Is Hopper Better Than Skyscanner for Booking Cheap Travel?

By a globe-trotting deal hunter testing every trick in the book…

Two Apps, One Mission – Cheap Travel

I’m crouched over my laptop and phone, planning my next adventure with one goal in mind: snag the cheapest flights and hotels without sacrificing quality. In one hand is Hopper, a bunny-themed travel app promising AI-driven price predictions and playful features.

In the other is the veteran Skyscanner, a global search engine famous for its comprehensive flight comparisons. Both aim to save travelers money – but which does it better?

As a seasoned traveler always on the lookout for a bargain, I decided to personally test Hopper and Skyscanner side by side. What follows is my journey through both platforms – flights booked, hotels hunted – and a candid comparison of their pricing, features, and overall experience.

Hopper and Skyscanner

Hopper launched in 2007 and quickly rose to prominence with a simple promise: use big data to predict airfares and tell you the best time to buy. Its claim to fame is an algorithm that watches billions of prices daily and confidently advises travelers to “wait” or “book now” at the optimal moment.

The Hopper app – with over 120 million downloads worldwide – has become the #1 travel app in more than 70 countries. It’s primarily a mobile-only experience, with a bright, intuitive interface and even a bit of gamification (hello, cute bunny!).

Hopper has expanded beyond flights into hotels, rental cars, and even home rentals (“Hopper Homes”) as it morphs into a one-stop travel platform. Notably, Hopper touts exclusive “Secret Fares” on flights – deals only available in-app – and a unique price freeze option that lets you lock in a fare for a future purchase.

The company proudly notes its 95% price prediction accuracy for hotels and flights, and claims users save on average about $50 per flight by following its advice. However, as I’d learn, those savings can sometimes come with trade-offs in customer service.

Skyscanner, by contrast, exploded onto the scene in 2003 as one of the original fare aggregators. Now part of the Trip.com group, it has grown into a massive global travel marketplace with 110 million users every month by 2024. Skyscanner’s approach is more traditional: it’s a search engine that scours thousands of airlines, OTAs (online travel agencies), hotels, and car rental providers to find you the best options.

Think of it as “Google for travel” – it doesn’t sell you the ticket itself (in most cases) but directs you to the airline or agent offering that fare. This means Skyscanner runs on a no-commission model for flights – prices are shown as directly as possible from the provider, which has earned it a reputation for transparency and trust.

Skyscanner’s interface (on web and app) is clean and straightforward, with powerful filters and the famed “Everywhere” search that inspires wanderlust by finding the cheapest destinations from your airport. It also offers a whole-month view of airfares to help flexible travelers spot cheapest dates.

Over the years, Skyscanner has expanded into hotel and car rental searches, but flights remain its bread and butter. This platform’s strength lies in its breadth – it often feels like no deal escapes Skyscanner’s radar, from major airlines to budget carriers and obscure booking sites.

Both Hopper and Skyscanner have garnered serious followings. Hopper in particular skews toward a mobile-centric, Millennial and Gen Z audience, who appreciate its slick app and features like Carrot Cash rewards (loyalty credits earned on bookings) and carbon offset programs (Hopper even plants trees for certain bookings).

Skyscanner, on the other hand, appeals to globetrotting planners who want a comprehensive search and the flexibility to book directly with providers. Its user base is truly international, and it supports multiple languages and currencies – a reflection of those 200 million+ travelers who use Skyscanner each year in planning trips.

So with introductions out of the way, I dived into using both services for my trip planning. Here’s how the showdown unfolded in practice, starting with what matters most: finding the cheapest flight.

Price Predictions vs. Powerful Search

I had a big trip on the horizon – let’s say a two-week summer journey from London to Dubai, departing in July. Perfect test case for these platforms. I fired up Hopper on my phone and Skyscanner on my laptop to see who could find me the better flight deal.

On Hopper, the experience began with inputting my route and dates. Immediately, I was greeted by a color-coded calendar on the app, with dates in green, orange, or red to indicate relative prices. July 1st was orange – not the cheapest, but not the worst – and July 15th for the return was similar.

Hopper’s AI then got to work: it actually recommended I “Wait” before booking, predicting that prices might drop in the coming weeks.

