Waitlist Me alternative
Waitlist Me Alternatives for Restaurants (2026)
Waitlist Me's staff can answer a guest's text but can't start one, and texts past its plan come from a prepaid balance it doesn't refund. Its iPhone and iPad app had four new versions in the 12 months to October 2026, against 25 for ours from March to October, as far back as the App Store lists. On TablesReady, staff can start a text with any guest on a US or Canadian number from Starter, texts are included with alerts before you reach the limit, and Business adds a floor-plan map and online bookings. For the waitlist, Waitlist Me is slightly cheaper at lower volumes, by $4 a month at 500 parties and $9 at 1,250 on monthly billing; for a floor-plan map, its Platinum plan starts at $99.99 and our Business at $79. Stay with Waitlist Me if your host stand is a Clover device.
By Mike Errecart · Updated · Waitlist Me prices and features as of October 2026
We make TablesReady. This page also says when Waitlist Me is the better choice.
Which fits your business: TablesReady or Waitlist Me?
Pick TablesReady
Your hosts need to text guests back and forth
For example: a guest asks whether two more friends can join their party
From Starter, your staff can text any guest on a US or Canadian number first, or reply to theirs, and unread replies wait in an inbox. Waitlist Me's FAQ caps each US guest at three texts, and its staff can answer a guest's text but can't start one. TablesReady has no prepaid balance to keep topped up.
Either works
You want the lowest monthly bill for a texting waitlist
Waitlist Me's Premium and Pro plans are slightly cheaper than our Starter at lower volumes: $4 less at 500 parties and $9 less at 1,250 on monthly billing ($6 and $11 billed annually). Its Premium plan also includes a reservation calendar with a column per table, which needs Business on TablesReady. From 2,500 parties its cheapest option is Platinum, with the floor-plan map; on monthly billing it's within a dollar of our Starter at 2,500 and $41 more at 5,000, once its 2¢ extra notifications are counted. Our Free plan sends up to 150 texts a month per location to US and Canadian numbers (a tenth elsewhere).
Pick Waitlist Me
Your host stand is a Clover device
For example: a counter that already runs on Clover hardware
Waitlist Me has a Clover app that runs on Clover hardware. Its tablet apps also have a password-locked kiosk mode with an approval queue for self check-ins. TablesReady runs in any browser, including Chrome on Android tablets and phones, and our native app is for iPhone and iPad. Square is our one POS integration (Business).
Pick TablesReady
You want room to grow into tables and bookings
For example: a walk-in spot that's starting to take weekend reservations
On TablesReady Business (from $79/mo, or $69/mo billed annually) you get a floor-plan map with live table status, table suggestions that fit each party's size, and an online booking page. On Waitlist Me, Pro shows tables as a colour-coded grid, and its floor-plan map comes with Platinum, at $99.99 a month or $79.99 billed annually. Platinum also auto-assigns best-fit tables to online bookings.
Pick Waitlist Me
You seat a large dining room by server section
For example: a full-service restaurant that rotates parties between servers
On Waitlist Me Platinum, managers assign servers to tables and can sort servers by tables, seats or time since their last seating, with stats per server and per section. It can also merge tables automatically when a large party books online. TablesReady Business has round-robin table suggestions that spread parties across tables and colour-coded sections, not a server rotation, and managers combine tables by hand.
Waitlist Me pricing and setup vs. TablesReady
Waitlist Me prices are from its pricing page.
What each plan covers
Compared with TablesReady Starter
| Guest parties a month* | TablesReady Starter, monthly (billed annually) | Waitlist Me, cheapest plan at this level or above |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $39 ($34)1,000 messages | Premium: $34.99 ($27.99) |
| 1,250 | $69 ($59)2,500 messages | Pro: $59.99 ($47.99) |
| 2,500 | $99 ($84)5,000 messages | Platinum: $99.99 ($79.99)comparable to TablesReady Business |
| 5,000 | $159 ($129)10,000 messages | Platinum: $199.99 ($179.99)comparable to TablesReady Businessincludes 5,000 extra notifications at 2¢ each |
Pro adds predicted waits, reports and a colour-coded table grid; the floor-plan map starts on Platinum.
