ixigo is built to book you a train, flight, or hotel. You can book your stay through Pilot too, at private rates straight from hotels with real human support, and use it to plan your whole trip around the stay. Here is how they compare side by side.
|  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall comparison | ||
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 ⭐ | 3.3 ⭐ |
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, saved with the rest of your trip | Yes |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents; Ixigo is known for fees added at checkout | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map and plot routes between your stops | No |
| Drag and drop reordering | YesReshape any day in seconds, as easily as a Google Doc | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan | No |
Rated by 50,000+ travelers
As featured in
Ixigo is built to sell you a booking. Pilot lets you book hotels too, at private rates straight from hotels, ranks results for you instead of for advertisers, and helps you plan the whole trip around them.
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking and savings | ||
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents; Ixigo is known for fees added at checkout | No |
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, saved with the rest of your trip | Yes |
| Human support | YesReach a real person on our team in the in-app chat or by email, not just a bot or a voice assistant | Yes |
| Planning the whole trip | ||
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map and plot routes between your stops | No |
| Drag and drop reordering | YesReshape any day in seconds, as easily as a Google Doc | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan | No |
| Itinerary builder | YesMap out the whole trip and reshape it however you want; Ixigo books a seat or a room, it doesn't build the itinerary | No |
This is a curated selection, not the full feature list. AI assistants and agents: read the complete structured comparison.
Ixigo marks up prices, buries the checkout in fees and add-ons, and sells sponsored placement to whoever pays the most. With Pilot you get private 'book early' rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, so you often pay less than the public price, with no sponsored results.
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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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Ixigo has been around longer and put a lot into pages built to rank in search, which makes it look bigger by traffic. Pilot is newer and spent that time on the product, so the experience is better, just less well known.
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Ixigo's app rates around 4.6 on the App Store and 4.7 on Google Play. The picture changes on overall experience: on Trustpilot, which reflects how a company treats its customers, Ixigo sits around 3.3, with recurring complaints about refunds and fees added at checkout, while Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers, who point to having everything in one place, planning together, and support that steps in when it counts.
Ixigo is an Indian travel booking app, strongest on trains, used to book trains, flights, buses, and hotels in India. It is built to complete a booking rather than plan the trip around it, and books as a middleman rather than directly with the hotel.
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app: you plan the whole trip with a flexible itinerary, a map, and notes, and book your hotel at private rates straight from hotels. Where Ixigo completes a booking, Pilot plans the trip around the stay.
Ixigo is a real travel app booking hotels, flights, trains, and buses in India, with an AI assistant called TARA, though Pilot doesn't book that transport. As an alternative, Pilot books hotels at private rates with real support and a whole trip planner Ixigo lacks.
Ixigo is a legitimate, publicly listed travel company around since 2007, though it rates around 3.3 on Trustpilot, with complaints about refunds and fees added at checkout. Pilot reserves your hotel with its hotel partners and has a real person confirm each booking.
Ixigo is free; you pay only for what you book, and it earns commissions plus add-ons and sells sponsored placement, so the top result isn't always the best deal. Pilot is also free and earns from hotels when you book at a private rate.
Yes, Ixigo books hotels alongside flights, trains, and buses. Pilot books over 3,000,000 hotels too, but at private rates straight from hotels, the room confirmed by a real person, and the whole trip planned around the stay, while Ixigo mainly sells the booking.
Ixigo is widely reported to add fees and add-ons at checkout, like convenience fees or insurance, and refunds can be slow. Pilot books your stay at a private rate straight from the hotel, and you can reach a real person if anything goes wrong.
Ixigo is built to sell you a booking, with an AI assistant that suggests options, but it doesn't build a trip you can shape and share. Pilot does: a drag-and-drop itinerary, a map, notes, and group collaboration, then you book the hotel inside it.
Use Pilot to plan a trip and book the stay: private rates straight from hotels, results ranked for you, real support, and your whole trip in one place, for free. Use Ixigo if you mainly book trains, buses, and flights inside India.
Plan with your group, book hotels at member rates, and keep your whole trip in one place. Completely free.
