Hopper vs Google Flights Price Alerts, and What Neither Keeps Track Of
Google Flights is better for comparing routes and dates and sends an email or phone alert when a tracked price changes a lot. Hopper is a phone app that tells you whether to buy now or wait. Both stop helping once you buy.
Google Flights is the better tool for comparing routes, airports and dates, and its price tracking emails you, or notifies you on your phone, when a fare changes significantly. Hopper is a phone app built around one question, buy now or wait, and it sends push notifications when it thinks you should book. Many travelers use Google Flights to search and Hopper as a second opinion. Neither is much help after you buy, which is when the dates that cost money start: the 24-hour cancellation window, check-in and the trip prep.
How Google Flights price tracking works
On Google Flights you search a route, then turn on Track prices. Per the Google Flights help page, you can track:
- Your searched dates for a route.
- A specific flight, once you pick it.
- "Any dates" for a route, if your dates are flexible. Then you get an email when the route's lowest price drops significantly over a month, or a regular email with the best prices if it does not.
Alerts come by email, and on a phone also as mobile notifications. Google also emails you when prices on a tracked route are likely to go up, or when the current fare is about to expire and the next one is likely to cost more, with an estimate and how confident it is. You manage everything on the Tracked Flights page.
The strength of Google Flights is the search itself: a calendar of prices, the date grid, nearby airports and filters for bag fees. It shows you what is out there. Booking happens on the airline's site or a travel agency's site.
How Hopper price alerts work
Hopper is an app first. You search a trip and switch on Price Watch, as its help page on watching a trip describes. Alerts come as push notifications, so you need notifications on for the app.
Hopper's pitch is the prediction: buy now or wait. Its help page on why you may not get a notification explains how that shapes the alerts:
- It notifies you when prices change a lot, or when it thinks you should book.
- It sends a warning when it expects prices to start rising.
- For trips far in the future, it may send few notifications at first.
- If you keep checking the price yourself, it will not alert you about a price you have already seen.
Hopper also sells tickets inside the app. You can book there, or use the alert and book elsewhere.
Which one to use
There is no winner for everyone. A fair split:
| Google Flights | Hopper | |
|---|---|---|
| Comparing dates and airports | Strong: date grid, price calendar, nearby airports | Centered on the trip you watch |
| Alerts | Email or phone notification on significant changes, email on likely rises | Push, when it thinks you should book |
| Flexible dates | "Any dates" tracking for a route | Watch a trip with set dates |
| Booking | On the airline or agency site | Inside the app |
| Best for | Planning and comparing | A buy-or-wait nudge on your phone |
If you can only set up one, Google Flights covers more of the search. If you want a buy-or-wait call on your phone, Hopper may suit you better. Using both costs nothing but a few notifications. For a step-by-step on alerts for hotels too, see how to track a flight or hotel price.
What neither keeps track of
Both tools are about the price before you buy. The moment you book, the confirmation lands in your inbox and the tracker's job is done. The dates that matter from then on live in that email:
- The 24-hour window. Under the U.S. airline customer service rules, an airline must let you hold a reservation at the quoted fare without paying, or cancel it without penalty, for at least 24 hours after booking, if you book a week or more before departure. Bookings through an agency or app follow that seller's terms, so check your confirmation.
- A lower price after you buy. Some airlines give a credit if the fare drops. Our guide to what happens when a flight price drops after booking explains when.
- Check-in, usually 24 hours before departure.
- The trip prep: seats, bags, passport dates, the hotel's free cancellation date.
None of that is in Google Flights or Hopper's price alerts. It is in an email you will have to find again.
Let Tracy take the ticket from there
Tracy, the assistant in dEssence, is not a third fare tracker, and she does not search flights. Use Google Flights or Hopper to find the fare. She picks up where they stop.
Forward her the booking confirmation, or send a screenshot of it, from Telegram, iMessage, Chrome or the web. She keeps the flight, the times, the booking reference, and the free cancellation cutoff if your confirmation shows one. She reminds you before the window closes, before check-in opens, and before the things you ask about: a passport that expires soon, a hotel cancellation date, a bag to buy.
She does not cancel, change or check you in, and she does not log in to the airline or the app. You make the move; she makes sure you know when.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hopper or Google Flights better for price alerts?
Google Flights is better for comparing and tracking flexible dates, with alerts by email or phone notification. Hopper is better if you want a buy-or-wait suggestion. Many people use Google Flights to search and Hopper as a second opinion.
Does Google Flights track prices for free?
Yes. Turn on Track prices for a route, a set of dates or a specific flight, and Google emails or notifies you when the price changes significantly, and emails you when it is likely to rise.
Why is Hopper not sending me price alerts?
Hopper sends alerts only when prices change a lot or when it thinks you should book. For trips far ahead it sends fewer at first, and it skips prices you have already seen in the app. Check that notifications are on.
Can I cancel a flight within 24 hours for free?
Usually, if you booked directly with a U.S. airline a week or more before departure. The rule lets you hold the fare without paying or cancel without penalty for at least 24 hours. Agencies and apps follow their own terms.