Best Tourplan Alternatives for Safari & Tour Operators

Tourplan is a genuinely solid system, 40+ years in the industry, used by 450+ operators and DMCs across 70+ countries, but it's built for that scale. If you're a solo operator, a couple running the business, or a small team, it's usually more platform than you need, and because Tourplan doesn't publish pricing anywhere, you can't even budget for it without a sales call first. Here's an honest, filtered look at what to consider instead, organised by what you actually need rather than a directory dump of every tool in the category.

Why Operators Look for a Tourplan Alternative

Two things come up again and again. First, pricing: Tourplan is quote-on-request, so you go through a demo and needs assessment before you find out what it costs, which makes it hard to compare against anything with published pricing. Second, scale: Tourplan bundles sales, reservations, operations, and accounting into one integrated system built for teams running FITs, groups, and tailor-made tours across multiple markets. That depth is the whole point if you're a mid-to-large operator or DMC with a team to run it. It's also exactly why it's overkill if you're not.

To be fair to Tourplan: if you've genuinely outgrown a lean operation and need integrated back-office accounting and reservations across a bigger team, it remains a strong, established choice. The alternatives below are for everyone else.

The Alternatives, Filtered by What You Actually Need

For Solo and Small Operators Who Need Rates Organised: WildPlanner

WildPlanner is built for one problem: operators still running rates out of PDFs, spreadsheets, or scattered documents, and losing time to slow quote turnaround because of it. Bulk upload your existing rates in whatever format they're already in, and track RACK and STO rates per line item as you build a quote. Pricing is flat and published, R499/month for one seat (Lite) or R1,299/month for two seats (Core), with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required. See the full WildPlanner vs Tourplan comparison.

For Commission-Only, No Monthly Fee: EasyOTA

EasyOTA is a safari-specific tool with no monthly fee at all, you pay commission only on confirmed bookings. It handles live multi-supplier availability and circuit pricing (accommodation, transport, park fees) automatically, which suits an agent or DMC processing regular confirmed bookings. The trade-off: commission scales with revenue, so at higher volumes it can end up costing more than a flat monthly fee would. See the full WildPlanner vs EasyOTA comparison.

For a Built-In Content Library at Scale: SafariOffice

SafariOffice is built around a large, pre-loaded content library, over 5,000 accommodations, 10,000 destinations, and 100,000+ images and videos, plus an AI assistant for writing descriptions and cover emails. It's aimed at growing teams producing a high volume of quotes who want that infrastructure built in rather than managed themselves. Pricing is published: FREE and PRO tiers with two free users included, extra users at €11.99 each. See the full WildPlanner vs SafariOffice comparison.

For Luxury DMCs Wanting a Full Itinerary Platform: Tourwriter

Tourwriter has built travel software in New Zealand for over 20 years and has recently launched into the South African market. It's a full platform: a drag-and-drop visual itinerary builder, supplier and rate management, built-in Stripe payment collection, and Xero accounting integration on its higher tiers. Pricing runs per user per month, billed annually, from $99 (Starter), plus a one-time setup fee from $1,199 covering migration and training. Genuinely strong for a multi-country DMC with a team of five or more. See the full WildPlanner vs Tourwriter comparison.

For an Established South African System: Travelogic

Travelogic has run since 2003, built by Cape Town-based Equilogic, and it's one of the longest-standing names in the local market, including Wetu integration for itinerary and brochure work. Worth knowing before you commit: it runs as Windows-based software, not a cloud platform, so Mac users face extra friction. Pricing is a once-off implementation and training fee plus ongoing monthly rental, contact required for exact numbers. See the full WildPlanner vs Travelogic comparison.

For Client-Facing Presentation and CRM: Safari Portal

Safari Portal is built to make the client-facing side of a proposal genuinely polished: branded, mobile-friendly itineraries and Lookbooks, a sales pipeline, contact management, and a content library. It's positioned as an itinerary builder, CRM, and marketing platform first, not a rate-calculation engine. Pricing is published: $199/month (Basic) up to $399/month (Deluxe), plus add-ons. A strong fit if presentation is your actual bottleneck, not the underlying rate maths. See the full WildPlanner vs Safari Portal comparison.

Other Names You Might Come Across

Two more come up if you're comparing safari-specific tools. Granit Solutions (GranIT Safari Software) is built specifically for East African operators, with a strong focus on Kenya and Tanzania and a preloaded regional mileage database, a smaller, more regional player than the others here. Pink Elephant International is a broader cloud-based travel management platform, not exclusively safari-focused, sitting closer to Tourplan in scope with financial reporting, CRM, and third-party integrations. Neither publishes pricing, so budgeting for either starts with a sales conversation, same as Tourplan. For more on how these two stack up, see our EasyOTA vs Tourplan comparison, which covers both in more depth.

How to Actually Decide

Start with what's actually costing you time right now, not a feature checklist. If it's disorganised rates and slow quotes, that's a narrower, cheaper problem than it might feel like, solved by a focused tool like WildPlanner, not a full booking system. If you're already managing live multi-supplier bookings and rates aren't the bottleneck, a booking-engine-focused tool like EasyOTA earns its cost. If presentation to a luxury clientele is the actual gap, Safari Portal or Tourwriter are worth a closer look. For the fuller version of this decision framework across the whole category, not just Tourplan alternatives specifically, see our guide to the best tour operator software for small South African operators.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the best Tourplan alternative for a solo safari operator?

For a solo or couple-run operation, a focused rates and quoting tool with published, flat pricing is usually the better starting point than an enterprise system built for a much larger team. WildPlanner is built specifically for that use case.

Does Tourplan publish its pricing?

No. Tourplan is quote-on-request, you go through a demo and needs assessment before getting pricing, which is standard for enterprise software serving custom, multi-office implementations but makes it hard to budget for upfront.

Is EasyOTA or WildPlanner a better Tourplan alternative?

It depends on your workflow. EasyOTA suits an agent or DMC handling regular live bookings across multiple safari suppliers, with commission-only pricing. WildPlanner suits an operator whose main problem is disorganised rates and slow quote turnaround, with a flat monthly fee instead of commission.

Start a free 14-day WildPlanner trial, no credit card required, and see whether it's the right fit before you commit to anything heavier.