Updated August 2026
Airbnb alert tools compared
A handful of services watch an Airbnb search and tell you when something appears. Here is what each one costs, what it actually notifies you about, and where each is the right pick.
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Read this first: we built one of these
AlertBnB is ours. You should weigh everything below accordingly, which is exactly why the comparison is a table of checkable facts rather than a list of adjectives. Every figure comes from the vendor's own public pricing page and carries the date we last looked.
We also say where the other tools are the better choice, because they genuinely are for some people. AlertStays ships native phone apps and we do not. If that is what decides it for you, take it, and we would rather you did than pay us for the wrong thing.
We only list tools we would actually point someone at. A service we would not recommend to a friend does not earn a row in this table just to make the table look longer.
Side by side
| Feature | AlertBnB | AlertStays |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | €1.99/mo2 searches | $4.99/mo1 search |
| Most searches | €12.99/mo10 searches | $14.99/mo10 searches |
| New listing alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Cancellation alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Price drop alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Push notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Filter by rating and reviews | Yes | Not advertised |
| Native phone app | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | 7 days |
| Notable extras | Installable web app. | Listing and wishlist tracking announced, not yet released. |
Competitor details checked on 2026-08-27. We only mark a feature as missing when the vendor's own pricing or feature page rules it out; anything we could not confirm is shown as not advertised. Prices are in each vendor's own currency and are not converted. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
The short version
- Cheapest ongoing plan
- AlertBnB Basic at €1.99 a month for two searches. The nearest paid competitor is $4.99 for a single search.
- If you would rather not install an app
- AlertBnB. It runs in the browser, so there is no app store account, no download and nothing to keep updated, and it works on a laptop as well as a phone. Add it to your home screen in one tap and it behaves like an app, push notifications included from Pro upward. If you specifically want something from the App Store or Play Store, AlertStays ships both and we do not.
- If the weekend you want is already sold out
- AlertBnB Pro at €6.99 a month. A cancellation on a contested weekend is often gone within the hour, which rules out both entry plans: ours checks twice a day and theirs once, and neither wins that race. That leaves Pro, which checks every 30 minutes and pushes to your phone, or AlertStays Premium at $14.99, which advertises instant. Instant is genuinely faster, but Pro costs less than half and 30 minutes is enough for almost everyone.
Common questions
Does Airbnb have its own alert feature?
No. Airbnb's notification settings are all about your account: messages, trip reminders, booking confirmations, promotions. None of them fires when a property appears in a search, and nothing is sent when a booked place frees up after a cancellation. That gap is the entire reason these tools exist.
Which Airbnb alert tool is cheapest?
AlertBnB Basic, at €1.99 a month for two searches checked twice a day. The nearest equivalent is AlertStays Basic at $4.99 for a single search. Prices are in each vendor's own currency and we do not convert them, so the exact gap moves with the exchange rate.
Do any of these tools book the place for you?
None of them. Every tool here re-runs your Airbnb search and tells you what changed. You still book on Airbnb yourself, and none of these services can see anything a logged-out visitor could not see.
Can an alert tool find a place where everything is sold out?
Only if something frees up. On a sold-out weekend the supply comes from cancellations, and those go back into search results with no announcement. A tool cannot create a room, it just makes sure you are the one who notices when a room reappears.
How do you keep this comparison honest?
Every claim comes from the vendor's own public pricing and feature pages, with the date we last checked shown under the table. Where a vendor does not mention a feature we mark it as not advertised rather than claiming they lack it. We built one of these tools, so read the table rather than the adjectives, and tell us if anything is wrong.
Tool by tool
- AlertStays AlternativeBoth tools do the same core job: watch an Airbnb search and tell you when something appears. The difference is what you pay per search, and whether you want a native app.
- How to get notified of new Airbnb listingsEvery method that exists, including the ones that do not need a tool at all.
Or skip the comparison and try ours.
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