Flight search guide
Skyscanner vs Google Flights vs Aviasales: which shows the cheapest fares?
Updated June 2026
There is no single "best" flight search tool - each one has genuine strengths and meaningful gaps. The right choice depends on what you are trying to do: flexible destination exploration, exact-date price comparison, or last-minute deal hunting. This page is an honest breakdown based on how each tool actually works, not which one pays the highest referral commission.
Not sure where to go? SkyHopp shows every destination you can reach on your budget.
Enter your airport and a price ceiling - the map does the rest.
Quick reference
| Tool | Best for | Business model | EU budget carrier coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Flights | Flexible date research, long-haul | No commission — search only | Partial — misses some OTA fares |
| Skyscanner | Final price comparison, long-haul | Affiliate commission | Good — aggregates most OTAs |
| Aviasales | Eastern Europe, budget carriers | Affiliate commission | Strong — Ryanair, Wizz, easyJet |
| Kayak | US-origin routes, hotels bundle | Affiliate commission | Moderate |
| SkyHopp | Destination discovery by budget | Affiliate commission | Strong — powered by Aviasales data |
Google Flights
Google Flights is unusual among flight search tools because Google does not earn a commission on bookings — it sends you directly to the airline or OTA site. This removes the financial incentive to rank expensive itineraries higher than cheap ones, which makes it a genuinely useful research tool.
Its flexible date calendar and price graph are genuinely the best in the category — you can see cheapest fares across an entire month in a few clicks. The "Explore" feature lets you search globally from any origin, similar to SkyHopp's map approach but text-based. For long-haul routes (transatlantic, Southeast Asia, Australia), Google Flights coverage is excellent.
The significant limitation is budget carrier coverage for European short-haul. Google Flights historically has incomplete coverage of Ryanair and partial coverage of Wizz Air — both airlines have an uneasy relationship with third-party aggregators and have at various points restricted their inventory from metasearch. This means a Belgrade-to-London search on Google Flights may miss the cheapest Wizz Air fare entirely.
Strengths
- +No commission model — unbiased ranking
- +Best flexible-date calendar and price graph in the category
- +Direct airline links — no OTA markup
- +Excellent long-haul and US route coverage
- +Price prediction feature (limited but unique)
Limitations
- -Incomplete coverage of Ryanair and Wizz Air
- -Misses many OTA-exclusive fares on European short-haul
- -Less useful for Eastern European budget routes
- -No budget/map exploration mode
Best for
Flexible date research for long-haul routes, and as a cross-check when you want to book directly with an airline. Use it first for transatlantic or Southeast Asia searches.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner is the most widely used flight comparison site in Europe and has the broadest coverage of any aggregator - it indexes most airlines, low-cost carriers, and OTAs in a single search. Its "Cheapest Month" view is well-designed for flexible travellers, and the "Everywhere" destination search is genuinely useful for open-ended planning.
The UX has become progressively more commercial over time. Sponsored results are mixed into search output, and a known pattern across most flight metasearch sites (including Skyscanner) is that displayed prices sometimes do not reflect the final checkout price - airlines and OTAs add taxes, luggage fees, or payment surcharges on the booking page. Confirming the total before committing is always worth the extra click, regardless of which aggregator you start from.
For European short-haul, Skyscanner coverage is good but not perfect. Ryanair fares appear via OTAs (Kiwi.com, etc.) rather than direct, which sometimes adds a margin on top of the airline price. For routes where Ryanair dominates (Dublin hub, Stansted), checking Ryanair's own site directly alongside Skyscanner is worth the extra step.
Strengths
- +Widest coverage of airlines and OTAs in a single search
- +Cheapest month view works well for flexible planning
- +Strong app with price alerts
- +Good for long-haul, charter routes, and US destinations
Limitations
- -Sponsored placements mixed into organic results
- -Displayed price may differ from final checkout price — common across metasearch
- -Ryanair appears via OTAs, not direct — can add margin
- -Interface optimised for conversion, not pure research
Best for
Final price comparison before booking, especially for long-haul or routes with multiple carriers. Also useful as a cross-check after finding a cheap route elsewhere. Always confirm the price on the airline site before committing.
Aviasales
Aviasales is the dominant flight search platform in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with particularly strong coverage of routes that originate in Russia, the Balkans, Turkey, and the former Soviet region. For budget carrier routes across Europe - Wizz Air, Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling - its aggregation is consistently comprehensive. It is the underlying data source powering SkyHopp's price feed.