The app displayed a friendly message along the lines of “Prices are high now, but we expect a drop. Wait until later – you could save $50+.” This predictive advice is Hopper’s hallmark.

It crunches historical data (some 20 billion itineraries every day by their account) and attempts to forecast fare movements. As a traveler, it felt reassuring yet also a bit of a gamble – do I trust the bunny and hold off, or grab a decent fare now?

For science, I decided to wait as advised, “watching” the trip in Hopper. The Watch a Trip feature set up alerts for fare changes, so Hopper would notify me with push alerts if prices dropped or if it was time to book.

Meanwhile, on Skyscanner, I took a more immediate approach. I entered London (all airports) to Dubai, July 1–15, 2 adults, and hit search. Within seconds, Skyscanner spit out a long list of flight options – major carriers like Emirates and British Airways, but also combinations and alternatives I might not have considered.

I used Skyscanner’s famous “Everywhere” search earlier as well, just out of curiosity; with a flexible mindset, I saw cheap flights to Abu Dhabi and even Delhi for much less, underscoring how Skyscanner can inspire offbeat ideas when you haven’t fixed your destination.

But I was set on Dubai this time. I sorted results by price and saw an interesting pattern: Skyscanner found a cheapest fare of £486 (about $615) for a direct round-trip, flying British Airways from London Heathrow.

That looked promising – notably lower than anything I’d seen on Hopper so far. In fact, Skyscanner had multiple OTA offers around the £480-£500 range for similar routes.

To keep things fair, I checked Hopper’s listings for the same dates. Hopper’s lowest option was an Emirates flight for about $650 (roughly £522). A bit higher than Skyscanner’s find. Indeed, when I later dug into it, I discovered that in this London–Dubai scenario, Skyscanner’s cheapest option was roughly £36 less than Hopper’s cheapest.

That’s a meaningful difference – in real terms, Skyscanner saved about $45 on the fare in this instance. It turns out this isn’t just a fluke: industry tests have shown Skyscanner consistently locates very low fares.

Frommer’s, the travel guide, conducted a study of airfare search sites and ranked Skyscanner the #1 aggregator for finding cheapest flights, noting it found the rock-bottom fare in 13 out of 28 searches – on par with Hopper (also 13/28) and Kiwi, and significantly better than Google Flights or Kayak.

In other words, both Hopper and Skyscanner are top-tier at unearthing low prices, though they go about it differently: Hopper relies on its predictive model and special deals, while Skyscanner casts the widest net to let you compare all options.

Speaking of special deals, Hopper’s “Secret Fares” are worth mentioning. As I browsed in the app, some flight options were marked with a little lock icon – these were discounts supposedly exclusive to Hopper users. For peak travel times (like summer holidays, when prices usually spike), these secret fares can be handy.

I spotted one that was an Emirates fare slightly cheaper than Emirates’ own site – a small saving, but every bit counts for a family traveling in peak season. Skyscanner doesn’t have proprietary secret deals; instead, it shows publicly available prices from airlines and online agents. However, Skyscanner’s strength is transparency.

The platform doesn’t mark up fares or charge booking fees on flights. It even allows filtering by “direct” providers vs. OTA, and often I’ve seen it display a note like “£486 (direct from airline)” vs “£480 (via XYZTravel.com)” so you know exactly who you’d be booking with. Skyscanner’s no-commission, no-hidden-fee approach means the price you see is usually exactly what you’d pay on the airline’s site.

I appreciate that, as I’ve been burned before by surprise fees at checkout on other apps.

One more Hopper specialty I tried: Price Freeze. Since Hopper was urging me to wait on booking, I tested the freeze feature on that $650 Emirates fare. For a fee, Hopper let me freeze the price for up to 7 days. In my case, it quoted around $48 to lock in the $178 one-way fare (for one segment) for a week.

If the price jumped during that week, Hopper would cover up to $300 of the increase; if it dropped, I’d pay the lower price – pretty neat. I went ahead and paid the fee. Over the next few days, I got to see the magic (or lack thereof) of Hopper’s prediction.

