Every year more people prefer to compare prices instead of just going to an agency or airline directly. Price has become the main decision driver for a huge market and metasearch websites serve that purpose.
We’ve analyzed every option out there and put together this list, which may be used to save on your next trip or if you work at a travel agency consider integrating with them to boost traffic on your site. The source for traffic information was SimilarWeb and this was written in July 2020, when numbers were lower than usual due to covid-19 crisis.
1. Kayak
With more than 15M monthly visitors on its main domain and a simple but great UX, this might be the best place to start. They are an american company and that is their biggest market, so they might not be very famous in other countries but it’s still a great option anywhere.
2. Skyscanner
Having a lower 10M monthly visitors, this meta is a leader in most European markets. While the experience is sometimes a bit more complicated than it should be, they are usually the best at comparing. They managed to get the most deals with OTAs and airlines around the world so when you are looking for prices you know for sure you are considering as many options as possible.
3. Google Flights
There isn’t a lot of data about their traffic, but they claim to be the biggest option on key markets like the United States or Brazil. As every Google product it has a clean and minimalist experience, but we’re not a fan of the fact that you need to select outbound and inbound flights separately. Every other meta just shows the list of itineraries, which makes it easier to see the final price for each combination.
4. Jetcost
With over 3M visitors, this particular site is really great at SEO. That is why about half of their traffic is organic. This makes it a great place to be for OTAs since they tend to have a better conversion rate than the others.
5. Wego
This player is an absolute leader in the middle east, so you should check them out if you are interested in that market. In terms of technology they are not great, but search works fast and serves the purpose.
6. Cheapflights
Bought by kayak a few years ago, they pretty much have the same inventory as contracts where merged. Also the site looks identical, so no real reason to use it instead of kayak. Regardless, a strong follower base of more than 1M monthly users still use this brand and that’s why it’s still active and running.
7. Momondo
Also part of kayak and the booking group, although in this case momondo has a quite unique UX so it’s worth trying. Not every contract was merged with kayak yet, so you might find some good prices here that are not on kayak. But definitely the added value is the interface, which looks great and has some cool features like the graph tables or detailed insights on providers.
8. Viajala
Colombian based company and probably the biggest player in Latin America, this site is the best option for markets in this region. They don’t have a lot of traffic but considering that most countries are very small I’d say that a few hundred thousand visitors monthly is a great achievement.
9. Fly.com
Not a lot of traffic as would be expected for such an expensive domain, but most of it of course is organic which means the quality and conversion rates are very good. Since it’s not so known there are also less competitors showing prices here, so indeed a good opportunity to get some cheap traffic here.
10. Trabber
Spain based startup is the underdog on the list, but it’s here for a reason. Their low traffic comes with a really good quality, so depending on the market they can beat any other meta on the list on conversion rates.
Do you know any player that didn’t make the cut? Feel free to share!