The interface is more utilitarian than Skyscanner or Google Flights. Search results are fast and dense, with useful filters for number of stops and specific carriers, but the design has not been modernised as aggressively as Western competitors. The calendar view for flexible dates is functional but less polished than Google Flights.
For European short-haul departing from anywhere east of Vienna, Aviasales consistently surfaces the lowest available fares. Its API is what most flight affiliate tools in this region are built on, including SkyHopp - so if a third-party site powered by Aviasales data shows you a price, that price should match what you see on Aviasales itself.
Strengths
- +Best coverage for Eastern and Central European routes
- +Strong Ryanair and Wizz Air aggregation
- +Fast, filter-heavy results with no sponsored noise
- +Reliable data — most European affiliate tools use this feed
Limitations
- -Interface lags behind Google Flights and Skyscanner in UX
- -Less useful for US-origin or Asia-Pacific routes
- -Flexible date calendar is functional but basic
- -Less well-known in Western Europe — less social trust signal
Best for
Any route departing from Eastern or Central Europe. Also good as a final check on any European short-haul route where you suspect Skyscanner might be missing a Wizz Air or Ryanair fare.
Kayak
Kayak (owned by Booking Holdings) is the dominant flight aggregator for the US market and performs well on transatlantic routes. It has a useful price forecast feature ("Buy now or wait?") and strong hotel and car rental integration for bundle searches. For European users, it is generally less useful than Skyscanner or Google Flights on intra-European routes, where its coverage of LCC fares is less complete.
Strengths
- +Strong for US domestic and transatlantic routes
- +Price forecast feature is genuinely useful
- +Good bundled search for flight + hotel
- +Hacker Fares feature finds mix-and-match itineraries
Limitations
- -Less competitive than Skyscanner for intra-European routes
- -Interface is cluttered and ad-heavy
- -Owned by Booking.com parent — potential bias toward Booking inventory
Best for
US-origin transatlantic searches, and when you want flight + hotel together. Not the primary tool for European short-haul.
SkyHopp (this site)
SkyHopp solves a different problem than the tools above. Rather than searching for a specific destination, SkyHopp shows all reachable destinations from your nearest airport on a map, ranked by price. It is built for people who are flexible about where they go and want to know: "what is the cheapest place I can fly to from here this month?"
The price data comes from the Aviasales feed (same source as Aviasales.com) and is cached for up to 72 hours. This means SkyHopp is not a real-time search engine — it is a discovery layer. Once you find a route you want, you are sent to Aviasales for a live search before booking.
SkyHopp is not trying to replace Skyscanner or Google Flights for exact-date itinerary searches. It covers a specific use case: budget-first destination discovery, particularly for European short-haul.
Strengths
- +Map view shows all reachable destinations at once — unique discovery approach
- +Budget filter narrows the entire map to your price ceiling instantly
- +Strong Eastern/Central European coverage via Aviasales data
- +Route pages show 12-month price calendar for timing decisions
- +No clutter, no sponsored noise in the discovery interface
Limitations
- -Prices are cached, not real-time — always click through to confirm
- -Not useful for exact-date booking research (use Skyscanner or Google Flights for that)
- -No flexible-destination search for long-haul or US-origin routes
Best for
Destination discovery when you have a budget but not a destination. Particularly useful from European airports to answer "where can I fly for under €X this month?"
Which tool to use and when
You know where and roughly when you want to go
Google Flights for initial research, then Skyscanner or Aviasales to compare OTAs before booking. If the route is Eastern European, check Aviasales directly.
You are flexible on dates but fixed on destination
Google Flights price calendar is the best tool for this. It shows cheapest days across an entire month in a single view.
You are flexible on destination and want the cheapest option from your airport
SkyHopp map with a budget filter, then Skyscanner or Aviasales to confirm the live price.
You are flying on a Ryanair or Wizz Air dominated route
Check Ryanair.com or Wizzair.com directly first. OTA aggregators sometimes add a margin on top of the direct fare, or miss the cheapest price tier.
You want to fly from a US airport
Google Flights and Kayak are strongest for US-origin routes. SkyHopp covers a small number of US origins but is primarily a European tool.
A note on booking directly with the airline
For ultra-low-cost carriers (Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, Vueling), booking directly on the airline website is almost always the cheapest option. These airlines use OTAs as distribution channels but their cheapest fare buckets are frequently available only on their own site. Aggregators are useful for comparison but should not be your final step on routes dominated by a single LCC.