WP Travel Engine vs WP Travel: Which is the Best Travel Booking Plugin?

When it comes to choosing the right travel and tour booking plugin for your website, two popular options stand out: WP Travel Engine and WP Travel. 

Both plugins offer powerful features to help you create and manage travel packages, but which one is the best fit for your needs? 

In this comprehensive comparison, we’ll dive into the details of each plugin, examining its:

• Features,
• Ease of use,
• Performance,
• Price,
• Support, and more. 

By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear understanding of which plugin is better suited for your travel business.

Overview of WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine is a user-friendly WordPress plugin designed to simplify the creation and management of travel packages. Launched in 2017, the plugin emerged from a need to streamline booking processes for travel-themed WordPress websites.

With over 10,000 active installations and 300+ five-star reviews, WP Travel Engine has proven to be a robust yet easy-to-use tool for travel agencies and tour operators. 

Its core features include itinerary management, flexible payment options, and customizable booking forms. To enhance functionality, users can explore a range of 30 premium extensions.

WP Travel Engine has its own travel agency themes and themes from third-party providers. Many WordPress themes can also work with the WP Travel Engine.

With WP Travel Engine, you can create detailed travel packages that include descriptions, itineraries, prices, and more.

Overview of WP Travel

WP Travel is another popular plugin for managing travel packages. It was launched in 2018 by the parent company WEN Solutions.

Similar to WP Travel Engine, it also offers features like itinerary management, booking management, and payment integration. To expand its capabilities, users can explore a range of premium extensions.

WP Travel also has its own travel themes and themes from third-party providers. Additionally, WP Travel has a dedicated app for those who prefer mobile applications.

Let’s jump right into a quick comparison so you know what to expect.

Quick Comparison of WP Travel Engine Vs WP Travel

Detailed Comparison of WP Travel Engine Vs WP Travel

Now you have a good idea of each of the factors we’re comparing, let’s get on with the actual comparison!

1. Features

Both plugins offer essential built-in features for travel and tour companies, such as the ability to create unlimited trip packages, process payments, manage bookings, and send email notifications.

But which plugin provides more features overall? And which offers the most features without additional cost? 

Let’s compare WP Travel Engine and WP Travel to find out.

Free Features

Premium Features

Some of the advanced features are only available in the premium version for both plugins. So, let’s explore those features.

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2. Supported Payment Gateways

Payment options are a key component of any successful travel agency website. Customers want to use their favorite payment methods, so the more you accept, the higher the chances of a purchase. 

Both plugins offer Standard PayPal and bank deposit options by default. Additional payment gateways are available through premium add-ons.

WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine supports 11 payment gateways for your customers to pay for their bookings:

1. WooCommerce Payments
2. Stripe Payment Gateway
3. PayPal Express Checkout Payment Gateway
4. PayU Money Payment Gateway
5. Midtrans Payment Gateway
6. PayHere Payment Gateway
7. Himalayan Bank Payment Gateway
8. PayU Biz Payment Gateway
9. PayFast Payment Gateway
10. Authorize.net Payment Gateway
11. WeTravel Integration

WP Travel

WP Travel supports 13 payment gateways for your customers to pay for their bookings. 

1. PayPal Express Checkout
2. Stripe Payment Gateway
3. Stripe iDEAL Checkout
4. Squareup Checkout
5. Khalti Checkout
6. Authorize Net Payment Gateway
7. Instamojo Payment Module
8. PayU Latam Checkout
9. PayU Checkout Payment Gateway
10. Paystack Checkout Payment Gateway
11. PayHere Payment Gateway
12. PayFast Checkout
13. Razorpay Payment Gateway

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3. Booking Process

Besides having advanced features, a travel booking plugin should make the booking process as smooth as possible.

Both plugins offer a robust booking management system that allows you to manage bookings, track availability, and handle customer inquiries.

Let’s now check these plugins from a customer’s perspective to see how easy they are to use.

WP Travel Engine Booking Process

WP Travel Engine offers a highly customizable, speedy booking process. It involves these steps:

• Click on the “Check Availability” button.
• Choose the desired date from the popup model.
• Select the number of travelers.
• Upon selecting the number of travelers, you will be redirected to the checkout page.
• Fill in the billing details and choose a payment method.
• The order summary is displayed next.

The booking process is refreshingly straightforward.

WP Travel Booking Process

WP Travel also provides a similar booking process:

• Click on the “Book Now” button.
• Select a date to view pricing details on the same page.
• Choose the number of travelers.
• Click the “Book Now” button at the bottom of the page.
• You will be redirected to the checkout page, where you can fill in traveler details and billing information and choose a payment method.
• The order summary is displayed next.

While the booking process is simple, the placement of the “Book Now” button could be more prominent compared to the WP Travel Engine.

