---
title: "Palaestral and FareHarbor"
description: "Palaestral beside FareHarbor: booking, payments, what the client pays, packs, waivers, clients and cost, each statement about FareHarbor linked to its source."
canonical: "https://palaestral.com/compare/fareharbor"
---

# Palaestral and FareHarbor

## Which is better, Palaestral or FareHarbor?

It depends on what you run. FareHarbor suits tour, activity, rental and attraction businesses, from local shops to enterprise operations, that want point of sale, staff and inventory tools and support by phone or email at any hour.[^1] Palaestral suits an independent instructor who teaches surf, yoga, running or strength: one link takes the booking, collects a waiver signed for everybody on it, and charges the card into the instructor's own Stripe account, with a record kept of every client. Instructor signups for Palaestral open in January 2027.

palaestral.com/i/your-name

Sample Coach

Surf, running, yoga and strength — sample data

1. Tue, Jun 8 · 6:30 AM $55.00 Dawn patrol · Surf 2 of 3 seats taken
2. Thu, Jun 10 · 5:30 PM $20.00 Track intervals · Running 3 of 3 seats taken Full — join the queue of 6
3. Sat, Jun 12 · 8:00 AM $55.00 Beginners · Surf 2 of 3 seats taken

Sample data. Not a real instructor or client.

Who each one suits
| Who | What matters | Fits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tour, activity, rental and attraction businesses, from local shops to enterprise operations | Point of sale, staff and inventory tools and support by phone or email at any hour | FareHarbor[^1] |
| An independent instructor who teaches surf, yoga, running or strength | One link takes the booking, collects a waiver signed for everybody on it, and charges the card into the instructor's own Stripe account | Palaestral |

## What is FareHarbor?

FareHarbor calls itself "the all-in-one booking solution and business management platform" for tours, activities, rentals and attractions.[^1] It was founded in Hawaii in 2013, by founders who wanted to reserve surfboards online, and has been part of Booking Holdings since 2018.[^2] Its about page says more than 23,000 companies use it.[^2] Its sections for particular businesses include tour operators, rental companies, boat tours, attractions, trains, ziplines and farms.[^1]

## What is Palaestral?

Booking, waivers and payments for independent instructors, and a record of every client you teach: what each booked, signed and paid. A client books from your own page with a name and an email address, with no account to make and nothing to install. Instructor signups open in January 2027; until then, the list on the Get started page is open, and you are emailed once when signups open.

## What does each do for booking?

FareHarbor

FareHarbor takes bookings online at any hour through a booking platform that can be put on any website, and its customer-facing interface is available in 23 languages.[^3][^4] Customers can rebook or cancel their own reservations online, and a waitlist notifies the people on it when a spot opens.[^4] Its dashboard has a booking calendar for walk-up reservations, check-in and in-person payments, and its point of sale has a kiosk mode and a staff mode.[^9][^11]

Palaestral

Palaestral gives you a page under your own name, at palaestral.com/i/your-name, that lists the next 14 days of times anybody can book. You set a lesson's days and hour once, and its times are made 120 days ahead in the lesson's own time zone, so a dawn lesson keeps its hour when the clocks change. A full time keeps a queue of two places for each seat. A client can move their own booking up to three times while cancelling would still refund it in full. When conditions call a lesson off, you can offer each booking another time and hold its seats for up to 48 hours; a booking nobody answers is refunded on your terms for conditions.

## How do payments work, and whose account is paid?

FareHarbor

Under FareHarbor's terms for providers, the provider is the merchant of record, and payments run through Stripe, Adyen or PayPal.[^6] A provider that uses Stripe's payment processing on FareHarbor is bound by Stripe's Connected Account Agreement.[^10] Stripe moves the price of the booking to the provider's Stripe account after deducting FareHarbor's processing fee, and moves FareHarbor's booking fee to FareHarbor's own Stripe account.[^6] FareHarbor starts the payouts from the provider's Stripe account to their bank, and may hold them until the activity has been delivered.[^6] Its payments page describes next-day payouts and lists Apple Pay, Google Pay, card readers and tap payments among the ways to pay.[^5] Disputes are the provider's to handle, and FareHarbor says it submits evidence on the provider's behalf.[^6][^5]

Palaestral

With Palaestral, a client pays by card on Stripe's own page, and the card is charged on your own Stripe account: the money is yours, Stripe bills its processing to you, and any 1099-K is issued in your name. Stripe pays your balance out to your bank on the schedule your account sets, and your money never sits with Palaestral on the way: the one part of a payment that passes through is a studio's share, where you teach at a studio that keeps one. A chargeback is raised against your Stripe account and you answer it from your own Stripe dashboard. Each booking is refunded on the terms it was sold under, copied onto it when it was sold.

