One person can capture trade show leads for $0. BoothIQ's Individual plan scans badges and business cards with no limit on leads and no credit card required. A second person still works for free, with more hand work: each person keeps a separate account and list, the spreadsheet export (CSV) holds contact details without your notes, and sending leads straight into a CRM, the customer database you already use, takes BoothIQ's Enterprise plan.
Below are 12 options a small business runs into, what each free plan actually captures, and the cheapest paid step when free stops. I build Tendro, which is one of the 12. Its free trial runs at your desk, 25 test scans of your own badges, and it is not a free plan you can take to a show. Every limit is quoted from the vendor's own page, checked September 29, 2026.
Are there any free event lead capture apps for small businesses?
Yes. BoothIQ's Individual plan scans badges and cards free for one person. HiHello and Exporb are free too, capped at 5 scans a month and 10 contacts.
Sorted by what the free plan does at a booth:
- Free, and it reads badges: BoothIQ Individual. Unlimited leads, offline mode, one person.
- Free, but capped: HiHello (5 card and badge scans a month) and Exporb (10 contacts, one event).
- Free card sharing, no scanner: Blinq and Wave Connect. The visitor scans your card's QR code; on Wave they fill in a short form.
- Free only if your show bought it: Whova and Eventleaf are organizer systems, so whether exhibitors pay is up to the show.
- Do it yourself: a Google Form behind a QR code.
- Free for one live show: B2Brain's first event, up to 2 users, with CRM sync.
- Trials, not free plans: Popl, Tendro's desk trial, and Blinq's 7-day Premium trial.
For paid apps priced at 100, 300 and 1,000 scans, the lead retrieval app comparison runs the numbers.
How do the free lead capture plans compare?
BoothIQ is the only free plan here with unlimited badge scanning. The rest stop at a lead cap, card sharing only, a show's own system, or a trial.
| App | Free plan | Captures on free | Export or CRM on free | Cheapest paid step | Where free stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BoothIQ | Individual: $0, "Free, forever" | Badges, business cards, LinkedIn profiles, handwritten notes; unlimited; offline | CSV with contact info only; CRM sync on Enterprise | Team: $999 a month, month to month | A second person: no shared lead list |
| HiHello | Personal: "Free forever" | "5 card & badge scans /mo" | CRM on Business and Enterprise; CSV not stated | Professional: $6 a month billed yearly, 20 scans; event lead capture from Business, $5 per user a month billed yearly, 5 users minimum | The sixth scan in a month |
| Exporb | Free: $0, one person | Business card OCR, voice notes; 10 contacts, 1 event | CRM export from Solo | Solo: $9 a month; Event Pass: $108 for 3 events | The 11th contact |
| Blinq | Free: $0, "forever" | Card sharing; the scanner starts at Premium | No CSV export, no CRM | Premium: $9.99 a month (scanner, CSV); CRM on Business at $6.99 per card a month, 5 cards minimum, plus $9.99 per lead | Any badge or paper card |
| Wave Connect | Free: $0 | Card sharing plus a lead form the visitor fills in | CSV export; CRM from Pro | Pro: $7 a month billed yearly; badge scanning $10 a scan per Wave's blog | Any badge or paper card |
| CamCard | Free app, in-app purchases | Paper business cards; free cap not published | Export and CRM sync on Premium | Premium: $49.99 a year | Exporting, and badges aren't mentioned |
| Google Form + QR | Your Google account | Whatever the visitor or rep types | CSV download or Google Sheets | n/a | A line at the booth: every lead is typed |
| Whova | Organizer system | Attendee QR scanning, manual entry | Spreadsheet export | Set by the show | Shows not running Whova lead retrieval |
| Eventleaf | Organizer system | Badge QR code or barcode | CSV or Excel | Part of the organizer's Ultimate plan | Shows not on Eventleaf Ultimate |
| B2Brain | First event free: 1 event, up to 2 users, no credit card | The full platform for that one event | CRM sync included for that event | Show Pass per event, price not published; annual plan | The second show; its native app is iOS-only, per its own blog |
| Popl | Free trial; no free plan listed | Trial limits not stated | Not stated for the trial | Quote only, after a meeting | No free tier to run a show on |
| Tendro | Desk trial: 25 test scans, no credit card | Your own badge stack, with real enrichment | CRM sync starts with the first paid event | $499 an event: unlimited reps, phones and scans | The desk: the trial is not for a live show |
Which free apps can read a trade show badge?
BoothIQ reads badges free with no cap. HiHello's free plan reads five scans a month. The free plans from Blinq and Wave read no badges at all.
Reading a badge means reading its printed face. On most large North American shows the badge QR code is an opaque registration ID, and only the organizer's contracted system can turn it into a contact. So apps read the printed name and company and enrich the rest. The universal badge scanner piece covers how that works across shows, and the organizer scanner costs piece covers why the official option is priced the way it is.
