Square Appointments alternative for walk-in shops
Looking for a Square Appointments alternative for a walk-in shop? Here's how NextUp Walk-in compares on price, texts and what's included, and when Square Appointments might suit you better.
| Feature | NextUp Walk-in | Square Appointments |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Walk-in: $29/month for your first location, $19 for each additional one. Pro, with appointments: $59 and $39. 3 team members included per location, then $10/month each | Free $0; Plus $49/month and Premium $149/month per location |
| Free plan or trial | No free plan: a 14-day free trial with every Pro feature | Yes: Square Free at $0 a month; a 30-day free trial of Plus and Premium |
| Texts | We pay for your first 500 a month, plus 250 for each extra location; then $0.03 each (texting switches on soon) | Text marketing on Plus (500 a month, then 3¢ each) and Premium (2,500, then 1.5¢); not on Free |
| Online payments | Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ online, plus NextUp Walk-in's 0.5% card fee (at most $1 a payment, never on tips). Your clients pay no booking fee | Square’s own processing: 2.6% + 15¢ in person and 3.3% + 30¢ online on Free; 2.9% + 30¢ online on Plus and Premium |
| Built for | Shops that take walk-ins and bookings: barbershops, salons, tattoo, auto service, repair, grooming | Appointment businesses on Square: booking, payments and point of sale, with a waitlist for appointment openings |
Square Appointments figures are from Square Appointments's pricing page, as of Oct 20, 2026. Prices change, so check theirs for today's. Square Appointments is a trademark of its owner; NextUp Walk-in isn't affiliated with it.
- NextUp Walk-in3 team members a location included, then $10/month each$67
- Square AppointmentsPlus: $49/month per location; Premium is $149/month per location$147 $80 more
Each app's published monthly price, before taxes, texts and extra team members; theirs as listed on their own pricing pages, checked October 2026. Prices change: check theirs for today's.
What you get with NextUp Walk-in
- Customers join from a QR code or your link on their phone: no app, no account
- Their place and wait, live on their phone (opt-in text alerts coming soon)
- A now-serving TV display for your waiting area
- A door tablet for walk-ins without a phone
- A staff screen to call, start and finish visits
- A best time to come today, each person’s own wait, and family tickets for a parent and kids
- Customer screens in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Chinese
- On Pro: online booking and a team calendar, with email reminders and deposits
- Checkout in cash, by pay link, with a saved card or on a Stripe card reader
- Your services and prices, and who each customer asks for
- Your trade's own words, your logo and colors
- Insights: busiest days and hours, waits, top services
- Online tips tracked for each person, and on Pro, booth rent and suite rental collected for you
- A read-only link so ChatGPT, Claude and other AI assistants can look up your live wait and hours
- Passkey sign-in: Face ID, fingerprint or device PIN
- Runs in any browser on a phone, tablet, computer or streaming stick, or in the NextUp Walk-in app for Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV
When Square Appointments might fit better
Honestly: Square Appointments may suit you better if you already run your shop on Square’s point of sale and want booking in the same system, or you only take appointments and want a $0 plan: Square Free costs nothing a month.
NextUp Walk-in’s Pro plan runs the walk-in line and the appointment book together, with checkout, your client list and email campaigns, priced per location.
Compare other waitlist appsWhat taking payments really costs
The card rate is one line of the bill. The rest is the subscription, fees for each person on your team, and anything added on top of each payment. NextUp Walk-in is priced per location with 3 team members included at each, then $10 a month for each one after. It takes tips, bills, deposits, no-show fees, packages and memberships through Stripe, with Stripe's own fee and NextUp Walk-in's capped 0.5% card fee on top, never on tips.
Square’s online rate is 3.3% + 30¢ on its Free plan and 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium. NextUp Walk-in passes through Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ online and adds its 0.5% card fee (at most $1 a payment, never on tips), on every plan.
- Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ for a card payment online or 2.7% + 5¢ on a card reader, 0.8% by bank (at most $5)
- NextUp Walk-in's card fee: 0.5% of a card payment, at most $1, and never on tips or rent
- No booking or convenience fee for your clients: they pay the price on your menu
- Team pay statements and payroll export: what each person is owed, less rent and advances
Capped at $1
On top of Stripe's processing fee, NextUp Walk-in's fee is 0.5% of a card payment, never more than one dollar ($1). A $200 service and a $2,000 package carry the same $1 NextUp Walk-in fee.
Tips stay yours
NextUp Walk-in never charges a fee on tips. Only Stripe's processing fee applies, and you choose whether the tip or the business covers it.
Not on everything
Cash, gift-card redemptions, store credit you spend and booth rent carry no NextUp Walk-in fee. It only ever applies to card payments.
No booking fee
Your clients pay no booking fee to book with you online.
Questions about Square Appointments
Is NextUp Walk-in cheaper than Square Appointments?
As of Oct 20, 2026, Square Appointments' pricing page lists Square Free at $0, Plus at $49 a month per location and Premium at $149 a month per location, with a free 30-day trial of Plus and Premium. NextUp Walk-in's Walk-in plan is $29 a month for the first location and $19 for each one after; Pro, with online booking and a team calendar, is $59 and $39. Both include 3 team members per location, then $10 a month each.
Does Square Appointments have a walk-in waitlist?
Square's pricing page describes its waitlist as letting clients join through your booking site and get a notification when an appointment opens up. NextUp Walk-in is built around the walk-in line itself: customers join from a QR code at the door or your link, follow their live place in line on their phone with no app to download, and a TV in the shop shows who is up next.
Can I keep Square for payments and use NextUp Walk-in for the line?
NextUp Walk-in doesn't connect to Square or another point-of-sale system, so you'd run them side by side: the walk-in line and bookings in NextUp Walk-in, and checkout in Square. Your first month is free on monthly billing with the code SWITCH if you move over.
Try it on a Saturday
14 days free, with every Pro feature. Set up a location in about two minutes.