Cooking classes have limited places, shared kitchen stations and dietary requirements the chef needs to know in advance. You may also sell gift vouchers, run courses over several weeks or reserve the whole kitchen for a private group.
Your booking software needs to handle these details while keeping availability consistent across your website, phone bookings and marketplaces such as GetYourGuide and Viator.
This guide compares nine platforms and gives you practical scenarios to test before choosing.
Disclosure: We make TicketingHub, one of the platforms featured here. We’ve included alternatives with different pricing models, including subscriptions that may cost less for schools selling mainly through their own website.
What to look for in cooking class booking software
Capacity across every sales channel
Set each class’s capacity around your kitchen stations and staffing. Check that bookings from every channel draw from the same availability, and ask how the system handles classes that don’t reach your minimum guest count.
Allergies and dietary requirements
Collect dietary information for each guest at checkout. Check where the chef sees those answers before the class and whether staff can update them after booking.
Public places and private groups
You may sell individual places, couples’ tickets, child places and private classes. Test the pricing for each option and confirm that a private booking closes public availability.
Courses with several sessions
If you run courses over several days or weeks, check whether guests can book the whole course in one transaction. Review how every session appears in guest confirmations and staff calendars.
Gift vouchers
Test the full journey: buying a voucher, redeeming it against a class and paying any difference. Check expiry rules, partial balances and how unredeemed vouchers would transfer from your current system.
Deposits and outstanding balances
For corporate events and private groups, check when a deposit confirms the booking, how the balance is tracked and how guests make the final payment.
The full cost
Ask for subscription, booking, payment-processing and marketplace charges separately, including fees added at checkout. Compare a quiet month with your busiest month, then calculate the full year.
Cooking class booking software pricing compared
Pricing checked in October 2026. The figures below come from vendor pricing pages where published. Dollar and euro symbols follow the vendors’ pages. Confirm currency, taxes, regional terms and your written agreement before signing.
| Platform | Subscription and setup | Booking fees and other charges |
|---|---|---|
| Bókun | Paid booking plans: $49 / $149 / $499 a month | 1.5% / 1.25% / 1% on applicable bookings. No Bókun booking fee on Viator or offline bookings under these plans. |
| Bookeo | Standard plan: US$39.95 a month, up to 1,000 bookings a month | No commission on payments. Payment-gateway charges apply separately. Digital waivers and SMS cost extra. |
| CaptainBook | Starter / Extended / Ultra: €49 / €199 / €349 a month | 0% direct booking fees. Selected marketplace connections list €14.99 per product per month; other marketplace channels cost 3.5% / 3% / 2.5% by plan. |
| Checkfront | $99 a month (as widely listed) | 3% online booking fee. Listings differ since Checkfront joined the Rezdy group, so confirm current plans and fees. |
| Eventbrite | No subscription for ticketing. Optional Pro marketing plans cost extra. | 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket, plus 2.9% payment processing on the order (US rates). Paid by guests by default; organisers can absorb it. Free tickets carry no fee. Door sales cost $1 per ticket + 2.9%. |
| FareHarbor | Confirm subscription, setup and other charges in your quote | Typically 6%, paid by the end customer; not published, so confirm it in your quote. |
| Peek Pro | Confirm subscription, setup and other charges in your quote | Typically 6%, paid by the end customer; not published, so confirm it in your quote. |
| Rezdy | Foundation / Accelerate / Expansion: $49 / $99 / $249 a month | 3% per online booking. Offline or agent bookings cost $1 / $0.85 / $0.70 by plan. |
| TicketingHub | No monthly or setup fee | 3% per successful online, OTA or card-paid in-person booking. Cash sales are free. Operators can absorb the booking fee or pass it to guests. Payment processing is separate. |
Sources: Bókun, Bookeo, CaptainBook, Checkfront, Eventbrite, Rezdy and TicketingHub.
How to compare pricing fairly
A platform’s booking fee is only part of the cost. Your comparison should include:
- Monthly or annual subscriptions.
- Booking fees and who pays them.
- Payment-processing charges.
- Marketplace connection fees.
- Marketplace commissions.
- Optional services and add-ons.
A marketplace connection fee is separate from the commission charged by Viator, GetYourGuide or another marketplace.
For a simple comparison, assume 100 direct online bookings at $150 each: $15,000 in base booking revenue.
- A 3% booking fee totals $450.
- A 6% booking fee totals $900.
- A fixed subscription costs the monthly fee plus any applicable booking charges.
These examples exclude payment processing, taxes, marketplace commissions and optional services.
Also distinguish between fees deducted from your revenue and fees added to the guest’s checkout price. A 6% fee added to a $150 booking brings the total to $159, before taxes or other charges.
Confirm currencies, taxes, regional terms and the full fee breakdown in your written quote. FareHarbor and Peek Pro don’t publish their rates; their 6% customer-paid booking fee is the rate operators typically see, so confirm it in your quote.
