The comparison table
Sorted by how the products are positioned, not by preference. Read the pricing column as a model, not a quote.
| Platform | Free tier | Pricing model | Hardware support | Review automation | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VoqadoWiFi | Yes, free forever | Per account (tiered) | Omada and UniFi only | Built in | Omada or UniFi venues that want a free start |
| Beambox | Trial, not a free tier | Per location | Broad, incl. own hardware kits | Built in | Single independent venues wanting a turnkey box |
| SocialWiFi | No published free tier | Per location | Broad vendor list | Limited | European hospitality groups with sales-led buying |
| Purple | No published free tier | Quote / enterprise | Very broad, enterprise-grade | Via integrations | Large venues needing analytics and wayfinding |
| Zenreach | No published free tier | Quote / enterprise | Broad, often bundled | Built in | US multi-unit brands focused on walk-through attribution |
| StayFi | No published free tier | Per property | Own routers plus common vendors | Email-led | Short-term rental and vacation-rental operators |
| Tanaza | Trial, not a free tier | Per access point | Very broad, vendor-agnostic OS | Not core | MSPs managing mixed-vendor AP fleets |
| Cloudi-Fi | No published free tier | Quote / enterprise | Enterprise SD-WAN and cloud stacks | Not core | Regulated enterprises with strict compliance needs |
| MyWiFi Networks | No published free tier | Agency / reseller licence | Broad, RADIUS-based | Add-on | Agencies reselling portals under their own brand |
| Spotipo | Free self-hosted edition | Self-host or hosted | Broad, RADIUS and vendor APIs | Not core | Technical teams that want to run their own portal |
The ten platforms, one at a time
Each entry ends with the case against it. A comparison that cannot name a downside is an advert.
VoqadoWiFi
Our own productVoqadoWiFi is a captive portal and guest marketing platform built around two hardware ecosystems: TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti UniFi. The portal builder, guest CRM, email automation, and Google review requests sit in one dashboard, and there is a genuine free tier rather than a countdown trial. We publish this list, so treat this entry as the interested party it is and weigh it against the others below. Full plan detail is on the pricing page, and supported controllers are listed under hardware integrations.
- Free forever Starter plan: 25 logins per month across 1 location, no card required.
- Growth is $49 per month and covers 3 locations under a single subscription, so cost does not scale linearly with venue count at small sizes.
- Pricing is published in full rather than gated behind a sales call.
- Review request automation and guest segmentation are included rather than sold as modules.
- −Hardware support is deliberately narrow: TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti UniFi only.
- −White-label and full branding removal are Enterprise-only, not available on Growth.
- −The company is young and does not have the deployment history of Purple or Zenreach.
- −The free tier caps at 25 logins per month, which a busy café will pass in days.
When it is the wrong choice: If your estate runs on Cisco Meraki, Aruba, Ruckus, MikroTik, or white-box access points, VoqadoWiFi is the wrong choice and you should look at Tanaza, Purple, or Cloudi-Fi instead.
Beambox
Turnkey for single venuesBeambox packages guest WiFi marketing for independent hospitality operators, and sells hardware alongside the software so a venue with no existing controller can start from nothing. The product is opinionated, which is a strength when you do not want to make networking decisions.
- One of the smoothest onboarding paths for an operator with no IT support.
- Hardware can be bought with the subscription, removing the compatibility question entirely.
- Review generation and automated guest messaging are part of the core product.
- Strong template library, so a branded portal takes minutes rather than hours.
- −Priced per location, so a group of venues pays a multiple of a single site.
- −Buying the bundled hardware creates a degree of vendor lock-in.
- −Less suited to teams that already run a managed controller and want portal software only.
When it is the wrong choice: A group with ten sites and an existing UniFi or Omada estate will usually find per-location pricing the expensive route.
SocialWiFi
European hospitalitySocialWiFi has a long track record in European hospitality and a mature approach to consent and GDPR-facing workflows. Buying is sales-assisted rather than self-serve, which suits groups that want an implementation partner and frustrates operators who just want to sign up. See our VoqadoWiFi vs SocialWiFi comparison and our list of SocialWiFi alternatives for a longer treatment.
- Deep experience with European privacy expectations and consent capture.
- Wide hardware compatibility compared with narrower platforms.
- Account management and onboarding support included in most engagements.
- −No published free tier, and pricing is quoted rather than listed.
- −Priced per location, which compounds across a portfolio.
- −Self-serve evaluation is limited, so comparing it on your own takes longer.
When it is the wrong choice: If you want to test a portal this afternoon without speaking to anyone, this is not the fastest path.