Compared with TablesReady Business
| Guest parties a month* | TablesReady Business, monthly (billed annually) | Waitlist Me, cheapest plan at this level or above |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $79 ($69)1,000 messages | Platinum: $99.99 ($79.99) |
| 1,250 | $109 ($94)2,500 messages | Platinum: $99.99 ($79.99) |
| 2,500 | $139 ($119)5,000 messages | Platinum: $99.99 ($79.99) |
| 5,000 | $199 ($164)10,000 messages | Platinum: $199.99 ($179.99)includes 5,000 extra notifications at 2¢ each |
The floor-plan map and server management start on Platinum.
Waitlist Me: Extra notifications cost 2¢ each on every paid plan, from a prepaid balance that isn't refundable.
*Assumes 2 text messages per party, the median across TablesReady restaurants. TablesReady counts 160-character segments; Waitlist Me limits each text to 160 characters. Each row shows the cheapest published option that covers that many parties, extra-use charges included.
Texting pauses at your monthly limit. You get alerts at 80, 90 and 100%, and can add messages in one click.
On monthly billing, Waitlist Me is slightly cheaper than our Starter at lower volumes: its Premium costs $4 less at 500 parties a month, and its Pro costs $9 less at 1,250 ($6 and $11 billed annually). From 2,500 parties, Waitlist Me's cheapest option is Platinum, the plan with its floor-plan map: within a dollar of our Starter at 2,500 and $41 more at 5,000, because it charges for each notification past its 5,000 included ones. Against our Business, which also has a floor-plan map, Platinum costs $21 more at 500 parties, $9 less at 1,250 and $39 less at 2,500, and the two are within a dollar at 5,000, all on monthly billing.
Waitlist Me
Basic (free) $0
Listed in its FAQ and on its country pages, though the US pricing page shows no plan card for it.
Premium $34.99/mo, or $27.99/mo billed annually
1,000 text or call notifications a month (US and Canada). The waitlist, a reservations calendar, kiosk mode, a web widget and a public waitlist page, with unlimited parties, devices and users.
Pro $59.99/mo, or $47.99/mo billed annually
2,500 notifications. Adds a colour-coded table grid (the floor-plan map is on Platinum), sections, business hours and blackout days, reply-only two-way texting, reports and predicted waits.
Platinum $99.99/mo, or $79.99/mo billed annually
5,000 notifications. Adds a spatial floor plan with rooms, server management, custom HTML for the widget and kiosk, an API for enterprise customers, advanced booking rules and setup help.
Extra notifications $0.02 each, from prepaid top-ups of $25, $50 or $100
Drawn from a prepaid balance with optional auto-recharge. The balance isn't refundable.
Prices are per location, and annual billing saves 20%. Annual plans aren't refunded pro rata, and a seasonal downgrade keeps your settings.
Getting started: Sign up yourself and pay by card at the published prices; its About page says it doesn't require demos. Annual invoices paid by check or ACH are available on request, and the vendor sets up accounts with more than 10 locations.
TablesReady
Free $0
The waitlist, guest self check-in by QR code or link, a website embed and basic reservations; the list stays in sync live on every device. Ready texts and automated voice calls, plus automatic confirmation and next-in-line texts. 150 messages a month (US and Canada; a tenth elsewhere) and up to 100 parties a month for each location, with up to two Free locations per account.
Unlimited users on every plan, each with their own login and an Admin, Manager or User role, or one shared login if your team prefers.
Starter from $39/mo, or from $34/mo billed annually
Everything in Free, plus two-way texting (US and Canadian numbers), AI-predicted wait times that learn overnight from your location's own history (turn them off if you'd rather quote waits yourself), and detailed analytics. From 1,000 messages and 2,000 parties a month, with higher tiers raising both; outside the US and Canada, messages are a tenth.
