Marina reservation software lets boaters see open slips and book them online, and it gives the dock office one live calendar for transient nights and seasonal contracts. To take both kinds of bookings online, you publish your slip inventory and rules, collect payment or a deposit when the booking is made, and let renewals and the waitlist run from the same system instead of a binder.
This guide walks through how transient and seasonal bookings work online, what a marina booking system should handle, and how six options compare. Competitor details come from each vendor's own website, reviewed in October 2026.
Marina reservation software manages slip and mooring bookings: which spaces exist, which are open on which nights, who is in them, and what each boater owes. The simplest tools only take transient bookings from a website. Fuller systems, often called marina management software, add seasonal contracts, renewals, billing, the fuel dock, the ship's store and reporting.
The reason to care about the difference is double entry. If transient bookings come in through one app, seasonal tenants live in a spreadsheet and the store runs on a separate register, someone is re-keying charges every week, and two people can still assign the same slip on a holiday weekend.
Transient boaters want to know three things before they commit: will my boat fit, what will it cost, and what happens if the weather changes my plans. A good online booking flow answers all three up front.
Publish your rules. Maximum length and beam per dock, minimum stay on event weekends, arrival and departure times, and whether you assign specific slips or place boats where they fit. Annapolis City Dock, for example, tells boaters that no specific location is guaranteed and that the maximum beam is 18 feet.
Show clear pricing. Most marinas price transient slips per foot per night, with weekend, holiday or peak-season rates on top. Our guide on how to price boat slips covers per-foot rates, date bands and utility charges with examples from public rate pages.
Take payment or a deposit at booking. Prepayment or a card on file turns a request into a commitment.
State the cancellation policy. Annapolis City Dock gives a full refund for cancellations more than 72 hours before check-in, half between 24 and 72 hours, and none inside 24 hours, and waives the policy when the Coast Guard restricts navigation.
Confirm and remind. Send a confirmation with the slip or dock, arrival instructions and the VHF channel, then a reminder before arrival.
Check in at the dock. Staff should see today's arrivals, mark boats in, and add fuel, pump-outs or store purchases to the same record.
Seasonal and annual tenants are the base of most marinas, and the work is different from transient bookings. It is less about availability on a given night and more about contracts, money on a schedule and a fair waitlist.
Renewals first. Existing tenants get first right to renew before open slips are offered to the waitlist.
A waitlist you can act on. Many public marinas charge to join one. Port Washington, Wisconsin asks for a $100 non-refundable deposit to be on its list. When a slip opens, the next boater should be one click away, not in a paper file.
Contract and signature. Slip agreement, rules, insurance and registration, signed and stored with the boater's record.
Deposit and billing schedule. Some marinas bill the season up front, others monthly. Key West's City Marina requires lease deposits equal to two months' rent.
Utilities. Seasonal slips often pay for power by meter or by a flat seasonal charge, so meter readings need to reach the invoice.
boat lot on body of water
Use this checklist when you compare marina reservation software:
Online slip and mooring reservations with live availability, on your own website
Transient, monthly and seasonal stays from the same slip inventory
Slip assignments your dock staff can see and change
Seasonal contracts, renewals and waitlists
Deposits, card on file and recurring billing
Electric and water metering, or at least a way to bill utilities
Fuel dock and ship's store sales on the boater's record
Email and SMS confirmations and reminders
Occupancy and revenue reports
Bookings from outside channels landing on the same calendar
Focus (per vendor site)
Listed pricing (Oct 2026)
Slips, seasonal contracts, fuel dock, ship's store, boat rentals and payments in one system
Starter, Pro and Multi-Location plans; transaction-based with a monthly minimum
Transient booking plus a boater marketplace, contracts, POS, fuel and marina maps
Products priced separately; Transient from $169/month
Molo by Storable Marine
Slip, mooring and storage management with online transient bookings and a customer portal
Marine ERP: slips, service, inventory, boat sales and full accounting
Cloud marina and boatyard software with fuel and store POS
Slip management and online booking for small and mid-size marinas
Free up to 30 slips; Pro $100/month; Ultimate $250/month
Ribbe is marina management software that puts slips, the fuel dock, the ship's store, boat rentals and billing on one platform. Boaters reserve slips and dock space online with live availability through a booking widget or a branded booking site, and those bookings land on the same calendar the dock office uses. Ribbe handles slip and mooring reservations; seasonal, monthly and transient contracts; slip assignments, renewals and waitlists; and boater check-in and radio calls.
