Hotel PMS Cost Comparison: What a 20-Room Hotel Really Pays
PMS pricing pages are built to be hard to compare: add-ons excluded, per-room multipliers, booking fees. So here's the number that matters — the annual all-in cost for the same 20-room independent hotel, vendor by vendor, with the math shown. Including ours.
Figures reflect public information and customer-reported quotes as of mid-2026 and are estimates for comparison; confirm current pricing with each vendor.
Annual cost, 20-room hotel
| Vendor | The math | Annual (PMS core) | What's not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| FrontDesko Free | $0 × 12 | $0 | Channel manager, AI assistant (that's the paid tier) |
| FrontDesko Growth | $42 × 12 | $504 | Nothing at this size — channels + AI included |
| eZee Absolute | ~₹2,250 ($27) × 12, PMS-only | ~$324 | Channel manager, booking engine and other add-ons cost extra |
| Little Hotelier | ~$29 × 12 + ~1% of booking revenue | ~$348 + fees | The 1% fee: ~$1,500/yr on $150k of bookings |
| Hotelogix | Freemium tier; paid plans vary | varies | Free tier has no channel manager or payments |
| Mews | 20 rooms × ~€6 × 12 (base PMS) | ~€1,440 | Add-ons priced separately |
| Cloudbeds | Custom quote, commonly ~$350/mo | ~$4,200 | Quotes vary by property; marketplace apps extra |
Yes, we sell one of these. The math is shown precisely so you can check it — and the vendor pages are linked below so you can verify against the source.
The three pricing mechanics to watch
Add-on pricing (eZee, Hotelogix, Cloudbeds marketplace): the advertised number is the PMS shell; the channel manager, booking engine or payments module you'll inevitably need arrives on the next invoice. Ask for the all-in quote for your exact stack.
Per-room pricing (Mews): fair at scale, punishing for small properties — your bill rises when you add rooms, not when you add revenue.
Percentage booking fees (Little Hotelier): the software taxes your growth. A fee that looks tiny at signup compounds into the largest line item as your direct bookings grow.
FrontDesko's model, stated just as plainly: the core is free at any size because we want the free tier to be genuinely usable forever; we charge a flat $42–54/month only for the two things with real per-customer costs — OTA connectivity and the AI assistant.
Deeper comparisons: vs Cloudbeds · vs Mews · vs eZee · vs Hotelogix · vs Little Hotelier — or the free-PMS comparison and OTA commission calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a hotel PMS cost for a 20-room hotel?
Anywhere from $0 to over $4,000 per year. FrontDesko's core PMS is free forever ($504/year with channel manager + AI); budget vendors like eZee start around $324/year PMS-only; Mews' base PMS runs ~€1,440/year at 20 rooms; Cloudbeds is custom-quoted, commonly ~$4,200/year.
Why do PMS price comparisons so often mislead?
Three tricks: advertised prices that exclude the add-ons you'll need (channel manager, booking engine, payments), per-room pricing that grows with your size, and percentage booking fees that grow with your revenue. Always compute the annual all-in figure for your room count.
Run the $0 row yourself
The free plan isn't a teaser — PMS, booking engine, guest app and POS, unlimited rooms, no card. Verify the table the empirical way.
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