How much does coat check software cost?

Some tools are free: Tapcoat has a free plan for 1 cloakroom and 100 active hangers, and HotelsHero says it is free for hotels. Paid plans include CoatCheck from $35 a month plus $0.25 per ticket, Tapcoat at €149 or €399 a month or €79 for an event day pass, and Neverleft at £109 or £149 a month plus VAT, billed annually. coatr charges no licence fee and takes a share of cloakroom turnover, typically 15%. Chexology and Keypitt do not publish venue prices. vFound Checkroom is US$42/month per venue, billed yearly at US$504, with unlimited tickets and no per-ticket fee.

Is there a free coat check app?

Tapcoat publishes a free plan for 1 cloakroom and 100 active hangers, and HotelsHero says it is free for hotels, with a small fee only if the hotel charges guests. vFound has no free plan: Checkroom is US$42/month per venue, billed yearly at US$504, and it starts with one 14-day trial that requires a valid card.

Do staff or guests need to install a coat check app?

Guests install nothing with any tool here. Staff are different: CoatCheck, Tapcoat and Neverleft need their app on staff phones, Chexology runs as an iOS app on a tablet, and coatr’s staff app installs to the phone’s home screen. vFound needs nothing installed: staff use it in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and guests get a QR ticket on their phone, by email or on paper.

Can guests pay the coat check fee on their phone?

With CoatCheck (online through Stripe), Tapcoat (online payments on Professional, or Tap to Pay at the cloakroom), Neverleft (in-app card payments), coatr (online, processed by Stripe) and Keypitt (from the KeyPass, or a card tapped on the staff phone), yes. vFound records a fee taken in cash or through your own POS or card terminal; it does not process or hold guest payments.

What happens to coats left at closing?

In vFound, ending the night lists what is left, and with vFound Lost & Found the items you choose move into it with their photo, while guests who left an email are told. Chexology texts guests who leave without their belongings, Neverleft marks items as forgotten, lost or found and can alert guests by WhatsApp or SMS, and Keypitt describes a premium lost and found system. CoatCheck, HotelsHero, Tapcoat and coatr do not publicly state it.

Best Coat Check Apps and Software (2026): 8 Compared

The short answer

Coat check software replaces paper cloakroom tickets. Each coat or bag gets a number, the guest gets a ticket on their phone, and staff can find and hand things back quickly. This guide compares eight tools: CoatCheck, Chexology, HotelsHero, Tapcoat, Neverleft, Keypitt, coatr and vFound Checkroom.

Most people search for a “coat check app”, so to be clear about ours: vFound Checkroom is not an app you download. It runs in the web browser on any phone, tablet or computer, staff sign in on the web, and guests get their ticket as a private page on their phone. Nothing needs installing, for staff or guests.

We make vFound, so weigh what we say about it with that in mind. Every fact about the other seven comes from their own websites, checked between 27 September and 6 October 2026, and each name in the table links to a side-by-side comparison that sources every fact.

The tools at a glance

Prices keep each vendor’s published currency, billing period and pricing unit. We publish vFound and have not independently tested the other tools; their entries describe their own published information.

Tool	Published price	App to install	Sources checked
vFound Checkroom	US$42/month per venue, billed yearly (US$504 a year). 14-day free trial; valid card required. The yearly charge starts after the trial unless you cancel first. vFound pricing	None. Staff work in the browser; guests use a private phone ticket, email or a printed stub.	2026-10-06
CoatCheck	Starter $35 a month, Growth $99, Scale $249, billed monthly, plus $0.25 per coat ticket issued Price source	Staff download the CoatCheck app; guests get an SMS link and need no app Feature source	2026-09-27
Chexology	Not publicly stated; volume plans on request Price source	Staff use the Chexology iOS app on a tablet; guests need no app Feature source	2026-09-27
HotelsHero	“Free for hotels. Always.” A small fee applies only if the hotel charges guests Price source	Guests need no app and use their phone camera and browser; staff apps are not publicly stated Feature source	2026-09-27
Tapcoat	Free plan for 1 cloakroom and 100 active hangers; event day pass €79; Starter €149 and Professional €399 a month; prices exclude VAT Price source	Staff use the Tapcoat app on iOS or Android; guests need no app Feature source	2026-09-27
Neverleft	On its UK nightclubs and bars page: Purple £109 a month and Iridescent £149 a month plus VAT, billed annually, with monthly text credits; Enterprise on quote Price source	The whole team downloads the Neverleft app; guests need no app Feature source	2026-09-27
Keypitt	Not publicly stated for venues; Keypitt says it takes no fee from guests Price source	Guests install nothing; each staff member needs a smartphone, and whether it runs an app is not publicly stated Feature source	2026-09-27
coatr	No licence fee, setup fee or monthly minimum; a share of gross cloakroom turnover, typically 15%, set per club in the contract; tips go to staff Price source	Guests need no app; the guest, staff and admin apps install to the phone’s home screen Feature source	2026-10-06

“Not publicly stated” means we did not find it in the linked sources, not that the feature is absent. Confirm current prices, inclusions and requirements with each vendor before buying.

