Stop Paying Booking Fees on Charters You Found Yourself
The short answer
FareHarbor is booking and reservation software — it manages your calendar and checkout, with no monthly fee but a booking fee added at checkout (commonly reported around 6–8%, varying by agreement). Charter Pro now does both jobs for a flat fee: it gets you found on Google AND takes the booking — online booking on your own site with commission-free deposits (Prime and Pro), plus automated reviews and fresh trip content, for a flat $160/month and no per-booking fee. FareHarbor is still the deeper reservation system; Charter Pro is the better deal if what you need is to get found and take the booking without giving up a cut.
- From $160/mo
- 30-day free trial
- No credit card to start
- Cancel anytime
- See your site before you pay
FareHarbor vs Charter Pro at a glance
| FareHarbor | Charter Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Product category | Booking / reservation software | Done-for-you website that also takes bookings, plus a reviews & content engine |
| Cost model | No monthly fee; booking fee at checkout (~6–8%, varies by agreement) + processing | Flat $160/mo, 30-day free trial — no per-booking fee |
| Online booking & deposits | Yes — its core product (booking fee at checkout) | Yes — included online booking, with commission-free deposits (Prime & Pro) |
| Getting found on Google | Not the core product; SEO is a paid add-on | Built to rank for your local charter searches |
| Website | Separate paid add-on | Included, done-for-you, niche-built for charters |
| Reviews & ongoing content | Not its focus | Auto-collects Google reviews + auto-generates trip recaps |
Facts checked June 2026. We re-verify competitor pricing regularly.
What FareHarbor is good at
FareHarbor is well-regarded booking software. If your main need is a solid reservation calendar, online checkout, manifests, and payment handling, it does that job well and is used by tour and charter operators of all sizes. There's no monthly fee — it makes its money on a booking fee added at checkout, usually passed to the customer. What it isn't, by design, is a marketing engine: getting you found on Google is a separate, paid add-on, not the core product.
Why captains look for something different
Booking software doesn't get you the booking
FareHarbor is great at managing a reservation once a customer has found you. It doesn't, on its own, make anglers find you on Google — and an empty calendar is the problem most charters actually have.
The website is an extra, not the point
FareHarbor's website and SEO offerings are separate paid services on top of the booking software. With Charter Pro, the ranked, done-for-you site is the product.
Per-booking fees scale with you
A checkout fee in the 6–8% range (it varies by agreement), plus processing, is charged on every booking. A flat subscription doesn't grow as you get busier.
How Charter Pro is different
Get found, not just booked
Charter Pro does the thing booking software doesn't: rank on Google. You get a professional website with a dedicated page for every port and species you fish, tuned for local search — so anglers searching for a charter in your area actually find you and book.
A flat fee instead of a cut of every booking
Charter Pro is $160/month, fixed. Anglers book right on your site, and on Prime and Pro you can take a deposit or full payment — with no booking fee added at checkout and no per-trip percentage. The busier your season, the better that math looks compared to a per-booking model.
Reviews and fresh content, automatically
After every trip, the Charter Pro app texts your guests for a Google review and turns your photos into a new trip recap on your site. That's ongoing local content and social proof a booking tool simply doesn't produce.
Can I use Charter Pro and FareHarbor together?
You can, though many captains no longer need both. Charter Pro now gets you found on Google and takes the booking — with commission-free deposits on Prime and Pro — so for a lot of guides it covers discovery and checkout in one. If you rely on FareHarbor's deeper reservation-desk features (manifests, resource and multi-boat scheduling), keep it for that and let Charter Pro drive the traffic; otherwise Charter Pro can handle getting found and taking the booking on its own.
When Charter Pro is not the right fit
If you need deep reservation-desk software — manifests, resource and multi-boat scheduling, a POS — FareHarbor does more than Charter Pro's single-boat booking, and you may want it for that. Charter Pro is for captains whose real problem is getting found and taking the booking without giving up a per-booking fee.
Frequently asked questions
Is Charter Pro a FareHarbor alternative?
It's an alternative if your real goal is getting found and booked, not just managing reservations. FareHarbor is booking software; Charter Pro is a done-for-you, Google-ranked website with automated reviews. Many captains use both.
Does Charter Pro charge a per-booking fee?
No. It's a flat subscription from $160/month with no booking fee and no commission — you keep 100% of every booking.
How much does FareHarbor cost?
FareHarbor has no monthly subscription fee; it adds a booking fee at checkout — commonly reported in the 6–8% range and typically passed to the customer, though the exact rate depends on your agreement — plus payment-processing fees. Confirm current terms with FareHarbor.
Does Charter Pro handle bookings and payments?
Yes. Charter Pro now includes online booking on your own site, and on Prime and Pro you can take deposits and full payments through Stripe — commission-free, so you keep 100% of the trip aside from the standard card fee. For deep reservation-desk features like manifests and multi-resource scheduling, FareHarbor does more, and you can still pair the two.
Who builds my website?
We do. You answer a few questions about your charter and we build and launch a professional, fishing-specific site for you — then keep it updated automatically.
Sources
FareHarbor fee figures are from third-party analyses, not FareHarbor's published pricing, and vary by agreement — confirm current terms with FareHarbor. Last reviewed June 2026.
Own your bookings. Get found on Google.
A done-for-you, fishing-charter website plus the app that fills it with reviews — flat $160/mo, no commission.
- From $160/mo
- 30-day free trial
- No credit card to start
- Cancel anytime
- See your site before you pay