Pitchup commission: what 15% really costs your campsite
Pitchup takes 15% of every booking it sends you, with no listing fee. Whether that is good value depends on one question: would that guest have found you anyway?
How Pitchup charges
- 15% commission on each booking Pitchup sends you, built into the price the guest pays. Guests pay the price you set.
- No listing, joining, booking or support fees. If Pitchup sends you no bookings, you pay nothing.
- 2.5% back if you are VAT-registered in the UK, according to Pitchup.
- Card payments go through Stripe; Pitchup notes an additional charge for this.
Source: pitchup.com/join, read on 27 September 2026. Prices change, so check the current terms before you decide.
What 15% adds up to in a year
Commission is charged on the booking value, so it grows with every booking. These are the figures before any VAT you can reclaim.
| Bookings through Pitchup in a year | Commission at 15% | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £750 | £63 |
| £10,000 | £1,500 | £125 |
| £20,000 | £3,000 | £250 |
| £40,000 | £6,000 | £500 |
Work out your own figure
Commission: £1,500 a year (£125 a month). A PayCamp plan for up to 25 pitches is £588 a year (£49 a month, excluding VAT).
The break-even point, and why it is not the whole answer
A PayCamp plan for up to 25 pitches costs £588 a year. That is the same as the commission on £3,920 of Pitchup bookings. Above that, 15% costs more than a flat monthly fee.
But the two do different jobs. Pitchup puts your site in front of people who have never heard of it. PayCamp does not advertise your site or send you guests; it runs the bookings, invoices and payments you already have. So the useful question is not which is cheaper, but which bookings you are paying commission on.
Commission is worth paying when
- the guest would never have found you on their own
- it fills dates that would otherwise stay empty
- you have no time or budget to market the site yourself
- you are new and have no regulars yet
You may be paying for bookings you already had when
- regulars come back every year but book through the marketplace out of habit
- guests find you on the marketplace, then ring you anyway
- seasonal and long-stay pitches are booked through a platform
- most of your summer fills from word of mouth
Many sites use a marketplace for new guests and take repeat guests directly, by phone, email or their own website. PayCamp is built for the direct side: guests enquire, you confirm the booking, send an invoice with VAT, bill electric hook-up from meter readings and take card payments. See campsite booking software for what it does and does not do today.
Questions site owners ask
How much commission does Pitchup take?
15% of each booking Pitchup sends you. It is included in the price the guest pays, so guests pay the price you set. Source: pitchup.com/join, checked 27 September 2026.
Does it cost anything to list a site on Pitchup?
Pitchup says there are no listing, joining, booking or support fees, and that it only takes commission when it brings you a booking. Card payment handling through Stripe carries an additional charge.
Can I reclaim VAT on Pitchup commission?
Pitchup says that sites registered for VAT in the UK can reclaim 2.5% of the 15%. Check the position for your own business with your accountant.
Does PayCamp replace Pitchup?
No. Pitchup is a marketplace that puts your site in front of campers who have never heard of you. PayCamp is software for running the site: bookings from enquiries, invoices with VAT, electric hook-up billing and card payments. PayCamp does not advertise your site or send you guests.
Can guests book online with PayCamp?
Not yet. Guests send an enquiry and you confirm the booking in PayCamp. Online self-booking for pitches is on our roadmap. PayCamp does not connect to Pitchup's calendar, so a site using both records its Pitchup bookings in PayCamp itself.
Keep reading
Published plans by number of pitches, berths or plots, from £49 a month.
A campsite system that does take online bookings.
Another booking system with online booking and OTA links.
What to look for before you pay for anything.