Yelp Guest Manager alternative for walk-in shops
Looking for a Yelp Guest Manager alternative for a walk-in shop? Here's how NextUp Walk-in compares on price, texts and what's included, and when Yelp Guest Manager might suit you better.
| Feature | NextUp Walk-in | Yelp Guest Manager |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Basic $159/month, or $129/month on an annual contract (up to 500 covers) |
| Free plan or trial | No free plan: a 14-day free trial with every Pro feature | No |
| Texts | We pay for your first 500 a month, plus 250 for each extra location; then $0.03 each (texting switches on soon) | Two-way texting included |
| 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 | Credit card holds on the Plus plan; no card rate published on its pricing page |
| Built for | Shops that take walk-ins and bookings: barbershops, salons, tattoo, auto service, repair, grooming | Restaurants: waitlist and reservations listed on Yelp, Google Search and Apple Maps |
Yelp Guest Manager figures are from Yelp Guest Manager's pricing page, as of Oct 19, 2026. Also from Yelp’s page on annual contracts and early termination fees, as of Oct 10, 2026. Prices change, so check theirs for today's. Yelp Guest Manager is a trademark of its owner; NextUp Walk-in isn't affiliated with it.
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 Yelp Guest Manager might fit better
Honestly: Yelp Guest Manager may suit you better if you run a restaurant and want your waitlist and reservations listed on Yelp itself, where diners already look for a table. NextUp Walk-in has no marketplace, so it doesn’t bring you Yelp’s diners.
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.
Yelp Guest Manager’s pricing page lists card holds on Plus but publishes no card rate. NextUp Walk-in’s rate is Stripe’s published rate plus NextUp Walk-in’s 0.5% card fee (at most $1 a payment, never on tips), the same for every business.
- 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.
What shop owners and clients complain about
Of 53 recent 1–3 star reviews, the most common themes were bugs and outages (20), confusing screens or updates (18), having to use an app or log in (8), wait accuracy (7) and pricing and fees (6).
“As the app is updated, devs are not aware or thorough enough and functionality is broken through updates.”
The staff screen runs in a web browser, so there is nothing to install or update at the front desk. If the Wi-Fi drops, Call next, Start, Done and No-show are saved on the device and sent when the connection is back. The Terms of Service set a 99% monthly uptime target for signing in, joining a line and running it, with a credit when a month falls short. Monthly billing is cancelled from Billing in the dashboard and runs to the end of the paid month. The 14-day trial has every Pro feature. A card is needed to start, but nothing is charged until the trial ends.
Source: recent 1–3 star reviews on the US App Store, read October 16, 2026. Themes were counted by keyword, so one review can count in several, and reviewers include both businesses and their clients.
Questions about Yelp Guest Manager
Is NextUp Walk-in cheaper than Yelp Guest Manager?
As of Oct 19, 2026, Yelp Guest Manager's pricing page lists Basic at $159 a month month to month, or $129 a month on an annual contract, with up to 500 covers a month; Plus is $349, or $279 on an annual contract. Yelp's page on annual contracts states an early termination fee of $600 on Basic and $1,500 on Plus (as of Oct 10, 2026). NextUp Walk-in's Restaurant plan is $69 a month for the first location and $44 for each one after, with unlimited team members, on monthly billing. Shops that don't seat tables can use the Walk-in plan at $29.
Does Yelp Guest Manager work for barbershops or salons?
Yelp sells Guest Manager on its pages for restaurants, built around tables, covers and reservations. NextUp Walk-in is built for walk-in trades, from barbershops, salons and tattoo studios to auto shops and groomers, and has a Restaurant plan with a floor plan for restaurants.
Will NextUp Walk-in list my restaurant on Yelp?
No. Yelp Guest Manager lists your waitlist on Yelp, Google Search and Apple Maps, which can bring you new diners. NextUp Walk-in has no marketplace: guests join from a QR code at the door or your own link, follow their place in line live on their phone with no app to download, and are never shown another restaurant.
Can guests see the waitlist on a TV with NextUp Walk-in?
Yes. Every NextUp Walk-in plan includes a now-serving TV display that runs in a browser, and NextUp Walk-in has native apps for Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV. You pair the TV with the six-character code on its screen.
Try it on a Saturday
14 days free, with every Pro feature. Set up a location in about two minutes.