10 Best Search Engines for Your Cheap Flight Search

Skiplagged is a great search engine when you're looking for the cheapest flights, and it is the only one that offers hidden-city ticketing. Hidden-city ticketing takes advantage of the fact that flights with connections are often cheaper than direct flights. Just make sure to check your airline's terms and conditions, and don't check bags.

This flight search engine is best for those who are merely looking for cheap flight deals and don't mind booking economy tickets, as Skiplagged doesn't have an option to filter by class or to search for premium economy, business or first-class tickets. Instead, this website will automatically filter your search results by price. Therefore, economy tickets will always be at the top of the results page.

Agoda is another search engine that can help you find cheap flights. It is best for people that are looking to combine a cheap flight with a vacation rental stay. That is because it has built-in integration into its Agoda Homes platform with over 2 million properties worldwide.

If you're looking to combine a flight with a vacation rental, Agoda also offers Agoda Homes, its proprietary homestay service. Comparable to Airbnb, many consumers may find it handy to book their flights and unique homestay experience on the same website. Agoda has access to over 2 million properties worldwide, including hotels, resorts, hostels and more.

Out of all the flight search engines, we found that Agoda displayed significantly cheaper flight prices than its competitors. However, the flights often have long layovers. While you have the potential of saving a couple hundred dollars, you'll want to make sure that these layovers are worth your time and money.

Hopper will work best for trips where you have several weeks or months to plan. This is because Hopper will monitor your itinerary over time and give you the optimal time to make your purchase. Another important thing to note is that Hopper is primarily available as a mobile app rather than a website.

Using Hopper, you'll be able to input trips you're interested in booking. Then, you can save them and watch the prices change over time. Once Hopper notifies you that it's the best time to book, you'll be able to pay for your flight securely through the app.

Momondo is a different kind of flight search engine. In addition to comparing flight prices listed by the airlines themselves, it also compares prices on other flight search engines. Then, when you're ready to book, Momondo will link you to one of these other search engines to complete your itinerary.

Most of the sites we evaluated allow users to book tickets directly on their platform or the airline's website. Momondo only lets you book tickets through online ticketing agencies, known as OTAs. If you find an ideal ticket price, you'll have to complete the sale on a website that may be unfamiliar to you, like Flights Mojo, Globehunters or TravelMint. Since you're booking with an OTA rather than directly with the airline, you may face increased fees if you try to change or cancel your flight.

Compared to our top two picks, Momondo's user experience falls behind. Google Flights loaded its search results significantly faster than Momondo, and Skiplagged's interface has a much cleaner and more modern feel. In general, we recommend using Skiplagged and Google Flights for domestic bookings and Momondo only when searching for international flights.

While Skyscanner shows flight options all across the world, where we found it really shined was for European flight searches. Skyscanner also gives you more toggles to customize your flight, including the ability to search for flights with lower carbon dioxide emissions or specific COVID-19 protocols.

You'll also be able to toggle based on preferences that most competitors lack. For example, you can search for flexible tickets or flights with lower carbon dioxide emissions. Skyscanner also includes a COVID-19 safety rating for each airline, with the most updated information on cleaning procedures, mandatory policies and changes to the in-flight service.

Kayak is one of the oldest flight search engines on the internet, but it is still a reliable option for booking flights. Kayak also allows you to easily build a travel package, including flights, hotels, rental cars or even cruises. This makes it a good option for people looking for an all-in-one stop.

If you're looking to book a travel package or domestic flights, Kayak is an excellent option. You'll be able to search across hundreds of vacation packages, bundling flights and hotels together at a discounted rate. For popular destinations, it's worth checking Kayak for these package deals.

Google Flights brings the power of Google to searching for cheap flights. With a sleek and easy-to-use user interface, it's easy to search for the flights that work best for you. Google Flights allows you to search for multicity flights as well as multiple airports within the same city.

Without fail, Google Flights returned results the fastest across dozens of queries. Search results on Google Flights consistently loaded in under a second, while most other sites took much longer. Finally, both the mobile and desktop versions of the service provide an intuitive and familiar interface for people who already use Google apps.

One of the reasons Google Flights finds inexpensive itineraries is that it allows you to book departure and return legs of your trip on different airlines. This is helpful in cases where booking two one-way tickets is more affordable than booking a round trip. While Google Flights didn't invent this concept — sites like Kayak have long offered a mixed-airline itinerary — we found that it was nicely integrated into Google's search capabilities.

Priceline is unique as compared to other flight search engines due to its price match guarantee. With the Priceline "Best Price Guaranteed" offer, if you find a lower price anywhere else within 24 hours, Priceline will refund you the difference between the two prices. This can give you more confidence that you're getting the absolute lowest price.

