What is the best visitor management software in 2026?

The guest taps their name on a tablet, the host gets a text, the badge prints itself. And nobody reads the last ten names on the clipboard.

For most US offices, start with Sign In App: $630 per location per year on Core, with unlimited iPads, employees and monthly sign-ins, and room to add employee time tracking and desk booking later. It now covers SwipedOn and The Receptionist too. If you only see a handful of visitors a day, Envoy's free plan handles up to 100 sign-ins a month at one location. And if you run offices in Europe, Vizito is the one that bills in euros, from €29.95 per location per month.

The catch in this market is per-location pricing. Open a second building and your bill doubles. So we worked out the yearly cost for 1, 2 and 5 locations, in the currency you actually pay, and added the hardware every vendor leaves out.

Romain CochardCEO of Hack'celeration
Updated 20265tools ranked, all with public pricing4other tools covered, 2 of them quote-only$0Envoy's free plan, up to 100 sign-ins a month

The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.

At a glance

5 visitor management systems compared

This ranking is for a company that welcomes guests, candidates, couriers or contractors at 1 to 15 locations, without a dedicated IT team. Every price comes from the vendor's official pricing page, before tax.

Best forWhat sets it apartFree planTeam sizeVisit
1Sign In AppMost completeUnlimited iPads and sign-ins4.3/5$630/location/yr—SMBs and mid-market, 1 to 10+ sitesVisit →
2EnvoyBest free planPermanent free plan3.9/5Free, then $362/location/mo✓Small offices, 1 locationVisit →
3VisitlyBest month-to-monthNo yearly commitment needed3.8/5$100/location/mo or $1,000/yr—iPad offices, up to 15 sitesVisit →
4GreetlyBest host-guest textingUnlimited everything, flat price3.6/5$99/mo, billed yearly—US lobbies and front desksVisit →
5VizitoBest for European officesOnly public price in euros4.5/5€29.95/location/mo, billed yearly—SMBs with offices in EuropeVisit →

Scores use five weighted criteria, explained in the method. Prices from official pricing pages in 2026, before tax and hardware. Vizito bills in euros; the others in US dollars. Ranked for US buyers: scores are the same in every edition of this page, but a euro-only vendor drops in a US ranking.

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How we rank

How we compared and scored

This page is for the office manager, facilities lead or founder who wants to swap the paper sign-in sheet for a tablet. It doesn't cover large access control projects that go through an integrator and an RFP. Those tools appear further down, unscored.

First filter: a public price per location. A vendor with no published pricing can't be compared fairly on cost. Eptura Visitor (formerly Proxyclick) and Sine (now Honeywell) sell on quote only, so they're described without a score.

Second filter: one vendor, one card. SwipedOn's pricing page now redirects to Sign In App, and The Receptionist describes itself as part of Sign In App. Plenty of "best of" lists still rank them as three separate products. We keep one.

The weighting follows what costs a small company money. Real cost is 25%: yearly price per location, billing currency, what happens at location two. Front desk features are 25%: pre-registration, QR codes, badges, host alerts, documents to sign. Contract and transparency is 20%: published price, card-free trial, auto-renewal terms. Hardware support is 15% (iPad only or Android too, tablets per site). Billing and data fit is 15%: billing currency, languages, privacy and retention settings.

Then we read user reviews, starting with the negative ones. The same complaints show up from one vendor to the next: price hikes at renewal, a second building billed like a new customer, badge printers dropping off Wi-Fi, and iPads walking out of the lobby.

  1. Real costYearly price per location, billing currency, cost of a second site, free plan.
    25%
  2. Front desk featuresPre-registration, QR codes, badges, host alerts, documents to sign, sign-out.
    25%
  3. Contract and transparencyPublished pricing, card-free trial, commitment, auto-renewal and notice period.
    20%
  4. Hardware supportiPad or Android, tablets per location, printers and stands.
    15%
  5. Billing and data fitBilling currency, languages, privacy and retention settings.
    15%
5tools ranked
4other tools covered
2026pricing checked

No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.

