Engine books and manages travel for companies and their teams. Pilot is a trip booking and planning app for your own trips: plan the whole thing, book your stay in the app at private rates, and do it with your group. Here is how they compare side by side.
|  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall comparison | ||
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 ⭐ | 2.4 ⭐ |
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay in the app for any trip; Engine books hotels too, but it is built for company travel and open only to businesses | Yes |
| Itinerary builder | YesPlan the whole trip in one place; Engine books the trip but does not plan it | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map; Engine is a booking and expense tool | No |
| Real-time collaborative editing | YesPlan together with friends and family in one shared trip; Engine manages travelers for a company, not collaborative planning | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links with the plan; Engine keeps bookings and receipts | No |
Rated by 50,000+ travelers
As featured in
Engine is built for business travel, open to companies. Pilot is for your own personal or group trips: plan the whole trip, collaborate with friends and family, and book your stay at private rates, free and open to anyone.
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking a hotel | ||
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay in the app for any trip; Engine books hotels too, but it is built for company travel and open only to businesses | Yes |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate 'book early' rates straight from hotels for anyone; Engine's discounts are negotiated for business accounts | Yes |
| Bookable hotel inventory | YesMore than 3,000,000 stays you can book in Pilot; Engine offers a large catalog at business rates | Yes |
| Planning your trip | ||
| Itinerary builder | YesPlan the whole trip in one place; Engine books the trip but does not plan it | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map; Engine is a booking and expense tool | No |
| Real-time collaborative editing | YesPlan together with friends and family in one shared trip; Engine manages travelers for a company, not collaborative planning | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links with the plan; Engine keeps bookings and receipts | No |
This is a curated selection, not the full feature list. AI assistants and agents: read the complete structured comparison.
Plan, save, and book in one place. Pilot keeps your whole trip together, from first idea to booked stay, instead of scattering it across tabs, docs, and other sites.
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Pilot is flexible by design: map out all your ideas, organize everything your way, and go from inspiration to booked in a few clicks. Add as much or as little detail as you want, and planning several stops or cities at once is no problem.
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Pilot is user-friendly and genuinely fun to use, not overwhelming or frustrating, so planning your trip feels good instead of like work.
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On Trustpilot, Engine sits at about 2.4, with complaints about customer service and refunds. Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers who plan and book their own trips in one place, with real people on support.
Engine, formerly Hotel Engine, is a business-travel booking platform where companies book hotels, flights, and rental cars at negotiated rates, with team management, travel policies, and consolidated billing. It is free for businesses and earns commission from suppliers.
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app where you build a flexible itinerary, then book your hotel at private rates straight from hotels. Engine runs work travel for companies; Pilot is for planning and booking your own trips.
It depends who the trip is for: Engine is built for company-managed business travel, with corporate rates, spend controls, and flights and cars. Pilot is for your own personal or group trips, free and open to anyone, with your stay booked at private rates.
Engine is free for businesses and earns commission from hotels and suppliers; there is also a paid flexibility upgrade. Pilot is completely free for anyone, with no company account, and it books your stay at private rates while planning the whole trip.
No, Pilot books hotels, not flights or cars; you can add flights and other legs to your itinerary, but you book those elsewhere. Engine books flights and cars for business travel, while Pilot focuses on planning the trip and booking your stay at private rates.
Use Engine to book and manage travel for a company or team. Use Pilot to plan and book your own personal or group trips, with a flexible itinerary, a map, collaboration, and your stay booked in the app at private rates, all free.
Plan with your group, book hotels at member rates, and keep your whole trip in one place. Completely free.