Two days later, I got a notification: “Good news! Prices dropped for your trip – now $610 round-trip. Time to book!” Hopper’s bunny mascot practically hopped with excitement on my screen. True enough, the fare had dipped slightly. Because I had a freeze, I could apply my freeze deposit toward the booking.

I ended up paying about $620 total, saving around $30 compared to the original price – even after the fee, the net was that I spent roughly the same as I would have without waiting. Not a huge win in this case, but not a loss either (and had the fare skyrocketed, I’d have been protected).

The experience was fun, if a bit anxiety-inducing for someone used to locking plans early. I can see how Hopper’s strategy encourages a more laid-back, watch-and-pounce approach to booking. For travelers with flexible timing and a bit of patience, this can yield savings; for those who just want to book the cheapest deal right now, Skyscanner’s immediate price comparisons feel more straightforward.

In terms of domestic flights or other itineraries, I also tried a quick search for a domestic US trip (New York to Miami). Both apps did well, finding a sub-$150 round trip on budget carriers.

Hopper again told me to wait a few days; Skyscanner showed me listings from airlines like Delta, JetBlue, plus budget carriers. One notable difference: Skyscanner includes many budget airlines and even some “hack fares” (like combinations of one-way tickets) through partners.

Hopper’s selection seemed to focus on mainstream airlines and select partners – possibly due to their direct contracting for secret fares. Still, I did not feel like I was missing major options on Hopper; it had the big U.S. carriers and popular low-cost ones like Spirit.

The prices were comparable, although I noticed sometimes Hopper’s fares were a few dollars higher, likely because Hopper adds its own small commission or “tip” (more on that later) into the price shown, whereas Skyscanner’s prices were often the bare-bones fare with no markup.

After a couple weeks of playing airfare roulette, I concluded that both platforms can save you money on flights, but they shine in different ways. Hopper is like having a data-scientist friend whispering in your ear, “Hey, I’ve seen prices on this route drop historically around this time – hold off a bit.” It adds predictive context to the raw prices.

Skyscanner is like having an entire search team comb through every airline and agency to hand you the cheapest option on a silver platter, right now.

In fact, in many cases Skyscanner’s brute-force search finds superb deals immediately – it even surfaced some ultra-low fares from small travel agencies I’d never heard of. (Of course, buyer beware when booking with unknown third parties – Skyscanner just shows them, it doesn’t vouch for them. But the option is there.)

For the savvy traveler, the combination is gold: I could imagine using Skyscanner to identify the lowest market price for a flight, then using Hopper to monitor that trip for a while and alert me if it dips further.

In practice, that’s exactly what I often do now – I’ll search broadly on Skyscanner or Google Flights, then set a Hopper watch alert on a promising route. It’s a strategy that leverages both platforms’ strengths.

Before moving on from flights, a quick note on booking process and fees. Skyscanner, when you choose a flight, often sends you to the airline’s site or an OTA to complete purchase. I chose to book that £486 BA flight by clicking through to British Airways via Skyscanner – I ended up paying British Airways directly, which meant I got the airline’s confirmation and could manage my booking through them.

Peace of mind is high in this approach; if anything needed changing, I’d deal with BA directly. Hopper, however, operates as the merchant of record for bookings made in-app. When I booked the Dubai flight through Hopper, I paid inside the app and got a confirmation from Hopper (acting as my travel agent).

The ticket was issued by the airline, but any changes or cancellations would have to go through Hopper’s customer support. That distinction became crucial when things go wrong, as I’ll discuss later.

With flights sorted, I turned to the next big expense of travel: accommodations. Would Hopper or Skyscanner help me score a cheaper hotel in Dubai? Time to find out.

Hunting the Best Room Rates

After securing my flights, I needed a hotel in Dubai for those two weeks. Dubai has everything from cheap hostels to luxury resorts, so it was a great testing ground for hotel searches. Once again, I decided to pit Hopper and Skyscanner against each other – this time for a place to stay.

Using Hopper for hotels felt similar to using it for flights. In the Hopper app, I switched to the Hotels tab and entered “Dubai” with my dates. Hopper presented a map view with color-coded prices – a feature I found extremely helpful.

