A Waitwhile alternative for places with a real queue
Waitwhile is a solid waitlist product, and its free plan is genuinely free rather than a trial in disguise. The catch is the meter: 50 visits a month on the free plan, 2,500 on Starter. If your line is longer than the plan, you pay for the queue itself. Our free plan counts service points and staff instead of people, so a busy Saturday costs the same as a quiet Tuesday: nothing.
Waitwhile’s free plan covers one location and 50 visits a month, and its paid plans meter visits too: 2,500 on Starter from $31 a month. Minutka’s free plan covers one location with no cap on how many people take a ticket, and Business is $19 per location a month with unlimited service points and staff. Waitwhile includes appointments on the free plan and sends SMS; Minutka does neither, and notifies through Telegram and browser push instead.
Side by side
Waitwhile publishes a free plan, Starter from $31 and Business from $55 a month, with visit caps of 50, 2,500 and 5,000. Figures checked in September 2026 on their pricing page. Plans change, so check theirs before you decide.
Where Waitwhile is the better choice
If any of these matter to you, stay with them. A queue you fight with costs more than the subscription.
SMS out of the box
If your visitors expect a text message rather than a messenger, Waitwhile does that natively and we do not do it at all.
Bookings even on the free plan
Their free tier includes appointments. Ours does not: time slots start on the paid plan, and that is a fair reason to stay with them.
A long list of integrations
Mature integrations and a data export story, built over years. If you need your queue wired into an existing stack today, they are further along.
Where Minutka fits better
Your busiest day is not a bill
Nothing meters how many people take a ticket. A tire shop in season and a clinic on Monday morning cost exactly what a quiet day costs.
A display board is part of the deal
Open a link on any TV or tablet: numbers, the call-up and a voice announcement, on the free plan. No extra device to buy.
A lower paid entry point
Business is $19 per location a month with unlimited service points and staff, rather than a per-visit ladder.
What it looks like
Real screens, not mockups: a live queue at a clinic with five people waiting.
Common questions
Really free, and not for a limited period. One location, up to two service points and two staff accounts, no cap on how many people take a ticket. Business is switched on for a week when you sign up so you can see the paid features, and no card is asked for.
Nothing changes as your line grows, because visits are not counted. You move to a paid plan when you need more than two service points, services with routing, appointments or your own branding, not when more people show up.
No, and that is a deliberate trade-off. People are notified through Telegram or a push in the browser, which costs nothing per message, so a busy day does not turn into a bill. If SMS is a hard requirement for your visitors, a tool that bills for texts will suit you better than we will.
There is nothing to migrate on the visitor side: your queue starts empty every day anyway. Create a queue, print the QR poster, open the board on any screen. Most places are running the same afternoon, and you can keep the old system live for a week and compare.
One location runs free, with no monthly cap on how many people take a ticket: up to two service points and two staff accounts, notifications via Telegram and browser push, a display board with voice call-ups, a kiosk and basic stats. Business is $19 per location a month and adds unlimited service points and staff, services with routing, appointments, your own branding and analytics. Network starts at $17 per location a month and adds an open API and several branches under one roof.
Try it on one real line
Free, no signup. Keep your current system running and compare for a week.
Create a queue