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The 8 best Going alternatives in 2026

Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) is a genuinely good service — but it broadcasts deals from a home airport to anywhere, and it isn't the cheapest. If you want something more targeted, cheaper, free, or more hands-on, here are the eight best alternatives, ranked honestly and with the catch for each one spelled out.

By the Snagfly team
Updated 15 July 2026 · 8 min read

Going alternatives compared at a glance

The 8 best Going alternatives, ranked

1. Snagfly — best if you already know where you want to go

Snagfly is the only service here that flips the model. Instead of broadcasting deals departing a home airport, you pin the destinations you actually want — Tokyo, Bali, Lisbon — and its AI watches only those exact routes 24/7. An alert fires only when a fare drops at least 50% below the verified rolling 90-day median for that route (many reach up to 90% off), and email is hard-capped at three per week, one per day. You book directly with the airline; Snagfly takes no commission and adds no markup. At $29.99/year or $3.99/month with a free 7-day trial, it's cheaper than Going Premium.

The catch: economy fares only — no premium-cabin or points deals. And if you're genuinely flexible and want a wide feed of "anywhere cheap right now," a broadcast club will surface more volume than Snagfly by design. (Disclosure: this is our product.)

2. Jack's Flight Club — best free newsletter

Jack's Flight Club built a huge following on a genuinely useful free newsletter, with a paid Premium tier that unlocks the full set of deals. Its curation is well-regarded, it's strong on mistake fares, and the free tier alone delivers real value — which is rare. If your goal is "spend nothing and still see good deals," start here.

The catch: it's a broadcast newsletter, so you'll see deals to places you have no intention of visiting, and the free tier gets a subset of what Premium members see. Full Snagfly vs Jack's Flight Club comparison →

3. Next Vacay — the cheapest paid club

At roughly $25/year with a 30-day free trial, Next Vacay is the cheapest paid subscription on this list. It watches your home airport plus every airport within about a 3-hour drive — a genuinely smart touch that widens your options — and sends deals two to three times a week. It takes no commission and links you out to Google Flights to book yourself.

The catch: it's still home-airport broadcast, so relevance depends on luck, and deals skew toward trips a month or more out. Full Snagfly vs Next Vacay comparison →

4. Matt's Flights — best human support

Matt's Flights is the one service here with a real person behind it. Alongside a free tier and a Premium plan (about $59.99/year or $4.99/month, with a free trial), Premium members can email the team to run custom searches for a specific trip — a human actually goes and hunts your route. No algorithm replaces that.

The catch: it's the priciest of the "budget" clubs, results are inherently less consistent than automated 24/7 monitoring, and a human can't watch every route continuously. Full Snagfly vs Matt's Flights comparison →

5. Thrifty Traveler — best for premium cabins and points

Thrifty Traveler Premium (around $99/year) is the strongest pick if you care about business and first class, or points-and-miles award deals. It covers 200+ airports and its award-fare alerts are a genuine specialty that most clubs — Snagfly included — simply don't offer.

The catch: it's three times Snagfly's price, and overkill if you only ever fly cash economy. Full Snagfly vs Thrifty Traveler comparison →

6. AirfareWatchdog — best fully free alerts

AirfareWatchdog is completely free and has been around for years. Its differentiator is that humans verify the fares rather than relying purely on crawlers, and you can set city-to-city, departure-city, or arrival-city alerts. For zero dollars, it's hard to argue with.

The catch: free means ad- and affiliate-supported, and the email volume is high — it sends updates daily, with no hard cap. If inbox noise is your problem, this will make it worse. Full Snagfly vs AirfareWatchdog comparison →

7. Dollar Flight Club — solid, but you're paying more for the same idea

Dollar Flight Club (roughly $69–$99/year for its paid tiers, plus a free tier) is a well-established home-airport broadcast club covering around 30 US departure airports. It works, and plenty of members are happy.

The catch: it's the hardest one to justify on price — you're paying more than Going Premium for a fundamentally similar broadcast model, with fewer supported airports than several rivals. Full Snagfly vs Dollar Flight Club comparison →

8. Hopper — not a club at all, but often what people actually want

Hopper isn't a deal club — it's a price-prediction app. You search a specific trip and it tells you whether to book now or wait. If your real question is "is $480 a good price for these dates?", Hopper answers it better than any newsletter.

The catch: it's reactive — it only helps for trips you actively search, and it won't tell you a destination just got cheap. Full Snagfly vs Hopper comparison →

When you should just stay with Going

Being honest about this matters more than winning a click. Stay with Going if: you're genuinely flexible about where you travel and enjoy a broad feed of deals; you fly mostly from one US home airport; or you want premium economy, business, or first-class deals, which its Elite tier surfaces and most alternatives here (including Snagfly) do not. Going has millions of members and a long track record for a reason. The services above aren't "better than Going" in the abstract — they're better for specific travelers. See the full Snagfly vs Going breakdown →

How we ranked these

Four criteria, applied in this order: (1) Relevance — how many of the alerts you receive are for trips you'd actually take. (2) Honest deal definition — whether the service publishes what it measures a discount against (a real baseline, not an inflated "was" price). (3) Price — total annual cost against what you get. (4) Inbox discipline — whether email volume is capped. Snagfly ranks first on criteria 1, 2 and 4 and second on 3; it ranks last on premium-cabin coverage, which is why Thrifty Traveler and Going beat it for that traveler. Competitor pricing and features are from publicly available information as of July 2026 — always check the provider's current terms.

FAQ

About this ranking: Snagfly publishes this page and Snagfly is ranked first — treat that as the conflict of interest it is, and weigh the stated reasoning. Competitor pricing, features and membership figures are based on publicly available information as of July 2026 and change frequently; check each provider's site for current terms. This page describes differences in product model, not a judgement of any provider's quality. All third-party names and trademarks belong to their respective owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.