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4. Performance

Performance is one of the most important features of any travel website. Your website needs to be fast not only on desktop but also on smaller devices, as slow load times can negatively impact user experience and conversion rates. 

Both WP Travel Engine and WP Travel claimed to be optimized for speed. So, let’s see how both of these plugins performed when we tested them.

We set up a standard environment for each plugin to get the most accurate picture.

It includes:

• Twenty Twenty-Three theme
• No extra plugins
• No cache plugin or server-side caching
• A Staging site
• Testing through Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom tools

To make this as fair as possible, we conducted 3 speed tests:

• Baseline test that didn’t use a plugin
• Trip page created with WP Travel Engine
• Trip page created with WP Travel

Page Speed on Fresh Website

Let’s see how fast our website loads without using a plugin:

Google PageSpeed Insights 

Pingdom 

WP Travel Engine Page Speed

We created a trip page using WP Travel Engine, all with default settings.

Google PageSpeed Insights

Pingdom

WP Travel Page Speed

Similarly, we created a trip page using WP Travel, all with default settings.

Google PageSpeed Insights

Pingdom

	Desktop	Mobile
Fresh Site	99	99
WP Travel Engine	84	76
WP Travel	71	65

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5. Compatibility

Compatibility is another critical factor to consider when selecting a travel booking plugin for your WordPress website. 

Ensuring the plugin integrates smoothly with your existing themes and plugins, minimizes technical issues, and supports future updates and expansions.

Let’s check what compatibility options each plugin offers.

WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine is designed to be compatible with a wide range of WordPress themes and plugins. It offers in-house 9 travel themes for various types of travel websites, in addition to supporting themes from third-party providers.

The plugin integrates seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg, making designing and customizing your travel booking website easy. 

For Elementor users, the dedicated WP Travel Engine—Elementor Widgets plugin provides 20+ widgets for creating professional travel and tour booking agency websites.

Gutenberg users can benefit from the Trip Blocks feature within the core WP Travel Engine plugin. To design layouts, you can simply click, drag, and drop pre-made blocks.

WP Travel Engine has also expanded into Full-Site Editing by offering the free TravelVerse theme and the Pattern Engine Pro plugin.

The plugin is also compatible with major WordPress plugins like Woocommerce, PolyLang and WPML.

WP Travel

WP Travel also boasts broad compatibility with WordPress themes and plugins. It offers 13 in-house travel themes and supports third-party options. 

The plugin integrates with popular page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg. 

For Gutenberg users, the dedicated WP Travel Gutenberg Blocks plugin provides 54 custom blocks that display your trips and tour packages just the way you want. 

WP Travel is designed to integrate smoothly with other WordPress plugins like Yoast, WPML, and SliceWP.

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6. Ease of Use

Ease of use is crucial when comparing travel booking plugins. If adding trips, managing bookings, and running your agency isn’t straightforward, the plugin might not be right for you.

Let’s break down ease of use into smaller parts. 

We’ve already discussed the booking process for customers. Now, we’ll focus on how easy it is for website owners to get started, add tour packages, manage customers, and generate reports.

OnBoarding

A smooth onboarding process is essential for quickly setting up and getting familiar with a new plugin. 

WP Travel Engine features a five-step onboarding process designed to guide you through the initial setup:

• Currency: Set the default currency for your travel packages.
• Email: Configure sales notification and inquiry notification emails.
• Pages: Set up default pages for checkout, terms and conditions, user dashboard and thank-you pages.
• Payment: Choose and set the default payment gateway.
• Complete: Finalize the setup and start using the plugin.

This process is straightforward and ensures all necessary configurations are in place before you begin.

WP Travel includes a six-step onboarding process:

• Currency: Set the default currency for your travel packages.
• Pages: Set up default pages for checkout and dashboard pages.
• Email: Add email address only.
• Payment: Choose and set the default payment gateway.
• Compatible Theme: List of themes compatible with the plugin
• Complete: Finalize the setup and start using the plugin.

Adding Trips

How easy is it to add tour packages to each platform? Since you’ll do this often, it’s important to consider.

If you’re familiar with WordPress, you’ll easily add new trips with both plugins. If you’re new to WordPress, the process is simple and well-documented.

Both plugins have similar interfaces for entering trip details like overview, highlights, itinerary, and images. You can also add categories and publish. Once you get the hang of it, adding trips should be quick!

Booking Management

WP Travel Engine offers a robust booking management system that allows administrators to handle all booking aspects from the backend efficiently.

The free version provides access to and management of:

• Booking Details
• Enquiry Details
• Customer Details
• Coupon Details
• Other Setting Options
• Separate Detailed Analytics Dashboard

WP Travel also features a comprehensive booking management system designed to streamline administrative tasks.

The free version allows administrators to access and manage:

• Booking Details
• Enquiry Details
• Coupon Details
• Analytics
• Other Setting Options

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7. Customer Support and Documentation

Even great products can encounter occasional errors that might be tricky to resolve on your own. Therefore, reliable customer support is just as crucial as having a great product.