On the billing side, Ribbe supports recurring billing, deposits, card on file and pre-authorization through integrated payments, plus electric and water metering. The fuel dock POS supports pump integration and customer billing, and the ship's store sells ice, bait, food and merchandise on the same system. Reports cover occupancy, revenue and fuel sales. Best fit: marinas that run several businesses on one shoreline, such as slips, fuel, a store and rentals, and want them on one boater record.
Dockwa sells its marina software as separate products. Its transient product lists instant online booking with prepayment and automated confirmations, website integration, availability based on LOA rules and blocked periods, smart waitlists, and exposure to boaters who search for slips on the Dockwa marketplace. Other listed products cover captains and contracts with e-signatures and automated billing, point of sale, fuel management, an interactive marina map with metered electric readings, and dry stack. Best fit: marinas that want marketplace demand from cruising boaters on top of their own website bookings.
Storable Marine's Molo lists slip assignments and reservations for seasonal, annual and transient contracts, online transient bookings with payment processing, a customer portal where boaters pay bills, upload documents and manage reservations, an interactive marina map, mobile tools for meter readings and photos, and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct. Best fit: marinas, yacht clubs and boatyards that want a slip-centered system with a boater self-service portal.
DockMaster describes itself as marina management software used by over 1,000 marinas for more than 40 years. Alongside slip management, reservations, dry stack scheduling and utility billing, it covers service work orders, inventory with purchase orders, boat sales with F&I, a POS, payment links, eSignatures and full accounting with A/R, A/P and general ledger. Best fit: full-service marinas and boatyards with a service department and boat sales that want one marine ERP.
MARINAGO Office is cloud-based software for marinas and boatyards. Its site lists slip reservations with a visual property map, fuel dock and ship store POS with fuel dispenser integration and pay-at-pump, e-signature contracts, billing with card and ACH payments, a customer portal, service work orders, automated email and text messages, and integrations with QuickBooks and Sage Intacct. Best fit: marinas and boatyards that want fuel, service and slips in one cloud system.
SlipBoss is cloud-based marina software with visual slip management, an online slip booking system with Stripe payments, a staff booking wizard, monthly billing automation with fixed or per-foot pricing, deposit management, a POS and equipment rental tracking. It publishes a free plan for up to 30 slips. Best fit: small and mid-size marinas that want to start with online slip booking at a low published cost.
Start from what makes your marina busy. If your summer revenue depends on cruising boaters finding you, marketplace exposure matters, and that is Dockwa's angle. If you run service, parts and boat sales, an ERP like DockMaster covers more of the business. If your slips are mostly seasonal and you want a boater portal, look at Molo. If you are small and want online booking at a low published price, SlipBoss is built for that.
If your marina is several businesses on one dock, with transient and seasonal slips, a fuel dock, a ship's store and boat rentals, Ribbe is built to run them from one register and one boater record. In every case, line each system up against what your dock office does on a busy Saturday, not against a feature list.
white and blue boat on dock during daytime
Yes. With marina reservation software, boaters choose dates, see open slips and pay or leave a deposit online, and they get an automatic confirmation. In Ribbe, online reservations use the same live availability as the dock office, so a slip assigned over the radio does not still show as open online.
Reservation software focuses on booking slips and moorings. Marina management software adds seasonal contracts, renewals, waitlists, billing, utilities, the fuel dock, retail and reporting. Many marinas start with transient booking and move to a fuller system when the re-keying becomes the bottleneck.
Show the per-foot nightly rate, any weekend, holiday or peak-season rate, the minimum length or minimum charge, and what is included, such as power and water. See how to price boat slips for examples from public marina rate pages.
Many do. Some charge the full stay at booking, some hold a card, and seasonal leases often require a deposit. Key West's City Marina, for example, requires a deposit equal to two months' rent on its leases. Ribbe supports deposits, card on file and pre-authorization.
Published prices vary widely. In October 2026, SlipBoss listed a free plan up to 30 slips and paid plans at $100 and $250 per month, and Dockwa listed its Transient product from $169 per month. Ribbe offers Starter, Pro and Multi-Location plans with transaction-based pricing and a monthly minimum; see the pricing page.
Put your slips online Ribbe handles slip reservations, seasonal contracts, waitlists, recurring billing, the fuel dock and the ship's store in one system. Start a free trial