Purple
Enterprise venuesPurple sits at the enterprise end: stadiums, malls, airports, healthcare campuses. Alongside the portal it offers location analytics, presence data, and wayfinding, and it integrates with a very wide set of enterprise wireless vendors.
- Among the broadest hardware compatibility in the category.
- Genuine venue analytics, footfall, dwell time, zone movement, not just login counts.
- Enterprise security, SSO, and procurement processes are well established.
- −Quote-only pricing with enterprise contract length and minimums.
- −Substantially more platform than a five-site restaurant group needs.
- −Implementation typically involves professional services rather than self-setup.
When it is the wrong choice: For an independent café or a small group, the configuration surface alone will outweigh the benefit.
Zenreach
Walk-through attributionZenreach built its reputation on connecting online marketing to physical return visits, detecting when a previously captured guest walks back into a venue. For US multi-unit brands trying to prove that email and ads drive footfall, that attribution story is the differentiator.
- Walk-through attribution is a genuinely distinct capability in this category.
- Mature messaging automation aimed at repeat-visit economics.
- Well suited to brands with dozens or hundreds of comparable units.
- −Quote-only pricing, typically with annual commitment.
- −Attribution accuracy depends on capture rates that small venues rarely reach.
- −Historically US-centric, which matters for European privacy workflows.
When it is the wrong choice: A single venue will not generate enough repeat-visit volume for the attribution model to say anything trustworthy.
StayFi
Short-term rentalsStayFi is the clearest example of a specialist beating generalists in its niche. It targets short-term rental and vacation rental operators, capturing every guest in a booking party rather than only the person who booked, and feeding them into direct-booking email marketing.
- Purpose-built for the rental use case, including per-property branding.
- Captures whole travelling parties, not just the lead booker.
- Direct-booking email marketing is the explicit goal, not a generic CRM.
- −Priced per property, which adds up across a large portfolio.
- −Little reason to choose it for a restaurant, bar, or retail floor.
- −Hardware guidance leans toward its own recommended routers.
When it is the wrong choice: Outside short-term rentals, a general hospitality platform will fit your workflows better.
Tanaza
Vendor-agnosticTanaza is closer to a cloud network operating system than a marketing tool. It manages access points from many vendors under one controller and includes a captive portal as part of that. For managed service providers with heterogeneous fleets, that flexibility is the whole point.
- Exceptional hardware breadth, including white-box and mixed-vendor estates.
- Network management and portal in one place, which suits MSPs.
- Per-access-point pricing is predictable if your AP count is stable.
- −Marketing automation and review generation are not the product focus.
- −Per-AP pricing punishes venues with dense AP deployments and few guests.
- −More network engineering knowledge required than a marketer will have.
When it is the wrong choice: If your goal is email capture and review volume rather than network control, you will end up bolting a marketing tool on top anyway.
Cloudi-Fi
Compliance-firstCloudi-Fi approaches guest access as a security and compliance problem first and a marketing problem second. It integrates with enterprise cloud and SD-WAN stacks and is built for organisations where guest network access must satisfy auditors.
- Strong privacy, data residency, and audit posture.
- Integrates with enterprise network and security architecture rather than sitting beside it.
- Credible in regulated sectors where most portal vendors are not.
- −Quote-only, enterprise-scale commercial model.
- −Marketing features are secondary to access control.
- −Requires network and security stakeholders to be involved in the buy.
When it is the wrong choice: A hospitality operator whose main question is how to get more Google reviews is buying the wrong category of product here.
MyWiFi Networks
Agency and resellerMyWiFi Networks is built for agencies rather than end venues. The proposition is a white-labelled platform you resell to your own clients under your own brand, with multi-tenant account management underneath.
- White-label and multi-tenant management are the core product, not an upsell.
- Reseller economics are designed in, including client billing separation.
- Reasonable hardware breadth through RADIUS-based integration.
- −Overhead is wasted if you operate venues rather than sell to them.
- −End-venue polish is generally behind the specialist products.
- −You inherit first-line support for your clients.
When it is the wrong choice: A single restaurant should not be buying an agency platform.
Spotipo
Self-hosted optionSpotipo is the entry in this list for teams that would rather run the software themselves. A self-hosted edition means no per-location subscription and full control of guest data on your own infrastructure, at the cost of you owning uptime, updates, and support.
- Self-hosting removes recurring per-location fees entirely.
- Guest data stays on infrastructure you control, which simplifies some privacy positions.
- Broad hardware support via RADIUS and vendor APIs.
- −You are responsible for hosting, patching, backups, and uptime.
- −Marketing automation is far thinner than the commercial platforms.
- −Total cost of ownership is engineering time, which is easy to underestimate.
When it is the wrong choice: If nobody on your team wants to be paged when the portal stops issuing sessions, buy hosted software.
