Swellbase vs Eola

Why outdoor centres are switching from Eola to Swellbase

Eola have done a good job of creating a simple, easy to use system, but in practice it lacks the depth and control that growing outdoor centres need. Essential features like discount codes and resource management are locked behind expensive tiers, and the tools that are available are often oversimplified and incomplete.

Swellbase takes a different approach: purpose-built for outdoor centres, well-designed with granular control where it matters, core features included from day one, and transparent 4% pricing from an independent team that understands your operations—because we run one ourselves.

In a nutshell

The cost of oversimplification

Many of Eola's tools are oversimplified and incomplete. Easy to use is good, but not at the expense of core functionality. Things like:

• Categorising your activities based on their marketplace categories, and using this to approve instructors for delivery. In Eola, an instructor can run kayaking or they can't, there's no differentiation between a white-water session and flat-water basics
• No ticket types beyond Adult / Child
• No ability to contact customers directly from your dashboard

Swellbase is built to be easy to use without compromising on functionality, specifically for outdoor centres. You'll find all the features you would expect in an advanced booking platform; we bring together the tools that every outdoor centre needs, so that you don't have to rely on multiple services and spreadsheets unnecessarily.

Pricing that paywalls the essentials

Eola's starter tier charges 5% booking fees but locks out features most outdoor centres would consider essential: no discount codes, no rental products, no resource management. To unlock these basics, you jump to £250/month plus 5% fees—a significant cost that's hard to justify when you're paying for functionality that should be standard.

Swellbase offers a flat 4% booking fee with all features included. No tiers, no paywalls on essentials, no surprises. You control how to handle the fee—absorb it, pass it to the customer, or split it. We donate 10% of all booking fees to verified reforestation projects via our Ecologi partnership.

A partner, not a competitor

Eola runs a marketplace where they take 15% commission on bookings made through their discovery platform. This creates a fundamental tension: they're simultaneously your software provider and a channel competing for your customers' attention alongside other operators.

Swellbase doesn't operate a marketplace. We're not trying to insert ourselves between you and your customers, and we're not taking a cut when someone discovers your competitor through our platform. Our only business is making your business run better—we succeed when you succeed, with no competing interests.

This focus means every feature we build serves operators directly. No resources diverted to developing a marketplace. Just tools designed to help you run your outdoor centre more effectively.