Business from $79/mo, or from $69/mo billed annually
Everything in Starter, plus online bookings, table management on a floor plan, Reserve with Google (bookings and waitlist joins), Square order sync, and Stripe deposits (2% fee plus Stripe's).
Custom properties to track VIPs, email addresses, allergies or anything else about a guest; saved replies for quick canned answers in chat; SMS automations (guests join by text, or reply with a keyword to cancel, confirm, check in or say they're running late); geofencing that limits check-in and booking to guests nearby; the to-go list, data exports, and an API and webhooks.
Enterprise Contact us
For groups: a dedicated account manager, custom terms, invoice billing, onboarding with set-up help and data migration, and phone support.
Texts are included in every plan, with no overage fees.
Getting started: Sign up yourself and start on the free plan, or try paid features free for 14 days with no credit card.
Why restaurants look for a Waitlist Me alternative
Waitlist Me launched in February 2012 as NoshList and took its current name in 2015. We've worked on TablesReady since 2011, so this page compares two of the longest-running texting waitlists. We read 48 reviews of Waitlist Me, most of them from 2018 to 2021. Of those, 17 mention that it's easy to learn and use, 11 praise its email support and 8 call it good value (App Store, Google Play and G2 reviews). The reasons to look elsewhere fall into four groups.
Three texts per guest. Waitlist Me's FAQ caps each US guest at three texts, a confirmation and two notifications (Waitlist Me FAQ). Each text is limited to 160 characters, and its help center documents no field for the guest's name. Ours run to 320 characters and can include the guest's name on every plan. We didn't find next-in-line, cancellation or auto-reply texts in Waitlist Me's help center. Three App Store reviews from 2017 to 2021 asked for options it lacked, and the newest of them wanted more texts per guest (App Store reviews).
Replies, three per visit. Guests can text back 2 to say they're on their way or 3 to cancel. On Pro, staff can answer a guest's text up to three times per visit but can't start a conversation. Waitlist Me says the feature isn't meant to be a chat app (Waitlist Me FAQ).
Devices out of sync. Four App Store reviews, the newest from December 2024, mention devices falling out of sync or a slow iPhone app that sent some users to the website instead (App Store reviews).
Four app releases in a year. Counting a release as a new version in the App Store's version history, Waitlist Me's iPhone and iPad app had four in the 12 months to October 2026, each with bug-fix or compatibility notes (version history). New features now arrive as web settings, such as the Platinum table rules for online bookings announced on its blog in January and February 2026. Its Android app was last updated in September 2026. Our iPhone and iPad app listed 25 releases between March and October 2026, and the App Store shows only the newest 25 (TablesReady on the App Store).
Where Waitlist Me goes further
Waitlist Me does more than TablesReady in four areas:
- Clover devices. It has a Clover app in the Clover App Market. TablesReady runs in any browser, including Chrome on Android tablets and phones, and our native app is for iPhone and iPad.
- A kiosk with an approval queue. Its tablet apps have a password-locked kiosk mode (Premium). Self check-ins and booking requests can wait for staff approval, with a timer that rejects unanswered requests and a rejection text. On TablesReady, an iPad locked with Guided Access runs our check-in page (Free), and check-ins and online bookings (Business) go straight onto the list without an approval step.
- Guest emails. Booking confirmations, reminders scheduled ahead of arrival and a link to change or cancel go out by email (Premium; scheduled reminders on Pro). TablesReady reaches guests by text and automated voice call on every plan, and sends booking reminders by text.
- Server rotation on Platinum. Servers are assigned to tables, with per-server and per-section stats, and large online bookings get tables merged automatically. TablesReady Business has round-robin table suggestions and colour-coded sections, not a server rotation, and managers combine tables by hand.
What TablesReady adds for a restaurant waitlist
TablesReady goes further than anything we found in Waitlist Me's public material in these areas:
- Two-way texting from Starter. Staff can text any guest on a US or Canadian number first, or reply, as often as the visit needs. Waitlist Me's staff can answer a guest's text up to three times a visit and can't start one.
