How PorchKit compares
There are four normal ways to give guests a welcome book. Here's an honest account of the trade-offs, including the cases where PorchKit is the wrong tool.
Competitor details checked 25 October 2026 against each company's own pricing page. Touch Stay and Hostfully do not publish their paid prices publicly — Touch Stay quotes through a calculator, Hostfully through a sales contact — so no price is stated for them here. Check their current terms yourself before deciding.
| PorchKit | Subscription guidebook apps | Canva-style template | Airbnb's built-in guidebook | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $29 once | Recurring; price not published | Usually $10–30 once | Free |
| Properties | Up to 5 per purchase | Usually priced per property | One file, copy it yourself | Per listing |
| Guests reach it by | Scanning a QR or tapping a link | Link or app, varies | A PDF you send, or paper | The Airbnb app, if they booked there |
| Works for direct and VRBO bookings | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Printable WiFi QR sign | Included | Varies by plan | Static image, no auto-join | No |
| Edit after printing signs | Yes — link stays the same | Yes | Re-export and reprint | Yes |
| Stops working if you stop paying | No | Yes | No | No |
| Try before paying | Build and preview free | Free trial or limited free tier | Preview the template | Free |
When PorchKit is the wrong choice
Worth saying plainly, because the wrong customer is no good to either of us.
- You only list on Airbnb and your guests are happy in the app. Airbnb's own guidebook is free and already there. PorchKit earns its place when you take direct or VRBO bookings, or when guests ignore the app.
- You manage dozens of properties. PorchKit covers five per purchase and has no team accounts, no bulk import and no PMS integration. A per-property subscription with those features will serve you better.
- You want one system for everything. PorchKit does not do bookings, messaging, cleaning schedules, upsells or channel management. It is the guest-facing guide and the signs that point at it, and nothing else.
- You want a printed booklet. PorchKit's guide is a web page. The sign pack prints, the guide itself is meant for a phone.
When PorchKit is the better fit
- One to five properties. One payment covers the lot.
- You resent subscriptions for simple things. A welcome book is one web page. Paying monthly, forever, for one web page is the complaint that led to PorchKit existing.
- You want it done today. No account to create, no install, no sales call. Start from an example and edit it.
- You want the WiFi question to stop. The printed sign's QR code joins guests to the network without anyone typing a password.
About the prices above
PorchKit's price is on this page because you should not have to request a quote to learn what something costs. Touch Stay's and Hostfully's paid tiers were not publicly listed when this page was last checked, so this page does not guess at them. Hostfully does advertise a free tier covering one guidebook.
Sources: touchstay.com/pricing, hostfully.com/pricing/digital-guidebooks. These are other companies' products; their current terms are whatever their own pages say today.
See it rather than take my word
The demo is a real published guide, exactly what a guest opens: getporchkit.com/g/demo. You can also build your own guide and preview it in full without paying anything.