GuruWalk fees explained: what free tour guides really pay (2026)
Short answer
GuruWalk has two plans for guides. Hobby is free, but each tour takes at most five people. PRO removes that limit and gets better placement, and you pay a fee for every traveller who actually attends, usually €2 to €4 depending on the city. No-shows and traveller cancellations cost you nothing. On a €15 average tip, a PRO fee of €2.50 to €4 takes roughly 17% to 27% of what you earn.
Who this is for: Guides running free (tip-based) walking tours on GuruWalk, or deciding whether to join.
GuruWalk (a Spanish marketplace for free, tip-based walking tours) is where many guides start. Travellers book without paying and give a tip at the end. So what does GuruWalk take from the guide? The answer depends on which of its two plans you are on. This guide explains both plans with real numbers. All the rules below come from GuruWalk's own help centre, checked in September 2026.
What GuruWalk charges guides
GuruWalk has two plans, and GuruWalk describes them this way: "Hobby, which is free but comes with operational limits, or PRO, a paid plan without those limits and with extra visibility and management benefits" (GuruWalk help centre).
- Hobby costs nothing. But each tour date can take a maximum of five people.
- PRO costs a fee for every traveller who attends your tour. There are no other fees: no sign-up fee, no monthly subscription and no fee to close your account (PRO plan terms).
GuruWalk does not publish one fixed PRO price. It says the amount "is dynamic and can vary by destination depending on advertising bidding needs". In other words, you pay more in a city where many guides compete for the same travellers. In an article written for travellers, GuruWalk says the fee is "usually between €2-4" per attendee (source). Independent reports put it at about €2.50 in many cities after a small increase in 2025 (FreeTourCommunity).
Hobby and PRO side by side
| Hobby | PRO | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | About €2–€4 per traveller who attends |
| People per tour date | Up to 5 | 100 by default, and you can change it |
| Limit per booking | Not available | 6 people by default, and you can change it |
| Bookings with a payment commitment | No | Yes |
| Placement in search | Normal | PRO tours get priority |
| Who can use it | Any guide | Tours with 15+ reviews and a 4.80+ score |
The group limits come from GuruWalk's availability settings. The ranking rule comes from its page on how tours are ranked: PRO tours get priority before GuruWalk looks at anything else, and a tour with a negative balance is placed lower.
The five-person limit is the real price of the free plan. A free walking tour only pays when the group is big. With five people and a €15 average tip, the best possible tour pays €75.
Worked examples: what you keep from your tips
On a free tour, the fee comes out of your tips, not out of a ticket price. So the useful question is: what share of my tips goes to GuruWalk? GuruWalk says most travellers pay €10 to €20 each (source). These examples use a PRO group of 15 people who actually turned up.
| Average tip | Tips from 15 people | Fee at €2.50 | Fee at €4 | You keep (at €2.50) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €10 | €150 | €37.50 (25%) | €60 (40%) | €112.50 |
| €15 | €225 | €37.50 (17%) | €60 (27%) | €187.50 |
| €20 | €300 | €37.50 (13%) | €60 (20%) | €262.50 |
Two things stand out. First, the fee is fixed, but tips are not. On a rainy day with small tips, GuruWalk's share of your income goes up. Second, the gap between €2.50 and €4 matters a lot. Check your real rate in your account before you do this sum.
These numbers are before tax. You also pay income tax on your tips, and possibly VAT, like any other income. The earnings calculator puts a free tour next to every other way of selling a tour, using your own group size and tips.
No-shows and cancellations cost you nothing
Many articles online say the opposite, so this part is worth reading carefully. GuruWalk charges PRO guides for travellers who attend, not for travellers who book. Its terms say that a "traveler no-show or cancellation nor children up to 14 years old" do not use up your balance (PRO plan terms).
That matters, because booking a free tour costs the traveller nothing, so some people book and never come. If 25 people book and 15 turn up, you pay for 15.
How it works in practice:
- After the tour, you mark who came in your GuruWalk calendar.
- You pay only for the people you marked as present.
- If you cancel a tour, you are charged. You can ask for a refund if the reason is justified, for example illness or bad weather.
Mark attendance honestly. GuruWalk's ranking compares how many people attended with how many booked, and it uses that figure to decide where your tour appears.