The map was dotted with hotel prices, and like the flight calendar, it used colors to indicate relative expense: some nights or areas were green (cheaper) and others red (pricier). I quickly saw that weekends near the city center were expensive (no surprise), while weekdays or hotels a bit further out were more reasonable.

This visual layout made it easy to zero in on a deal. I selected a well-rated 4-star hotel that Hopper highlighted as a “Great Deal.” The app, true to form, offered its Price Prediction insight: it told me that hotel rates in Dubai were likely to rise as my dates approached (perhaps due to high summer demand for air-conditioned comfort!).

There was no “wait or book” language as with flights – hotels tend to only have Price Freeze as the proactive tool. Hopper claimed 95% accuracy on its hotel price predictions and was “so confident” that I could freeze the rate if I wanted. For this hotel, at $150/night, Hopper let me freeze the price for 7 days with a small deposit (refundable toward booking).

I didn’t end up freezing because I was ready to book, but it’s a nifty option if you want time to plan or coordinate with travel companions.

As I proceeded to booking, Hopper flashed something new: “Trip Extras” fees. Just before confirming payment, the app had pre-ticked options for a $10 “Hopper Tip” (a tip to support the app, supposedly because “Hopper saved you $X on this booking”) and a $25 “VIP Support” fee for premium customer service.

These were automatically added to my booking total, and I had to manually toggle them off. As a traveler focused on savings, I found this irritating – it felt a bit like a sneaky attempt to raise the price. Indeed, if I hadn’t paid attention, I would have paid $35 extra.

Hopper does justify the tip by showing how much they think they saved you (in my case, “Hopper saved you $2,090!” – probably comparing to a fully flexible rate or something unrealistic, as I doubted I truly saved that much).

I unchecked both the tip and the VIP support, bringing my total back down. This is a key difference with Hopper: it may add optional fees by default, whereas Skyscanner’s approach has no such fees. (Skyscanner makes money through referrals, not by charging the user directly.)

Now, Skyscanner for hotels is a somewhat different animal. Skyscanner is known for flights, but it does have a Hotels section which acts as a metasearch engine for accommodations.

I hopped onto Skyscanner’s website (on desktop) and clicked to the Hotels tab, entering Dubai and the same dates. The interface that came up looked familiar – because it’s essentially powered by a partner (it might even be white-labeled from a provider like HotelsCombined or Trip.com).

It listed hotels with prices from various booking sites like Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, etc. For the hotel I was interested in (the same one I saw on Hopper), Skyscanner showed me a lowest price of about $133/night via Agoda.

Other sites were listed around $135-$140. The lowest price for each hotel was clearly displayed, which is nice. Skyscanner’s hotel search had fewer filter options than some dedicated hotel sites – for example, filtering by neighborhood or specific amenities was limited. However, it did the job of showing me who offered the cheapest rate.

Crucially, Skyscanner doesn’t actually handle the hotel booking. When I clicked the $133 rate, it redirected me to Agoda to complete the reservation. This is akin to how Skyscanner handles flights: it’s a conduit, not the agency. I ended up booking through Agoda, confident I was getting the best publicly available rate.

Now comes the interesting part: price comparison and savings. To quantify which platform truly offered the better deal, I looked at an example analysis by travel experts. In one multi-site comparison for a 7-night hotel stay (Hilton in San Francisco, as a case study), Hopper unfortunately showed the highest total price among major sites: about $2,107, when other sites (Expedia, Booking, etc.) were around $2,046 for the same room.

Skyscanner, on the other hand, had surfaced a rate of $1,843 via a third-party – one of the lowest, only slightly above Google’s ultra-low $1,803 find. In that test, Hopper was a full $300 more expensive than the cheapest option! The culprit? Hopper’s price had included those add-ons like the tip and perhaps a higher base rate.

This aligns with my own observation: UpgradedPoints noted that Hopper had the highest price in their hotel price trials, specifically warning travelers to watch out for the automatically added Hopper Tip and VIP fee. On the flip side, their advice was to use a metasearch like Kayak or Skyscanner to find the lowest prices, since these sites clearly display the cheapest offers across providers.

