THE GUIDESLY PRO ALTERNATIVE
Built free, either way. Then 10% — or a flat fee.
Guidesly Pro is the closest model to ours on the market: no upfront fee, a website built for you, booking and a POS. The difference is what comes after. Guidesly charges 10% of every booking that comes through the site it built you; Timber & Tackle is a flat $19 a month — free until your first accepted booking, and never a percentage of a client you brought.
Credit first. Guidesly Pro's pricing page says it plainly: "No upfront fees. Only pay when you get booked." For a guide starting from zero that's a fair deal — nothing until the first booking, a built site, and a marketplace on the side that finds strangers, which is real work we don't do. If the marketplace produces for you, keep it.
Now the after. Guidesly's fee "varies based on how customers find and book with you": 3% processing on a booking you take by phone or in person through their POS, 10% on a booking through the website they built you, 15% through their marketplace. The 3% is card processing, and we'd call it that too. The 10% is the one to sit with. It's on your own site, under your own name, from the regular who was always going to book you — and it never stops. Ten $600 bookings through your site in a month is $600 to Guidesly. Here it's $19, and past about $190 booked through your own site in a month the percentage costs more than the flat fee. That line moves the wrong way as you grow.
Timber & Tackle builds the whole site free too — from your existing site and photos, before you pay anything — on a domain you own, with every client in a list you can export and leave with. Then $19/mo flat, starting the day you accept your first booking. No percentage of a booking your site earned, no percentage of a phone call, ever.
The site earned the booking. The site's owner should keep it.
Guidesly Pro vs. Timber & Tackle
Guidesly Pro's fees are quoted from its own pricing page, guideslypro.com/pricing, read on August 29, 2026. Where we haven't read their terms, the row says so.
Upfront cost
- Guidesly Pro
- $0 — "only pay when you get booked"
- Timber & Tackle
- $0 — free until you accept your first booking
A booking through the site they built you
- Guidesly Pro
- 10% per booking
- Timber & Tackle
- $0 — flat fee only
A booking you take by phone or in person
- Guidesly Pro
- 3% processing through their POS
- Timber & Tackle
- Record it in one tap; card fees are Stripe's, not ours
A booking through their marketplace
- Guidesly Pro
- 15% per booking
- Timber & Tackle
- We don't run one — keep theirs if it finds you strangers
What it costs as you grow
- Guidesly Pro
- Grows with every booking
- Timber & Tackle
- Flat — $19/mo
Your client list and domain if you leave
- Guidesly Pro
- Not on their pricing page — ask before you sign
- Timber & Tackle
- Yours — own domain, one-click full export
| Guidesly Pro | Timber & Tackle | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $0 — "only pay when you get booked" | $0 — free until you accept your first booking |
| A booking through the site they built you | 10% per booking | $0 — flat fee only |
| A booking you take by phone or in person | 3% processing through their POS | Record it in one tap; card fees are Stripe's, not ours |
| A booking through their marketplace | 15% per booking | We don't run one — keep theirs if it finds you strangers |
| What it costs as you grow | Grows with every booking | Flat — $19/mo |
| Your client list and domain if you leave | Not on their pricing page — ask before you sign | Yours — own domain, one-click full export |
A flat fee, not a slice
Ten bookings or a hundred, the software costs the same. A percentage model charges you the most in your best month.
Free build, same as theirs
Send us your site or your trips and we build the whole thing before you pay a dime. Approve it with one tap.
Own it outright
Your domain, your client list, your content — exportable any time, including the day you leave.
Straight answers.
Isn't "only pay when you get booked" better for a new guide?
In the first month, maybe. Our free period runs until you accept your first booking too, with no clock on it. After that it's arithmetic: 10% of everything your own site books, for as long as you use it, against a flat fee. Run last season's numbers through both.
Is Guidesly a marketplace or booking software?
Both, by its own pricing page — a built website and POS, plus a marketplace tier at 15% per booking. We're only the software half. If their marketplace sends you strangers, that's a service we don't offer; keep it.
Is the 3% a commission?
No, and we won't call it one. Their words are "a 3% processing fee for credit card payments through our POS." Card processing exists everywhere, including on Timber & Tackle, where Stripe charges its fee and we charge nothing per booking.
Does Timber & Tackle take anything per booking?
No. A flat subscription is our only revenue. Trip money goes from the client straight to your own Stripe account, and we will never take a cut of a client you brought us.
How do I switch?
Send us your current site or your trips and we build your whole booking site for free, then send you a link to approve. If you have a domain, it comes with you. Setup is a paste and a tap.
Related: Every comparison, sourced · Fishing charter booking software · How the free build works
Your site earned the booking. Keep all of it.
We build your whole site free and send you a link. Look it over. If the math doesn't move you, you've lost nothing.
Get your site built — freeFree until you accept your first booking, then $19/mo · keep every listing you have · built before you decide
We will never take a cut of a client you brought us.