Popl sells digital business cards, NFC devices and badge scanning. As of October 2026 the individual plans are card plans: Pro is $7.99 a month and Pro+ is $14.99, neither with badge scanning. The scanner gives five free badge scans, then the app asks you to book a demo for Popl Event Lead Capture, and the team price arrives after that call. If you want a number before the demo, or want to buy one show at a time, these are the eight alternatives worth a look.
Disclosure: I'm one of the people building Tendro. The criteria are below, so you can re-rank for your own calendar. This page sits on the event lead capture alternatives hub; for the basics, start with the event lead capture guide.
What are the best alternatives to Popl for lead capture in 2026?
Pick by calendar: Tendro is $499 per event for the whole team with a free digital card per rep, BoothIQ bills monthly, Blinq bills per lead.
The table uses five criteria: a public price, buying one event at a time, the whole booth team under one price, native sync to both HubSpot and Salesforce, and a digital card for every rep. Tendro meets all five.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Commitment | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tendro | Multi-show calendars, rotating booth staff | $499 per event, unlimited team members, digital cards free (public) | None. Pay per show | From the team behind Socio, the event platform Cisco acquired as Webex Events |
| BoothIQ | A monthly on/off switch | $999 per month Team (public) | Month to month | CRM sync only on quote-priced Enterprise |
| Blinq | Teams already rolling out Blinq cards | $9.99 per full-credit lead, plus seats at $6.99 a month or $4.99 a month billed annually, 5-card minimum (public) | Monthly or annual seats | Lead charges grow with your best show |
| Vendelux | HubSpot teams that want free | Free scanner | None | Salesforce sync "coming soon" |
| Captello | Booth games and meeting management | One-event lead capture license from $500 (its comparison pages); broader platform by quote | Quote | Some services use $1 purchase credits; HubSpot connector $3,000 a year |
| Mobly | Year-round programs on an annual agreement | Not published | Mostly annual, renews automatically | Fees non-refundable; Pulse is a paid add-on |
| iCapture (Cvent) | 15+ enterprise shows inside Cvent | From about $8,000 a year (reported) | Annual | Tied to Cvent's roadmap |
| Cvent LeadCapture | Calendars that are almost all Cvent shows | $249 per license (2026 order form) | Per show | Works only at Cvent-managed shows |
| Popl, for reference | Teams that hand out NFC tap cards | Individual Pro $7.99 a month, cards only; team lead capture quoted after a demo | Quote | Plans cover unlimited users, events and leads; 5 free badge scans in the app |
Why do teams look for a Popl alternative?
Popl's badge scanner gives five free scans, then asks for a demo. Team lead capture is quoted after that call; the individual plans cover cards only.
The scanner stops at five. On a Free account in October 2026, Popl's scanner offers Paper Card, Event Badge and LinkedIn QR modes, and it reads other brands' digital cards too. It allows five badge scans. After the fifth, the app shows "Upgrade to Popl Event Lead Capture" with "Book Your Demo" as the main button.
The paid individual plans add no badge scanning. Popl Pro is $7.99 a month ($76.99 a year) and Pro+ is $14.99 a month ($144.99 a year). Both come with a free trial and auto-renew. They cover the card, the AI features and forms. Badge scanning sits in the team product.
No team price on the site. Popl's pricing page says "we quote pricing over a meeting instead of publishing it on our website." The plans include "unlimited users, unlimited events, unlimited leads" with no consumption fees (https://popl.co/pages/pricing). You get the number after the meeting, not before it.
A card company that added capture. Popl repositioned in 2025 from digital business cards to in-person lead capture, and its iOS app is now called "Popl: AI Lead Capture" (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/popl-ai-lead-capture/id1503939262). Teams whose reps tap NFC cards get both in one product. Teams that only scan badges are shopping for a scanner.
What does Popl cost compared with Tendro?