9 booking platforms to consider
1. Bókun
Worth considering if: Viator accounts for a substantial share of your bookings. Bókun’s paid booking plans exempt Viator reservations from Bókun booking fees.
Check before choosing: Include the subscription and fees on your other sales channels. The cost of your full booking mix matters more than the treatment of one channel.
View Bókun pricing or read Bókun pricing explained.
2. Bookeo
Worth considering if: Most bookings come through your own website and you prefer a fixed monthly subscription without a percentage commission.
Check before choosing: Review booking limits, staff allowances and add-on charges. Bookeo has no built-in Viator or GetYourGuide channel manager, so check how you would manage marketplace bookings.
View Bookeo pricing or see the Bookeo alternative.
3. CaptainBook
Worth considering if: You prefer a subscription without a direct booking commission. CaptainBook markets its software to cooking classes, food tours and boat tours, among other businesses.
Check before choosing: Marketplace connections can add monthly charges per product, while other channels may carry percentage fees. Include subscription costs during quiet months.
4. Checkfront
Worth considering if: Its booking workflows suit your team and you’re comfortable with a subscription plus an online booking fee.
Check before choosing: Confirm the current plan and quoted fees. Calculate the subscription and booking charges together at your expected volume.
View Checkfront pricing or see the Checkfront alternative.
5. Eventbrite
Worth considering if: You run occasional classes or pop-up events and want a listing on an events marketplace.
Check before choosing: Calculate the full per-ticket charge at your own prices, particularly for lower-priced classes. Test recurring schedules, private groups and gift vouchers as carefully as you would with a specialist booking platform.
View Eventbrite fees or see the Eventbrite alternative.
6. FareHarbor
Worth considering if: You want to evaluate its booking tools and are comfortable with a customer-paid booking fee.
Check before choosing: Request a written breakdown of booking fees, payment processing, marketplace charges and any recurring costs. Compare the final checkout price guests would pay.
Read FareHarbor alternatives.
7. Peek Pro
Worth considering if: You want to assess booking, resource management and marketing tools together.
Check before choosing: Confirm who pays the booking fee and request all processing and other charges in writing. Use the total checkout price when comparing it with alternatives.
See the Peek Pro alternative.
8. Rezdy
Worth considering if: Agents and resellers are important sales channels, or you need reservation software and channel management together.
Check before choosing: Confirm which plan includes the connections you need and how online, offline and agent bookings are charged.
View Rezdy pricing or read Rezdy pricing explained.
Disclosure: TicketingHub uses Rezdy’s channel manager to reach some marketplaces.
9. TicketingHub
Worth considering if: You prefer a percentage-based fee without a fixed monthly subscription.
TicketingHub includes a website booking widget, point of sale, gift vouchers and marketplace connections. Under standard published pricing, cash sales are free.
For cooking schools, its booking tools include:
- Dietary questions: Collect allergy information at checkout and include the answers on the guest list staff download before class.
- Public and private classes: Use ticket categories to offer public places and a private class on the same product.
- Deposits: Take a deposit online and collect the balance in person.
- Gift vouchers: Let guests purchase vouchers and redeem them against a class.
With TicketingHub’s playbooks, an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT can flag classes below their minimum guest count, check outstanding deposits and ask guests for another instalment.
Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School has taken bookings with TicketingHub since 2015.
Check before choosing: A course spanning several days can be sold as one product, but the booking calendar displays its first day only. Ask us to demonstrate allergy questions, private bookings, deposits and voucher redemption. Compare the 3% booking fee with subscription alternatives using your annual booking mix.
Which platforms belong on your shortlist?
Start with how you sell:
| Your booking mix | Platforms to compare | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Mostly direct sales with steady year-round volume | Bookeo and CaptainBook | Subscription limits, add-ons and connection charges |
| Tourist classes with substantial Viator sales | Bókun | Total costs across Viator and your other channels |
| Seasonal demand or a preference for no fixed subscription | TicketingHub, FareHarbor and Peek Pro | Recurring charges, guest-paid fees and processing |
| Occasional events or pop-up classes | Eventbrite | Total fees at your ticket prices |
| Sales through agents, hotels and resellers | Rezdy | Required connections and charges by booking channel |
Use this as a starting point, then test your actual workflows with each provider.
Six scenarios to test in every demo
- Sell the last place through a marketplace. Confirm that availability closes across your other channels.
- Book two guests with different allergies. Find each guest’s answers on the chef’s guest list.
- Reserve a private class. Check that the booking closes public availability.
- Take a corporate deposit. Follow the process through to collecting the remaining balance.
- Buy and redeem a gift voucher. Include a class that costs more than the voucher’s value.
- Cancel a class below its minimum guest count. Check how guests are notified, refunded or moved to another date.
Also ask how existing bookings, unredeemed vouchers and customer records would transfer from your current system.
For a broader comparison, see Best tour booking software in 2026. If you also run food tours, read the food tour booking software guide.
