator running sessions with shared guides and equipment, Checkfront is doing something we do not do at all, and its fee is buying you that rather than being a tax.
What each one costs
Both of us charge a monthly plan plus a percentage of online payments, so the comparison is one percentage against another and it is worth doing with your own volume. Ours we can state, because it is a fact about our own plans: 2% per online payment on Starter and 1% from Growth Business up, nothing on Free. Theirs is on their pricing page, and you should read it there rather than take a number from a competitor - ours included. One thing to ask them directly while you are there: their page is inconsistent about bookings taken offline, listing no fee in one place and a combined rate in a table on the same page. Work out your own figure the simple way: your monthly online booking value times each percentage, plus each subscription. Neither side's percentage includes your own card processor, which bills you separately in both cases.
What moving involves
Work out what you actually need from a booking engine first, because the fee saving is not the point if the engine cannot hold your operation. If you hire things out by the day - bikes, plant, boats, equipment - the Webkio rental engine does that natively, with per-item deposits held on the card and your own damage terms. If you run timed departures with a guide and shared kit, stay where you are or look at something built for sessions. Either way, export your bookings and your customer list before you move, and switch between seasons rather than during one.
When to choose them instead
It is built for tours and activities rather than for hire, and that difference is real: a 10am kayak trip needs a guide, a minibus and fourteen boats all free at once, and Checkfront understands a session with shared resources behind it. It also connects to the OTAs and charges no extra fee on bookings that arrive through them. Webkio books an item against dates. For a hire yard that is exactly right; for an activity operator running timed departures it is not.
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