Priceline stands out from the competition with its "Best Price Guaranteed" offer. If you find a lower price within 24 hours of booking your ticket, Priceline will refund you the difference. For Express Deals on hotels, if you find a better price up to midnight before your travel, you'll be refunded 200% of the difference.

Southwest does not allow its flights to be shown on most other flight search engines. So if you're looking at a flight within Southwest's route map (the United States, Central America and the Caribbean), you'll want to check Southwest.com as well. If you do book a Southwest flight, you'll get two free checked bags included in the price of your ticket.

Southwest is the only domestic airline that offers two free checked bags with every flight. You'll want to consider this benefit when comparing flight prices, as most cheap flights are basic economy and don't even include a carry-on bag. If you're taking a trip for an extended period and need to check your bags, you could save more money flying on Southwest.

Going isn't a flight search engine, but instead a paid subscription service that alerts you to rare flight deals. While this won't help you get a good deal on a specific flight, it can be a great option if you have flexible travel plans. The Premium service costs $49 per year while the Elite service costs $199 per year.

Expedia is one of the largest flight and travel search engines, and that can help you get a wide array of options as you look to build your perfect trip. One area where Expedia stands out is the ability to book complete travel packages. If you're the type of person that wants to deal with only one travel provider, Expedia may be the right choice for you.

One of the nice features of booking through Expedia is the ability to book complete travel packages. In addition to being able to book flights, hotels and car rentals, with Expedia you can also book cruises and other events. This can truly be a time-saver if you're looking to book your entire trip in one place.

The cancellation policies for tickets booked through Expedia vary, and it isn't always clear what the policy actually is. While many flights booked with Expedia offer a 24-hour cancellation policy, it's not always the case, and the cancellation policies on other types of travel vary as well. Make sure you read the fine print to know what cancellation policy applies to your itinerary.

Orbitz can be a great option if you want to maximize your rewards points by earning additional Orbucks on all purchases. You could potentially even double-dip by earning airline miles and Orbucks on the same flight purchase. While Orbucks generally expire after one year, you can use them on just about any prepaid hotel purchase with no blackout dates.

While Orbitz generally has the same prices as its sister sites in the Expedia Group, one differentiator it has is the Orbucks loyalty program. You can earn 1%-4% in Orbucks on various bookings through Orbitz. You can then redeem those Orbucks on prepaid hotel stays.

While many trips, especially those where you're coordinating with other people, have fixed dates and locations, some people also have flexibility when booking travel. If you are in a situation where you are looking for a last-minute travel escape, make sure to look at Hotwire's last-minute deals.

In addition to providing a traditional flight and hotel search, Hotwire offers last-minute deals for the flexible traveler. You can set your departure city and price range, and Hotwire will show you a list of last-minute deals. If you are a more spontaneous traveler, this could be a great option for you.

Travelocity is a great option if you're worried about prices going down after you book your trip. With the Travelocity Price Guarantee, you're covered against price drops up to two days before you check in for hotels and for 24 hours after booking for other forms of travel. In addition to getting the lower price matched, you'll get a $50 voucher toward future travel.

One thing that many people worry about when booking flights or other travel is potentially finding a better deal as soon as they book their trip. Travelocity takes that worry out of your hand with its Travelocity Price Guarantee. If you find a lower rate within 24 hours of booking, Travelocity will match the lower price and give you a $50 credit toward a future Travelocity hotel booking.

For hotels, the Travelocity Price Guarantee is even better. You can look for a lower price all the way up to two days before your check-in date. Again, if you do find a lower price, Travelocity will match the price and give you a $50 credit toward a future Travelocity hotel booking.

One thing to watch out for when booking through Travelocity (or any flight search engine) is to verify that you know and understand the terms and conditions of the trip that you booked. The cancellation policies for different flights, hotels and other travel booked through Travelocity vary by the type of travel that you booked. Make sure that you read the fine print to know if (and by when) you can cancel this trip and get a refund.

CheapOair is a great option if you're looking to truly maximize the amount of rewards that you get from each travel booking. That's because in addition to possibly earning airline miles with your booking, you'll earn ClubMiles rewards points. Every 1,000 ClubMiles points that you earn can be redeemed for a $5 reward.

While most travel search engines allow you to earn airline miles for flights booked through them, only a few have their own rewards programs as well. Booking your next flight through a flight search engine that also has its own loyalty program like the CheapOair ClubMiles program can allow you to double-dip on the rewards. This can really maximize the value that you get from booking travel.

CheapOair does charge agency and/or processing fees on some itineraries. This can make your final price higher than you were expecting. Make sure you see the final price before you click "pay" to fully understand how much you're being charged. You'll also want to double-check the cancellation policies on any tickets that you buy. That way, you'll know if you can cancel and still get a refund.