Goibibo vs MMT vs Cleartrip: Total Cost After Fee India 2026

Convenience fees on Indian OTAs can add ₹100–499 per passenger. Here is a fee-by-fee breakdown of Goibibo, MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip for 2026, including when

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Goibibo vs MMT vs Cleartrip: Total Cost After Fee India 2026

By Diya Verma (Diya Verma flies from Tier-2 Indian cities and chases every possible fare hack — reposition flights, hidden-city ticketing, mileage runs and OTA bundle tricks. She has booked 200+ international trips out of Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur.) · Published · 11 min read

The cheapest listed fare is not always the cheapest final price. OTA convenience fees quietly add ₹100–500 per passenger, and knowing which platform costs less after all fees can save a family of four meaningful money.

TL;DR — who charges what

Convenience fees on Indian flight OTAs in 2026 vary by payment method and platform. As a rough guide: MakeMyTrip charges fees that typically range from around ₹100 to ₹350 per passenger depending on payment method and fare type; Goibibo has a similar structure (both are under the same MakeMyGroup parent, but the exact fees can differ between the two apps); Cleartrip (owned by Flipkart/Walmart group) charges fees in a comparable range, but Flipkart Plus members get a fee waiver on Cleartrip bookings. UPI payment reduces or eliminates fees on some platforms. Always get to the final payment screen to see the real number before committing.

Why OTAs charge convenience fees at all

Before getting into the comparisons, a quick explanation of why convenience fees exist — because it actually matters for understanding when you can avoid them.

OTAs make money from airlines through a combination of booking commissions, incentive payments for hitting volume targets, and data-related arrangements. They also make money directly from travellers through seat selection markups, travel insurance add-ons, hotel and cab bundling, and — yes — convenience fees.

The convenience fee is partly a real cost recovery (card processing fees run at roughly 1.5–2% of transaction value, which the OTA pays) and partly a margin contribution. When OTAs advertise 'no convenience fee' promos for UPI payments, they are often absorbing the card-processing cost as a user acquisition tactic — UPI transactions cost them much less to process.

The reason fees differ between platforms is not random: different OTAs have different card processing arrangements, different platform economics, and different commercial relationships with Visa/Mastercard networks. MakeMyTrip and Goibibo are siblings under MakeMyGroup, but their fee structures are set somewhat independently.

MakeMyTrip fees: what to expect

MakeMyTrip is the largest Indian OTA by booking volume. Its convenience fee structure as of mid-2026 typically looks like this (and I want to be clear: these exact numbers change, so treat them as a guide, not gospel):

One thing that gets people: MakeMyTrip's listed fare in search results is before the convenience fee. The real price only shows up on the payment screen. Build in the assumption that ₹200–300 per passenger will be added and then be pleasantly surprised if it is less.

Goibibo fees: same parent, different number

Goibibo and MakeMyTrip are owned by MakeMyGroup and share technology infrastructure, but they are not identical products. Goibibo has historically been slightly more aggressive on pricing in some segments, partly because it competes with MMT for market share even within the same corporate family.

Goibibo's convenience fees follow a similar structure to MMT — UPI often has lower or zero fees, card payments attract a fee per passenger. The specific amounts can differ from MMT on any given booking, so do not assume they are identical just because they share an owner.

Goibibo also has a 'Go Cash' reward system where you can earn and spend credits on future bookings. If you book regularly through Goibibo, the Go Cash accumulation can partially offset convenience fees over time. The value of this depends entirely on how often you use Goibibo — occasional users will not accumulate enough to notice.

My practical approach: when booking, I check both MMT and Goibibo at the final payment screen for the same flight. Because they sometimes have different fare agreements and different active bank offers, the final all-in price can vary by ₹50–300 on the same ticket. Takes 5 extra minutes and occasionally saves meaningful money on a family booking.

Cleartrip and the Flipkart Plus waiver

Cleartrip is now part of the Flipkart/Walmart ecosystem, which gives it an interesting angle: Flipkart Plus members — the loyalty tier on Flipkart's subscription programme — often receive fee waivers on Cleartrip flight bookings. Flipkart Plus membership requires a certain threshold of Flipkart spending (check the current requirement on Flipkart's site, as it changes), and the Cleartrip benefit is one of the listed perks.

If you shop significantly on Flipkart anyway, you may already be a Plus member and not realise the Cleartrip fee waiver applies to you. The waiver can be in the range of ₹200–400 per booking on domestic flights. On a family-of-four booking, that is potentially ₹800–1,600 in fees avoided.

For non-Plus members, Cleartrip's convenience fees are in a similar range to MMT and Goibibo. It is not significantly cheaper or more expensive for ordinary users on card payments. Where Cleartrip sometimes wins is on international fare pricing — it has had periods where its airline fare agreements produce slightly lower base fares on certain international routes. The total after fees still needs to be checked.

Cleartrip also integrates with Flipkart's UPI and BNPL (buy now pay later) products, which can sometimes unlock zero-fee payment options depending on your Flipkart account status.