Two footnotes. Exporb's home page says it reads badges, but its plan list names business card OCR only. Wave's badge and paper-card scanners are not included on any self-serve plan, and Wave's blog prices badge scanning at $10 a scan.
If your visitors carry cards more often than badges, the badge vs business card scanner comparison covers which to optimize for.
Is a Google Form behind a QR code good enough for trade show leads?
For one person at a quiet booth, often yes. Every lead is typed by hand, so it slows down the moment a line forms, and nothing gets enriched.
The visitor scans your QR code and types their details, or a rep types them in. Responses download as a CSV or land in Google Sheets, and reach your CRM by import. What you give up: speed when a line forms, anything the visitor doesn't bother to type, and offline capture, which Google's Forms pages don't mention. Wave's free lead form works the same way, with a digital card attached.
Where does a free lead capture plan stop at a real show?
At a lead cap, a badge, a shared list, or a CRM sync. Every free plan here hits at least one: HiHello at the sixth scan, BoothIQ at the shared list.
- People. BoothIQ Individual is one person per account; the shared lead database is a Team feature. Blinq says "Premium is for one person." Exporb's free plan has "no team invites".
- Lead caps. HiHello allows 5 scans a month. Exporb allows 10 contacts at one event.
- Badges. Blinq Free and every self-serve Wave plan have no scanner.
- Getting leads out. BoothIQ's free CSV is contact info only, so notes and voice memos stay in the app. Blinq Free has no CSV export. CamCard exports on Premium. CRM sync is paid on every app in the table.
- Offline. Hall WiFi fails at the worst moment. BoothIQ and Exporb state offline capture on their free plans; the others either don't say or tie offline to a paid plan. The offline badge scanning piece covers what to test before the show.
When is it worth paying for lead capture at one show?
When the manual work costs more than the fee: several people scanning, notes to retype, leads needed in your CRM the same day. Otherwise, stay free.
Free holds longer than vendors like to admit. Two people can run two free BoothIQ accounts, or share one Google Form, and import a CSV into their CRM after the show. If two people and a few shows a year is your whole program, that is a defensible choice. What it costs is time: merging lists, retyping notes, and follow-ups that wait until someone finishes the import.
Paying makes sense when that time costs more than the fee, or when speed matters: more reps, more badges, notes you would otherwise retype, and follow-ups you want out the same evening. BoothIQ's Team plan is $999 for the month of a show, and its CRM sync is Enterprise-only. The organizer's own app costs about the same as one Tendro event at two people, on most of the twelve public order forms, and hands you a CSV after the show. Tendro is $499 an event for the whole booth, with HubSpot or Salesforce sync and the rep's notes included; Salesforce needs an API-enabled edition. Three shows a year is $1,497. The small business CRM guide covers what lands where once the leads sync.
Where does Tendro lose to the free options?
At a one- or two-person booth that can live with manual imports. BoothIQ's free plan scans badges at no cost; Tendro's free option is a desk trial.
Tendro also loses on a single free show: B2Brain gives your first event free for up to 2 users, CRM sync included, while Tendro's free option stays at the desk. And it loses if you only swap cards: the free cards from Blinq and Wave cover that. And if your show's organizer bought Whova or Eventleaf lead retrieval, check whether exhibitors already have it before paying anyone. I would rather you use the free option that fits than pay for a show you don't need. The BoothIQ comparison covers where each one wins once you pay.
How do you try Tendro for free?
The desk trial: 25 test scans of your own badges at your desk, with real enrichment and no credit card. CRM sync starts with the first paid event.
Start the desk trial and scan last year's badges and a few business cards at your desk to see what comes back. When a show is coming, one paid event covers every rep and phone at the booth.
Not sure free will hold at your next show? Send the show name, your headcount and your CRM through the contact form. You get that show's official scanner price and the math for your booth, free, whichever option wins.
How was this free lead capture comparison put together?
Every free-plan limit was read on the vendor's own pricing, plan or help page on September 29, 2026. Where a vendor's pages disagree, it says so.
Where the vendors' own pages disagree:
- Blinq: its pricing table marks the scanner as free, but the plan card on the same page and its Free vs Premium help article (August 26, 2026) put it on Premium. This page follows the help article.
- Wave: its pricing page sells badge scanning by annual lead volume through sales; its blog prints $10 a scan.
- Exporb: its plan data switches CRM export off on Free, while its FAQ says data can be exported as CSV or JSON at any time.
- HiHello: the prices shown are annual-billing rates, and CSV export on the free plan is not stated.
- Not published: CamCard's free scan cap, and what Whova and Eventleaf charge exhibitors.
Sources:
- BoothIQ pricing
- Blinq Free vs Premium
- Blinq lead capture pricing
- Wave pricing
- HiHello pricing
- Exporb pricing
- B2Brain pricing, and its own blog on the iOS-only app
- Popl pricing
- CamCard on the App Store
- Eventleaf pricing
- Whova lead retrieval
- Google Forms help
Tendro's own terms are on the pricing section.