Canary Technologies vs HiJiffy
The facts side by side, what each one costs tier by tier, and which of the two we'd pick. Both have been paid for and run at a working European hotel.
The short version
On our hands-on ratings, HiJiffy takes it overall, 7/10 against 5/10.
Canary Technologies is built for large US hotel chains wanting a full guest management suite. HiJiffy is built for mid-to-large European hotels wanting WhatsApp automation.
Which we'd pick
HiJiffy for a European hotel, on hosting alone.
Marc checked HiJiffy's European company and EU servers and approved, which he does not do often, and that single fact settles this for most properties on this side of the Atlantic. Canary has no EU data hosting option, so guest passport scans sit under US law and the CLOUD Act whether that suits your privacy notice or not.
Beyond hosting, HiJiffy publishes its tiers openly from €99 a month with no demo call unless you want Enterprise, and James measured roughly 85% open rates on pre-arrival WhatsApp against barely 40% on the emails it replaced. It is not a smooth product: the dashboard is ugly, the AI falls apart on compound messages, canned responses need pre-approval, and you should budget a month of babysitting. Canary is better made and much bigger, with a check-in flow that works and 20,000 properties, but its messaging is the afterthought and digital tipping is a flagship feature that means little in European hospitality.
Drawn from our individual hands-on reviews rather than a fresh head-to-head test. Where a finding belongs to one of us, we've said whose it is.
| Canary Technologies | HiJiffy | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rating | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | Quote only. Core, Advanced and Pro tiers, all of them get-quote buttons; the former ~$99/month entry reference is no longer published | Published tiers from €99/month (Basic), €159 Pro, €319 Premium, Enterprise custom, plus a setup fee of €99-599 per 5 properties |
| Best for | Large US hotel chains wanting a full guest management suite | Mid-to-large European hotels wanting WhatsApp automation |
| HQ | United States (San Francisco, CA) | Portugal (Lisbon) |
| Founded | 2016 | 2016 |
| Reviewed by | marc | james |
What each one costs
Canary Technologies pricing
- Core Quote only
- Mobile check-in, guest messaging and the digital compendium. Get quote.
- Advanced Quote only
- Adds AI messaging responses, tablet registration, dynamic upsells at 0% commission, digital tipping and smart checkout.
- Pro Quote only
- Adds AI webchat. Unlimited users, data and support are stated as included on every subscription, which is the one commercial detail Canary does publish.
Canary has never published a price and still does not. What has changed since our review is that the roughly $99 a month entry reference we recorded is no longer anywhere on the pricing page, so even the rough starting figure has gone. The three tiers are clearly described and every one of them ends in a get quote button. For a company of Canary's size, with over 20,000 properties and $175M raised, declining to state a single number is a choice rather than a constraint.
HiJiffy pricing
- Basic From €99/month, plus €99 setup per 5 properties
- FAQ automation covering 25 topics in 3 languages. The €99 monthly figure is the one our review recorded; the setup fee is not.
- Pro From €159/month, plus €399 setup per 5 properties
- Adds the generative AI chatbot with unlimited topics and 132 languages, and the omnichannel inbox.
- Premium From €319/month, plus €599 setup per 5 properties
- Adds the AI concierge with PMS and CRM integration, and WhatsApp campaigns.
- Enterprise Custom
- Custom campaigns, FAQs, channels and integrations, and HiJiffy branding removed.
HiJiffy publishes more than it did and it costs more to start than we said. The good half: four tiers, three of them with figures, quoted in euros, dollars and sterling, and rates that scale with property count. The half our review missed entirely: a setup fee on every paid tier, €99 on Basic, €399 on Pro and €599 on Premium, charged per five properties. On Premium that is €599 before a single message reaches a guest. James was right that HiJiffy publishes its tiers without a demo call, and that still stands. Our own first-year figure was too low.
Prices as last verified during each review. Hotel software pricing moves, and per-room rates behave very differently at 20 rooms and at 200, so run the arithmetic at your own room count. Full detail on Canary Technologies pricing and HiJiffy pricing.
Common questions
Which is better, Canary Technologies or HiJiffy?
On our ratings HiJiffy scores 7/10 against Canary Technologies at 5/10. But the better tool is the one that fits your property, so read both reviews before you decide.
How much do Canary Technologies and HiJiffy cost?
Canary Technologies: Quote only. Core, Advanced and Pro tiers, all of them get-quote buttons; the former ~$99/month entry reference is no longer published
HiJiffy: Published tiers from €99/month (Basic), €159 Pro, €319 Premium, Enterprise custom, plus a setup fee of €99-599 per 5 properties
Read the full reviews
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Canary Technologies
Canary Technologies has raised $175 million, built a strong guest management platform, and is now eyeing Europe. The product is good. The question is whether European hotels should care.
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HiJiffy
I didn't think my smallest property, a 45-room boutique in the Cotswolds, was the right place to trial an AI chatbot on WhatsApp. Three months later, my front desk staff disagree with me less often than they used to, which is how I know it's working.