Tarn vs. FareHarbor
An independent FareHarbor alternative with published pricing and lower fees, built for outdoor outfitters: you keep your data, your website, and your Stripe account.
- FareHarbor
- ~6% per booking
- Tarn
- 3% per booking, no monthly fee, as low as 4.9% all-in
FareHarbor pricing, fees, and cost, next to Tarn's.
The questions people search for, answered with the numbers, and a calculator for your own trip price.
- How much does FareHarbor cost?
- FareHarbor has no monthly subscription for operators. Its standard model adds a booking fee of about 6% at your guest's checkout, so your guests pay it on every online booking, and payments run through FareHarbor's own processing. Exact terms vary by operator, and the fee is set by FareHarbor, not by you.
- What does that fee do to a $600 trip?
- About $36 added at checkout. A $600 rafting booking becomes $636 for your guest before tax. Over a season of a few hundred bookings, that is thousands of dollars your guests pay for the software behind the Book Now button.
- What does Tarn cost on the same booking?
- Tarn's platform fee is 3%, $18 on a $600 trip, stepping down to 2% as your trailing twelve-month volume grows. Card processing is Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ on your own Stripe account, so all-in you're at $35.70 on day one and $29.70 at the top step. Whether that fee sits inside your prices or on the guest's checkout line is your call, not the platform's. No monthly fee and no contract.
- Is Tarn a FareHarbor alternative for a small outfitter?
- Yes. Tarn is built for rafting, zipline, kayak, fishing, and other outdoor outfitters, at the same published rate for a two-boat operation as for a fleet. Setup is self-serve in an afternoon, and if you're switching mid-season we migrate your bookings, contacts, and waivers for free.
FareHarbor's standard booking fee, about 6%, added at your guest's checkout.
About the same per booking at this trip size. The difference is who sets the fee, where the money settles, and what it drops to as you grow.
Pass the fee to guests at checkout (Tarn's default) and you keep the full trip price either way. Estimates from each vendor's standard published or reported rate; your terms may differ.
30-day trial, no card, no sales call. Or open the live demo right here.
FareHarbor is one of the largest booking platforms for tours and activities, owned by Booking Holdings. It's broad and well-distributed. But its standard model adds a per-booking fee at your guest's checkout, runs bookings through its own infrastructure, and is built for activities in general, not the specific way an outfitter runs a river day. Here's how Tarn compares.
Comparison based on publicly available information about each vendor's standard offering as of 2026. Vendors change their terms, so confirm current pricing and features directly with each provider.
What you get by switching.
Transparent, published pricing
One published rate: 3% per booking stepping down to 2% with volume, no monthly fee, and no contract. You decide whether to absorb the fee in your prices or pass it on at checkout.
You own your data, your site, and your Stripe
Tarn embeds on the website you already own, runs on your own Stripe account with payouts straight to your bank, and lets you export every booking, contact, and waiver anytime. Nothing is held hostage.
Built for outfitters, not 'any activity'
Guide assignments, daily manifests, put-in locations, live river and weather conditions, deposits, and waivers are first-class, because Tarn is built for the water, not adapted to it.
Set up yourself in an afternoon
No mandatory demo, no multi-week onboarding, no implementation fee. Add your trips, share your booking link, and you can be live the same day.
If you run a large, year-round attraction with a dedicated booking desk and lean heavily on OTA distribution, FareHarbor's scale may suit you. Tarn is built for the small-to-mid outfitter who wants to own their data and pricing and run a leaner morning.
Your next season starts at the desk. Make it a short visit.
Set up your trips, take your first booking, and get back outside.