Domestic vs international: which platform wins on total cost?

The honest answer is that it varies by route, date, and which bank offers happen to be active when you are booking. There is no permanently cheapest OTA. But here are the patterns I have found to hold reasonably consistently:

For domestic flights: Book directly on the airline's site (IndiGo, Air India, Akasa Air) when there are no active OTA bank offers. IndiGo's own site has no convenience fee and you often get the same or lower fare than OTAs, particularly during IndiGo's own sale events. If you have a specific bank card offer active on MMT or Goibibo, compare the offer-adjusted price with the airline-direct price after fee.

For international flights: OTAs sometimes have fare agreements that produce cheaper international fares than booking airline-direct, particularly on consolidator-adjacent inventory. Compare MMT, Goibibo, Cleartrip and EaseMyTrip alongside the airline's own site. FlightGPT can surface these comparisons across flexible dates, which is particularly useful for international bookings where the price spread across dates is often larger than the fee difference between OTAs.

The actual cheapest platform by frequency: In my experience, EaseMyTrip often runs aggressive zero-convenience-fee promotions more frequently than the others — they have used this as a core competitive position. Check EaseMyTrip alongside the three platforms above, particularly for domestic bookings.

How to actually find the cheapest final price — a workflow

Here is the approach that takes me about 10–15 minutes and consistently finds the real cheapest option:

  1. Search your flight on FlightGPT for flexible dates to find the cheapest travel window and baseline fare.
  2. Note the fare on the airline's own site (no convenience fee benchmark).
  3. Check MMT and Goibibo for any active bank card offers on flights. Look at the 'Bank Offers' section specifically, not just the headline price.
  4. Check if you are a Flipkart Plus member — if yes, see if Cleartrip's all-in price with waived fee beats MMT/Goibibo.
  5. Check EaseMyTrip if they have a zero-fee promo running.
  6. Compare final prices (after all fees, after any card offers applied) and book the cheapest.

The step most people skip is step 2 — comparing with the airline direct. For domestic IndiGo and Air India flights especially, airline-direct booking can save ₹200–400 per passenger in fees with zero trade-off in flexibility or convenience.

For travel agents managing high volumes of bookings, the fee arithmetic compounds quickly. GDS-based booking tools and agency platforms like FlightGPT Partner operate differently — agents typically access net fares rather than published consumer fares, which changes the economics entirely.

Related: if you are comparing OTA pricing regularly, it is worth reading the related articles on how to catch IndiGo sale fares and Air India's Upgrade+ system — both affect what you should be booking where.

Frequently asked questions

Does MakeMyTrip charge a convenience fee on UPI payments?

MakeMyTrip often reduces or waives the convenience fee for UPI payments — this has been a recurring promotional position for the platform to drive UPI adoption. However, the exact amount can vary between zero and a small flat fee (perhaps ₹15–50) depending on the active promotion. Check the payment screen at the time of booking for the current UPI fee on your specific transaction.

How does Flipkart Plus waive Cleartrip convenience fees?

Flipkart Plus is Flipkart's loyalty tier, earned through a minimum annual spending threshold on the platform (check Flipkart's current Plus eligibility criteria as the threshold changes). One listed Cleartrip benefit for Plus members is a fee waiver on flight bookings — the exact amount and applicable booking types are detailed in the Plus benefits section of the Flipkart app. The waiver applies when you book through Cleartrip while logged in with your Flipkart Plus-linked account.

Is it always cheaper to book flights directly on the airline's website?

For domestic Indian flights, airline-direct booking is often the cheapest option because there is no third-party convenience fee and the airline controls its own lowest fares. For international flights, OTAs sometimes have access to consolidated or negotiated fares that are lower than what airlines publish on their own sites — so it is worth checking both. There is no universal rule; compare the final price including all fees.

Do Goibibo and MakeMyTrip always show the same flight prices?

Not always, even though they are owned by the same parent company. Both platforms maintain separate commercial arrangements with airlines and run different promotions at different times. On any given search, one may show a slightly lower base fare or a different bank offer. The gap is usually ₹50–200 on domestic bookings and can be larger on international routes. It takes 2 minutes to check both and is worth doing for bookings above ₹5,000 per person.

Which OTA has the cheapest convenience fees in India in 2026?

EaseMyTrip has historically competed heavily on a zero-convenience-fee positioning and runs these promotions frequently — worth checking alongside the big three. For Flipkart Plus members, Cleartrip can be very competitive on domestic bookings. For non-Plus, non-special-offer scenarios, the fees across MMT, Goibibo and Cleartrip are broadly similar. The most consistent advice is to get to the final payment screen on each platform rather than trusting the headline displayed fare.

Are international flight fees on Indian OTAs higher than domestic fees?

Generally yes. OTA convenience fees on international bookings are often higher than on domestic — sometimes in the range of ₹300–600 per passenger versus ₹100–350 for domestic, partly because the transaction values are higher and partly because the OTA margin economics on international bookings differ. For international trips with multiple passengers, this adds up. Always check the airline direct site alongside OTAs before booking international tickets.