5 Best Platforms to Make Money as a Local Guide (2026)

The Local Guide Economy Is Growing

Travelers want the local experience now more than the generic tour bus experience. A 2023 GetYourGuide study found that 51% of travelers say experiencing a destination "like a local" is a high priority when they travel. That's more than half of every trip's worth of people looking for exactly what you can offer: a real person to show them around.

The problem is that "more demand" has also meant "more platforms," and they are not all built the same. Some take a chunk of every dollar you earn. Some require you to be a licensed, insured tour operator before they'll even list you. Some technically still exist but barely have any travelers using them anymore.

If you're trying to figure out where to actually put your time, here's a real comparison of the platforms currently worth considering, what they cost, and who each one is best for.

1. Roavi — Best for Casual Local Experiences

What it is: Roavi connects travelers with "Local Friends" — regular people who show visitors around their city, casually, for pay. There's no fixed-itinerary "experience" to design and no tour script to follow. You set your own rates, your own availability, and travelers reach out to you directly to request a custom hangout. Roavi is active in cities like Bangkok and Medellín, alongside a growing base of US cities.

Cost: Free to join and get listed. Optional $9.99/month for a Verified Local badge. No commission, ever.

Pros:

• No license, certification, or tour-guide background needed
• Casual format — you're not performing a scripted tour, you're just showing someone your city
• You keep 100% of what you charge
• Mobile-first, so you can manage requests and chat from your phone

Cons:

• Newer platform than some of the others on this list
• Still building up traveler traffic in some U.S. cities, so results depend somewhat on where you're based

Best for: Anyone who wants to get paid to hang out with visitors and show them around without turning it into a formal small business.

Sign up as a Local Friend

2. Airbnb Experiences — Best for Structured Experiences

What it is: Airbnb's Experiences marketplace lets you host a bookable, fixed-format activity — a cooking class, a photography walk, a bar crawl — that travelers book in advance like they would a listing.

Cost: Free to join, but Airbnb takes roughly a 20% commission on every booking.

Pros:

• Massive existing traveler traffic and brand recognition — people already trust and use Airbnb
• Built-in payments, so you're not chasing anyone down for money
• Reviews and repeat bookings can build momentum over time

Cons:

• The commission cuts meaningfully into your earnings on every booking
• You have to design and pitch a formal, repeatable "experience," not just offer to hang out
• There's an approval process, and Airbnb has fairly strict rules about what qualifies

Best for: People who want to build a specific, repeatable experience — think cooking class or walking tour — rather than an open-ended custom hangout.

For a full side-by-side, see the fuller Roavi vs Airbnb Experiences comparison.

3. ToursByLocals — Best for Licensed Tour Guides

What it is: ToursByLocals is a marketplace built around private tour guides, closer to the traditional guided-tour model than a casual meetup.

Cost: Commission-based, with pricing structured by the platform rather than a flat fee.

Pros:

• Traveler traffic tends to be high-intent — people booking here are specifically looking for a private guide
• Works well for people who already have professional guiding experience

Cons:

• Often expects guide experience or local licensing, depending on the destination
• More formal overall — itineraries, expectations, and communication tend to be closer to a professional tour than a casual hangout
• Less flexible if you just want to wing it based on what a traveler feels like doing that day

Best for: Professional or semi-professional tour guides who already operate more like a small tour business.

4. WithLocals — Best for Food and Cultural Tours

What it is: WithLocals, which originated in Europe, focuses on local food tours and cultural experiences connecting travelers with hosts in specific cities.

Cost: Commission-based.

Pros:

• Solid traveler traffic in the cities where it's established
• Clean, easy-to-use platform for both hosts and travelers

Cons:

• Like Airbnb Experiences, the commission model takes a cut of every booking
• There's an approval process to get listed
• Traveler traffic is strongest in European cities, which can mean less activity if you're based in the U.S.

Best for: Hosts building out food tours or cultural experiences, especially outside the U.S.

5. ShowAround — Best Budget Option

What it is: ShowAround is a free platform connecting travelers directly with locals, closer in spirit to a casual meetup model.

Cost: Free.

Pros:

• Zero cost to join
• No commission on what you earn

Cons:

• Traveler traffic is low compared to the bigger platforms
• Minimal marketing behind it, so travelers may not know to look for it
• The platform can feel under-maintained compared to newer options

Best for: Testing the waters with zero financial investment before deciding where to focus your energy.

Which Platform Is Right for You?

A quick way to sort through it:

• Want something casual, with no license required and zero commission? Go with Roavi.
• Want a structured, repeatable experience and don't mind giving up a commission for big built-in traffic? Airbnb Experiences.
• Already a licensed or experienced tour guide? ToursByLocals.
• Love hosting food or cultural tours, especially in Europe? WithLocals.
• Just want to try something with zero investment first? ShowAround.

Many people don't pick just one. It's common to list yourself on two or three of these at once and see which platform actually sends you interest in your specific city, since traveler traffic varies a lot by location. For more on getting started with the basics of this whole side hustle, see this breakdown of getting paid to show tourists around your city.

Honorable Mentions

A few other names come up when people research this space, worth a quick mention:

• RentAFriend — a broader platform than just tourism-focused hangouts, with a mixed reputation depending on who you ask. If you're weighing it specifically against Roavi, the full RentAFriend comparison covers the differences in detail.
• GetYourGuide and Viator — these are massive in the travel space, but they're built more for tour operators and companies running multiple listings than for an individual person offering to show someone around. They're worth knowing about, but not really built for what this list is about.
• Vayable — an older platform that used to come up in this conversation regularly has since shut down entirely, which is part of why a list like this needs to be updated instead of just repeating what a guide said years ago.

Ready to Start? Try Roavi First

If you're new to this and want to start without paying anything, worrying about commissions, or navigating a licensing requirement, Roavi is the simplest place to begin. You can always add more platforms later once you see what works for your city.

Sign up as a Local Friend on Roavi