easyJet built its reputation on cheap fares into primary European airports, but the 2024–2025 schedule trimmed capacity on regional UK routes and pushed seat-selection prices to the point where the headline fare often ends up midway between Ryanair and a legacy carrier. People searching for easyJet alternatives are usually looking for either a lower base fare or a more flexible bundle that includes a bag and a hotel. We compared seven apps that cover both angles.
The shortlist below has two pure budget rivals, one UK package-holiday specialist, one full-service carrier for when easyJet pricing creeps into BA territory, one Spain-focused operator, and two flight search apps to keep the others honest.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Bags included | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | Cheapest base fare in Europe | Free app | No, add-on | Lowest headline price |
| Wizz Air | Eastern Europe and Gulf routes | Free app | No, add-on | Discount Club savings |
| Jet2 | Packaged beach holidays | Free app | Yes, 22kg | 22kg bag included |
| British Airways | Primary airports, full service | Free app | Yes, 23kg | Avios earning and lounges |
| Vueling | Spain and Mediterranean | Free app | Add-on | Avios partnership with BA |
| Skyscanner | Comparing every carrier | Free app | N/A (search) | Flexible-date heatmap |
| Kayak | Flight + hotel + car bundles | Free app | N/A (search) | Hacker Fares |
Why people leave easyJet
Seat selection has crept up to BA prices. Up Front and Extra Legroom seats on peak summer flights now cost £25-45, often more than the difference between easyJet’s Standard fare and a British Airways Euro Traveller fare on the same route.
Hold-bag pricing rises sharply for late bookings. Adding a 23kg hold bag at check-in is roughly double the price of adding it during the original booking. Forums document £40+ surprises for travellers who decided last-minute they needed to check a bag.
Regional UK routes have thinned out. Belfast, Newcastle, Southend, and a handful of Scottish departures have lost frequency or disappeared since 2023, leaving travellers in those cities to drive to a larger airport or take Jet2.
Cabin-bag size rules are inconsistently enforced. The 45 × 36 × 20 cm under-seat limit is strict in theory but the gate checks vary by base. Users on Reddit have flagged surprise charges for bags that fit easyJet’s sizer on previous flights.
Disruption rebooking takes days. Chat support response times during the summer 2024 IT outages stretched past 72 hours for some passengers, with refunds processed weeks later.
Which easyJet alternative should you pick
- Ryanair for the cheapest base fare on overlapping routes.
- Wizz Air for Eastern Europe and the Gulf.
- Jet2 when the trip is a packaged beach holiday.
- British Airways when easyJet pricing approaches BA territory.
- Vueling for Spain and Mediterranean leisure routes.
- Skyscanner to compare every operator at once.
- Kayak for flight + hotel + car in one bundle.
Stay on easyJet for primary-airport flights from Gatwick, Luton, or Manchester to Western European leisure cities where the fare is genuinely cheaper than BA and the trip is light enough to skip a hold bag.
1. Ryanair, cheapest base fare in Europe
Ryanair publishes the lowest headline fare on most European city pairs, often £10-30 below easyJet on the same dates. The trade-off is the add-on stack (cabin bag, seat, boarding pass) and the secondary airports (Beauvais, Hahn, Girona, Charleroi) that put a 60-90 minute coach between the runway and the city.
easyJet vs Ryanair: Ryanair wins on base fare; easyJet usually wins on door-to-door cost and primary-airport access. If the trip is hand-luggage-only and Ryanair flies near the actual city, the fare gap is real.
Where it falls short: add-on fees, boarding-pass reissue charges, and a strict cabin-bag policy frustrate anyone who books in a hurry. Disruption handling is slow.
Pricing: free app. Base fares from £14.99, cabin bag from £8, reserved seat from £4.
Switching from easyJet: install Ryanair and re-check every flexible booking. Hand-luggage-only trips to Dublin, Berlin, Krakow, and Faro are routinely £20+ cheaper.
Bottom line: the right pick for hand-luggage city breaks where Ryanair flies near the actual city.
2. Wizz Air, Eastern Europe and Gulf network
Wizz Air dominates Central and Eastern European routes that easyJet only serves seasonally or not at all: Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Tirana, Cluj, Krakow, Warsaw, and a growing Gulf network into Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, and Riyadh. The WIZZ Discount Club membership (£24.99/year) takes ~£10 off every fare for the member plus one companion.
easyJet vs Wizz Air: easyJet covers Western Europe better; Wizz wins everywhere east of Vienna and on Middle East routes.
Where it falls short: on-time performance varies by base, and disruption rebooking through the app is slow. Cabin-bag enforcement is tight.
Pricing: free app. Base fares from £14.99 on short routes. Discount Club £24.99/year.
Switching from easyJet: install Wizz Air for any trip east of the Rhine, especially weekend city breaks where the schedule overlap with easyJet is patchy.
Bottom line: the right pick for Central and Eastern European city breaks.
3. Jet2, packaged beach holidays
Jet2 sells packages first, flights second. The package bundles a 22kg checked bag, return airport transfers, and an ATOL-protected hotel into one price with a £60 per person deposit. Where easyJet Holidays comes in slightly higher on Greek and Spanish coastal destinations, Jet2 usually wins by £30-80 a head once bags and transfers are factored in.
easyJet vs Jet2: easyJet is better for flight-only city breaks, Jet2 is better for weeklong package holidays from regional UK airports.
Where it falls short: the route network is narrower than easyJet’s, with no presence in Eastern Europe or the Gulf. Flight-only fares aren’t always cheaper than easyJet.
Pricing: free app. Flight-only from £45 one-way. Package holidays from ~£300/person for a week.