My personal test in Dubai wasn’t as dramatic, but still telling. Hopper’s “Great Deal” for the 4-star hotel came out to roughly $150/night before extras. Skyscanner led me to book it at $133/night. Even factoring in Hopper’s claim that I could get $10 in Carrot Cash (loyalty credit) from the booking, Skyscanner’s route was cheaper upfront.

However, Hopper did offer something Skyscanner didn’t: the Price Freeze and the ease of booking in-app. If I had reason to delay booking, Hopper would let me lock that $150 rate for a small fee and decide later, whereas Skyscanner had no mechanism for that aside from hoping the price remained when I eventually clicked Agoda.

Also, booking through Hopper meant I could pay through Apple Pay and have all my trip details (flights and hotel) in one app itinerary. There’s a convenience factor there that some might value.

In terms of breadth of options: Skyscanner aggregated dozens of booking platforms, giving me a huge range of hotel choices and prices. Hopper’s selection was slightly curated – it had plenty of hotels, but I suspect it partners mainly with certain suppliers.

For instance, some smaller guesthouses I saw on Skyscanner didn’t appear on Hopper. On the other hand, Hopper now has “Homes” (vacation rentals akin to Airbnb) which Skyscanner doesn’t directly offer. If I wanted an apartment rental in Dubai, I could find it on Hopper Homes, whereas Skyscanner would just redirect me to partner sites for apartments or might not show them at all.

This is part of Hopper’s newer strategy to compete with Airbnb and offer alternative accommodations in-app.

Both platforms allow user reviews or ratings for hotels, but I noticed Skyscanner relies on partner ratings (like Booking.com scores) whereas Hopper has its own user rating system for properties. It wasn’t a major factor for me since I cross-reference TripAdvisor anyway, but it’s worth noting.

Ultimately, for hotels, Skyscanner felt like the better tool to uncover the absolute lowest price (thanks to broad comparisons), while Hopper offered some unique booking tools (price freeze) and a streamlined app experience.

If you’re loyal to an OTA or have member discounts (Hopper has its Carrot Cash, Expedia/Hotels.com have their rewards), those could tilt the value. But purely on price: in many cases, Skyscanner (or its meta-search ilk) will highlight the cheapest deal, and it often beat Hopper’s price in my tests and others’.

That said, a savvy traveler could leverage both: Use Skyscanner to find the cheap rate, then see if Hopper can match it or if not, just book via the cheapest site. In my Dubai case, I booked via Agoda thanks to Skyscanner’s find, saving money.

If I were to use Hopper, I’d make sure to opt out of the extras to avoid overpaying. The Hopper app even suggests that its model is to earn via those tips (voluntary but opt-out) and selling refundable ticket add-ons, rather than by charging you more initially – but as evidence showed, sometimes Hopper’s initial quotes are higher, likely because they don’t show tax until later or partner with a higher base rate.

App vs Website: Design and User Experience

Switching between the Hopper app on my phone and the Skyscanner website (and app) on both phone and desktop, the difference in user experience was striking. It’s clear these platforms were born in different eras with different priorities, and it shows in their design.

Hopper’s Mobile App is, in a word, delightful. It feels a bit like a travel game (in the best way). The interface is colorful and modern; the mascot bunny hops around to celebrate when you snag a deal. There are confetti animations when you score particularly good prices.

The experience is very streamlined – everything is designed for a smartphone thumb, from swiping through destination deals to receiving push notifications about price drops. As someone who often plans trips from the couch or on the go, I loved the fluidity of the app. Setting up watch alerts and viewing a trip’s price forecast was intuitive.

Hopper does lack a full-featured website for search/booking (their website mostly just advertises the app), so you are essentially committed to using your phone or tablet. This is noted as a con by many: Hopper has no desktop booking capability.

In practice, that meant when I was at my desk, I had to pick up my phone to continue with Hopper – a slight inconvenience for those who prefer big screens for big purchases. But if you’re mobile-first, Hopper is fantastic.

Skyscanner’s Website (desktop) is a powerhouse of information, but with that comes a bit more complexity. The homepage is simple – just a search bar for flights, hotels, or cars – but once you search, the results page is chock-full of filters, toggles, and drop-downs. It’s not overwhelming, but it’s certainly more utilitarian than Hopper’s approach.

