WildPlanner vs Tourwriter: Which One Fits Your Tour Operator Business?
Tourwriter and WildPlanner solve genuinely different problems. Tourwriter is a full itinerary-building and travel management platform built for bespoke and luxury DMCs, priced per user on annual billing plus a setup fee. WildPlanner is a focused rates and quoting tool built for solo and small tour operators who need their supplier rates organised and quotes sent quickly, without paying for, or learning, a full itinerary and booking system. Which one actually fits depends on whether you need a visual, client-facing itinerary builder and multi-user booking system, or a faster way to turn the rates you already have into a quote.
Where Tourwriter Fits
Tourwriter has been building travel software in New Zealand for over 20 years and has recently launched into the South African market, including joining the African Travel & Tourism Association (ATTA). It's built for bespoke and luxury DMCs and tour operators who want a full platform: a drag-and-drop visual itinerary builder, supplier and rate management, Stripe payment collection built in, and, on its Pro and Premium plans, Xero accounting integration.
Its published case studies point to larger or fast-growing operators, one grew from 140 to 500 tours a year on the same team, another built 40% more itineraries in its first 90 days. If you're running a multi-country DMC with a team of five or more, need client-facing visual itineraries as part of how you sell, and want dedicated onboarding and a Success Executive, Tourwriter is a genuine, well-built option worth including on your shortlist.
What WildPlanner Does Differently
Built for solo and small operators
Tourwriter's plans start at $99 per user per month, billed annually, with a one-time setup fee from $1,199 for migration, setup and training. WildPlanner is a flat R499 a month for one seat, no setup fee and no annual commitment, priced for a business of one or two people from the base tier up, not scaled down from a package built for a bigger DMC team.
Rates to quote, no itinerary detour
Tourwriter's quoting sits inside a full itinerary-building workflow, you build the trip visually first. WildPlanner skips that step entirely: bulk upload your existing supplier rates in whatever format they're already in, PDFs, CSVs, or add them manually, and build a quote directly by referencing rates already in your database. No itinerary builder to learn first, no dependency on a bigger workflow to get a quote out.
Rate and quote calculation, not itinerary presentation
WildPlanner is built around the actual maths of a quote, RACK and STO rates tracked per line item so you can monitor commission as you build, not reworked by hand afterwards. It's a quoting and rates tool first, with export to branded PDF and CSV, rather than a full itinerary and booking platform where the quote is one part of a much bigger system.
Feature Comparison
Visual itinerary builder
Supplier rate management
Quote/proposal export
Accounting integration
Payment collection
Pricing model
Setup fee
Free trial
Built for
Who Should Choose WildPlanner
Choose WildPlanner if you're a solo operator or a small team, your main problem is disorganised rates and slow quote turnaround rather than a lack of itinerary or booking features, you'd rather not commit to a setup fee or annual billing before you've properly tried the tool, and you want to pay for exactly what you use instead of a platform built for a much larger operation.
Who Should Choose Tourwriter
Choose Tourwriter if you're running a larger or fast-growing DMC or tour operator business, you need a visual, client-facing itinerary builder and built-in payment collection as part of your core workflow, you want Xero accounting integration without switching tools, and the setup fee and annual per-user pricing fit comfortably within your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tourwriter more expensive than WildPlanner?
Does WildPlanner build visual itineraries like Tourwriter?
Can I try both before deciding?
