Swaphouse is a free platform to swap homes with fellow remote workers and digital nomads around the world.
๐ธ Free accommodation - no required fees
๐ 1710+ homes available in 74 countries worldwide
๐งโ๐ป WFH-friendly homes with verified Wi-Fi speeds
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Hey everyone! Iโm Tobi, the founder of Swaphouse.
My wife and I were tired of spending a fortune on Airbnbs and hotels while working remotely and traveling to other countries, so we thoughtโwhy not swap homes with other remote workers and skip the costs altogether?
That idea turned into Swaphouse: a free community where remote workers and travel lovers swap homes, save money, and explore new placesโwithout sacrificing comfort or a proper work setup.
Weโre a tiny team of two, bootstrapping this project out of pure passion. One of the most common questions we get is: โIs it really free?โ โ and yes, it is! Swaphouse is a side project weโve been building in our evenings and weekends. I still work full-time as a Product Manager, and this has been our way of combining our love for travel with something useful for the remote work community.
Our vision is simple: make remote work and travel more accessible, affordable, and community-drivenโso more people can explore the world without spending a lot of money on accommodation.
Weโre active users ourselves too. Over the past few months, weโve swapped homes in Munich, Malta, and Paris. You can read more about our story here: swaphouse.io/about โ and if it sounds like your vibe, come join us!
Hereโs what makes Swaphouse different:
๐ 1700+ homes in over 70 countries โ From Bali to Berlin, Portugal to South Africa. Our map keeps growing every day.
๐ธ Totally free โ No fees, no required memberships, no hidden anything. Just honest home swapping with awesome people.
๐ป Remote work-ready โ Every home comes with at last one workspace and solid Wi-Fi. We built a Wi-Fi speed tester into the platform, so you know exactly what kind of speed to expect before you swap.
๐ Swipe, match, swap โ Swaphouse works like a dating app, but for homes. Heart the listings you love, and if they heart you backโitโs a match! You only chat when thereโs mutual interest, so your inbox stays clean and relevant.
Weโre building a global community of people who want to travel more, spend less, and feel at home wherever they go. If that sounds like your thing, come join us. Feedback, support, and new homes are always welcome!
Would love to hear your feedback, ideas, or questions ๐
Check it out at swaphouse.io
How is this different or better than noadexchange.com, myplace.co, livekindred.com, homeexchange.com ?
Great question! Swaphouse stands out because itโs completely free and designed specifically for remote workersโevery home has solid Wi-Fi and a workspace. (Noad has a similar focus, but it seems theyโve paused new signups, so not sure if theyโre still active).
Our swipe-to-match system is what really sets us apart. You only connect with other swappers when thereโs mutual interest (you both like each otherโs homes). This avoids random messages and saves timeโsomething we found to be a major pain point on other platforms.
Hi Tobias, thanks for sharing Swaphouse with the Travel Massive community!
The site looks great, and nicely designed UX, well done!
A few quick questions:
1. What are your future plans for Swaphouse? Where do you see the most growth?
2. What is your business / revenue model if the platform is free?
3. I notice you have a few locations such as Hobart (my home town) listed as destinations, but without properties listed. Are these placeholders because they are places your community has requested? Just curious!
Thanks for your kind words and good questions, Ian!
1. Currently, we see the most growth in Europe, which has about 60% of the homes listed. But our top priority is growing the community and home listings organically across the world. Since home swapping is still new to many, we see a big opportunity in making it feel easy, safe, and trustworthyโwhich is why weโre actively building features to support that experience. (You can check out a few recent updates here: swaphouse.io/updates)
2. In the future, we may offer optional paid options like identity or home verification, insurance, or access to premium features on the platform. We also see potential in partnering with companies to offer Swaphouse as a perkโso employees can truly work from anywhere (maybe even swap homes with colleagues across offices). That said, our current focus is fully on growing the number of listings and building a strong, active community.
3. Itโs actually a mix of bothโsome destinations are based on community searches and requests, but for most we already have homes listed. Right now, we have homes in 679 different destinations, but we only show homes on public destination pages once there are 3 or more in a specific location. We did have one home listed in Hobart, but itโs currently unavailable. That said, we do have two other homes live in Tasmania at the moment!
Just added our house in Mexico. Let's do this! We are/were on Noad but I think they're kaput, unfortunately. My travel blogger agency worked with them in the beginning to help them scale, but then they raised prices when they only had about 100 homes instead of doing the opposite to kick in the network effect (like you all are). Hope this works out better with a price that can't be beat.
Thanks Tim, so great to have you on board! And yes, weโre learning from those who came beforeโour focus is all about growing the community, not chasing quick wins. Listening to the community members is also a big part of that, so if you ever have ideas or feedback, you can share them with me directly via Swaphouse Support on the platform.
Great idea! I signed up.
Amazing, thanks for joining Christine!
Very cool concept and clean, nice looking UX. Congratulations, Tobias!
I have just listed my flat in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One question I have: we only get notified of an interested person if we have also liked their flat, right? I believe this limits the opportunities of finding a swap, because I might consider a swap in a destination I haven't search for, but knowing someone from this place is interested in my home could spark the interest of moving forward with the swap to explore new destinations I'd otherwise not considered travelling to.
Are you thinking of a way to allow users to be notified when they property receives a like?
Or do you see a flaw in this scheme I am proposing that I am unware of?
Cheers!
Thanks so much, Rodrigo! And awesome to have your flat in Rio listed ๐
Great questionโand youโre absolutely right in your thinking. We actually already do this! When someone likes your home, their listing will show up in your โMatch requestsโ tab. That way, you can discover potential swaps in places you might not have searched for, knowing theyโve already shown interest in your home, just like you described.
Appreciate the thoughtful feedbackโkeep it coming! ๐
Cool, thank you Tobias!