We get a lot of skeptical questions when we tell restaurant owners, venue managers, and airport operators that digiQueue is free. "Free how?" is a fair question in a world where every SaaS product has a monthly fee hiding somewhere in the fine print.

So let's be completely transparent about how this works, who pays what, and how you actually make money using our platform.

The Free Plan: Actually Free

The digiQueue free plan costs $0 per month, $0 to set up, and $0 in contracts. You can run your virtual waitlist, send SMS notifications to customers, and manage your queue from day one without entering a credit card.

Here's what you get on the free plan:

  • Virtual waitlist management (unlimited queues)
  • Customer SMS notifications ("You're up next at [Your Restaurant]")
  • QR code for customers to join from their phones — no app download
  • Staff dashboard to manage the queue in real time
  • Basic analytics
  • Priority pass capability

That last one is where the model starts to get interesting.

The Revenue Split: How We Make Money (and How You Do Too)

When a customer pays for a priority pass — to skip the line at your restaurant, your venue, your gate — that payment gets split between digiQueue and your business.

On the free plan:

  • You keep 25% of every priority pass payment
  • digiQueue keeps 75%

On the paid plan:

  • You keep 75% of every priority pass payment
  • digiQueue keeps 25%

You set the priority pass price. We never touch your core revenue — table sales, covers, tickets, whatever your business runs on. We only earn anything when the priority pass system earns money, and we earn from our cut of that optional add-on.

The Paid Plan: Per-Notification Pricing, No Monthly Fee

The paid plan doesn't have a monthly subscription. It has a $0.02 per outgoing SMS notification charge — that's the only cost.

When you send a customer a notification that their table is ready, that's $0.02. When you send a priority confirmation, that's $0.02. If you have a slow week and send 50 notifications, you owe $1.00. If you have a busy summer Saturday and send 400 notifications, you owe $8.00.

There's no minimum, no base fee, no annual commitment. The paid plan scales exactly with your volume.

Why We Built It This Way

We built digiQueue with a specific belief: the technology that airlines, theme parks, and major venues use to manage demand and monetize access should be available to every business with a line — not just the ones with enterprise software budgets.

A family-owned restaurant in Panama City Beach should have the same tools as an airport. A nightclub in Atlanta should be able to monetize its velvet rope the same way a concert venue does.

Making the platform free removes the friction that stops most small and mid-size businesses from adopting new technology. By tying our revenue to your revenue, our incentive is aligned with yours: we only do well when you do well.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Say you run a restaurant that seats 150 people. On a busy Friday night, you have 200 people who want a table. 60 of them join your virtual waitlist. 4 of them pay $20 each for a priority pass — that's $80 in priority revenue.

On the free plan: You keep $20 (25%). digiQueue keeps $60.
On the paid plan: You keep $60 (75%). digiQueue keeps $20, plus you pay $0.02 per notification.

If you sent 60 notifications that night, the paid plan costs you $1.20 in notification fees. Your net on the paid plan: $58.80 vs $20 on the free plan.

The paid plan pays for itself the moment you have any meaningful priority pass volume.

Start Free, Upgrade When It Makes Sense

There's no pressure to upgrade. Start on the free plan, see how your customers respond to the priority pass option, and switch to the paid plan when the math works in your favor. You can calculate that math yourself based on your actual volume.

We've designed it this way intentionally. The free plan is a real, functional product — not a lead magnet. If you never upgrade, that's fine. We'd rather you use the platform and have a great experience than push you into a plan that doesn't fit.

Questions? Reach out at digiqueue.com/contact. Ready to start? Sign up free — no credit card required — at digiqueue.com.