# Frequently asked questions

# Frequently asked questions

## Product

**What exactly is Placeful?**
A hosted booking platform for venues: reservations, floor plan, ordering and staff management in one product. See [What is Placeful](/docs/about/what-is).

**Who is it for?**
Venues that take reservations — restaurants, bars, tours, event spaces — and the teams that run them.

**Can customers book without an account?**
Yes. A guest can book from a company's public page or embedded widget without registering. Creating an account lets them manage and cancel bookings later.

**Is there a free plan?**
Yes — a free package exists. Paid packages add ordering, stock, staff tools and support levels. See `/pricing`.

**Are there commissions on bookings?**
Placeful does not take a per-booking commission on the free package. Paid packages may carry a flat + percentage platform fee, charged through Stripe application fees — the venue's own Stripe account receives the payout directly.

**Can I embed booking on my own website?**
Yes — a copy-paste widget (button + script) renders your bookable calendar on any site. See [Embed the booking widget](/docs/widget/embed-widget).

**Can I try it before paying?**
Paid packages start with a trial period; no card is charged until the trial ends and a subscription starts.

## Data & privacy

**Where is customer data stored?**
On the hosted platform under GDPR-compliant processing; a DPA is available at `/dpa` and data-deletion rights are documented at `/data-deletion`.

**Can I export my data?**
Yes — members can export personal data from their profile; owners can export bookings and financials from the dashboard.

## Technical

**Is there an API?**
Yes — a versioned REST API at `/api/v1` authenticated by personal access tokens. See [API tokens](/docs/developer/api-tokens) and [API versioning](/docs/developer/api-versioning).

**Is there an AI/agent interface?**
Yes — an MCP server is exposed at `POST /mcp/bookings` for Sanctum-authenticated tools, and public pages ship markdown mirrors plus `llms.txt`/`llms-full.txt` indexes for AI agents.

**Is Placeful open source or self-hosted?**
No — it is a hosted SaaS product only.

**Which languages does it support?**
English and Italian for the product UI and public pages; the widget and booking flow are localized the same way.


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> Source: https://placeful-app.com/en/docs/about/faq