LIKE MAGIC vs Runnr.ai
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, LIKE MAGIC takes it overall, 7/10 against 6/10.
LIKE MAGIC is built for design-conscious hotels wanting a modern guest journey. Runnr.ai is built for hotels wanting WhatsApp-native guest communication with good integrations.
Which we'd pick
likemagic for staff and guests, Runnr.ai for integrations and a published price.
likemagic is the more pleasant product on both sides of the desk. Elena's nineteen-year-old new hire had the basics in forty-five minutes, guests say the WhatsApp conversations feel normal rather than like talking to a system, and the interface does not hide things. Thomas describes Runnr's dashboard as looking like a municipal parking website: functional, joyless.
Runnr is the better-connected tool and the more honest seller. Both publish now, Runnr from €100 a month across three tiers and likemagic from €350 since it opened its pricing during 2026, and Runnr's PMS write-back means the front desk sees conversation summaries in guest profiles. likemagic connects to only four PMS platforms, which is the first thing to check. Both are regionally concentrated with thin outside references, likemagic in DACH and Runnr in the Netherlands. Runnr also needs a human in one conversation in five, has no revenue attribution, and holds no SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
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.
| LIKE MAGIC | Runnr.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Our rating | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | Now published: Core from €350/month, Platform from €400/month, 10% off annual; add-on prices still withheld | Entry prices only, all stated as starting at: Pro from €100/month, Plus €200, Enterprise €400, with the per-unit rate unpublished; WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month |
| Best for | Design-conscious hotels wanting a modern guest journey | Hotels wanting WhatsApp-native guest communication with good integrations |
| HQ | Switzerland (Zurich) | Netherlands (Utrecht) |
| Founded | 2021 | 2022 |
| Reviewed by | elena | thomas |
What each one costs
LIKE MAGIC pricing
- Core From €350/month
- Stated as both the starting price and the monthly minimum. Covers the guest journey: digital, branded, and in likemagic's own framing frictionless.
- Platform From €400/month
- Starting price and monthly minimum again. Adds the operations side, task management and housekeeping monitoring.
- Annual billing 10% discount
- Applied to the per-room pricing and to the monthly minimums alike, which is stated rather than implied.
- Add-ons Price not stated
- Booking engine, digital keys, wallet keys and kiosk are all available on either tier, and none of them carries a published figure. This is the gap left in an otherwise open price list.
likemagic published its pricing during 2026, having hidden it behind a demo call when we reviewed it. That is the single clearest improvement we have recorded in this category, and it answers the loudest complaint in Elena's review directly. Two tiers, both with stated monthly minimums, and an annual discount that is spelled out rather than dangled. The add-on prices are still missing, so a property that needs digital keys or a kiosk is back to asking. But you can now budget for likemagic before you speak to anybody, and a year ago you could not.
Runnr.ai pricing
- Pro From €100/month
- The entry tier, and the same €100 floor our review recorded, now with a name and two tiers above it.
- Plus From €200/month
- Marked as the most popular option on the pricing page.
- Enterprise From €400/month
- Top published tier.
- Groups and chains Custom
- Above 10,000 units, priced by arrangement.
- WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month average
- Charged on top of the platform fee and stated as an average across conversation volume and guest location. More useful for budgeting than the per-conversation framing we recorded.
Runnr.ai has gone further in the right direction since our review. The €100 monthly floor is unchanged, but where we recorded a single starting price there are now three named tiers with figures attached, an average WhatsApp cost of about €0.75 per room per month rather than a vague per-conversation note, and a thirty-day trial on annual plans with setup and support included. Billing is per unit, and Runnr counts rooms, beds, apartments, cottages or camping pitches, which suits properties that are not shaped like hotels. Thomas credited Runnr for publishing anything at all when most rivals would not; it now publishes more than most.
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 LIKE MAGIC pricing and Runnr.ai pricing.
Common questions
Which is better, LIKE MAGIC or Runnr.ai?
On our ratings LIKE MAGIC scores 7/10 against Runnr.ai at 6/10. But the better tool is the one that fits your property, so read both reviews before you decide.
How much do LIKE MAGIC and Runnr.ai cost?
LIKE MAGIC: Now published: Core from €350/month, Platform from €400/month, 10% off annual; add-on prices still withheld
Runnr.ai: Entry prices only, all stated as starting at: Pro from €100/month, Plus €200, Enterprise €400, with the per-unit rate unpublished; WhatsApp usage ~€0.75/room/month
Read the full reviews
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LIKE MAGIC
After Duve made me say 'oh no' out loud, I went looking for something my seasonal staff could learn before the first guest arrived. LIKE MAGIC came close. Not all the way, but close.
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Runnr.ai
Runnr.ai built their product around WhatsApp from day one instead of adding it later. The difference is visible in the API design, the message flow, and the integration quality. It's what I wished Quicktext had done.