Free tiers in this category are real, not bait, and for a quiet door one of them may be all you ever need. What they have in common is a cap: on entries a month, on locations, on the features that turn a log into a record. Knowing which cap you will hit, and roughly when, is the difference between a free plan that works for two years and one that fails in the second week.
The caps that decide it
Entry limits are the usual one. Envoy's Basic tier is free and limited to 100 entries a month, which is a genuinely useful allowance for a quiet reception and about a week for a busy one. After that the caps are on locations, on badge printing, on how long records are kept and on integrations. Work out your monthly arrivals first: it converts the whole question from a feature comparison into arithmetic.
What free plans usually do not include
Badge printing, retention beyond a short window, more than one site, and support with a name on it. None of those matter at a door that signs in three people a week. All of them matter at a door with contractors. The retention limit is the one that catches people out, because it is invisible until the day somebody asks about a visit from four months ago.
Free software and free hardware are different questions
A free plan still needs a tablet, a stand and, if you want badges, a printer and stock. That is real money and it is the part sites forget when they compare a free plan against a paid one: the hardware cost is identical either way, so the comparison is only ever about the subscription.
How to test a free tier honestly
Run it for a fortnight at the real desk, not a pilot desk, and count what happens: how many arrivals, how many hosts were told, how many people signed out. If the answer to the last one is poor, that is a process problem no tier fixes. If you passed the entry cap in ten days, you have your answer about the paid plan.
Questions people ask about free visitor management system
Are free visitor management plans genuinely free?
The ones from the established vendors are, within their caps. Read the cap rather than the word free: entries a month and record retention are the two that bite.
Is a free plan enough for a school or a hospital?
Usually not, because both need badges, retention and more than one visitor type. A small office reception is where free plans work best.
What does the paid plan buy that free does not?
Typically badge printing, retention you choose, more than one location and a support route. Whether those are worth it depends entirely on your arrivals and your record.