FareHarbor vs Peek Pro vs Guidewinds: The Charter Captain's Guide

Choosing booking software is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make for your charter business. The wrong choice can cost you $10,000-30,000/year in platform fees — or worse, lock you into a system that owns your website, controls your data, and punishes you for growing.

Here's how the three main options stack up for charter operators.

The Quick Comparison

How They Charge (This Is What Matters Most)

FareHarbor: Your Customer Pays

FareHarbor adds a ~6% booking fee at checkout that your customer pays. On a $500 charter, your customer sees $530. That surprise fee causes cart abandonment — research shows unexpected checkout fees cause 25%+ drop-off.

You also pay 1.9% + $0.30 per transaction in processing.

At 50 trips/month:

• You pay: ~$490/mo (processing only)
• Your customer pays: $1,500/mo in booking fees
• Total ecosystem fees: $1,990/mo

Peek Pro: You Pay (But How Much?)

At 50 trips/month (assuming 7%):

• You pay: $1,750/mo (all-inclusive)
• Your customer pays: $0 extra
• Total ecosystem fees: $1,750/mo

Guidewinds: Flat Monthly, No Percentage

$39/month (Starter), $89/month (Professional), or $199/month (Enterprise). Plus standard Stripe processing at 2.9% + $0.30.

At 50 trips/month (Professional):

• You pay: $829/mo ($89 platform + $740 processing)
• Your customer pays: $0 extra
• Total ecosystem fees: $829/mo

The Scaling Problem

Percentage pricing punishes growth. Here's what happens as your business succeeds:

A captain who grows from 20 to 100 trips/month watches their FareHarbor fees go from $802 to $3,980. With Guidewinds, the same growth costs $335 → $1,569. The platform fee ($89) doesn't change — only processing scales, and you'd pay that anywhere.

Charter-Specific Features

This is where the "built for tours" vs "built for charters" distinction matters most:

FareHarbor and Peek were built for zip lines, kayak tours, and escape rooms — operations with 4-8 daily timeslots, consistent weather, and generic waivers. Charter fishing has different needs: weather-dependent scheduling, maritime-specific liability, fleet management, and customers who expect a professional direct-booking experience.

The Lock-In Problem

FareHarbor: Website Hostage

This is the #1 lock-in mechanism. Most operators don't realize it until they try to switch.

Peek: Data Friction

Peek doesn't hold your website hostage, but operators switching away report:

• Difficult historical data exports
• Unclear customer email list ownership
• Outstanding gift card obligations creating friction
• Contract terms with non-obvious exit clauses

Guidewinds: No Lock-In by Design

• Your website stays yours — Guidewinds gives you a simple booking slug (/book/your-name) or a 10KB SDK to embed anywhere
• Full data export in one click, anytime
• Month-to-month billing — cancel with one click, no penalties
• GDPR Article 15 compliant — your customers are yours, not ours
• No contracts — we keep you by being good, not by making it hard to leave

OTA Distribution: When Competitors Win

FareHarbor and Peek have deeper OTA integrations (Viator, GetYourGuide, TripAdvisor). If OTAs drive 40%+ of your bookings, this matters.

But consider the math: OTAs take 20-30% commission on top of platform fees. A $500 charter booked through Viator via FareHarbor:

• Viator takes: $100-150 (20-30%)
• FareHarbor takes: $30 (from customer) + $9.80 (processing from you)
• You keep: $340-390

The same booking through your own Guidewinds page:

• Platform + processing: $16.28
• You keep: $483.72

Direct bookings through Guidewinds earn you 24-42% more per booking than OTA bookings through FareHarbor. Building direct booking capability is almost always more valuable than OTA reach for charter operators.

Technology Comparison

In 2026, nobody waits 14 seconds for a page to load. FareHarbor's legacy architecture means your booking page loads slower than your competitors using modern platforms. Peek is faster but still built on 2014 technology.

Making the Decision

Choose FareHarbor if:

• You run a large multi-location tour company (not a charter)
• OTAs are 50%+ of your revenue and you can't reduce dependence
• You don't mind your customers paying a 6% surprise fee
• You're okay with your website being owned by your booking platform

Choose Peek Pro if:

• You want AI-powered pricing tools for high-frequency tour slots (4-8 daily)
• You value marketing automation over transparent pricing
• You're comfortable with opaque 6-8% fees
• US adventure market presence matters more than charter-specific tools

Choose Guidewinds if:

• You're a charter operator who books primarily through your own site
• You want flat pricing that doesn't punish growth ($39-199/mo)
• Charter-specific features matter: weather policies, waivers, fleet management
• You want to own your website, your data, and your customer relationships
• Sub-second page loads and modern technology matter to you
• You prefer transparent pricing without sales calls or negotiation
• You want month-to-month with no lock-in — keep you by being good

The Bottom Line

FareHarbor and Peek are legitimate platforms that work well for large tour operators with heavy OTA dependence. They're established, they have market presence, and they've been doing this for a decade.

But for charter operators — captains running 1-3 boats, booking mostly through their own website, dealing with weather cancellations, needing legally defensible waivers — they're expensive, generic, and designed for someone else's business.

Guidewinds costs less, does more for charters, loads faster, and doesn't lock you in. The math isn't close.

Guidewinds: $39-199/month flat. Charter-specific. No lock-in. No percentage fees. No customer surcharges. Built in 2024 for how charters actually work. Start your free trial.