Popl Pro is $7.99 a month for the card; team lead capture is quoted after a demo. Tendro is $499 per event, published, with unlimited reps.
| Popl, as of October 2026 | Tendro | |
|---|---|---|
| Individual card plan | Pro $7.99 a month or $76.99 a year; Pro+ $14.99 a month or $144.99 a year. Free trial, auto-renews. Cards, AI and forms; no badge scanning | Free digital card for every rep |
| Free badge scanning | 5 badge scans, then "Book Your Demo" | 25 captures in the free trial, one person, no credit card |
| Team lead capture | Quoted after a demo; unlimited users, events and leads | $499 per event, unlimited reps and scans, on the pricing page |
| CRM sync | HubSpot, Salesforce and Marketo listed as native | HubSpot and Salesforce native, on paid events |
| Ten or more shows a year | Part of the quote | Volume pricing, on a short call |
When a demo-gated quote fits. A team that exhibits year-round, wants one agreement covering every rep and every event, and has procurement that expects a sales cycle anyway. Walk into the demo with your show count and rep count, and ask for the term and the renewal in writing; Popl's pricing page and terms state neither.
When a published per-event price fits. A team that budgets show by show, runs a seasonal calendar, or needs a number for a budget line today. Four shows cost $1,996, and the fifth show is a decision, not a renewal. The per-event vs annual math shows where the two models cross, and the pricing page carries the volume note for calendars of ten or more events.
Tendro vs Popl: how do they compare?
Tendro is $499 per event for the whole team, bought self-serve, with a free digital card for every rep. Popl quotes its price over a meeting.
| Tendro | Popl | |
|---|---|---|
| Price before a call | $499 per event, on the pricing page | Not published; quoted over a meeting |
| How you buy | Self-serve checkout, no sales call | A meeting, then a quote |
| Free before you pay | 25 captures for one person, no credit card | 5 badge scans in the app; a free trial on the individual card plans |
| Digital card | Free for every rep: QR code, booking link, and share-backs that land as leads (how the card works) | Pro from $7.99 a month, plus NFC devices. The QR is the main element; offline share, lockscreen widget, email signature |
| Badges | Reads the printed badge face, then enriches; open QR codes parse | Paper Card, Event Badge and LinkedIn QR modes; reads the printed badge face, then enriches; reads other brands' digital cards |
| CRM | Native HubSpot and Salesforce, under 10 seconds on a live connection | HubSpot (certified app), Salesforce and Marketo |
Tendro comes from the team behind Socio, the event platform Cisco acquired and renamed Webex Events.
What the $499 covers: every rep on the team scans badges and business cards on their own phone, offline if the hall Wi-Fi dies. Tendro reads the printed badge, enriches it, and each lead lands on one HubSpot or Salesforce record with the rep's answers to your qualifying questions and their voice note. Then the rep previews a short recap email with their digital card and sends it now, in ten minutes, or never. Marketo, Pardot, Pipedrive or Zoho connect on request.
The card costs nothing extra. A visitor scans the rep's QR code to save the contact or book time through the rep's Calendly or HubSpot meeting link, and a visitor who shares their details back lands as a lead. The same card rides along in every booth recap and in each rep's email signature. It lives on the rep's phone, so there is nothing to print, ship or replace.
Where Popl is strong: the card. Its QR is the main element, it shares offline, it sits on a lockscreen widget and in the email signature, and the company has sold digital cards since 2020. Its HubSpot app is certified, it lists Salesforce and Marketo as native, and the app drafts follow-up emails with AI. If the card is the daily product and the booth is the exception, that is a real advantage.
On badges, both tools work from the printed face. On most major North American shows the badge QR holds an opaque registration ID that only the organizer's contracted system can resolve. Popl's own docs say "Scanning only the QR code will not work. Full badge = full enrichment." (https://support.popl.co/en/articles/10185562-the-universal-badge-scanner-tutorial). Tendro reads the printed face too, and when a QR code does carry contact details, those fill the lead.
Running 10 or more shows a year? Volume pricing is a short call, and the per-event vs annual math shows the crossover.
Pick Tendro if badges are the job, your booth staff rotates, and you want a price you can paste into a budget line today. Pick Popl if polished digital and tap cards matter to your team and a quoted annual plan with unlimited events fits your budget.
For the full head-to-head, see Tendro vs Popl.
Popl or Tendro: which one fits your team?
Teams that lead with a polished digital card lean Popl. Teams buying badge capture per show, at a price known up front, lean Tendro.