## What does the client pay?

FareHarbor

In FareHarbor's standard model, the person booking pays two separate amounts: the price the provider set, and a booking fee payable to FareHarbor.[^6] A provider can ask for a commission model instead, in which FareHarbor charges its fee to the provider rather than to the person booking.[^6] When a provider gives a full refund, FareHarbor may return the booking fee to the person who booked; on a partial refund it keeps the whole booking fee.[^6]

Palaestral

On Palaestral, a client pays exactly the price an instructor lists, and nothing is added to it. A client paying from abroad sees your price as you set it, never a converted one carrying a fee.

## Packs, memberships and waivers?

FareHarbor

FareHarbor sells memberships with benefits, redemption rules, frequency and validity that the provider defines, redeemed in the same checkout as a booking.[^7] FareHarbor Waivers are available to operators in select regions, and the same page names digital waiver integrations.[^4]

Palaestral

Palaestral sells memberships at a price a month for a number of visits or unlimited ones, charged on your Stripe account each month until the member cancels, with pauses of up to 90 days. It sells lesson packs, and any pack can be bought as a gift. A booking is confirmed only once your waiver is signed for every person on it, and for anyone under 18 by a parent or guardian. Each signed waiver is kept with the text that was signed, for five years or until a child turns 20, whichever is later, and nobody can delete it before then, you included.

## What is kept about each client?

FareHarbor

FareHarbor's memberships keep track of active members, their booking history and how often they buy, and its reporting includes customer reports.[^7][^8]

Palaestral

Palaestral keeps one record for each client: what they booked, signed and paid, the lessons they have left, and your notes. A note is kept for 24 months from the day you write it, and only you see it. You can download a copy of all of it whenever you choose, as spreadsheets and a page for each signed waiver.

## What does each cost?

FareHarbor

FareHarbor's terms describe a booking fee FareHarbor may charge the person booking, a processing fee it charges the provider, and fees it may charge for additional services such as API bookings, private events, its point of sale in staff mode, its distribution network, hosted websites and performance marketing.[^6] Its home page asks a business to get a demo.[^1]

Palaestral

Palaestral's pricing is set before signups open in January 2027, and nothing is charged before then. Card processing is Stripe's, billed to your own Stripe account.

## Moving from FareHarbor?

FareHarbor

Either party can end FareHarbor's terms for providers with 15 days' written notice, and the provider stays responsible for bookings already made.[^6]

Palaestral

Palaestral takes a spreadsheet of the people you already teach, up to 1,000 rows at a time: their names and email addresses, your notes about them and the lessons each has left. You see what every line will become before anything is written, and nobody in the list is told anything unless you ask. An import can be undone for 14 days, while nobody has been told and none of its lessons has been spent.

## Sources

[^1]: FareHarbor home page: [https://fareharbor.com/](https://fareharbor.com/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^2]: FareHarbor, About: [https://fareharbor.com/about/](https://fareharbor.com/about/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^3]: FareHarbor, Online booking: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/online-booking/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/online-booking/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^4]: FareHarbor, Customer experience: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/customer-experience/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/customer-experience/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^5]: FareHarbor, Payments: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/payments/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/payments/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^6]: FareHarbor, General Terms of Service for Providers 2025: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/legal/tos-providers/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/legal/tos-providers/) — General Terms of Service for Providers 2025, effective January 1, 2025 (read October 20, 2026)
[^7]: FareHarbor, Memberships: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/customer-experience/memberships/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/customer-experience/memberships/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^8]: FareHarbor, Reporting: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/manage/reporting/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/manage/reporting/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^9]: FareHarbor, Dashboard: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/manage/dashboard/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/manage/dashboard/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^10]: FareHarbor, Payments (legal): [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/legal/payments/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/legal/payments/) (read October 20, 2026)
[^11]: FareHarbor Dock: [https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/fareharbor-dock/](https://marketing.fareharbor.com/sell/fareharbor-dock/) (read October 20, 2026)

Palaestral's own pages: [/product/booking](https://palaestral.com/product/booking), [/product/payments](https://palaestral.com/product/payments), [/product/waivers](https://palaestral.com/product/waivers), [/product/memberships](https://palaestral.com/product/memberships), [/product/clients](https://palaestral.com/product/clients), [/pricing](https://palaestral.com/pricing), [/start](https://palaestral.com/start), [/faq](https://palaestral.com/faq)

FareHarbor and its marks belong to their owner, which is not affiliated with Palaestral and has not reviewed this page.

[Get started](https://palaestral.com/start)