What Marina Management Software Should Cost in Australia (2026 Pricing Guide)

The four pricing models you will be quoted

Almost every marina platform sold in Australia uses one of four licence models, and the difference between them is worth more than the difference between the products.

• Per user, per month: cheap on the demo, expensive the day you add casual staff, contractors and a second dockmaster. It also quietly discourages the thing you want most — everyone recording work in one system.
• Per berth, per month: scales with the size of the asset rather than the size of the team, and is the easiest model to budget against occupancy.
• Per booking or per transaction: a commission on casual and visitor nights. Fine at low volume, punishing in January when the casual book is full.
• Modular: a low base licence with metering, hardstand, WHS, API access and accounting sync each priced as an add-on. The quoted figure is rarely the working configuration.

What Australian marinas are paying in 2026

As a working benchmark across independent marinas, clubs, councils and yards, a facility of up to 50 berths should expect to pay in the order of $130 to $250 per month for a complete platform including reservations, invoicing and a jetty app. A 50 to 250 berth marina running a full dock team sits between roughly $400 and $900 per month. A 250 to 1,000 berth operation with a fuel dock, hardstand and service department typically lands between $900 and $2,000 per month. Multi-property groups, port authorities and council portfolios are quoted on total berth count rather than a list price.

Those bands assume unlimited users. If a quote is priced per seat, normalise it before you compare: a 250 berth marina with a manager, two dockmasters, an accounts officer, a WHS coordinator and four casual staff is nine seats, and at $60 per seat that is $540 per month before a single module is added.

The costs that do not appear on the quote

Licence fees are the visible part. The costs that damage a marina budget are the ones scoped out of the proposal.

• Implementation and data migration: rebuilding the berth register, contracts, insurance certificates and the waitlist. Quoted anywhere from nothing to $15,000.
• Training and go-live support: whether an experienced operator is on the jetty with your team for the first week, or you are given a video library.
• Payment processing: card surcharges are unavoidable, but a platform booking commission on top of them is not.
• Foreign exchange: a US-dollar licence moves with the exchange rate, and a 10 per cent move is a 10 per cent price rise you did not agree to.
• Integration fees: some vendors charge for the accounting connector, others for API access, others per webhook endpoint.
• Exit costs: the price of a full structured export of your own data if you leave. If that number is not zero, it is leverage against you at every renewal.

Why per-berth pricing suits Australian facilities

Australian marinas are mostly small to mid-sized, seasonal, and run lean. Staff numbers move with the season while berth counts do not. Pricing that tracks berths gives a fixed, forecastable line in the operating budget and removes the incentive to keep casual staff and contractors out of the system — which is exactly where compliance records go missing.

It also aligns the vendor with the marina. If the platform is priced on berths, the vendor earns more only when the facility grows, not when a booking is taken or a seat is added. That is the right side of the table to have your software provider sitting on.

Twelve questions that expose the real cost

Send these to every vendor in writing and compare the answers rather than the brochures. Anything answered with 'we can discuss that on a call' is a cost.

• Is the licence in Australian dollars, and is the price fixed for the initial term?
• Is the quote per user, per berth, per booking or modular — and what is the total for our exact configuration?
• What is charged for casual and visitor bookings, if anything?
• What is included in implementation, and what is billed separately?
• Who rebuilds the berth register and waitlist, and how long does it take?
• Is the accounting connector included for MYOB, Xero, Reckon or QuickBooks?
• Is API and webhook access included, or a paid tier?
• Does the jetty app work fully offline, and does it sync in order with original timestamps?
• How many users are included, and what is the marginal cost of one more?
• What is the annual uplift at renewal, and is it capped to CPI?
• Where is the data hosted, and can we export all of it ourselves at any time at no cost?
• What is the support arrangement — Australian hours, Australian people, and what response time is contracted?

Building a three-year comparison, not a monthly one

The only fair comparison is total cost of ownership over three years. Take the licence at your real configuration, multiply by 36, add implementation, migration, training and any integration fees, then add an honest estimate of transaction commissions at your actual casual volume. Apply the contracted annual uplift, and if the licence is in US dollars add a sensitivity of plus and minus 10 per cent.

Marinas that run this calculation regularly find the cheapest headline licence is the most expensive contract, usually because of per-seat pricing or a commission on the casual book. The reverse is also true: a platform that looks expensive per month can be the lowest three-year total once migration and commissions are counted.

How BerthPoint is priced

BerthPoint is priced in Australian dollars by berth count, with unlimited users on every plan and no commission on casual or visitor bookings. Accounting sync to MYOB, Xero, Reckon and QuickBooks is included, the jetty app works fully offline, and a complete export of your data is available at any time at no charge. Migration from spreadsheets or an existing platform is included in setup.

Every plan starts with a 30-day trial of the full platform. Pricing is confirmed in writing against your berth count and configuration before anything is signed — no card, no sign-up wall, no obligation.