- Texts in the plan, with no balance to top up. Every plan includes its texts, with no overage fees. Texting pauses at your monthly limit. You get alerts at 80, 90 and 100%, and can add messages in one click. Waitlist Me draws texts past its plan from a prepaid balance it doesn't refund.
- Table suggestions for staff-added parties, on Business. Our Business plan, from $79/mo, suggests a table that fits each party's size for parties staff add as well as online bookings, on the same account as your waitlist. Waitlist Me's Platinum plan, which starts at $99.99, auto-assigns best-fit tables to online bookings, and we found no automatic table proposal for staff-added parties. Business also takes bookings from Google and Stripe deposits. Waitlist Me's Google button is only for joining the waitlist, and we found no deposits in its public material.
- Guest replies that update the list (Business). A guest can text a keyword to confirm or check in to a booking, or say they're running late and have their quoted time pushed back. To join without scanning a code, a guest texts ADD plus your venue's name and their name to our number. Waitlist Me documents fixed replies of 2 and 3, which mark the party's row for staff to act on.
- A reason when a text fails, on every plan. Staff see whether each text was delivered, sends are retried on temporary carrier errors, and a failed text shows a plain-language reason such as a landline number. Waitlist Me documents the time a guest was paged and a billing record of messages sent.
- A to-go list and Square orders (Business). Takeout orders get their own list and order-ready texts, and Square orders land on the list and can send the ready text when they're completed in Square. Waitlist Me's FAQ describes one queue per location, and its Square link covers customer names and phone numbers.
- Custom fields that stay with the guest (Business). Add your own fields to the staff and guest forms, such as allergies or a VIP flag, and keep the answers on the guest profile across visits. Waitlist Me offers preset quick notes and status colours that work as tags.
The details: TablesReady vs. Waitlist Me
Key differences
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Two-way texting | Yes, from Starter: staff can start a chat with any guest or answer one (US and Canada numbers) | Reply-only. Guests can reply 2 (on the way) or 3 (cancel) on every US plan. On Pro, staff can answer a guest's text up to three times a visit but can't start a chat. Its Premium page lists two-way texting on Premium. (source) |
| Floor plan and table view | Yes, on Business (from $79/mo): a floor-plan map with live table status, plus table suggestions sized to each party. No POS table-status sync. | Yes: a colour-coded table grid with custom statuses from Pro, and a spatial floor-plan map with rooms and server sections on Platinum, set up in the tablet app. The floor-plan map doesn't show in a computer browser. Platinum also auto-assigns best-fit tables to online bookings. (source) |
| Apps | iPhone and iPad app, plus any browser: runs in Chrome on Android tablets and phones. No native Android app. | iPad and iPhone app, an Android app for phones and tablets (50K+ downloads), any browser, and Clover devices (source) |
| Texts while a guest waits | Confirmation, next-in-line, ready and cancellation texts, plus an automatic reply to guest texts, on every plan (Free included) | Three per US guest, per its FAQ: a confirmation and two notifications. A next-in-line text isn't listed. (source) |
Waitlist and texting
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Predicted wait times | AI-predicted from Starter, learned overnight from each location's own history (by party size, weekday and hour); you can turn it off and quote waits yourself. Free uses a default quote you set. | Yes: a Historical mode on Pro and Platinum uses the last four weeks by party size and time of day; every plan gets a rolling average over 1 to 24 hours (source) |
| Saved replies | Business: canned replies picked from a list in the chat window, with merge fields such as the guest's name | Not listed on the Waitlist Me website. Staff replies on Pro are typed as free text. |
| Waitlist joins from Google | Yes, on Business (Reserve with Google) | Yes, a Join Waitlist button on Google for US and Canadian dining venues. The vendor says it comes with any subscription; verification starts once the account is upgraded. (source) |
| Geofencing | Business: limit check-in, the live waitlist page and booking to guests within a distance you set, with your own message for everyone else | Not listed on the Waitlist Me website. Display hours are the only limit found on when its widget takes sign-ups. |
Bookings and tables
