This week Touch Stay emailed hosts who had tried it before: there is now a free plan. No credit card, no trial clock, $0 a month forever. Good. More free tools for hosts is a good thing, and it is nice to have company.
BetterSTR’s digital guidebook has been free since the day we launched in early 2025, and the TV welcome screen is free too. So we are often asked what the difference is. The short answer is in the small print: a free plan is only as good as its limits.
What the Touch Stay free plan includes
From Touch Stay’s own pricing page and FAQ, at the time of writing, the free plan gives you:
- Unlimited guidebooks, with your branding and QR codes
- Local recommendations and the guest store, at a 5% store commission
- Automatic translation into 30+ languages
- One team seat and self-service support
And these monthly limits, which reset each month per guidebook:
- 20 guest views per guidebook
- 8 scheduled emails
- 3 AI chatbot conversations
PMS sync, unlimited views, custom translations and SMS messaging are on the paid plans (or the 14-day trial of them).
Why 20 views and no PMS sync matter
A guest rarely opens a guidebook once. They open it when they book, again for directions on the day, again at the door for the lock code, and again on the sofa for the WiFi password. And the link rarely stays with one person: the lead guest shares it with the whole group. In a house that sleeps 10, if everyone opens the guide twice, that is 20 views gone in a single booking, and the month has barely started.
The bigger gap is PMS sync. Without it, the guide doesn’t know who is staying or when, so there is no personal guide per booking, no guest name, no dates and no check-in details filled in for you. Every link goes out by hand. For one quiet listing that is workable. For anyone running a real rental business, the free plan is a taster, and its own pricing page says as much: “Get a taste.”
Touch Stay free vs BetterSTR free
| Touch Stay Free | BetterSTR Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $0 |
| Guidebooks and properties | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Guest views | 20 per guidebook a month | Unlimited |
| PMS and Airbnb sync | Paid plans only | Included, with nearly 40 PMSs |
| Personal guide for each booking | Needs PMS sync (paid) | Included |
| QR codes and branding | Included | Included |
| TV welcome screen | Not offered | Included, free forever |
| Bring your existing Touch Stay guide | n/a | One-click importer |
Touch Stay figures are from its public pricing page in October 2026 and may change, so check the current plan before you decide. The full feature-by-feature version is on our Touch Stay alternative page.
What you pay for on BetterSTR, if anything
The guidebook stays free, with unlimited properties, unlimited guests and every PMS integration. Premium is optional and adds extras like Ask AI, which answers guest questions from your guide around the clock:
- 50c a reservation (only if you want Premium features), for properties with a few bookings a month, or
- $2.99 a property a month (only if you want Premium features), for busy properties where a flat rate works out cheaper.
Every new account gets all Premium features free for 2 weeks, then keeps the free plan or upgrades. Either way the guide itself keeps working for your guests. Full details are on the pricing page.
Your guidebook on the TV, free too
BetterSTR TV turns the TV in your rental into a branded welcome screen: the guest’s name and stay dates, your guidebook on the big screen, a WiFi QR code, streaming apps, local activities, a phone remote and a photo screensaver. That is all on the free plan, forever.
Premium TV adds smart home control (lights, air conditioning, blinds and switches through Home Assistant or Shelly), voice search and more, for $4 a TV a month, or from $2 a month prepaid over several years. If you want everything, BetterSTR Simple bundles Premium guidebook, TV, WiFi marketing, a companion tablet with noise monitoring, and upsells for $15 a property a month.
That is about what a paid Touch Stay guidebook costs on its own, but it covers six products. Bought separately from the usual providers (Touch Stay for the guide, StayFi for WiFi, WelcomeScreen for the TV, YourWelcome for the tablet, Minut for noise monitoring and The Host Co for upsells), the same stack runs about $109 a property a month.
Why we can afford to give it away
AI has changed what software costs to build. A competent host with an AI assistant could put together a basic web guidebook over a weekend, and that puts real pressure on anyone charging a monthly subscription for a page of text. We think that is healthy. It is why our guidebook is free.
What AI doesn’t give you is the running of it. Behind a BetterSTR guide sit live connections to nearly 40 PMSs, each with its own API, webhooks and quirks; a fleet of servers keeping the TVs in our hosts’ rentals up to date and responding to the remote; databases, backups and a CDN; AI and Google Maps usage paid by the call; and security updates that never stop. That is infrastructure, and infrastructure costs money every month whether you build it yourself or not.
So our model is simple. The software is free. Where something costs us real money to run, like AI answers, SMS or the TV’s Premium services, we charge about what it would cost you to host it yourself, without the weekend of building, the years of upkeep, or the tears at 2am when your homemade guidebook gets hacked and starts sending your guests somewhere you’d rather they didn’t go.
Already have a Touch Stay guide?
You don’t need to start again. Our Touch Stay import guide walks you through it: paste your Touch Stay guest link and the importer brings across your categories, topics, text and icons, then offers to copy your photos into your Media library and add the places from your Touch Stay map. Prefer to watch? There is a video walkthrough too.
Weighing up more than one option? Read Touch Stay alternatives and how to switch, or our guide to choosing a digital guidebook app.
Frequently asked questions
Is Touch Stay free now?
Yes, Touch Stay has a free plan since October 2026, with unlimited guidebooks but monthly limits: 20 guest views per guidebook, 8 scheduled emails and 3 AI chatbot conversations. PMS sync is on paid plans only.
What are the Touch Stay free plan limits?
20 guest views per guidebook a month, 8 scheduled emails a month, 3 AI chatbot conversations a month, one team seat and self-service support. The limits reset monthly per guidebook.
Is there a free digital guidebook without view limits?
Yes. BetterSTR’s digital guidebook is free forever with unlimited properties, unlimited guest views and PMS sync with nearly 40 platforms, and no credit card is needed.
Can I move my Touch Stay guide to BetterSTR?
Yes. The BetterSTR importer brings across your Touch Stay guide’s content, photos and map places from your guest link. Follow the step-by-step Touch Stay import guide in our help centre.