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Checkfront is a self-serve booking platform: you subscribe, you configure the catalog, you embed checkout on whatever site you already have. Slipstack is a different job — a custom website and boat rental booking software we stand up for you, with payments in your Stripe and 0% of the trip to Slipstack. $999/month. Card processing still pays Stripe, not us. Live sites we designed — Boat Bros on Lake Austin, Nasty Sport Fishing in Cabo — are on the work page.
Published by Slipstack. We launch this stack for live rental and charter operators — our work and how it works.
Who, how, why
Slipstack. We design the website and stand up booking, Stripe, waivers, and ops for 1–10 boat rental and charter shops. Live examples: Boat Bros ATX (Lake Austin) and Nasty Sport Fishing (Cabo San Lucas).
Percentages on these pages are approximate figures already used across Slipstack (about 6% for FareHarbor; 6–8% online for Peek Pro), not a scraped vendor invoice. The live proof is Boat Bros ATX’s season: about 4× last year’s website revenue. Confirm current fees with the vendor. We do not invent official 2026 rate cards.
Operators type “what does FareHarbor cost” and “Peek Pro pricing” because the vendors do not publish a public monthly plan. One comparison URL per vendor — pricing, fees, and alternative — so we do not split that intent across five synonym pages.
Who Slipstack is for
Boat rental and charter shops that are tired of assembling a website, a booking dashboard, waivers, and payments themselves. Slipstack Full is done-for-you for 1–10 boat operations. If you want to keep configuring Checkfront as your booking engine and only need a widget on a brochure site, Checkfront may still fit better. This page is not a Checkfront plugin pitch — Slipstack is the site and the booking of record.
Cost model
Checkfront sells booking software as a product you set up. Public marketing has described monthly plans plus processing; those list prices change and we will not reprint a fake 2026 rate card. Confirm current Checkfront pricing with Checkfront. Slipstack’s own number is public: a flat monthly subscription that includes the custom website, booking, waivers, email, and ops, and 0% booking commission. Stripe still charges normal processing fees to your account. The comparison is DIY software you configure versus a site we design and launch.
Slipstack
Checkfront
How the model works
Checkfront is booking software. You log in, you build the catalog, you paste a book button onto a site someone else designed — or a site you have been meaning to finish. Slipstack is the other stack: we design the website, load the fleet, connect your Stripe, and file waivers on the reservation. We will not invent Checkfront’s current monthly SKUs. If a number is on this page, it is Slipstack’s published fee or a worksheet from our own operator data.
Worksheet, not their invoice
Replace the Checkfront cell with whatever they quote you. The live row uses one Slipstack operator’s season already published on this site.
| Scenario | What you still have to own | Checkfront-style DIY | Slipstack ($999/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The public website | Design, hosting, and the URLs guests search | Usually yours to build or hire separately | Included — custom site on your domain |
| The booking engine | Catalog, rules, embed, training | You configure the dashboard | We stand it up as part of launch |
| A good Saturday | Whether a percentage leaves with the tool | Confirm with Checkfront — we do not invent their cut | 0% of the fare to Slipstack |
| Live Lake Austin season (134 days) | What the month actually cost | Their subscription × those months (their quote) | $4,500 across those months at $999/mo × ~4.5 |
Checkfront plan prices are not reprinted here. Card processing still applies on Slipstack via Stripe. The $4,500 line is $999 × the same 134-day window already cited on this site (~4.5 months), rounded — still not your P&L.
Questions to ask
Ask Checkfront — and any alternative — in writing. Do not decide from a comparison blog.
Booking seats, SMS, hardware, waivers, a website package. A “simple” subscription can still stack bills.
If the answer is you or another vendor, the booking subscription is only half the stack.
Your merchant account, or theirs. What happens on refunds and chargebacks.
If the customer list or the book button is trapped, the switching cost is not the monthly fee — it is the years of demand.
When each model fits
You want to self-serve a booking dashboard, you already have a site you like, or you are not trying to hire someone to own the public URL.