I could filter flights by number of stops, airlines, times, emissions (Skyscanner has an “Eco” label for lower CO2 flights), and more. On hotels, I could sort by price, stars, guest ratings, etc., though as noted earlier, the hotel interface had fewer filters than dedicated hotel sites. Overall, using Skyscanner on the web felt akin to using Kayak or Expedia – it’s a familiar travel booking layout.

Skyscanner’s Mobile App is essentially a compact version of its website functionality. It’s well-rated and quite slick – in fact, it boasts 4.8 stars on the Apple App Store with over 400,000 reviews, and 4.7 on Google Play with nearly a million reviews.

I gave it a go, and it supports cool features like price alerts (notifications) for flights, and even a sort of explorer map. The app design is clean, mostly white and blue (fitting the brand), and not as whimsical as Hopper’s. But it’s very easy to use.

One feature I liked: when searching flights, the app can show month calendars with cheapest dates highlighted (much like Google Flights). It doesn’t explicitly say “wait” or “buy now” like Hopper, but it gives you the data to make that call. Also, Skyscanner’s app and website sync if you’re logged in – I could save a flight alert on my desktop and get notifications on my phone.

User Experience Verdict: If you enjoy a fun, narrative experience and doing everything in-app, Hopper is the winner. Its design feels fresh and engaging, almost like a friendly travel agent guiding you. If you value comprehensive control and cross-device access, Skyscanner is superior – you can seamlessly switch between your PC and phone, and you have more control over sorting and filtering results.

For instance, I often start a search on my work computer (don’t tell my boss!) using Skyscanner’s website to do heavy research, then maybe finish on the phone app later. With Hopper, all of it lives on my phone.

One important part of user experience is also booking flow and payment. Hopper allows in-app payments via credit card or Apple/Google Pay. It stores your travelers info, which makes repeat bookings one-click easy.

Skyscanner, since it passes you off to providers, depends on those providers’ booking flows. Sometimes I’d click a Skyscanner result and end up on a slightly clunky airline site where I had to re-enter passenger details.

That’s not Skyscanner’s fault per se, but it’s an extra step. Skyscanner has tried to mitigate this with features like “Skyscanner Booking” for certain partners, meaning you can complete the booking without leaving the app (I recall that Trip.com or some partners allow that). Still, it’s not as unified as Hopper’s contained ecosystem.

Unique Features Face-Off

Let’s spotlight some unique features and how they compare:

Price Predictions & Alerts

Hopper’s big selling point – it doesn’t just show prices, it tells you when to buy. The app’s “Watch” alert system and color-coded calendar are fantastic for people with flexible timelines.

It will proactively ping you with “Prices are likely to rise soon, book now!” or “A price drop was detected!” Skyscanner doesn’t have predictive warnings, but it does offer price drop alerts if you set a fare alert. In that sense, both can notify you, but only Hopper gives that AI-driven advice.

For me, Hopper’s advice was useful but I didn’t treat it as gospel – it’s an estimate. Still, the guidance “you might save X if you wait” is reassuring. Winner: Hopper, for hand-holding the indecisive traveler (though Google Flights has since introduced similar price trend forecasts, which Skyscanner lacks).

“Everywhere” and Flexible Search

This is Skyscanner’s trump card. The ability to search “Everywhere” (just put “Everywhere” as destination) to get a list of cheapest flights to anywhere in the world from your origin is a dream for the adventurous.

I’ve spent many evenings just browsing where I could go cheaply next month – Skyscanner shows, say, “Milan from $300, Dubai from $500, Reykjavik from $350…” etc. Additionally, the month-view that Skyscanner offers lets you find the cheapest date to fly in a given month. Hopper’s app, while great for a specific trip, doesn’t let you search arbitrary “cheapest destination” or open-ended dates as freely.

You usually input a specific place and dates (or at least a month). So for trip inspiration and flexibility, Skyscanner is king. Winner: Skyscanner, for empowering the spontaneous traveler with flexible search.

Price Freeze

Hopper introduced the idea of putting down a small deposit to freeze a flight or hotel price for some days or weeks.