How to choose, in four decisions
Most buyers start with the feature grid and end up with the wrong product. Work through these in order instead.
Start with your hardware, not the feature list
The single fastest way to eliminate options is to name your access points first. Portal software that does not speak to your controller cannot be fixed with features. If you run Omada or UniFi your shortlist is wide. If you run Meraki, Aruba, or Ruckus, several products on this page are already out, including ours.
Match the pricing model to your growth curve
Per-location pricing is honest and simple at one site and painful at twenty. Per-access-point pricing suits stable networks and punishes dense deployments. Per-account tiers are cheapest for small multi-site groups but hit ceilings. Model your cost at the size you expect to be in two years, not the size you are today.
Decide whether reviews are the point
If your real objective is Google review volume, a platform with native review request timing will beat a network tool plus a separate email service. If your objective is network control across mixed vendors, the reverse is true. Very few teams need both equally.
Read the exit terms before the feature list
Contract length, data export format, and whether hardware was bundled into the deal determine how expensive it is to change your mind. Ask for a CSV export of guest records during evaluation, not after signature.
Free versus paid captive portal software
Three different things get called free in this category, and confusing them is the most common budgeting mistake we see.
A paid product with the meter switched off for a fixed window. Useful for evaluation, useless for a venue that only needs a splash page occasionally. Most vendors on this page offer this and nothing else.
A permanently free plan with hard caps. VoqadoWiFi Starter is free forever with 25 logins per month at one location. That is enough to test the whole flow end to end and enough for a very small venue, and it is not enough for a busy café, which will exhaust it in days.
Open source or self-hosted editions such as Spotipo carry no licence fee. The cost moves to your infrastructure and your engineering hours. This is genuinely the cheapest option for a team that already runs servers and the most expensive for a team that does not.
Paid tiers earn their money at the point where guest volume, multiple locations, or automation complexity exceed what a capped plan allows. If you want to put numbers on that threshold for your own venue, the ROI calculator and the guest WiFi marketing cost breakdown are more useful than any feature grid.
Hardware compatibility notes
This is the constraint that decides most shortlists, and it is the one buyers check last. A few notes worth carrying into vendor calls.
TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti UniFi are the volume ecosystems in independent hospitality. They are well documented, widely deployed, and supported by nearly every platform here. VoqadoWiFi supports these two and only these two, which is a deliberate narrowing rather than a roadmap gap.
Enterprise wireless is a different market. Estates on Cisco Meraki, Aruba, or Ruckus should be talking to Purple, Cloudi-Fi, or Tanaza. Do not let a general claim of wide compatibility substitute for a written confirmation of your controller and firmware.
Bundled hardware is convenience bought with lock-in. Vendors that sell you routers alongside the subscription remove the compatibility problem and create a switching cost. That trade is reasonable for a first venue and expensive across a portfolio.
Ask how the integration actually works. External portal redirect, RADIUS, and controller API integrations behave differently under load, during controller upgrades, and when your ISP changes. A vendor that cannot describe which method it uses on your hardware has not tested it on your hardware.
Our exact supported controllers and setup steps are documented under hardware integrations. Unfamiliar terminology is defined in the glossary.
Methodology and last updated
Last updated: 6 August 2026. Published by: VoqadoWiFi, which is one of the ten platforms listed.
Selection. Products qualified if they are actively sold as captive portal software in 2026, serve an identifiable buyer segment, have capabilities that can be checked against public documentation, and represent a distinct approach rather than a near-duplicate of another entry. Two products that solve the same problem the same way for the same buyer would have collapsed into one slot; that is why an agency platform, a self-hosted option, and a rentals specialist all appear alongside general hospitality tools.
Criteria. Five: whether a genuine free tier exists as distinct from a trial, the pricing model and how it behaves as you add sites, hardware compatibility breadth, whether review request automation is native, and the buyer segment the product is actually built for. Ordering in the table follows positioning, not merit; there is no scoring system, because a single score across venue types would be a fiction.
On prices. We do not state competitor prices as fact. Packaging changes frequently, several vendors publish nothing at all, and a stale figure in a comparison table is worse than no figure. We describe models instead. VoqadoWiFi's own prices are stated because we can verify them: Starter free forever with 25 logins per month at one location, Growth $49 per month covering 3 locations, Enterprise on quote. Any competitor figure you find elsewhere, including on our other pages, is accurate only as published at the time of writing and should be verified with that vendor.
Conflicts. We sell one of these products. We have tried to counterbalance that by stating VoqadoWiFi's limitations in the same detail as everyone else's and by naming the competitors you should choose over us when your hardware or scale points elsewhere. If you find something on this page that is out of date or wrong, tell us on the contact page and we will correct it.