Does Cabinly do channel management like Smoobu?

Not in the full sense. Cabinly syncs availability two ways over iCal with Booking.com, Airbnb and anything publishing an .ics feed, so nights close across channels. It does not push rates and content out to the OTAs the way a channel manager does.

Can I use Cabinly next to a channel manager I already pay for?

Yes — that is the common case. Keep the channel manager for the marketplaces and let Cabinly be the direct channel your own guests book through, at 0% commission, with the iCal sync keeping the calendars honest.

What do I lose by choosing the smaller tool?

Reporting, invoicing, guest messaging as a system, and multi-property operations. Cabinly is one page, one calendar and the payments behind it. If any of those four is your daily work, the smaller tool will annoy you.

CabinlySmoobu

Smoobu bundles the tools. Cabinly is one of them, done well.

Smoobu is an all-in-one for small hosts: channel manager, website, booking system, messaging and reporting in one subscription. Cabinly is only the direct booking page, built from an existing listing in two minutes, at 0% commission.

Updated 31 August 2026

Built for: One owner with one to three cabins
Time to a working page: About two minutes, from a listing link
Commission on a direct booking: 0% to Cabinly; Stripe charges its own fee

Side by side

	Cabinly	Smoobu
Built for	One owner with one to three cabins	Small hosts who want channel management and a site in one subscription
Time to a working page	About two minutes, from a listing link	Connect the channels, build the site, then open for bookings
Commission on a direct booking	0% to Cabinly; Stripe charges its own fee	No commission on their own plans; see their pricing
Other portals	Two-way iCal with Booking.com and Airbnb	Channel manager across the major OTAs
What it does beyond a booking page	Guest questions answered on the page, one named move per empty night, bookings you enter yourself	Guest messaging, reporting, invoicing, website builder
What it costs	0% commission on direct bookings, forever; everything free during the alpha	Subscription plans – see smoobu.com

Choose Cabinly if

The bookings you want are the ones that would have come to you directly anyway.
You would rather have one page that converts than five tools that need configuring.
You want the setup measured in minutes and the commission at zero.

Cabinly

Choose Smoobu if

You want channel management, messaging and invoicing under one bill.
You are already juggling several OTAs and the double bookings are the problem you are solving.
You want a website with more on it than a booking flow.

Smoobu

Questions people actually ask

Does Cabinly do channel management like Smoobu?: Not in the full sense. Cabinly syncs availability two ways over iCal with Booking.com, Airbnb and anything publishing an .ics feed, so nights close across channels. It does not push rates and content out to the OTAs the way a channel manager does.
Can I use Cabinly next to a channel manager I already pay for?: Yes – that is the common case. Keep the channel manager for the marketplaces and let Cabinly be the direct channel your own guests book through, at 0% commission, with the iCal sync keeping the calendars honest.
What do I lose by choosing the smaller tool?: Reporting, invoicing, guest messaging as a system, and multi-property operations. Cabinly is one page, one calendar and the payments behind it. If any of those four is your daily work, the smaller tool will annoy you.
Do I need a Stripe account?: Yes, for card payments – the money goes into your own Stripe account rather than through ours, which is what makes 0% commission arithmetic rather than a promise. Stripe charges its own transaction fee, published on their site. A booking paid in cash or by transfer you can enter by hand without Stripe at all.