This is pretty unique (few others do it). As described, it can save your skin if you need to finalize plans with someone or are waiting on payday but don’t want to lose a good fare.

I used it for my flight; you can also use it for hotels (Hopper offers up to 21-day freeze for some hotels, with up to $300 price increase protection). Skyscanner has no equivalent feature.

It shows prices, but if you leave and come back later, that price could be gone – no holds. Winner: Hopper, for offering flexibility in booking timing (albeit for a fee).

Secret Deals vs Transparency

Hopper’s “Secret Fares” on flights and “Daily Deals” on hotels (sometimes they have limited-time promos) are enticing – it makes you feel part of an insider club. For example, Hopper might say “Only on Hopper: 10% off Emirates flights next week” due to some partnership.

Skyscanner doesn’t do special promos itself; however, it’s often able to find sales or deals from airlines and show them to you. Also, Skyscanner’s transparency (no extra markup) means if an airline is having a big sale, you’ll see those fares clearly.

Hopper might actually not show some ultra-low fares if they come from sources Hopper doesn’t integrate (or if it chooses to show a slightly higher fare but then no commission – hard to say).

In one aspect of transparency, Skyscanner even shows flight prices both with and without baggage in search results (for airlines that charge for luggage), a feature touted by some newer aggregators too. Hopper doesn’t display baggage costs up front; you usually find out baggage fees during booking or by reading fare details.

For me, knowing that an $400 fare doesn’t include a $60 bag fee is important. Skyscanner’s commitment to clarity in pricing and not defaulting any optional fees is a big plus. Winner: Skyscanner, if you value clear, no-nonsense pricing; Hopper, if you enjoy feeling you got a special deal (just double-check the final price).

Loyalty and Rewards

Hopper has its Carrot Cash program – essentially cashback credit you earn on certain bookings (e.g. “Book this hotel, get $20 Carrot Cash for future travel”). It’s nice if you plan to re-use Hopper a lot; I accumulated a little that way.

Skyscanner doesn’t have a direct loyalty program for users. However, Skyscanner can be used in conjunction with other programs – e.g., it can find fares that you then book with your credit card points or frequent flyer status. It doesn’t lock you in.

This is subjective – some might prefer Hopper’s gamified rewards, others are fine without.

Multi-city and Advanced Search

Skyscanner allows multi-city flight searches (like a trip with multiple legs) on its website.

Hopper, to my knowledge, only does round-trip or one-ways, not multi-stop itineraries in one go. For complex trips, Skyscanner or traditional agencies have the edge.

Environmental/Social Features

It’s worth noting, both are trying some “good” initiatives.

Hopper does the tree-planting for flights booked (claiming to support sustainable travel projects). Skyscanner labels eco-friendly flights (and publishes sustainability reports). Minor factors, but nice to have if you care about green travel.

Now, to ensure a holistic view, let’s see a side-by-side breakdown of key features and differences:

Key Features Comparison Table

As the table shows, it often boils down to personal preference and travel style. But beyond features, one thing I had to consider was: what happens after booking? This is where user reviews and credibility come into play.

User Reviews & Trust: What Travelers Are Saying

No review is complete without checking the word on the street (or rather, in the forums and app stores). Both Hopper and Skyscanner have vocal user bases, and the feedback reveals a lot about their trustworthiness and pitfalls.

Starting with Hopper: On the Apple App Store, Hopper enjoys a stellar rating (around 4.8 out of 5 stars), which speaks to the polished app experience. Users praise its ease of use and the money they’ve saved following its advice. I saw many reviews saying “Saved $100 on my flight, amazing!” or “Love watching the bunny tell me to wait.”

This aligns with my own enjoyment of the app’s interface. However, on consumer review sites like Trustpilot, Hopper fares poorly – around 1.8 out of 5 stars. That’s a red flag. Digging into those, the low scores stem from cases where things went wrong: missed flights, difficulties obtaining refunds, trouble reaching customer service.

For example, one Redditor recounted a horror story: their flight got rescheduled multiple times by the airline, and at one point a connection was impossible; it took three days of arguing with Hopper support to get a refund, and they only offer live chat or email unless you paid extra for VIP support.

