Access points and check-in stations
The biggest driver: how many front desks, entrances or registration stations need to check people in. Many vendors — IRIGuest included — price by access point.
Pricing & costs
How much does visitor management software cost?
The price mostly depends on how many sites or access points you need to cover, how much automation you want, and which process you are digitising. Sometimes a free tool is enough; other times a Cloud platform with pre-registration, QR codes, badges and reporting makes more sense. This guide walks through what drives the price, the hidden cost of paper and Excel, and — without the usual "contact us for a quote" — what IRIGuest actually costs.
Short answer
Visitor management software can cost anywhere from zero — with free versions — to a monthly fee that scales with access points, sites and automation (pre-registration, QR codes, badges, reporting). IRIGuest offers a free version with no time limit and a Cloud plan starting from €50/month + VAT (or €540/year + VAT).
The subscription is only half the story, though: paper and Excel have a cost too — reception time, mistakes, searches that go nowhere — it just never shows up on an invoice.
If you searched for "how much does visitor management software cost", you have probably already visited a few vendor sites and hit the same answer: "request a quote". It is a common practice, but it does not help anyone trying to get a sense of budget before talking to sales. Here we take a different approach: explain what actually drives the price, and tell you plainly what our own solution costs.
The guide applies to any evaluation you are running, not just IRIGuest: the cost factors are the same across visitor management software — and so are the questions worth asking before you choose.
What drives the cost of visitor management software
The price of a visitor management platform is rarely a single number that fits everyone: it is the combination of a handful of concrete factors. These are the main ones — and the first things worth mapping out internally before you ask for a quote:
Number of sites
More sites means data to centralise, settings to replicate, and different people who need to see the same records — the natural trigger for moving to Cloud.
Features and automation
Guest pre-registration, QR codes, badges, automatic host notifications, reporting: every automation saves reception time and generally sits in the higher-tier plans.
Data, history and permissions
Where the data lives, who can see it and for how long: user roles and retention are what separates a simple log from a company-wide platform.
Customisation and integrations
Custom branding and check-in questions are more or less standard by now; bespoke workflows and integrations with other business systems usually need a dedicated conversation.
Support, updates and hosting
A Cloud subscription typically bundles hosting, updates and support. A self-hosted setup can look cheaper on paper, but shifts maintenance and backups onto you.
One factor that often worries people — the number of visitors — does not affect the price in access-point pricing models like IRIGuest's: checking in ten people a day or a hundred costs the same. Privacy requirements are a different matter: consent and correct data retention do not change the subscription fee, but they do need to be set up properly from day one — see our guide to GDPR and visitor logs.
Paper, Excel or software: visible costs and hidden costs
A paper log and an Excel sheet look free, and for very simple needs — a handful of visitors, one site, no reporting — they can genuinely be enough. The catch is that their cost is not actually zero: it is just invisible, because it never shows up as a line on an invoice — you pay it in time, mistakes and missed opportunities instead.
| Aspect | With paper or Excel | The cost you don't see |
|---|---|---|
| Reception time | Filling in by hand, corrections, sheets to file away | Minutes per visit that add up, over a year, to whole working days |
| Data quality | Illegible handwriting, skipped fields, inconsistent times | Incomplete records exactly when you need them: checks, emergencies, audits |
| Searching the archive | Flicking through binders or comparing different versions of the same file | Hours spent reconstructing a visit — when the answer was needed right away |
| Privacy | The log stays open on the desk: every visitor reads who came before them | A real privacy risk and an impression of carelessness |
| Badges | Handwritten or produced with separate files and printers | A parallel process to maintain, with inconsistent results |
| Multiple sites | Every site has its own log, its own file, its own habits | No overview at all: the data exists, but nobody can actually query it |
| Image | The first impression is a clipboard with a pen tied to the desk | Hard to put a number on, impossible to ignore: reception speaks for the company |
There is no need to write off paper or Excel: for many businesses they were the right call for years. The honest point is the total cost: once visitor numbers grow, "free" quietly becomes the most expensive way to run the front desk. The full comparison of all three options is in our guide paper, Excel or software.
Free version or Cloud?
The first real decision isn't "which software", but "how much process": do you need a tidy digital visitor log on a tablet, or a platform that coordinates several access points, notifications and reporting? IRIGuest covers both with two versions:
To get started with no budget
A complete digital visitor log for iPad and Android tablets: offline, no time limit, no hidden costs. The best alternative to a paper logbook for companies starting out.
- Check-in and check-out on tablet
- 5-language interface
- On-screen signature and privacy consent
- Customisable logo, colours and questions
- CSV data export
For the complete process
The platform for larger organisations: multiple access points and sites, centralised data, coordinated reception desks, and automation that saves time every day.
- Online use with centralised data
- Multi-device, multi-access-point and multi-site
- Pre-registration and QR codes
- Automatic notifications to the host
- Centralised reporting and searchable history
- Business-card scanning with AI
- Priority support
If you want to see both versions side by side, feature by feature, there is a dedicated Free vs Advanced comparison page.
How much IRIGuest Cloud costs
We believe in transparent pricing: anyone evaluating software needs a clear order of magnitude before a sales call. Here is ours:
IRIGuest Cloud
Starting from €50/month + VAT
or €540/year + VAT with the annual plan — €60 less than paying monthly.
