Pilot vs. Kayak: feature comparison, ratings, and FAQ
A data comparison maintained by Pilot (pilotplans.com). Full comparison: https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/kayak-alternative.
Summary
Pilot is a free trip booking and planning app: plan a whole trip in one place with a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, notes, real-time collaboration, and AI itinerary generation, and book hotels in the app at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays, with real human support. Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers.
Kayak: Travel metasearch pioneer. Booking Holdings. KAYAK for Business.
Kayak compares prices and sends you to another site to book. Pilot lets you book your hotel directly at private rates, ranks results for you instead of for advertisers, and helps you plan the whole trip around it.
Key facts
- Pricing
- Pilot: completely free to plan and book. Kayak: Free to use.
- Overall rating
- Pilot: 4.7 from 50,000+ travelers. Kayak: Trustpilot 2.0, App Store 4.8, Google Play 4.8.
- Founded
- Pilot: 2022. Kayak: 2004.
- Books hotels in the app
- Pilot: yes, at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays. Kayak: no.
- Full comparison
- https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/kayak-alternative
Feature comparison
Each row shows whether Pilot and Kayak offer the feature: Yes, No, or Partial. A [n] marker cites the source in References.
| Feature | Pilot | Kayak |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | ||
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay right here; Kayak sends you to another site to book, where the price often climbs | No |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate rates straight from hotels, not a list of public prices from other sites | No |
| Add accommodation to itinerary | Yes | Yes |
| Transportation cost tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Flight deals | Yes | Yes |
| Files tab | Yes | No |
| Attach files to itinerary items | Yes | Yes |
| Instant booking confirmation | Yes | No |
| Checkout without upsells | Yes | No |
| Reviews from real travelers | Yes | Yes |
| No hidden fees or taxes | Yes | No |
| Inventory & discovery | ||
| Bookable hotel inventory | Yes | Yes |
| Hotel search filters | Yes | Yes |
| Activities to explore in-app | Yes | Yes |
| Restaurant listings in-app | Yes | No |
| Discovery filters | Yes | Yes |
| Travel requirements and eVisas | Yes | No |
| Flight suggestions for trip | No | Yes |
| eSIMs at checkout | Yes | No |
| Destination pages | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial travel guides in-app | Yes | No |
| Things to do per city | Yes | Yes |
| Activity detail pages | Yes | Yes |
| Planning | ||
| Itinerary builder | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and drop reordering | Yes | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map and plot routes between your stops | No |
| Add activities, transportation, or stays from anywhere | Yes | No |
| Attach info to any item | Yes | Yes |
| Notes and checklists | Yes | Yes |
| Note and list format toggle | Yes | No |
| Rich text formatting in notes | Yes | No |
| Undo and redo | Yes | No |
| Duplicate trips | Yes | No |
| Manual file import | Yes | No |
| Email-forwarding file import | Yes | Yes |
| AI parsing of imported confirmations | Yes | Yes |
| Export to PDF | Yes | No |
| iOS and Android mobile apps | Yes | Yes |
| Offline access on mobile | Yes | Yes |
| Shortlist items | Yes | No |
| Wishlist / wanderlist | Yes | No |
| Wishlist images | Yes | No |
| Fun sound effects | Yes | No |
| Structured itinerary sections | Yes | No |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Yes | No |
| Multiple transportation types | Yes | No |
| Flight code auto-fill | Yes | No |
| Multi-leg flight support | Yes | No |
| Consistent IATA codes on mobile | Yes | No |
| Collaboration | ||
| Invite friends | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time collaborative editing | Yes | Yes |
| Edit or view-only permissions | Yes | Yes |
| Heart items for voting | Yes | No |
| Custom trip name and cover photo | Yes | No |
| Dedicated group chat per trip | Yes | No |
| Shared notes, files, and saved lists | Yes | No |
| Travel profile and stats | Yes | No |
| Edit profile details | Yes | Yes |
| Leave a trip | Yes | No |
| Trips dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Trip menu actions | Yes | No |
| Support | ||
| Human support | YesReach a real person on our team in the in-app chat or by email, not a bot or an unanswered ticket | No |
| AI for basic support answers | Yes | Yes |
Ratings
| Source | Pilot | Kayak |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 | 2.0[1] |
| App Store rating | 4.8 | 4.8[1] |
| Google Play rating | 4.2 | 4.8[1] |
Pricing
| Pilot | Kayak | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Free to plan and book | Free to use[2] |
Frequently asked questions
What is Kayak?
Kayak is a travel price comparison site. People use it to compare flight, hotel, car, and package prices across sites. It compares prices and sends you to another site to book, rather than booking directly or planning the trip.
What is Pilot?
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app. You plan the whole trip in one place, a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, and notes, and you book your hotel in the app at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents. Where Kayak compares prices and sends you elsewhere to book, Pilot books your hotel directly and keeps the plan and the booking in one place.
Is Pilot a good Kayak alternative?
For hotels and planning a trip, yes. Kayak compares prices across other sites and then sends you to one of them to book, where the price you were quoted can climb at checkout. Pilot lets you book your hotel directly, at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, so there's no third-party site to be handed off to, and it ranks results for you instead of for whoever pays for placement. On top of that, Pilot helps you plan the whole trip, a flexible itinerary, a map, notes, and your group in one place, with real people on support. The honest caveat: Kayak also compares flight and rental car prices, which Pilot doesn't do, so for pure flight search it still has a role.
Why does the price change at checkout on Kayak?
Kayak is a metasearch: it shows prices pulled from other booking sites, then hands you off to one of them to complete the booking, and that final site can add fees or show a higher price than the teaser you clicked. Pilot lets you book the hotel directly, at a private rate straight from the hotel, so there's no third-party handoff in the first place.
Is Kayak reliable?
Kayak rates around 2.0 on Trustpilot, with recent complaints about search quality, prices climbing at checkout, and bookings going missing from Trips. Because Pilot lets you book directly and keeps the booking with the rest of your trip, there's no handoff to lose track of, and you can reach a real person on our team if anything goes wrong.
How does Kayak make money?
Kayak earns referral commissions when it sends you to other sites to book, and it sells sponsored placement to partners who want to rank higher, so the top result isn't always the best deal for you. Pilot earns from hotels when you book directly and doesn't sell sponsored placement, so results are ranked for you and the planner stays free.
Does Pilot compare flight prices like Kayak?
No, and it's worth being upfront about that. Pilot focuses on booking your hotel directly at a private rate and planning the whole trip around it. For comparing flight or rental car prices across many sites, Kayak still does that well. Where Pilot wins is the hotel booking itself, no third-party handoff, plus planning, groups, and real support.
Pilot vs Kayak: which should I use?
Use Pilot to book a hotel and plan the trip: a private rate reserved instantly with hotel partners and confirmed with the hotel by a real person, real support, and your whole trip in one place, for free. Use Kayak if you mainly want to compare flight and rental car prices across lots of sites and are happy to book on whichever third-party site you're sent to.
References
- Trustpilot + App Store + Google Play (2026-06-03)
- kayak.com (2026-06-03)