Reps who hand out cards all year. Popl. The card is the daily product, badge scanning is the show-week add-on, and one quoted plan covers everyone.
A booth team at a handful of shows a year. Tendro. $499 per show covers every rep on their own phone, each rep gets a free card, and the free trial lets you scan last year's badges before you pay.
One or two reps at many small shows. Tendro, bought as you go. From ten shows a year, ask about volume pricing before the season starts.
A Marketo shop. Popl lists Marketo as native. Tendro connects it on request, usually in a day or two, before your onboarding call.
A HubSpot team that wants free. Vendelux's scanner, covered below, with Salesforce still "coming soon".
A year-round program on one annual agreement. Popl's quoted plan, or Mobly, covered below.
If the decision is really about the scanner, the best badge scanner apps comparison ranks on capture speed, CRM sync and offline mode.
Popl vs iCapture: how do they compare?
Both are quote-priced: Popl after a demo, iCapture through Cvent. Popl adds digital cards; iCapture pulls registration data from 130+ badge providers.
Popl and iCapture sell to different buyers. Popl is a card company that added badge scanning. iCapture is a badge-data company that Cvent bought in January 2024; icapture.com now redirects to cvent.com. Cvent's iCapture page has a demo form and no price, and its HubSpot listing shows an Essentials package at $8,000 a year, pricing dated 2025. Popl's price arrives after a 25-minute demo, and its plans cover unlimited users, events and leads.
On the badge, iCapture connects to 130+ badge providers and pulls the registration record where the organizer allows it. Popl reads the printed badge face and enriches; its docs say "Scanning only the QR code will not work." Both list HubSpot and Salesforce; Popl adds Marketo.
Pick iCapture for 15+ shows a year inside Cvent. Pick Popl if reps lead with cards and your procurement is fine with a quote. If you want a number first, Tendro's $499 per event is on the pricing page. Full reads: iCapture alternatives and the iCapture pricing breakdown.
Is BoothIQ a good Popl alternative?
BoothIQ Team is $999 a month and can be paused up to three months or canceled. CRM sync needs its quote-priced Enterprise tier.
BoothIQ's pitch is "only pay during months you go to events" (https://getboothiq.com/pricing). A four-month season runs $3,996 on Team, with unlimited users and scans and a free Individual tier. BoothIQ says it built its first proof of concept in June 2025. Full read at BoothIQ alternatives.
Pick BoothIQ if a monthly toggle is the whole job and CRM sync can wait for an Enterprise quote.
Is Blinq a good Popl alternative?
Blinq pairs cards with scanning, billed per lead. Five monthly seats plus 47 full-credit leads cost more than Tendro's $499.
Blinq sells digital business cards and adds event lead capture on top. At its published pay-as-you-go prices (https://blinq.me/pricing), five monthly card seats cost $34.95. These examples assume paid usage after the trial, with every lead charged one full $9.99 credit:
| Leads at one show | Blinq, 5 reps, one month | Tendro, whole team |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | $284.70 | $499 |
| 100 | $1,033.95 | $499 |
| 300 | $3,031.95 | $499 |
Blinq costs more than Tendro from the 47th full-credit lead at a show, or the 62nd if every lead counts as a 0.75 partial credit (Blinq charges that when it adds no email or phone). Duplicates, trial usage and negotiated packages change the comparison.
Pick Blinq if your company already runs on Blinq cards and your booths see a few dozen leads a show.
Is Vendelux's free scanner a Popl alternative?
For HubSpot teams. The scanner is free with HubSpot sync, but its Salesforce connection is still "coming soon".
Vendelux's main business is an event intelligence platform. Its lead scanner is new (the iOS app first shipped on September 8, 2026), and the scanner page says "The scanner is completely free and always will be" (https://vendelux.com/lead-scanner). The store listing reads "HubSpot live, Salesforce coming soon" (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vendelux-lead-scanner/id6798884802).
Pick Vendelux if you're on HubSpot and free outweighs everything else.
Should you pick Captello over Popl?
Captello suits booths built around games and meetings. Its one-event lead capture license starts at $500; broader platform pricing is by quote.