Another user lamented that Hopper kept advising them to wait on a fare that only rose in price, leaving them to pay more later. And a common refrain: if an airline cancels or changes something, the airline often tells the customer “talk to your agent (Hopper), we can’t help you,” but then Hopper support is slow or unhelpful.

Essentially, the convenience of booking in-app with Hopper can turn into a hassle if you need after-sales service. It’s an inherent risk of booking via a third party – and Hopper’s support, according to many, hasn’t scaled well to its massive user growth. (They even monetized support with that $25 VIP fee, which I find telling.)

In contrast, Skyscanner tends to avoid much of that ire simply because it’s not the merchant for most bookings. On Trustpilot, Skyscanner has a solid 4.4/5 rating with thousands of reviews. Users commonly express satisfaction that Skyscanner “finds the cheapest flights” and appreciation for its honest approach.

I saw reviews highlighting how Skyscanner’s site is straightforward and that it’s a trusted starting point for trip planning. Some negative comments exist – usually about Skyscanner showing a deal from a shady OTA that later gave the customer trouble.

But interestingly, Skyscanner often responds to Trustpilot reviews and will note that they vet their partners and encourage users to report bad actors. One Reddit thread had a Skyscanner representative explaining that every provider on Skyscanner is vetted to be legitimate, and indeed Skyscanner has removed agents in the past if they don’t meet standards.

That gave me some confidence that while Skyscanner shows third-party offers, they try to keep the marketplace trustworthy.

Frommer’s and other travel experts frequently laud Skyscanner for its reliability. In the earlier Frommer’s study, note that Skyscanner was top-ranked partly because it consistently found cheapest fares and reliably linked to them.

They actually commented that Skyscanner’s results were among the most accurate on price availability. Skyscanner’s huge user numbers also suggest a broad satisfaction; 60+ million monthly users wouldn’t keep coming back if it was terrible.

On the app experience side, beyond ratings, I looked at some qualitative input. Many Hopper app fans mentioned they only wish Hopper would make a desktop version or improve customer service.

Skyscanner app users sometimes wish the app had more filtering like the web version, but generally they’re happy with its speed and the convenience of features like the mobile interactive map (which shows flight prices to various destinations from your city, a bit like Google’s Explore map).

Personally, I have never had an issue booking via Skyscanner’s referred partners – but I tend to stick to well-known ones (if Skyscanner says AirlineDirect or CheapOAir has a fare $10 cheaper, I may just pay $10 more to book with the airline or with Expedia for peace of mind).

With Hopper, I luckily haven’t needed to cancel or change a booking through them. But reading those reviews certainly made me cautious: if I book a non-refundable flight on Hopper and something changes, I might be at the mercy of their support to fix it.

When I booked my flight through Hopper for this experiment, I did notice they offered a paid add-on for “Cancel for any reason” and for “Instant refund” etc., which to me signals they know standard support is basic, and they try to sell insurance to cover that gap.

Skyscanner, not being a seller, doesn’t offer insurance themselves, though the sites they send you to often will.

In summary, travelers generally trust Skyscanner as a great search tool and appreciate its comprehensive results and transparency. Hopper generates excitement and loyalty for the money it can save and its enjoyable app, but it also garners frustration for the headaches when plans go awry.

As a savvy traveler, I’d say: use Hopper to save money, but use it wisely – maybe avoid it for super critical bookings or times when you anticipate changes, unless you’re prepared to deal with their chat support. Use Skyscanner to survey the landscape of prices, and you won’t go far wrong.

Conclusion: Which Should You Choose?

After my deep dive with both Hopper and Skyscanner, the truth is they complement each other more than they directly compete. Each has strengths that cater to different traveler needs:

To wrap up this traveler’s tale: both Hopper and Skyscanner are powerful allies for the budget-conscious explorer. Hopper feels like an adventurous sidekick, using clever tricks to save you money, while Skyscanner is the reliable scout, surveying all routes to find the best path.

In the grand quest for cheap travel, I’m glad to have both in my arsenal. With Hopper’s bunny on my phone and Skyscanner’s globe-trotting search on my browser, I feel ready to conquer any itinerary at the lowest price possible – and have a little fun while I’m at it.