Waitlist Me

Waitlist Me manages customer waitlists and reservations, then sends text or phone notifications when customers are ready. Customers can join through a web widget, hosted page, kiosk, QR code or, for restaurants in the United States and Canada, Google Search. The service supports future reservations and appointments, and current-day reservations can appear in the waitlist view. Premium features include statistics, downloadable reports, visit logs and weekly email summaries; Pro and Platinum also provide historical wait estimates based on the previous four weeks of day and hour data. Its iPad app can connect to Square to look up existing customers and optionally add Waitlist Me customer entries. The Free plan includes a basic guest list and same-day reservations, but no notifications. Paid plans start at $27.99/mo (annual); Premium is billed at $335.88 annually. The service runs on Android, iOS and web. Waitlist Me is designed for one queue at a location, and businesses with multiple high-volume waiting areas may use separate accounts.

Waitlist Me combines queue management, reservations and customer notifications, with joining options for customers and reporting on paid plans. Check the single-queue design and the Free plan's notification limit against your needs.

Waitlist Me may suit restaurants, salons, clinics, retail, tutoring and recreation businesses that need to manage a customer queue or reservations. It is designed for a single queue at a location.

Waitlist Me is a queue, reservation and customer-notification service for restaurants and other appointment-based businesses. It fits operators that need multiple guest check-in routes while running one waiting line per location. Its paid tiers add practical communication, forecasting and floor-management tools, but the free tier is limited to basic list keeping.

Overview

Launched in 2012 as Noshlist and based in Charleston, South Carolina, Waitlist Me serves restaurants, salons, clinics, retailers, tutoring providers and recreation businesses. Customers can enter a queue or reservation without staff typing every name, then receive a text or phone call when their place is ready. The central limitation is structural: each location is designed for a single queue. A business with several high-volume waiting areas may need separate accounts.

Key features

Guests can join through a web widget, hosted waitlist page, QR code, self-check-in kiosk or, for restaurants in the US and Canada, Google Search. This broadens entry points for counter service and walk-ins, although the Free plan removes most customization and sends no notifications.

The service supports future reservations and appointments while showing current-day reservations in the waitlist view. Premium introduces a reservations calendar and customizable notifications, making it the first tier suited to businesses coordinating bookings and a live line. Pro adds table and resource management, two-way texting, reports and analytics, plus historical wait estimates calculated from the prior four weeks of day-and-hour data. Platinum adds smart floorplans, a multi-room floorplan option, custom HTML and an enterprise API for more complex operations.

Premium reporting includes in-app statistics, downloadable reports, visit logs and weekly email summaries. On iPad, Waitlist Me can connect with Square to find existing customers and optionally add Waitlist Me entries to Square. Customer phone numbers cannot be exported by business customers. The service runs on Google App Engine, and its privacy policy says personal information is not sold or rented and access is restricted to service operations and legal requirements. Issues can be reported from app settings or by email.

Pricing

Free works for a basic, same-day guest list when staff can call or otherwise manage arrivals themselves. Premium is the sensible starting point for automated guest contact and self-service intake, but its 1,000-message quota matters to busy venues. Pro earns its higher price when tables, resources, two-way conversations or historical estimates affect daily decisions. Platinum is aimed at operations needing floorplan configuration, multi-room layouts or API-level integration. All paid plans are presented with annual billing totals, and additional notifications cost $0.02 each.

Platforms

Waitlist Me supports Android, iOS and the web. The iPad app also provides the Square connection, so businesses already working in that ecosystem have a clearer reason to use the tablet workflow.

Who it's for

Choose it for a restaurant, salon, clinic, shop, tutor or recreation operator that runs one queue and wants web, QR, kiosk and hosted-page check-in. It is particularly suitable when reservations need to sit beside the day’s walk-ins, or when managers need reports and wait estimates. It is a weaker fit for locations with multiple simultaneous queues, for businesses that require notifications without a subscription, or for operators needing to export customer phone numbers.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Many guest-entry channels, including Google Search joins for eligible US and Canadian restaurants, reduce dependence on a staffed check-in desk.
• Reservations, appointments and same-day queue activity share one operational view.
• Pro and Platinum add progressively deeper resource, messaging, analytics and floorplan controls.
• Privacy terms prohibit selling or renting personal information, while phone numbers cannot be exported by business customers.

Cons

• The single-queue design can force multi-area businesses into separate accounts.
• Free has no notifications and little customization, so it is not a complete self-service experience.
• Notification quotas and $0.02 overage charges make message-heavy operations harder to budget.
• Advanced reporting, forecasting, floorplans and API access require higher paid tiers.

Alternatives

Compare Restaurant Waitlist Software when you want a broader restaurant-focused shortlist.

• Carbonara App suits buyers seeking a freemium service with a free trial and a free allowance of 50 bookings per month.
• EazyQ is worth considering when Android and web access, a five-person concurrent queue, 100 customers monthly and one staff seat fit your operation.
• NextMe is an alternative for teams prioritizing SMS allowances, including a free 100-SMS monthly tier.
• Waitwhile fits businesses wanting Android, iOS, web and API access, with a free plan limited to one location and 50 visits monthly.
• digiQueue offers a free-forever tier with queue management, priority queues, QR joining and SMS notifications.
• queue1 is a simpler Android-focused option whose demo supports up to 100 tickets.
• Shokken combines manual entry, QR self-join, browser tracking and public menus on its free tier.
• TablesReady is another freemium choice with a free allowance of 150 messages per month and up to 100 parties.

Verdict

Waitlist Me is a strong choice for a single-queue business that needs reservations, multi-channel check-in and dependable customer notifications in one system. Pick Premium for the core paid workflow, Pro for resource-heavy operations and Platinum for floorplan or API requirements. Look elsewhere if you need multiple queues at one location, a notification-capable free plan or unrestricted phone-number export.