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1
Most complete

Sign In App

4.3/5

Sign In App is now the home of three names you may have shortlisted separately. SwipedOn's pricing page redirects to it, and The Receptionist presents itself as part of Sign In App. So don't compare all three: same company, same price list.

Pricing is yearly, per location. Core is $630, Enhanced $1,260 and Pro $1,890. Enhanced adds what matters day to day: visitor pre-registration, ID scanning, space booking and employee time tracking. Pro adds single sign-on, automatic user provisioning, an account manager and phone support. Employees, monthly sign-ins and iPads are unlimited on every plan.

Two things to know before signing. A location is an address: a different postal code counts as another site, and volume discounts only start at 10 sites. And the contract renews on its own. Sign In App sends notices 90 and 75 days out, yet reviewers say they were charged because they missed the 60-day cancellation window. The trial is 15 days, no card needed.

Standout features
  • Visitors, time tracking and desks
  • Unlimited iPads per location
  • 15-day trial, no card
+Pros
  • ✓Richest feature set in the ranking
  • ✓No monthly sign-in cap
  • ✓Clear yearly price per site
−Cons
  • ✗One subscription per postal code
  • ✗Auto-renewal with a long notice period
  • ✗Discounts only from 10 sites
Verdict

The right call if the front desk is only part of the job and you also want to track who's on site. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you sign, three months ahead.

See Sign In App pricing →
2
Best free plan

Envoy

3.9/5

Envoy is one of the best-known names in the category, and its free plan is the only one here you can actually run a front desk on. It covers one location, 100 sign-ins a month and a directory of up to 50 people. For a small agency or clinic seeing three or four guests a day, that's enough.

Past that, you need a paid plan. It unlocks unlimited visits and directory, badge printing, visitor photos, legal documents to sign on arrival, single sign-on and email reports. The top tier adds access control and guest Wi-Fi integrations, a deny list and 500 ID scans a year. Premium costs $362 per location per month, billed yearly: about $4,344 per location per year. Many lists still quote $109, which is no longer the published price. Only the Enterprise tier is quote-based.

Reviewers like how simple the guest screen is. The complaints are about a pricing model they see as built to upsell, renewal increases with little visible change, and printers and iPads that drop off Wi-Fi. Plan on an iPad: that's the hardware Envoy expects.

Standout features
  • Permanent free plan
  • Very simple guest screen
  • Access control on the top tier
+Pros
  • ✓Free while you stay under 100 sign-ins
  • ✓Full feature set on paid plans
  • ✓Widely used, quick to learn
−Cons
  • ✗Premium at $362 per location per month
  • ✗Renewal price hikes in reviews
  • ✗Free plan limited to one location
Verdict

Perfect for getting started at $0 in a small office. Once you pass 100 sign-ins a month or open a second site, put Premium's $4,344 a year next to Sign In App Core's $630.

See Envoy plans →
3
Best month-to-month

Visitly

3.8/5

Visitly does something rare here: it lets you pay by the month. Starter is $100 per location per month, or $1,000 a year (about $83 a month). If you're opening a temporary office, or want to see whether staff actually use it before committing, that flexibility is worth a lot.

Employees and visits are unlimited. Starter covers up to 5 locations, 2 iPads per location and 10 document templates such as NDAs and safety rules. SMS evacuation alerts are an add-on, useful if you need to know who's in the building during a fire drill. Business moves to 15 locations and unlimited iPads for $200 a month or $2,000 a year. The trial is 14 days, no card.

The limit is hardware: it runs on Apple devices only. With two entrances, Starter's 2-iPad cap gets tight fast.

