1st Pencil vs. FF&EZ Comparison Chart

Bookinglayer is an all-in-one booking management system built for retreat centers, boutique hotels, surf camps, wellness resorts, and others offering experiences alongside stays. Designed to increase average booking value, save time, and reduce errors, Bookinglayer helps you scale with ease. Manage bookings, payments, scheduling, multi-location logistics, upselling, and guest communication — all in one place. With a customizable booking engine, you can sell your experiences your way. Whether fixed-date retreats, hotel-style stays, or bespoke packages, tailor the booking flow to suit your business. Guests can select accommodation, activities, and add-ons in one seamless booking experience. With powerful features like built-in scheduling, digital waivers, multi-location support, and a self-service guest portal, Bookinglayer is made for businesses that don’t fit the standard hotel mold. We offer 24/7 real human support, a 95% client retention rate, and 10+ years of experience.

Silverware is an enterprise-grade hospitality platform built for hotels, resorts, and complex multi-venue operations. For more than 30 years, Silverware has powered high-end hospitality environments where uptime, integration depth, and operational flexibility are critical. The platform includes Point of Sale, GuestX, Scan & Pay, Online Ordering, and Mobile Technology for front-of-house operations, with Heartbeat Dashboard and Admin Center providing enterprise visibility and control. Integrated capabilities such as Silverware Pay, CRM & Loyalty, Self-Serve Kiosks, and Kitchen Display System support payments, guest engagement, and high-volume service workflows. With deep PMS integrations, unified guest profiles, multi-revenue-center management, real-time reporting, and 170+ integration partners, Silverware powers over 20,000 venues across 35+ countries, helping hospitality operators reduce complexity, protect revenue, and deliver consistent guest experiences at scale.

Toast POS is a flexible system built exclusively for restaurants and the food service industry. Offering tools like online ordering, delivery, takeout, mobile app ordering, contactless payments, and e-gift card purchasing, this solution is designed to help restaurant operators adapt fast and take control of changing industry trends and guest expectations. As a safe and secure cloud-based platform, Toast POS includes new feature updates while allowing users to access restaurant data from anywhere, on any mobile device. Its powerful reporting and analytics suite allows restaurant management to identify opportunities for saving on costs, highlight best-selling menu items, and much more.

Grow revenue and streamline operations with our easy-to-use reservations software and online booking engine. With our cloud-based solutions, you have the flexibility to maximize the guest experience during, before, and after the stay. Train staff and implement automated processes that improve operations, enhance guest management efforts, and secure payments with our integrated payment processing. - Improve Operational Efficiency - OTA/Google Hotels Connections - Real-Time Rates/Availability - Multiple Calendar Options - Upsell Add-Ons and Packages - ADA Search Filters - 24/7/365 Support (Phone, Email, and Knowledge Base Articles)

Retreat Guru is the ONLY all-in-one retreat management software. It was built specifically for retreat centers with all of their needs, complexities, and concern in mind. Retreat Guru was designed to help all kinds of retreat centers like christian and faith-based, health & wellness, spiritual, buddhist, yoga, mediation, etc. to easily set up programs, manage them efficiently, and save more time by: - Accepting bookings directly from your website. - Allowing guests to book their rooms with programs at the same time. - Automatically generating guest statements. - Accessing detailed meal, housekeeping, accounting, and other reports. - Automatically sending pre-arrival and post-departure emails to guests. - Collecting space rental inquiries from other retreat leaders. - Offering special discounts and flexible payment options for guests. - Offering dynamic room set-up based on who books it first. - Keeping your entire team in sync by storing all retreat data in one place.

SiteMinder’s high-converting online hotel booking engine empowers you to maximize bookings from your hotel website and reduce dependency on third-party sales channels. Grow your direct online bookings with zero commission. Make booking easy for your guests. Simple 2-step booking process. Mobile-friendly so guests can book on all devices. Slick and modern design allows you to visually present your hotel’s offering in the best way possible. Remove manual entry and guesswork with automation. Reach, attract, and convert more guests with SiteMinder’s platform. SiteMinder’s #1 ranked Booking Engine brings demand right to your front door. Available with the world’s leading hotel commerce platform and designed from the ground up to optimise every step of the direct hotel booking experience, this is your chance to control your booking journey.

Vehicle Acquisition Network (VAN) is an advanced vehicle sourcing platform built for auto dealerships that want to acquire more used inventory directly from private sellers. Rather than relying on auctions or trade-ins, VAN helps dealers identify, contact, and acquire vehicles from consumers in their local market—faster, more affordably, and at higher margins. VAN’s platform includes live FSBO listings, VIN decoding, market valuation tools, automated outreach, CRM-style lead management, and team performance tracking. The software integrates with major trade-in tools like KBB ICO and AccuTrade, and scales to support solo buyers or entire acquisition teams. For dealers who want results without adding headcount, VAN also offers a Managed Buyer program—an all-inclusive service with a dedicated buyer who handles outreach, negotiation, and appointment setting on your behalf. Vehicle Acquisition Network is trusted by hundreds of franchise and independent dealers across North America.

CDK is a secure, SOC 2-compliant dealership software solution provider who’s fully integrated for all areas of the automotive dealership — from the Front Office, Back Office, Service and Parts, and all areas in between. Our mission is to help dealers sell and service more cars and run more efficient operations by developing solutions and services that streamline workflows, most notably the CDK Dealership Xperience Platform. Dealers can choose from six scalable suites—Foundations, Fundamentals, Vehicle Inventory, Modern Retail, Fixed Operations, and Intelligence—tailored to franchise, independent, and multi-rooftop needs. With over five decades in automotive software and 15,000+ dealers served, CDK offers scalable suites tailored to any dealership size — all with secure infrastructure, real-time data flow, and measurable performance impact.

Arryved is the brewery-built software suite helping craft beverage operators run smoother shifts, deepen guest relationships, and grow revenue year-round. We serve breweries, taprooms, bars, and mixed-beverage venues with a unified platform spanning industry-leading POS, Brewery Management for operational insights, Web Solutions for ecommerce and website experiences, and secure in-house payment processing. Every tool works together to streamline service, unlock data, and support profitable decision-making. With Arryved, operators get flexible service tools, connected systems, and the confidence to scale.

Lodgify is vacation rental software for independent hosts who want simple, reliable channel management. The channel manager syncs calendars, rates and availability across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia and other OTAs to prevent double bookings and ensure real-time updates. With Lodgify’s vacation rental website builder, you can create a professional site with a direct booking engine and accept commission-free reservations. Manage guest communication in one inbox, automate messages, and keep tasks organized. Integrated payment processing makes collecting and tracking reservations easy. AI-powered tools help you write property descriptions and guest messages that improve visibility and save time. Detailed reporting and owner statements give you full financial control. Whether you host one Airbnb or several vacation homes, Lodgify is the all-in-one vacation rental management system that makes hosting less to manage, more to love.