TripWorks pricing: fees, the monthly plan fee, and the best alternatives (2026)

TripWorks pricing

TripWorks has taken down its public pricing page. Its last published terms were a 6% booking fee plus card processing. Its help center now describes a monthly plan fee on every plan (Standard, Pro and Enterprise) once an account has been live for three months, waived automatically when booking volume clears a threshold. The amount isn't published. The 6% is added to the guest's total by default, so on a $3,000 trip the traveler pays $180 more. Samba, by comparison, has no monthly fee and charges a flat 2% per booking after the first $10,000 in bookings: $60 on the same $3,000 trip if you pass it on.

Why are operators looking for a TripWorks alternative?

TripWorks is a capable all-in-one platform — built by operators, tested inside a large Las Vegas attraction, and now serving more than 1,000 clients with genuinely strong distribution. It connects directly to Viator and GetYourGuide, reaches other OTAs such as Expedia through a channel manager, lists on Google Things To Do, and ships marketing and point-of-sale tooling in the box. For a high-volume day-tour or attraction operator who leans on OTAs and wants everything under one roof, that reach is a real reason to stay.

The friction shows up in the fees: a 6% booking fee on every card booking that raises the traveler's price, card processing and a monthly plan fee on your side, and no automatic installment schedule for collecting a balance over time.

What does TripWorks actually charge?

TripWorks no longer lists its prices publicly; its pricing page now redirects to a demo request. Its help center describes three plans (Standard, Pro and Enterprise), each with a monthly fee charged once an account has been live for three months. The fee is waived automatically when your trailing one-month or six-month booking volume passes a threshold, but neither the amount nor the thresholds are published. On top of that, TripWorks charges a booking fee on every card booking (6% at its last published rate), which by default is added to the guest's total, and you absorb card processing, which is withheld from your payouts. So the fair comparison is the price your traveler sees at checkout plus what you pay. Samba is $0/month with no plan fee later, and its flat 2% (first $10,000 of bookings free) can be absorbed or passed to guests. On a $3,000 trip, a guest-paid 6% adds $180 to the traveler's price; Samba's 2% adds $60.

Where does TripWorks fall short?

A trip that isn't paid in full upfront needs a deposit to hold the booking and a way to collect the balance before departure. TripWorks supports deposits well — by group, by guest, a fixed amount or a percentage per ticket — and travelers can split a payment through Klarna (USD checkouts only), with Klarna collecting the installments. What's missing is an automatic installment schedule you set: balances are collected by charging the saved card, sending a payment link, or letting the guest pay in their portal. Add a booking fee on every card booking and a monthly plan fee after three months, and operators who collect balances over time have the most reason to look elsewhere. Samba runs that schedule for you: you set the deposit and the installment dates, each installment is charged to the card the traveler saved at booking, travelers get automatic reminders, and the money lands in your own Stripe account.

Who should stay on TripWorks?

Be fair about it: if most of your sales come through OTAs and you want marketing, point-of-sale and distribution in one platform, TripWorks delivers that, and its channel reach is a genuine asset. The operators with the clearest reason to move are the ones who don't want a 6% fee on every booking or a monthly plan fee, and want published pricing and installment plans that run automatically.

The other pattern worth naming: TripWorks' 6% booking fee sits toward the higher end of the category, and like FareHarbor and Peek Pro it applies per booking, with card processing on your side. Because it's a percentage, the dollar amount grows with your price: $3.60 on a $60 ticket, $180 on a $3,000 trip. Even when the guest pays it, it's part of the price they compare at checkout.

How should you choose a TripWorks alternative?

There's no single best tool — there's a best tool for how you actually sell. Start with one question: what's driving you off TripWorks — the fee, or a feature gap?

What if the 6% fee is your real problem?

Then the per-booking math is the whole decision. Samba is a flat 2% with the first $10,000 of bookings free; Bókun runs around 1–1.5%; Rezgo charges 4.9% per online booking with no monthly subscription at all. Each undercuts TripWorks's 6%, and Rezgo is worth a look if you'd rather pay only when you get a booking than carry any subscription (TripWorks now charges a monthly plan fee after three months). Compared like for like on a $3,000 trip, TripWorks's 6% adds $180 to the traveler's price; Samba's 2% adds $60.

What if most of your bookings come from OTAs?

Then distribution outweighs the headline fee — but the fee still matters. Bókun is built for reach: a marketplace of 2,600+ OTAs and resellers, a 0% Bókun fee on Viator bookings on paid plans, and a booking fee far below TripWorks's. FareHarbor is the other heavyweight, with broad reach as a Booking Holdings brand, though its direct-booking fee is 6% for accounts under $35,000 a year.

What if you want the closest like-for-like?

Then Peek Pro is the natural comparison: a day-tour-and-activity platform with point-of-sale, waivers and marketing tooling much like TripWorks's. Just note its pricing is demo-gated rather than published, so confirm the fee before you commit — and weigh it against the transparent options above.

What if your itinerary runs longer than a day?

Then look at how the tool handles a multi-day trip specifically, not just a single booking. TripWorks supports deposits (by group or by guest, fixed or percentage) and offers Klarna at checkout, but there's no automatic installment schedule you set to collect the balance before departure. Resmark is the closer match here: it's built for adventure and multi-day operators specifically (rafting, backpacking, outfitting), with equipment manifests, guide-tied gear rentals, and waiver management baked in, at a published $15–95/month plus a 2.5–3.5% transaction fee depending on tier.

How hard is it to switch from TripWorks to Samba?

Switching booking platforms feels heavier than it is, mostly because your live calendar and customer relationships are on the line. The practical work breaks into three parts: moving your experiences and availability, redirecting your booking links, and bringing across any in-flight bookings.

What do you need to move first?

Your experiences and their availability. On Samba's free plan you can rebuild all your experiences, set deposit and installment terms, and run real test bookings through the engine before you point any traffic at it. In Samba, deposits and installment plans with automatic reminders are standard, so balances are collected on a schedule you set.

What happens to bookings already in TripWorks?

Let existing departures run out on TripWorks while new bookings flow to Samba — there's no need for a hard cutover. Point your website's "Book now" links and embedded buttons at the new checkout, keep TripWorks live until its last booked trip departs, then close the account. Offline payments you mark manually carry no Samba fee, which keeps reconciling a transition period straightforward.

The honest part: there's real setup work, and if a lot of your volume comes through TripWorks's OTA channels, you'll want a distribution plan for those — Samba syncs bookings from connected channels like GetYourGuide, but it isn't a full distribution channel manager. What you get in exchange is $0/month with no plan fee later, a flat 2% booking fee instead of 6% (first $10,000 free, processing billed straight to Stripe), and deposits and installment plans built in. If you're ready to see it against your own trips, you can start free on Samba.