Standout features
  • Month-to-month billing
  • Unlimited visits and employees
  • SMS evacuation alerts
+Pros
  • ✓No yearly commitment needed
  • ✓14-day trial, no card
  • ✓Document templates included
−Cons
  • ✗Apple hardware only
  • ✗2 iPads per location on Starter
  • ✗Costs more than Sign In App Core per year
Verdict

A good fit if you already own iPads and want to keep commitment short. For Android tablets or the lowest yearly bill, look higher in the ranking.

See Visitly pricing →
4
Best host-guest texting

Greetly

3.6/5

Greetly keeps pricing flat and simple. Essential, at $99 a month billed yearly, covers sign-in, notifications and the visitor log. Pro, at $159 a month, adds badges, two-way texting between host and guest, ID verification with US driver's license scanning, Zapier, mail and package handling, multiple kiosks, log deletion and automatic sign-out. Users, sign-ins and hosts are unlimited, and Greetly states "no hidden fees".

Two-way texting fixes a real lobby problem: the host in a meeting replies "down in 5" without leaving the room. Log deletion on Pro also makes it easy to enforce a retention period.

The downside is the buying process. There's no trial on the pricing page, only a demo, and you'll want Pro for badges.

Standout features
  • Two-way host-guest SMS
  • Everything unlimited
  • US driver's license scanning
+Pros
  • ✓Easy-to-read monthly price
  • ✓Mail and packages on Pro
  • ✓Automatic sign-out
−Cons
  • ✗No listed trial, demo only
  • ✗Badges need the Pro plan
  • ✗Built around US IDs
Verdict

Worth a look for a busy US lobby where texting matters more than anything else. For multi-site groups, Sign In App's per-location price is easier to scale.

See Greetly pricing →
5
Best for European offices

Vizito

4.5/5

Vizito comes from a Belgian company founded in 2009, and it's the only tool here that publishes prices in euros. If your offices are in Europe, that means no FX fees and no renewal surprise when the dollar moves.

All three plans include unlimited kiosks, QR codes, hosts and users. What changes is volume. Standard covers 100 visits a month and up to 100 text messages, with Microsoft or Google sign-in. Pro goes to 300 visits and 300 texts, plus priority support. Enterprise unlocks unlimited visits, 500 texts, SAML single sign-on, Entra ID, Google Workspace, webhooks, roles and phone support.

One detail matters: every arrival counts. A contractor who comes twice in a month uses two visits. The upside is that going over doesn't lock the front desk; Vizito only asks you to upgrade if it keeps happening. It runs on iPad and Android tablets, and the trial is 14 days with no card and 25 texts included.

Standout features
  • Priced in euros
  • Unlimited tablets and users
  • iPad and Android
+Pros
  • ✓Lowest entry price in the ranking
  • ✓Going over quota doesn't block sign-ins
  • ✓14-day trial, no card
−Cons
  • ✗100-visit cap on Standard
  • ✗Text messages capped per plan
  • ✗Setup screens called clunky in some reviews
Verdict

The pick for offices in Europe: euro pricing, any tablet, and no per-user charges. Count your real monthly arrivals, contractors included, before you choose between Standard and Pro.

See Vizito pricing →
Real cost

What visitor management really costs per year

Vendors quote per month, per year, in dollars or euros. Here's the yearly software cost on each entry plan, at official prices before tax. For Envoy, we show both the free plan and Premium.

1 location

Envoy free: $0 under 100 sign-ins a month; Envoy Premium: $4,344. Sign In App Core: $630. Visitly Starter: $1,000 billed yearly, $1,200 month to month. Greetly Essential: $1,188. Vizito Standard: €359.40. From zero to over $1,000 for similar entry-level features.

2 locations

Sign In App Core: $1,260, because every postal code is a site. Visitly Starter: $2,000. Vizito Standard: €718.80. Envoy Premium: $8,688, and the free plan covers one site only. One reviewer summed it up: a second building needed a separate account and an extra charge. Ask how a vendor treats two entrances at one address before you sign.