Let’s check what support options each plugin offers:

	WP Travel Engine	WP Travel
Free Users	The same types of support for both free and premium user	Basic Support
Support Options	Ticket, Live Chat	Ticket, Live Chat
Knowledge Base	Blog, YouTube and docs	Blog, YouTube and docs
Social Media	Insta, Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn	Facebook, X, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn
Community	FB Community	FB Community

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8. Updates and Maintenance

Regular updates are crucial to ensure plugin compatibility with the latest WordPress versions and other essential tools. Additionally, they address security vulnerabilities for optimal website protection.

WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine is actively maintained by its developers, who regularly release updates to improve functionality, fix bugs, and address security vulnerabilities.

They announce new updates and fixes through:

• Release notes
• Newsletters
• Social media

Release Notes: https://wptravelengine.com/category/release-note/

WP Travel

Similar to WP Travel Engine, WP Travel receives regular updates from its developers to enhance functionality, fix bugs and improve security.

Like WP Travel Engine, they announce updates and fixes through:

• Release notes
• Social media

Release Notes: https://wptravel.io/changelog-wp-travel-pro/?

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9. User Reviews and Ratings

Real customer reviews offer valuable insights into a product’s worth. We analyzed online reviews on wordpress.org to gain unbiased information about these booking plugins.

WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine boasts an impressive 300 reviews, with a remarkable 292 being 5-star ratings. Users consistently praise its user-friendly interface, extensive features, and exceptional support. 

The responsiveness and helpfulness of the support team, along with the plugin’s features, are frequently mentioned as strengths.

WP Travel

WP Travel also enjoys positive reviews and ratings from users. It has garnered 128 reviews, with 115 achieving a 5-star rating.

The responsiveness and helpfulness of the support team are frequently mentioned as strengths.

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10. Pricing

Both WP Travel Engine and WP Travel offer free versions on WordPress.org. Additionally, both have premium versions with extended features.

We will go into more detail in this section so that you can see where your budget might go with each plugin as you consider adding some advanced features.

WP Travel Engine Pricing

This is how much WP Travel Engine yearly plans cost:

• Personal – Starts at $9 per month for 1 site. It includes basic features such as an itinerary builder, form editor, currency converter and trip weather forecast. This plan doesn’t include all the payment gateways that the WP Travel engine offers. This plan is best for individuals or freelancers starting out.
• Growth – Starts at $19 per month for 1 site. With this plan, you get more features like email customizer, trip embedder, all the conversion addons and all the payment gateways. This plan is best for growing travel agencies.
• Travel Agency – Starts at $24 per month for 1 site. With this plan, You will get access to all the addons, themes, payment gateways, new updates, and add-ons. This plan is best for travel agencies who want to grow revenue.
• Development Company – Starts at $35 per month for 10 sites. It provides all features similar to the Travel Agency plan.

WP Travel Engine offers lifetime plans:

• Personal – $399 (Single domain)
• Growth – $699( Single domain)
• Travel Agency – $999 (Single domain)
• Development Company – $1999 (10 domain)

WP Travel Pricing

WP Travel has only two pricing categories monthly and yearly:

• Personal – Starts at $8.49 per month for 1 site. This plan includes access to all the add-ons, themes, payment gateways and new updates.
• Plus – Starts at $17.49 per month for 5 sites. This plan also includes access to all the add-ons, themes, payment gateways and new updates.
• Expert – Starts at $50.49 per month for 25 sites. This plan also includes access to all the add-ons, themes, payment gateways and new updates.

If you choose the annual plan:

• Personal – $99.99 (Single domain)
• Plus – $199.99 (5 domains)
• Expert – $599.99 (25 domains)

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11. Refund Policy

Both plugins let you get your money back if you’re not happy.

WP Travel Engine

WP Travel Engine stands by its products with a 100% No-Risk Money Back Guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase within 14 days, you can easily request a full refund.

WP Travel

WP Travel offers a No Questions Asked refund policy. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, you will receive a full 100% refund within 30 days.

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WP Travel Engine vs WP Travel: Final Thoughts

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this comparison, and there’s much to consider!

Both WP Travel Engine and WP Travel offer impressive features and flexibility, making them solid options for travel agencies and tour operators.

However, there are key differences in cost, performance, supported payment gateways, and the features offered.

WP Travel Engine excels in its free and premium offerings, user-friendly interface, detailed documentation, and excellent support. This plugin doesn’t just make managing bookings easier. It also supports your business growth with features designed to boost sales and streamline operations.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a cheaper option, WP Travel might be suitable for you.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a reliable, easy-to-use, and powerful travel booking plugin that supports your business needs, WP Travel Engine is the clear winner.

Have you used either plugin? Do you have any advice for others considering these options? Share your experiences below!