How you pay GuruWalk
On PRO you don't get a monthly bill. You buy credit in advance. GuruWalk's billing page says: "You pay for credit packages in advance and when your credit balance runs out your card will automatically be charged." You choose an automatic top-up of 50, 100, 200 or 500 credits. The default is 100.
Keep enough card balance for the top-up. If a payment fails and your GuruWalk balance goes negative, your tour moves down in the search results.
About VAT. GuruWalk is a Spanish company. If you are VAT-registered in the EU, GuruWalk says you "may get special discounts on the PRO plan". Whether VAT is added to your fee depends on your country and your tax status. One competitor blog reports that with VAT, the real cost is €3.30 to €3.60 per person (FreeTourCommunity). We could not confirm that figure in GuruWalk's own terms. Ask an accountant how it works where you live.
When the PRO plan is worth it
Being fair to GuruWalk: for a new guide in a busy city, it does something your own page can't do yet. It puts your tour in front of travellers who have never heard of you, on the day they are looking for a free walk. For that, €2 to €4 per person can be a good price.
A simple way to decide:
- Stay on Hobby while you are collecting your first 15 reviews, or if your groups are small anyway.
- Move to PRO when you often have more than five people who want to join. At that point, the limit costs you more than the fee.
- Think again if your average tip is low. At a €10 average and a €4 fee, GuruWalk takes 40% of what you earn.
A free tour is also a good way to test a route and build reviews before you sell paid tours. For the bigger choice between free, public and private tours, read types of tours you can run as an independent guide.
How GuruWalk compares with other ways to sell
| Channel | How it charges you | What that means on a free tour |
|---|---|---|
| GuruWalk (Hobby) | Nothing | Free, but 5 people per tour date |
| GuruWalk (PRO) | About €2–€4 per person who attends | About 13%–40% of your tips |
| Freetour.com | A fee per person who attends, set by city | Similar in shape to GuruWalk PRO |
| GetYourGuide | 20%–30% of the ticket price | Not for free tours. It sells paid tours. |
| All my tours | Nothing, no commission | Your own page. It brings no new travellers. |
GetYourGuide and Viator only make sense once you sell a paid tour. For their rates, read GetYourGuide commission explained and Viator commission and fees.
Where your own page fits
GuruWalk is good at finding strangers. It does nothing for the travellers who already know you: the hotel receptionist who sends guests your way, the friend of last week's group, or the people who follow you on Instagram. If those people book through GuruWalk, you pay a fee for a traveller you found yourself.
Many guides use both. GuruWalk brings new travellers, and a page of your own takes the bookings that come from your own name. That is the idea behind the hybrid strategy. Before you point any GuruWalk traveller to your own page, read your GuruWalk terms. Most marketplaces limit how you can contact the travellers they send you.
Frequently asked questions
Is GuruWalk free for guides?
Yes, on the Hobby plan. Hobby costs nothing, but each tour date is limited to five people and you can't use PRO features such as larger groups or bookings with a payment commitment. Most guides who run full groups move to the paid PRO plan.
How much does GuruWalk charge per person?
On the PRO plan, GuruWalk charges a fee for every traveller who attends. GuruWalk says it is usually between €2 and €4, and the exact amount depends on the destination. Independent reports put it at about €2.50 in many cities. Your own rate is in your GuruWalk account.
Does GuruWalk charge for no-shows?
No. According to GuruWalk's own help centre, traveller no-shows and traveller cancellations do not use up your PRO balance, and neither do children up to 14. You mark attendance after the tour. If you cancel a tour yourself, you are charged, but you can ask for a refund if the reason is justified.
How do I get the GuruWalk PRO plan?
Your tour needs at least 15 reviews and an average score of 4.80 or higher. Then you can ask GuruWalk to switch you to PRO. You add a card, buy a credit balance in advance, and the card is charged again automatically when the balance runs out.
Is GuruWalk worth it for a new guide?
Often, yes. In a busy tourist city, GuruWalk can bring you a group of strangers in your first season, which your own page can't do yet. Start on the free Hobby plan to collect reviews. Move to PRO when the five-person limit, not a lack of bookings, is what holds you back.
Reviewed by Mike Acler, Founder, All my tours. Every guide on this hub is checked by Mike before it's published, and the pricing and figures are kept current.