Switching from easyJet: install Jet2 for any beach holiday from a regional UK base airport. The 22kg bag and transfer are often the same as the easyJet Holidays bundle for less money.
Bottom line: the right pick for packaged Mediterranean beach trips from the UK regions.
4. British Airways, full service to primary airports
British Airways is worth checking the moment easyJet’s seat selection plus hold bag plus Speedy Boarding starts adding up. The BA Euro Traveller fare into London Heathrow or City often lands within £20-30 of easyJet’s all-in price, with a 23kg hold bag included on Plus fares, Avios earning, and lounge access for Executive Club members with status.
easyJet vs British Airways: BA wins on bundled allowances and on London Heathrow access; easyJet wins on raw price for Gatwick and regional UK departures.
Where it falls short: Basic fares exclude seat selection and a hold bag, mirroring easyJet’s structure. Disruption recovery has been uneven on European short-haul.
Pricing: free app. Basic fares from £39 one-way to short-haul Europe; Plus fares from £69 with bag.
Switching from easyJet: install BA and price-compare the all-in cost when bags and seats are needed anyway. The Avios earning is a tie-breaker for loyalty members.
Bottom line: the right pick when an easyJet booking with bag and seat lands within £30 of BA Plus.
5. Vueling, Spain and Mediterranean network
Vueling is the densest budget operator in and around Spain, with a Barcelona hub that covers most Mediterranean leisure destinations and inter-island flights to the Balearics and Canaries. The Avios partnership with British Airways lets BA Executive Club members earn miles on Vueling fares, which is rare among low-cost carriers.
easyJet vs Vueling: comparable headline fares, but Vueling’s inside-Spain frequency and inter-island coverage beat easyJet on most domestic Spanish routes.
Where it falls short: disruption handling at Barcelona El Prat slows during peak summer. The Basic fare excludes seat selection and a checked bag.
Pricing: free app. Basic fares from €19.99 inside Spain. Optima fare from €59 with seat and 23kg bag.
Switching from easyJet: install Vueling for any Spain-based itinerary, especially Balearic and Canary routes where easyJet frequency is lower.
Bottom line: the right pick for Spain and the Balearics.
6. Skyscanner, compare every carrier in one search
Skyscanner scans easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Jet2, BA, Vueling, Eurowings, and most legacy carriers in a single search, with a flexible-date heatmap that surfaces the cheapest departure across a whole month. The Everywhere search is useful when the date is fixed and the destination is open.
easyJet vs Skyscanner: Skyscanner isn’t an airline. It shows easyJet alongside everyone else, which is the whole point.
Where it falls short: booking happens on the airline or OTA site, so add-on fees still apply. Some surfaced OTAs have weak refund records, so prefer direct-airline bookings.
Pricing: free app, no booking fees on direct airline bookings.
Switching from easyJet: install Skyscanner and run a flexible-date search before every easyJet booking. The cheapest fare often shifts by a day or two.
Bottom line: the search step before every flight booking, full stop.
7. Kayak, flight + hotel + car bundles
Kayak does multi-carrier flight search like Skyscanner but adds stronger hotel and car-rental inventory inside the same app. Hacker Fares stitch two one-way tickets from different carriers when that beats the return fare, and the Trips inbox auto-imports confirmations so the whole itinerary lives in one place.
easyJet vs Kayak: Kayak surfaces easyJet where it wins and surfaces alternatives where it doesn’t. Stronger than Skyscanner when a hotel and car are part of the trip.
Where it falls short: budget-airline coverage outside Europe and North America is thinner than Skyscanner’s.
Pricing: free app, no booking fees on direct supplier bookings.
Switching from easyJet: install Kayak when the trip combines flight + hotel + car. The Trips inbox alone saves rifling through email for confirmations.
Bottom line: the right pick for combining flight + hotel + car in one search.
How to choose
Pick Ryanair when the trip is hand-luggage-only and Ryanair flies near the actual city. The base-fare gap is real and the inconvenience is small for short city breaks.
Pick Jet2 for any beach week from a regional UK base airport. The packaged price, with bag and transfer included, undercuts the components booked separately.
Pick British Airways the moment easyJet’s all-in price (including seat and bag) gets within £30 of BA Plus. The included allowances and Avios earning close the gap quickly.
Pick Wizz Air for Central and Eastern Europe. easyJet’s coverage east of Vienna is patchy by comparison.
Stay on easyJet for Gatwick, Luton, or Manchester departures to Western European leisure cities, where the schedule frequency and primary-airport network still beat the budget rivals.
FAQ
Is Ryanair cheaper than easyJet? Usually yes on the headline fare, often by £10-30. The gap can close or reverse once a checked bag and a reserved seat are added on both sides, so price the full booking on each.
Is easyJet better than British Airways? For raw price out of Gatwick, easyJet usually wins. For included allowances, primary-airport access at Heathrow, and Avios earning, BA wins. The breakeven point is roughly £30 of fare difference once seats and bags are added.
What is the cheapest easyJet alternative? Ryanair on Western European routes and Wizz Air on Eastern European routes are usually the cheapest. For packaged beach holidays from regional UK airports, Jet2 often wins.
Can I avoid easyJet seat-selection fees? Yes, by not pre-selecting a seat. easyJet allocates a random seat for free at check-in. The risk is being separated from a travel companion; the workaround is to add a Standard seat (£3-7) on the cheapest available row.
Does easyJet have an alternative that includes baggage? Jet2 includes 22kg as standard on package holidays. BA Plus fares include a 23kg bag. easyJet Holidays bundles a bag too, but Jet2 is usually cheaper on the equivalent week.
Is there a free version of easyJet’s app? The app is free; the fares aren’t. None of the seven alternatives in this list charge for the app itself.
