Walk-in queue apps

Waitwhile alternative for lines that start before people arrive.

Queue management and appointments for walk-in businesses, from a single shop to enterprise retail.

Who Waitwhile is for
Retail, healthcare, and government locations that run walk-in queues and appointments with staff on the floor.
Their price
Free plan (1 location, 50 visits/mo); Starter from $31/mo (waitwhile.com)
Unwaited
Free for 100 signups a month; Starter $10 a month for 2,500.

When Waitwhile is the better choice

  • SMS, email, and chat with people in the queue, and a TV display of the line.
  • Appointments and walk-ins in one system, with staff and resource management.
  • Self-service kiosks and multi-location analytics.
  • API, webhooks, and Zapier on the Business plan.

When Unwaited is

  • Free plan with 100 signups a month and paid plans from $10, against $31 for their first paid tier.
  • Capacity per day, week, or month and opening hours built for lists people join in advance.
  • Time slots with a cap per slot on one form.
  • A designed form you embed on your own site, with API and webhooks from $10 a month.

Side by side

What each one does

Prices and limits are what Waitwhile's public pages showed on 17 September 2026. Check them before you decide.

FeatureWaitwhileUnwaited
Starting priceFree (50 visits/mo); $31/moFree (100 signups/mo); $10/mo
SMS to people in lineYesNo
Kiosk and TV displayYesNo
Staff and resource schedulingYesNo
Capacity per day, week, or monthNoYes
Time slots with per-slot capsAppointmentsYes, without a calendar
Embed on your siteYesYes
API and webhooksBusiness planAPI free; webhooks from $10/mo

Switching

How to move from Waitwhile

  1. Step 1

    Export your visitor data from Waitwhile.

  2. Step 2

    Create a waitlist from the Barbershop or Restaurants recipe and set your cap and hours.

  3. Step 3

    Replace the join link on your site and door with the new hosted link or QR code.

Ready-made waitlist

Start from the recipe people leaving them use

Each one is a ready-made waitlist with the capacity, hours, and fields already set. Sign in, one click, and it is live.

Barbershops

Recipe

Walk-ins

12 per day

12 walk-ins per day. The count resets at 8:00 AM.

  • 12 per day
  • Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat 8 AM–5 PM
  • 4 fields
Use recipeDetails

Restaurants

Recipe

Tonight's counter

10 per day

10 seats per day. The count resets at 5:00 AM in your time zone.

  • 10 per day
  • Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat 6 AM–12 PM
  • 4 fields
Use recipeDetails

Photo mini sessions

Recipe

Fall minis, Oct 18

40 in total

Eight hourly slots, five sessions each. A full slot is greyed out on the form and rejected by the API.

  • 40 total
  • Open any time
  • 8 capped slots
  • 5 fields
Use recipeDetails

FAQ

Questions

Can Unwaited call the next person in line?

You can send a "your turn" email from the entries page and mark them served. There is no SMS and no staff console.

Does Unwaited do appointments?

It does time slots: a field where each option has a cap. There is no calendar, no durations, and no staff assignment.

What does the free plan include?

Unlimited waitlists, 100 signups a month, embeds, hosted page, QR code, API, CSV, and joiner emails.

Related

Keep reading

Try it next to the tool you have.

Free for 100 signups a month. Unlimited waitlists. Your signups stay as long as you want them.

Create your waitlist