5 locations

Sign In App Core: $3,150, no discount until 10 sites. Visitly Starter: $5,000, the plan's ceiling. Envoy Premium: $21,720. Vizito Standard: €1,797. Past that, Visitly moves to Business at $2,000 per location per year and Vizito offers multi-site quotes. This is where quote-only vendors like Eptura and Sine become worth calling.

  • Is the invoice in dollars, euros or pounds?
  • Does a second building or entrance count as a new location?
  • Does the quota count every arrival or every unique visitor?
  • How many tablets are included per location?
  • Does the contract auto-renew, and with what notice?
  • Are the badge printer and stand extra?
Visitor data

What to settle about visitor data before you go live

A visitor log holds personal data, on paper or on a tablet. These are the practical points to set up with any tool. For anything regulated, check with your own counsel or privacy lead.

01

Retire the open clipboard

Basics

A sign-in sheet where every guest reads the names above theirs leaks who visited whom. A tablet shows each guest only their own entry, and only authorized staff can open the log. That alone is a good reason to switch.

Avoid
A log anyone can read
02

Collect only what you need

Form

Name, company, host and time in and out cover most offices. Every extra field (photo, phone, ID scan) needs a reason. Turn off optional fields you don't use, and keep ID scanning for sites that truly require it.

Core fields
Name, company, host, times
03

Set a retention period and automate it

Retention

Decide how long you keep entries, write it down, and delete on schedule. Greetly Pro lets you delete log entries; ask other vendors how they handle automatic deletion. For offices in the EU or UK, GDPR applies to the log: tell visitors why you collect their data, and keep it no longer than needed.

Ask the vendor
Automatic deletion settings
04

Healthcare: ask for a BAA

Contract

If your front desk sees patients, "HIPAA compliant" on a website isn't enough. Ask the vendor whether it will sign a business associate agreement (BAA), and get it in writing before rollout. Few comparison pages mention this step.

Get in writing
A signed BAA
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Not ranked

Other tools worth knowing

These names come up a lot. They're not ranked because they publish no visitor management price, so we can't compare their real cost fairly. They're still solid leads for larger companies. iLobby and Gable also show up in US lists, mostly written by those vendors themselves; we left them out because we couldn't read an official pricing page for either.

01

Eptura Visitor (formerly Proxyclick): multi-site enterprises

Quote only

Proxyclick is now part of Eptura. It pairs an iPad kiosk for guests with an iPhone app for staff and a web dashboard. Plans depend on monthly visits and features, billed monthly, yearly or every two years. Support gets good marks, but some customers call the bill exorbitant for their setup, and one left after a pricing change. The trial only covers the top plan.

Price
Quote only
Best for
HQs and site networks
02

Sine (Honeywell): industrial sites and contractors

Quote only

Sine, now part of Honeywell, sells Small, Medium, Large and Enterprise plans based on average sign-in volume, with unlimited hosts. Enterprise targets sites above 150 visitors a day or several locations. No price is published, but the trial runs 30 days on the first three plans, the longest we found.

Price
Quote, 30-day trial
Best for
Plants, worksites, contractors
03

Archie: hybrid offices and visitors

Desks

Archie is first a desk booking tool (Starter from $159 a month, Pro from $249). Its visitor module has no price on the official page: you get a figure after a demo, then a 14-day trial. It runs on iPad and Android. Worth it if you want both jobs in one tool.

Price
Visitor module on quote
Best for
Hybrid offices
04

Kelio: visitors inside access control

Europe

Kelio, from the French group Bodet, folds visitor management into its access control and HR software. It makes sense if you already use Kelio for time and attendance in Europe. Sales go through a quote and an installation project, far from a tablet you plug in the same day.

Price
Quote only
Best for
Existing Kelio customers
Traps

What makes a front desk rollout go sideways

These mistakes come up again and again in reviews. None of them shows on a pricing page.

01

Forgetting that price is per location

Price

Every ranked tool bills per location. At Sign In App, a different postal code is a different site, so a warehouse across town doubles the bill. List your addresses before asking for a price, and negotiate the second-site rate up front.