Captello bundles lead capture with booth gamification, meeting management and analytics. Its comparison pages say "Captello publishes a one-event Premium Lead Capture license from $500." There is no pricing page. Certain services use purchase credits ("One Purchase Credit is equal to $1USD"), including enrichment lookups when no event-based enrichment license applies, and its HubSpot Marketplace listing prices the HubSpot Connector at $3,000 a year (https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/captello-lead-capture-1227360). Test the capture flow with the staff who will actually work your booth.
Pick Captello if the booth is an activation stage and you want games and capture on one contract.
How does Mobly compare to Popl?
Mobly publishes no price either. Most packages are annual, its terms renew them automatically, and Pulse follow-up is a paid add-on.
Mobly was founded in 2023 and raised a $2.5M seed in February 2024, then $4.3M in January 2025. getmobly.com/pricing returns a 404, and Mobly's own copy says "Most packages are annual agreements, priced by the features your team needs." It adds that "Most plans include unlimited lead capture and unlimited users per org." Its standard terms renew automatically, non-renewal notice is due "at least thirty (30) days prior" to the end of terms longer than a month, and "All Fees paid are non-refundable" (https://www.getmobly.com/termsofuse).
Per Mobly's help center, "Pulse is a paid add-on" (https://help.getmobly.com/help-center/getting-started/mobly-products-primer), and its sequences treat email as "the only fully-supported channel today" (https://help.getmobly.com/help-center/pulse/understanding-sequences). Full read at Mobly alternatives.
Pick Mobly if your team exhibits year-round and wants admin-built email sequences on an annual agreement.
Is iCapture a Popl alternative?
iCapture is now Cvent iCapture; its HubSpot listing shows Essentials at $8,000 a year. It suits 15+ show programs that already run inside Cvent.
iCapture has deep badge-provider coverage, 130+ providers pulling registration data where the organizer allows it. icapture.com now redirects to cvent.com. Before Tendro's volume pricing, the reported $8,000 equals about sixteen $499 events, and calendars of ten or more shows get a lower per-event rate. Full read at iCapture alternatives.
Pick iCapture if you run 15+ shows, live inside Cvent, and your procurement expects a sales cycle anyway.
Is Cvent LeadCapture a Popl alternative?
Only at Cvent-managed shows, where it resolves the registration record. Everywhere else it does not work at all.
At a Cvent-managed event it is the organizer's contracted system, so it returns the actual registration record. Off those floors it does nothing, so a mixed calendar carries two capture budget lines. A 2026 Cvent order form prints $249 for one license and $499 for a three-pack (order form). Full read at Cvent LeadCapture alternatives.
Pick Cvent LeadCapture if almost your whole calendar is Cvent-managed.
How do you pick the right Popl alternative?
Count your shows, scanning reps and expected leads, then check your CRM and whether reps tap cards. Seasonal calendars favor per-event pricing.
- Pricing unit. Per event (Tendro, Captello's one-event license, Cvent LeadCapture) scales with your calendar. Monthly (BoothIQ) scales with active months. Per lead (Blinq) scales with your best show. Quoted plans (Popl, Mobly, iCapture) arrive after a sales conversation. The pricing models breakdown maps each one.
- Cards. If reps tap NFC cards in hallway conversations, Popl and Blinq both sell the hardware. If a QR code on the rep's phone does the job, Tendro gives every rep a card at no extra cost.
- The rental anchor. Organizer rental scanners run $400 to $700 per device per event, up to about $735 onsite, on 2025-26 exhibitor order forms (https://www.aaos.org/globalassets/aaos-annual-meeting/exhibit-and-sponsor/exhibitor-service-manual/lead_retrieval_order_form.pdf). Renting one device for each of five reps at ten shows comes to $20,000 to $35,000.
- CRM. List every system that touches event leads and test each candidate in your own instance. Scan a contact that already exists and watch whether it merges or forks.
The desk test costs nothing. Tendro's free trial lets you scan a stack of old badges and business cards, no credit card, no show, and judge the enrichment on your own leads. Your first event switches on live HubSpot or Salesforce sync for the whole team. Start the free trial. The other alternatives pages run the same criteria against Mobly, iCapture, BoothIQ and Cvent LeadCapture.