Viator vs Getyourguide vs tour operator???

Viator is a consolidator, an agent. They represent the local companies.

I, personally, have not ever had a problem in multiple countries on multiple continents booking thru a local agency - often researched thru Viator, but booked directly with the local company. Not all tours have run due to lack of numbers, but tgat policy has always been clear and I have received sufficient warning to book elsewhere. Others may have different experiences.

I haven’t noticed “cheaper” from locals, but have been pleased with my experiences. Read the company policies regarding when payment is due and refunds, book elsewhere if not to your liking. Check reviews also - I am skeptical of all rave reviews without specific details or posters on sites like TripAdvisor with only one post.

Another thought if you gave concerns, check in guide books fir recommended tour operators- Frommers, Lonely Planet, RS, etc. obviously things can change post publication, but if recommended in a well known guidebook, the company has demonstrated some credibility.

The reason many of us recommend booking directly with a tour operator versus a 3rd-party ticket-seller like Viator is because if there is a problem, you want to be sorting that out with the tour company themselves. You don't want to get caught in a middle of a finger-pointing conflict between the 3rd party and tour company as to who is to blame or is responsible for providing compensation if a failure of services warrants that.

Well, I’ve had a lot of friends who booked with Viator because it was safer. It’s safe. The night before your tour of the Eiffel Tower or your tour of whatever they send you an email going “oh we’re sorry we can’t actually deliver here is your money back. “ It’s too late for you to do anything else because they wait until the night before to cancel l. And probably because the tour provider didn’t want to take the cut, they have to give back to Viator so they went with a person who was paying them directly. Cut out the middleman - save yourself.

We have used Get Your Guide with no issues. Their website is just as secure as Viator. Both are third party operators who farm out the tour to a local company. If you can find out who the local company is, sometimes it's cheaper. We have also used local companies for tours and have had great service because we could contact them directly. One time in Madrid, it began raining so hard and our Segway tour was scheduled in a hour. I called up the local company and within minutes I was able to postpone my tour and reschedule it for the next day, when it did not rain. A third party consolidator like Viator isn't going to have the same quick flexibility.
The concern is that if something goes wrong, who's going to fix it quickly? Viator is a third party company, they will pass the problem on to the local company they farmed the ticket out to.

I think you need to have a slight change of attitude- Just because it's US based, doesn't mean it's better or safer. Thousands of Europeans and American tourists use European local tour companies and their websites without any problems. If there were systemic problems with a tour company's website, you'd read about it TripAdvisor or Yelp reviews. If you go around with the attitude that anything US is better than Europe, then nothing you see in Europe is going to meet your biased " 'Merica is always great" expectations.

I have used Get Your Guide and Tours by Locals. The good thing about Get Your Guide is that you provide credit card information upon booking, but are not charged until 2 days before the tour. The tour guides are independent operators who use various platforms to advertise their service - they might even use Viator, Get Your Guide and Tours by Locals for the same tour. But, as stated by another poster, you deal directly with the tour guide rather than a 3rd party if there is an issue, which is a big advantage over Viator.

I have used Get Your Guide and Tours by Local. I've been very happy with both. What I like best about GYG is that you are not charged for your tour until two days prior, which makes it easy to change should it be necessary (illness, travel snaffus, etc.) One time, I had wanted to take a specific tour through a food tour company in Portugal. When I tried to register it said tickets were sold out for my date. However, I found ticket availability for the exact tour (with the original tour company), on the dates I needed through Get Your Guide. I even think the cost was a bit less. Not sure if this is a common scenario but it is definitely worth checking. We've used GYG in France, Belgium, Portugal, Norway, USA without issue ever. Tours by Local we've only used in Italy.