Ask for
The second-site price
02

Not budgeting the hardware

Hardware

No ranked tool ships the tablet. Plan $200 to $800 for a tablet (iPads start around $349), $100 to $500+ for a badge printer, $100 to $300+ for a stand or kiosk, and $50 to $300 for a QR or ID reader. Reviewers call recommended printers surprisingly expensive and report iPads stolen from lobbies, so a locked stand is money well spent.

Starting budget
$450 to $1,900 per entrance
03

Putting the printer in a Wi-Fi dead spot

Setup

Badge printers and iPads falling off Wi-Fi is the most common technical complaint. No badge means a line at the desk. Check the signal at the exact counter spot during the trial, and add an access point if needed.

Check
Signal at the counter
04

Missing the renewal window

Contract

Yearly contracts renew by themselves. At Sign In App, you cancel 60 days before the end date; reviewers who missed it were charged close to £500. Envoy reviewers describe price increases at renewal. Write down the end date and notice period when you sign.

Notice
60 days at Sign In App
05

Underestimating arrivals

Price

Envoy's free plan stops at 100 sign-ins a month, Vizito Standard at 100 visits, and every arrival counts. A daily courier alone is about 20 arrivals a month. Count a typical month, contractors, candidates and deliveries included, before picking a plan.

Daily courier
About 20 arrivals a month
06

Assuming badges come standard

Plans

Badge printing sits on Greetly Pro and on Envoy's paid plans, not their entry tiers. One Envoy reviewer found adding a printer cost more than a new license. Confirm which plan prints badges, and what each extra printer costs, before you buy.

Check
Which plan prints badges
FAQ

Your questions about visitor management software

  • Is there a free visitor management system?

    Yes, but only one you can really run a front desk on: Envoy's free plan, capped at 1 location, 100 sign-ins a month and a 50-person directory. The others offer trials, not free plans. Tip: Sine's trial runs 30 days, Sign In App's 15 days, Vizito's and Visitly's 14 days with no card.

  • How much does a visitor management system cost?

    Expect $630 to about $1,200 per location per year for the software on an entry plan. Sign In App Core is $630 a year, Visitly Starter $1,000 a year, Greetly Essential $99 a month billed yearly. Envoy Premium, with unlimited visits, runs about $4,344 a year. Add $450 to $1,900 of hardware per entrance, depending on the tablet and printer.

  • What is the best visitor management app for iPad?

    Sign In App, since every plan includes unlimited iPads per location. Visitly runs on Apple hardware only and caps Starter at 2 iPads per site. If you'd rather use cheaper Android tablets, Vizito and Archie support both.

  • Do I need a badge printer?

    Only if you want printed badges; QR codes and host alerts work without one. Badges sit on Greetly Pro and Envoy Premium ($362 per location per month). Budget $100 to $500+ for the printer, and check its Wi-Fi signal at the desk: dropouts are the top hardware complaint.

  • Is visitor management software HIPAA compliant?

    It depends on the vendor and the contract, not the website badge. If patient names land in your visitor log, ask the vendor to sign a business associate agreement before rollout, and limit fields to what you need.

  • Are SwipedOn, The Receptionist and Sign In App the same product?

    They're now under one roof. SwipedOn's pricing page redirects to Sign In App, and The Receptionist presents itself as part of Sign In App. Compare them as one vendor, with one price list from $630 per location per year.

  • Can visitors pre-register with a QR code?

    Yes, on most tools, but check the plan. Vizito includes QR codes on every plan, while Sign In App puts visitor pre-registration on Enhanced ($1,260 per location per year), not Core. Send the QR code with the meeting invite so the guest signs in with one scan at the desk.

  • How long should I keep visitor logs?

    There's no single rule; set a period that fits your security needs, write it down and delete on schedule. In Europe, offices often use a few months: the French regulator uses 3 months for access control logs, and Spain's data protection agency deletes its own visitor records after one month.

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