Hosting, updates and support included. The fee does not depend on how many visitors you check in.
The starting price covers one check-in station: for most companies with a single reception desk, that is the whole calculation — one access point, one fee, no surprise variables.
Companies with several access points, multiple sites or specific organisational needs can request a dedicated quote, with terms that get more favourable as the number of registration points grows. The same applies to customisations, specific configurations or integrations with other systems: these are scoped and agreed upfront, before you commit — no surprises along the way.
When it is worth paying for visitor management software
The free version already solves the "clipboard at reception" problem. A Cloud subscription starts to make sense once managing visitors has become a real part of how the company runs. The usual signs:
- Visitors arrive regularly, not as the exception.
- Reception loses time on logging, calling hosts and re-entering data.
- You want to handle visits before they start, with pre-registration and QR codes.
- You need tidy, consistent visitor badges, not ones filled in by hand on the spot.
- Management, HR or security are asking for reporting and searchable history.
- You are coordinating several sites or entrances — typical of visitor management on factory sites.
- First impressions at reception need to match the rest of the business.
- Paper or Excel can no longer keep up with the volume, or with what the people using that data actually need.
If two or three of these sound familiar, the subscription stops being a cost and becomes the price of a process that actually works. And you don't even need to wait on badges: the free Badge Generator lets you create and print QR-code badges right away.
Questions to ask before choosing
Before comparing prices, it helps to map out your own scenario. Nine questions — and what the answer tells you:
- How many visitors do we get each month? A handful of occasional visits point towards the free version; a steady flow makes automation worth it.
- Do we have one front desk or several access points? This is the factor with the biggest effect on price — count them before you request any quote.
- Do we need pre-registration? If visits are scheduled — meetings, suppliers, interviews — pre-registration and QR codes cut out the wait at the desk.
- Do we need badges or QR codes? If a badge is part of the process, it is better generated from the check-in than filled in separately.
- Do we want reporting and searchable history? If yes, you need a centralised solution: scattered sheets and files won't cover this.
- Who needs to access the data? If HR, security or management consult it too, you need user accounts, permissions and one single source of truth.
- Is the free version enough? For one station and a simple process, often yes — and it is the most sensible way to get started.
- Do we need support or setup help? Check what is included in the subscription and what requires a dedicated arrangement.
- Do we want to improve the first impression at reception? If reception is the first contact with clients and partners, this is a real selection criterion — not a cosmetic detail.
Price is only one of the criteria worth weighing: the others — from offline operation to GDPR compliance — are covered in our guide on how to choose visitor management software.
Start free, grow into Cloud
There is one more cost factor that rarely gets mentioned: the risk of getting it wrong. Buying a full platform and only ever using a tenth of it is one of the most common hidden costs in business software.
IRIGuest is built to avoid exactly that: start with the free version — no budget request, no deadline — put it to work at reception with real visitors, and only when you need more access points, notifications or reporting do you look at Cloud. In the meantime you can try IRIGuest online straight from your browser, nothing to install.
For anyone who needs to make the case internally, that is a real advantage: no leap of faith, no contract to justify before anyone has seen the value. How much does it cost to digitise your visitor log? At the start, nothing — the journey is what decides when the investment makes sense.
The right cost is the one that matches the process
The price of visitor management software should not be read as a fee to minimise, but as a ratio: on one side the cost, on the other the time reception saves, how well-organised the data is, how secure access control is, the impression the front desk makes, and whether the features actually get used — no more, no less.
IRIGuest plays that ratio in the open: a free version with no time limit for companies getting started, and Cloud starting from €50/month + VAT for those who want the complete process. The rest is down to your own front desk.
Frequently asked questions about pricing
How much does IRIGuest Cloud cost?
IRIGuest Cloud starts from €50/month + VAT, or €540/year + VAT with the annual plan. The fee includes hosting, updates and support, and does not depend on how many visitors you check in. Specific requirements — several access points, customisations, integrations — can be quoted separately.
Does the price depend on the number of access points?
Yes. An access point is an entrance or a visitor check-in station — a reception desk, a company entrance, a site. The starting price covers one station; companies with several access points or sites can request dedicated terms, which get more favourable as the number of registration points grows.
Is there a free version of IRIGuest?
Yes. IRIGuest offers a free version, offline and with no time limit, built for companies that want to start digitising their visitor log in a simple way: tablet check-in, on-screen signature, customisable branding and questions, CSV data export.
When does it make sense to move to the Cloud version?
The Cloud version fits best when you need pre-registration, QR codes, automatic host notifications, centralised reporting, or you are managing multiple access points and sites. It usually makes sense once visitors arrive regularly and more than one person needs to see the same data.
Is an Excel file enough to manage visitors?
It can be, for very simple needs — but it becomes limiting once you need searchable history, badges, reporting, multiple sites or a tidy, private process. Excel is not actually free: you pay for it in reception time, transcription errors and data that is hard to find again.
Does the price include customisations?
The standard price covers use of the Cloud service. Customisations, specific configurations or integrations with other business systems may require a dedicated quote, agreed transparently before activation.
Start today, invest when it makes sense
Download the free version and bring order to reception right away. When you need more access points, reporting and pre-registration, Cloud is one step away — and now you know what it costs.