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Online bookings | Basic reservations on Free; an online booking page on Business | Yes, from Premium: the widget, a hosted page or the kiosk takes booking requests, which staff approve or which are approved automatically (source) |
| Bookings from Google | Yes, on Business (Reserve with Google) | Not offered: its Join from Google page says the feature is for joining the waitlist, not for reservations (source) |
| Deposits | Stripe deposits on Business (2% TablesReady fee plus Stripe's fees) | Not listed on the Waitlist Me website |
Guest details
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Custom guest fields and tags | Business: your own fields and tags on staff and guest forms (a VIP flag, email, allergies or anything else), shown as columns on the waitlist and reservations lists and, if you choose, kept on the guest's profile | On Premium, preset Quick Notes (such as birthday or VIP) and six status colors act as tags on the row, with optional adult, child and senior counts. Fields you define yourself aren't listed. (source) |
Plans and pricing
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes: waitlist, self check-in and basic reservations, 150 messages a month for US and Canadian numbers (a tenth elsewhere) and up to 100 parties per location, up to two Free locations per account, unlimited users | A free Basic level, listed in its FAQ and on its country pages. The US pricing page mentions a free version in its text but shows no Free plan card. (source) |
| Lowest paid plan | Free plan; paid plans from $39/mo, or from $34/mo billed annually | Premium, $34.99/mo per location or $27.99/mo billed annually, with 1,000 text or call notifications a month (US and Canada) (source) |
| How texts are billed | Included in the plan, with no overage fees: 1,000 a month on the entry Starter and Business tiers for US and Canadian numbers (a tenth elsewhere), counted in 160-character segments. Texting pauses at your monthly limit. You get alerts at 80, 90 and 100%, and can add messages in one click. | 1,000, 2,500 or 5,000 text or call notifications a month on Premium, Pro and Platinum (US and Canada), then $0.02 each from a prepaid balance. Its FAQ caps each US guest at three texts. (source) |
| Per-cover fees | None | None listed. Plans are priced per location, with unlimited parties, devices and users. (source) |
Platform and support
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| POS integrations | Square on Business (syncs orders for order-ready texts). No Toast or Clover integration. | Square, for customer names and phone numbers (not orders), and a Clover app that runs on Clover devices (source) |
| Multiple locations | Yes; each location needs its own subscription | Yes: one admin login, a My Places overview and multi-location reports. Each location needs its own subscription. (source) |
| Staff logins and access levels | Unlimited users on every plan, each with their own login (email or Google) and an Admin, Manager or User role per location; a shared login works too if you prefer. No SAML SSO. | Yes: extra users cost nothing on any plan, since pricing is per location. Premium adds Admin, User and Limited User roles per location. (source) |
| HIPAA BAA | Not available | Not listed on the Waitlist Me website |
| Support | Email, Mon–Fri 9am–6pm ET; phone support on Enterprise | Email and an in-app Report Issue form on every plan. Calls can be arranged for multi-location accounts. (source) |
Ratings
| Feature | TablesReady | Waitlist Me |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings (US) |
|
Waitlist Me details come from its own website, help center and app store listings. Where we couldn't find a feature, the table says so rather than calling it missing. Capterra ratings checked October 2026; G2 ratings checked October 2026. See something out of date? Email support@tablesready.com.
Switching from Waitlist Me
Most restaurants switch in an afternoon: import upcoming bookings by CSV, paste in your text wording, and run both side by side during the trial.
What carries over
- Upcoming bookings. We found no booking export in Waitlist Me's public material, and its CSV reports leave out phone numbers, so type your upcoming bookings into a CSV (date, time, name, party size, phone and notes) from your Waitlist Me calendar. Our reservation import loads it on every plan.
- Your notification wording. Paste each Waitlist Me message into the matching TablesReady template, then swap its variables for our merge fields, which include the guest's name.
What you set up again
- Your guest list. Waitlist Me doesn't export guest phone numbers or emails, and TablesReady has no customer import, so profiles fill in again as guests come back.
- Tables and sections. Draw the floor plan by hand on Business, and set each table to walk-ins, bookings or both.
