Looking for a BookingLive Alternative? Why Sailia is the Best Choice

BookingLive and Sailia both help organisations take bookings online. But they were built with very different philosophies.

BookingLive is an established booking platform with a strong footprint in the public sector. It handles appointments, courses and events for councils, government departments and enterprises, with structured onboarding, scope-of-works documentation and a wide range of payment gateways. It is flexible, but that flexibility comes with complexity: setup work, paid modules and workarounds to get the system doing what you need.

Sailia is the all-in-one platform for experience businesses, built by operators, for operators. It scales from single-site yoga studios to some of the busiest multi-site operators worldwide, and it does it while staying genuinely simple to use. Bookings, payments, deposits and instalments, staffing, waivers, marketing, POS, OTAs and accounting all live in one connected system. Nothing to bolt on, nothing to export, nothing to reconcile.

We know the difference this makes because businesses have switched. Oxford Sail Training Trust moved off BookingLive and went on to have their best season ever, with revenue up 30% on their previous peak and admin time cut by around 80%.

Sailia vs BookingLive at a glance

Powerful for the biggest operators. Simple for everyone.

A common trade-off in booking software: simple tools hit a ceiling, powerful tools need a manual. Sailia refuses that trade-off, and our reviews show it. Customers describe the ease of use as outstanding, even for complex operations: changing course dates, adjusting availability and pricing from a phone, processing a refund or converting a booking to credit in seconds.

That is why Sailia works for businesses of every size. Small operators are live in days with no training budget. Large multi-site organisations get real-time reporting, qualification-led staff allocation, centralised inventory and one dashboard across every location. Same platform, same simplicity.

BookingLive users tell a different story. Reviews mention having to work around the software to get what they need, and that making events bookable rarely works properly first time. The functionality is there, but it fights you. Add scoping workshops, chargeable training days and milestone sign-offs, and the cost of complexity becomes very real.

Flexible payments that win you more bookings

High-value experiences need flexible payments. Sailia handles all of it natively: take a deposit to confirm and collect the balance automatically later, split payments into scheduled instalments, or let customers reserve now and pay later to cut drop-off. Group discounts and dynamic pricing apply themselves, and every payment, fee and refund flows straight through to your accounts.

This is where "everything connected" stops being a slogan. A customer books, their waiver attaches to the booking, the balance reminder sends itself, the session appears on the right instructor's rota, the payment syncs to Xero, and the follow-up email goes out after the session. No exports, no double entry, no second system.

With BookingLive, several of those steps live in other tools. Marketing runs through a MailChimp integration. Waivers need separate software. Advanced features like the API, white labelling and multi-site sit behind paid modules. Every extra system is another subscription, another login and another place for data to fall out of sync.

Support that operators rave about

Ask Sailia customers what they like most and support comes up constantly. Requests answered almost immediately. Small feature improvements shipped overnight. A team that understands the experience industry because we came from it.

BookingLive offers unlimited remote training, which is genuinely good, but reviews are mixed on responsiveness, and support access has historically depended on your plan. When it is peak season and something needs fixing, that difference matters.

Pricing that matches your season

BookingLive's pricing grows through subscriptions, modules, setup work and chargeable training. Website integration and enterprise features add up quickly.

Sailia is performance-based. No setup fees, no onboarding fees, no monthly minimums, daily payouts as standard. Quiet months cost you almost nothing. Busy months, Sailia is earning its keep by filling your calendar and cutting your admin. Your incentives and ours point the same way.

The switch is easier than you think

Oxford Sail Training Trust replaced four systems with Sailia in a one-week live switchover, at the height of summer. The season that followed was the best in their history, with revenue 30% above their previous peak and admin down by around 80%. Refunds, bookings, moving people between sessions, launching new events, marketing to past customers: everything got easier at once.

Our team handles the migration with you: activities, customers, vouchers and upcoming bookings. Most businesses are live within days, with no scope-of-works document in sight.

The bottom line

If you are a council or government body with a procurement process that needs bespoke scoping, BookingLive has a long track record in that world.

If you run an experience business of any size, from a single-site school to a multi-site operation, Sailia gives you every tool in one connected platform, keeps it genuinely easy to use, and only earns when you do. Businesses that switch do not look back.

If you are weighing up your options, we would love to show you around. No pressure, no lengthy scoping process, just a look at what your season could feel like on Sailia.

What our customers say

"It's an amazing system that streamlines our whole business into one place, and the possibilities seem endless" Duncan Freshwater, Managing Director, Loch Insh Outdoor Centre

"Switching to Sailia has made all the difference for us. We've had our best year ever - bookings are up by around a third and our customers love how simple the booking flow is" Rosie Clark, Owner, Rye Watersports

"We haven't found another booking system that lives up to what Sailia has done" Hatty Morsley, Events and Pathway Officer, RYA Cymru Wales

"This booking software is revolutionary … Just get it! All the features are so well thought out, the support is great, and it's so user-friendly for customers." Tracey Boyne, Director, Mylor Sailing School

Frequently asked questions

Is Sailia only for small businesses? No. Sailia scales from single-site operators to some of the busiest multi-site operations worldwide, with centralised reporting, inventory and staffing across every location. The same simplicity applies at every size.

Can Sailia take deposits and instalments like BookingLive? Yes, and more flexibly. Sailia natively supports deposits with automatic balance collection, scheduled instalment plans and book now pay later, with reminders sent automatically.

Is it hard to migrate from BookingLive to Sailia? No. Our team manages the migration with you, including customers, upcoming bookings and vouchers. Oxford Sail Training Trust replaced four systems in a one-week live switchover at the height of summer, then had their best season ever.

Does Sailia integrate with my accounting software? Yes. Sailia has two-way sync with Xero and QuickBooks, automatically pushing sales, fees, refunds and payouts so your accounts reconcile without manual work.

Do I need separate tools for marketing and waivers? No. Email and SMS marketing, customer segmentation, digital waivers and consent forms are all built into Sailia and connected to your live booking data. Nothing to export, nothing to sync.