What FareHarbor Actually Costs

Jarod LaFalce

Co-Founder / COO of BookingTerminal

Published on: April 30, 2026 | Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

If you've looked into FareHarbor's pricing, you've probably seen the 6% online booking fee. That's the number that gets talked about most. But depending on how your business runs, there are other fees worth knowing about before you commit.

This post breaks down every fee category associated with FareHarbor so you can understand the full set of costs that could apply to your operation.

The Online Booking Fee

FareHarbor charges a 6% fee on bookings made through your website checkout. This fee is passed on to your customers at checkout, which means they're the ones paying it — not you.

How that affects your business depends on your customer base and your price points. A 6% checkout fee on a $50 kayak rental lands differently than on a $500 private charter. It's worth thinking through how that fee shows up for your customers at the moment they're about to book.

The Direct Booking Fee

If your online booking volume doesn't hit FareHarbor's minimum threshold, they also charge a 6% fee on bookings you process manually — phone calls, walk-ups, group emails, concierge referrals. Unlike the online fee, this one is paid by the operator, not the customer.

A lot of operators handle a significant portion of their bookings offline, especially for group reservations or private experiences. If you're in that category, this is a fee that can apply to a large share of your booking volume.

For a deeper look at how direct booking fees work across the industry, our post on booking software fees breaks it all down.

The OTA API Fee

If you're connected to OTAs like Viator or GetYourGuide through FareHarbor, they charge an additional 2% fee on top of whatever the OTA takes in commission.

OTA commissions are typically 20%+. Add a 2% platform fee on top of that, and a $100 booking through an OTA channel can cost $22 or more in combined fees before you factor in anything else. If OTA distribution is a meaningful part of your business, this is one of the more common reasons operators end up looking at FareHarbor alternatives.

The Website Fees (Optional, But Worth Knowing)

FareHarbor offers a managed website product called FareHarbor Sites. Pricing is $5,000 per year for the website, with an optional SEO add-on available for another $5,000 per year.

This is an optional product — you can use FareHarbor's booking software without it. But if you're evaluating FareHarbor as a full solution — software plus website — those costs are worth factoring in upfront.

The Full Picture

Here's a summary of FareHarbor's fee structure across each category:

How to Evaluate This for Your Business

The best thing you can do before committing to any platform is understand your booking mix — how much comes in online, how much offline, and how much through OTAs — and apply the relevant fees to each category. That gives you a realistic picture of the fees your business would incur. From there, comparing platforms side by side helps you see how those fees stack up against the features and support each one offers.

If you're weighing FareHarbor against BookingTerminal specifically, our side-by-side comparison goes deeper on where each platform fits best. And if you've already made up your mind, here's what switching actually looks like.

Pricing information in this post was gathered through independent market research as of April 30, 2026 and is subject to change. BookingTerminal does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of this information. If you notice something that needs to be updated, please reach out to us at [email protected].