The short version

Campstead and CampSuite sit in the same neighbourhood. Both are aimed at UK campsite owners running small sites. Both replace the paper diary. Both take online bookings. The question for most owners is not whether one is "better" in the abstract — it's which one fits how you actually run your site.

CampSuite's simplest pitch is that it's completely free for CL and CS sites with up to 5 pitches, with no card required, no trial that ends, and no hidden fees. For the country's thousands of Certificated Locations and Certificated Sites, that's hard to beat. Campstead has its own approach and its own customer base, and many sites are happy on it.

If you're comparing the two, the honest answer is: install CampSuite in 15 minutes, see how it feels, and decide. Both are easy to try.

Who each one suits best

Choose CampSuite if

  • You run a CL or CS and want genuinely free software, not a teaser trial
  • You want a mobile-first diary you can check from the yard, not just a desk
  • You'd like card payments and a booking page included on the free tier
  • You value a simple setup wizard over a configurable system
  • You want the option to scale up gracefully as you grow past 5 pitches

Choose Campstead if

  • You're already set up on Campstead and it's working for you
  • You prefer its specific workflow or interface
  • You have a feature need that Campstead's product specifically covers
  • You've built internal processes around how it presents data

Pricing, side by side

Pricing changes over time. Always check current rates on each website before choosing. As a guide:

If you run a CL or CS, the free-forever Express plan is the biggest practical difference. On a paid plan, monthly cost becomes a smaller factor than fit and features.

Feature comparison

Feature-wise, the two tools cover similar ground. The differences are in emphasis and experience:

Mobile experience

This is one of the places CampSuite deliberately differs. The interface was designed mobile-first. If you're walking across your paddock with a guest enquiry on the phone, you can take the booking there and then without needing to get back to a desk. The whole diary works on a phone at normal tap sizes, not a pinched-down desktop version.

If you run your site from a reception desk with a PC, mobile-first doesn't matter much. If you're more likely to be outside or in a shed, it matters a lot.

Setup and switching

CampSuite is built to be set up in about 15 minutes without a call, training session, or onboarding project. The wizard asks for your pitches, prices, policies and contact details, and you're live. The philosophy is that if you can use a smartphone, you can use CampSuite.

If you're already on Campstead and considering moving, the safe approach is to run the two in parallel for a couple of weeks. Enter new bookings into CampSuite as they come in. Copy across your future bookings from Campstead. Once you trust the new tool, stop entering bookings on the old one. Your data ends up cleanly on CampSuite without a risky weekend cutover.

Support

Both companies are UK-based and offer proper human support. CampSuite's support comes from Rob Heeley and the small team at WorkBee Limited — Rob is a motorhomer himself and has met the kind of sites he's building for. That closeness to the customer tends to show in the product decisions.

What you give up with each

Honest trade-offs:

With CampSuite, you give up: years of incumbency on Campstead's platform, any specific workflows unique to Campstead, and the comfort of sticking with what you know. If you're already happy, there's no compelling reason to switch.

With Campstead, you give up: the free Express tier for CL and CS sites, the mobile-first interface, and the tight UK-small-site focus of a tool that deliberately doesn't cater to holiday parks.

A practical decision framework

  1. Are you a 5-pitch CL or CS? Try CampSuite first. The Express plan is free forever.
  2. Are you between 6 and 20 pitches? Trial CampSuite for 30 days. At £12/month it's a low-cost experiment.
  3. Are you over 20 pitches? Compare feature-by-feature, not by price alone. Both tools will work. Choose the one whose workflow matches how you run your site.
  4. Are you already on Campstead and happy? Stay where you are. Switching costs (time, training, risk) are real. Don't move just for the sake of it.

A note on respect

Campstead is a good small-site tool from a company that cares about its market. This page exists because people search for "Campstead alternative" and "Campstead vs CampSuite", and we'd rather be honest and useful than pretend there's no competition. Campstead does what it does well. CampSuite does what it does differently. Both have their place.