- Your kiosk and Google button. Lock an iPad on our check-in page with Guided Access, and connect Reserve with Google (Business) for waitlist joins and bookings.
Help with the move
Our email support helps with setup on Starter and Business. We don't move your data for you on those plans; Enterprise includes set-up help and data migration. Waitlist Me doesn't refund annual plans pro rata. If you pay yearly, start our 14-day trial (no card, up to 150 texts) close to your renewal and run both apps side by side.
Other Waitlist Me alternatives worth a look
These are the other tools we'd shortlist, and who each one suits.
NextMe
Event teams and walk-in businesses that send guests away while they wait and want branded wait pages, several queues and text or WhatsApp alerts.
Compare TablesReady with NextMeWaitly
Small US restaurants and shops on iPhones, iPads or Macs that want a low-cost waitlist with basic two-way texts, and two locations on its Professional plan.
- Capterra: No Capterra listing
- G2: Listed on G2 (no reviews yet)
Carbonara
Single-location cafés, bars and restaurants in Europe or Latin America that want a walk-in list, bookings, a floor plan and WhatsApp in one low-cost app.
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (37 reviews)
- G2: Listed on G2 (no reviews yet)
Hostme
Small full-service restaurant groups and independents that want server rotation and a guest CRM with campaigns, on a POS Hostme supports.
Read about Hostme in our guideWaitlist Me alternative FAQ
What is the best Waitlist Me alternative?
For a restaurant that wants two-way texting, frequent app updates and room to grow into bookings, we'd pick TablesReady. Start on the free plan, and add two-way texting (US and Canadian numbers) on Starter from $39/mo. Reserve with Google bookings and Stripe deposits come with Business, from $79/mo. If you run several queues at once, look at NextMe. For server rotation and deposits on one flat fee, look at Hostme. We build TablesReady, so treat our pick as one opinion.
How many texts does Waitlist Me send each guest?
Its FAQ caps each US guest at three texts: a confirmation and two notifications. In the US and Canada, the second notification can be an automated call instead. On every TablesReady plan, Free included, guests can also get a next-in-line text and a cancellation text, and an automatic reply when they text in. Each text counts toward the plan's monthly message allowance.
Does Waitlist Me have a free plan?
Yes, a free Basic level. Its FAQ and country pages list it, though the US pricing page doesn't show it as a plan card. TablesReady Free sends up to 150 messages a month in the US and Canada (15 elsewhere) for up to 100 parties and comes with the waitlist, self check-in, basic reservations and unlimited users. An account can keep 2 locations on Free.
Is Waitlist Me priced per location?
Yes. Each Waitlist Me location needs its own subscription, and extra users cost nothing. TablesReady works the same way. Each location has its own subscription, any number of locations sit under one login, and every plan includes unlimited users.
Can guests book a table from Google with Waitlist Me?
No. Waitlist Me says its Join from Google button is only for joining the waitlist, not for reservations. It offers the button to US and Canadian dining venues and says it comes with any subscription. TablesReady Business, from $79/mo, puts both the waitlist and bookings on Google Search and Maps through Reserve with Google, with availability drawn from your schedules and tables.
Is Waitlist Me still being updated?
Yes. Its Android app was updated in September 2026 and its iPhone and iPad app in October 2026, and new Platinum table rules for online bookings were announced in January and February 2026. Counting a release as a new version in the App Store's version history, its iPhone and iPad app had four in the 12 months to October 2026, all with bug-fix or compatibility notes. TablesReady's App Store listing showed 25 between March and October 2026, which is as far back as the store lists.
How do I switch from Waitlist Me to TablesReady?
Waitlist Me's CSV reports leave out guest phone numbers and emails, and TablesReady has no customer import, so your guest list starts fresh. Upcoming bookings can come over in a CSV you prepare, with date, time, name, party size, phone and notes, and our reservation import takes it on any plan. Waitlist Me gives no pro-rata refund on annual plans, so start our 14-day trial (no card) near your renewal date and run both at once.
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