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Couchsurfing and AirBnb are not even remotely the same.

Hosting on Couchsurfing is a way to meet other travelers and show them around your city, and most importantly, you don't get paid.

Hosting on AirBnb is a business. AirBnb is far closer to HomeAway and VRBO. These existed before too, but their usability was terrible and they were prone to scams.

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The people running couchsurfing killed it themselves by changing from a non-profit to a VC funded for-profit business after accepting huge amounts of volunteer effort.

But yeah, they aren't really the same thing. There is some overlap since it could be difficult to cover every day that you wanted to visit (and there isn't always enough hostel beds available, which are closer to the same idea), but for anyone who really preferred AirBnB it was better for everyone that they not be on couchsurfing.

I like AirBnb because I have to pay, even when I'm sharing the house with other people. I don't want to feel obliged to entertain my host, which IMO is the implicit tradeoff when you're staying somewhere for free.

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