You run 1–10 boats, you want guests to finish on a custom site, you want Stripe in your account, and you do not want to be the person configuring the booking tool. That is the Slipstack lane.
Ownership and control
Slipstack provisions a database for your company, connects your Stripe, and launches booking on a domain that is yours. Checkfront is booking software you add to an operation. We will not invent Checkfront’s data-export or payout rules. The claims below are about what Slipstack actually delivers. A Checkfront connection can still exist in some setups for operators who have not moved booking yet — that is not the product this page sells.
Website and booking
Checkfront usually sits behind a book button on a site you already run. Slipstack designs the website around live inventory, checkout, deposits, remaining balances, and waivers so the guest never leaves your brand to finish paying.
Feature comparison
Honest trade-offs. Checkfront still wins on marketplace reach and self-serve setup. Slipstack wins when you want the site, the Stripe account, and the customer.
| Topic | Slipstack | Checkfront |
|---|---|---|
| Cost model | Flat $999/month. 0% of the booking to Slipstack. Stripe processing still applies. | Monthly booking-software subscription you configure. Confirm current Checkfront plan prices with Checkfront — we do not reprint them here. |
| Implementation | Done-for-you. Launch brief, custom site, Stripe, migration, then go-live in 2–3 days after you send the launch brief. | Self-serve setup is the usual path. You build the catalog, rules, and embed. |
| Website | We design a custom site for your brand on your domain — not a template and not a dashboard skin. | Typically a widget or booking flow added to whatever site you already have. |
| Payments | Guests pay into your Stripe — deposit, remaining balance, or supported installment methods. Slipstack never sits on the money. | Checkout runs through the Checkfront product you configured. We do not document their merchant setup here. |
| Customer records | Guests live in a database provisioned for your company. Export them. | Guest data lives in the booking software you already run. Export terms are Checkfront’s. |
| Waivers | E-sign is included in the monthly fee and filed on the booking. | Waivers are often a separate product you connect on top of booking. |
| Fit | Charter and boat rental shops, typically 1–10 boats, who want the site and the calendar as one job. | Operators who want to self-serve a booking dashboard across activities and keep their existing marketing site. |
If configuring booking software yourself is the product you bought, Slipstack is not a Checkfront clone. We replace the disconnected stack for operators who want guests to finish on a site we design.
If you are paying for a booking subscription and still do not own a website that can take the booking, a flat monthly site-plus-stack is the other model. We migrate what is already on the books, test a real card, then flip the booking link.
Migration
We do not ask you to empty the calendar first. Existing reservations come across. The old book button stays up until payments are tested on Slipstack.
01
Trips, rates, boats, seasons, deposit rules, and waiver language — the same day-one work as any Slipstack launch.
02
Custom front end from your brand and photos. Live availability, holds, deposits, remaining balances.
03
Bookings already on the books come across. We run a real card with you before anything public flips.
04
Flip the booking link outside your busy window and train the crew. Current turnaround is 2–3 days after you send the launch brief.
Full launch path: how it works.
Real Slipstack examples
Boat Bros ATX · Lake Austin
Captained pontoon, watersports, sunset, and holiday charters on Lake Austin.
Nasty Sport Fishing · Cabo San Lucas
Private Cabo fishing charters — packages, live booking, Stripe, and buy-now-pay-later.
Live operator · Lake Austin · Boat Bros ATX
Production data from Boat Bros ATX, a Slipstack shop on Lake Austin: about 4× last year’s website revenue this season, with 200+ trips booked online. A 6% cut on that volume would have cost more than Slipstack. Not a survey and not a forecast for your lake.
4×
revenue vs last year
200+
trips booked online
500+
waivers signed
~$570
average order
Also see boat rental software, boat rental websites, boat rental booking software, FareHarbor pricing, our work, pricing, boat rental marketing, Peek Pro pricing, and Boatsetter vs your own site.
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