Test the workflow before you buy

Test arrival, a lost ticket and the final exit queue with sample belongings. The right tool depends on your busiest event and how you take payment.

Photograph a coat and a bag, assign storage numbers and give the guest a ticket. Check what happens when no email address is supplied.
Request a return from the phone ticket before reaching the desk. Test the queue, readiness message and hand-back at the correct station.
Handle a guest who lost the ticket. Check who verifies the description and how staff avoid returning a similar coat to the wrong person.
Record a cash fee and a payment on your own card terminal. If you want online guest payments or SMS tickets, test that separately: vFound does not provide either.
Close an event with uncollected items, then calculate the cost of your busiest month including per-ticket fees, text credits, devices and optional printers.
If a tool takes a share of cloakroom turnover instead of a fixed fee, work out the yearly cost from your busiest season’s takings and compare it with a flat price.

Use sample records during a trial. Record what worked, what needed a workaround and the full yearly cost before choosing.

What drives the cost

Fees per ticket. CoatCheck adds $0.25 for each coat ticket issued to its monthly plan price, so every 1,000 tickets add $250, and guest payments through it carry a per-payment platform fee. vFound Checkroom adds no per-ticket fee: tickets are unlimited for US$42/month per venue, billed yearly at US$504.

Monthly plans, day passes and yearly prices. CoatCheck’s plans are $35, $99 or $249 a month, billed monthly. Tapcoat sells an event day pass for €79 and monthly plans at €149 and €399, excluding VAT. Neverleft’s UK nightclub and bar plans are £109 and £149 a month plus VAT, billed annually, which is £1,308 and £1,788 a year before VAT. vFound Checkroom is billed yearly only, so if you run only a few events a year, a day pass or a low monthly plan with few tickets may cost less.

A share of turnover. coatr charges no licence fee, setup fee or monthly minimum. Instead it takes a share of gross cloakroom turnover, typically 15% and set per club in the contract, and tips go to staff. At 15%, every 1,000 taken in cloakroom fees means 150 to coatr, so work out the year from your busiest season’s takings and compare it with a flat price.

Free and guest-funded models. Tapcoat’s free plan covers 1 cloakroom and 100 active hangers. HotelsHero says it is free for hotels, with a small fee only if the hotel charges guests. Keypitt says it takes no fee from guests but does not publish venue prices, and Chexology offers volume plans on request.

Text messages, phones and printers. Neverleft’s plans include monthly text credits, so check how many your busiest nights use. CoatCheck, Tapcoat and Neverleft need their app on staff phones, and Chexology runs as an iOS app on a tablet. coatr’s guest, staff and admin apps install to the phone’s home screen. vFound runs in the browser on the phones, tablets or computers you have; a printer is optional, for paired hanger tags, thermal ticket stubs and luggage bag tags.

Which one fits your venue

Choose CoatCheck if you prefer a monthly plan, want tickets by text message or NFC hanger tags, or want guests to pay online. At $35 a month plus $0.25 a ticket, its Starter plan can cost less than a yearly price for a quiet coat check, so count your tickets to compare.

Choose Chexology if you run a hotel bell desk that handles luggage, packages, coats and cars in one product, you want text message tickets that guests can also keep in their phone’s wallet, or you want card tips to staff through Square.

Choose HotelsHero if you only store luggage and want guests to do it themselves from a QR sticker, at no cost to the hotel unless you charge guests, or you want to charge for late departures.

Choose Tapcoat if you want a free plan for a small cloakroom (100 active hangers), a €79 day pass for a single event, cashless payment online or at the counter, or to reuse the QR codes on event tickets.

Choose Neverleft if you run a UK nightclub or bar, want in-app card payments for the cloakroom fee, and want to reach guests by text or WhatsApp when they leave something behind.

Choose Keypitt if you want guests to use one reusable pass that works at every Keypitt venue, and to pay from it.

Choose coatr if you would rather pay a share of cloakroom turnover than a fixed fee, want guests to pay online, including a paid express line, or want NFC hanger tags.

Choose vFound Checkroom if you want one price, US$42/month per venue, billed yearly at US$504, with unlimited tickets and no per-ticket fee; nothing to install for staff or guests; a photo of each item and a ticket guests can use to ask for their things before they reach the desk; and luggage storage with collect-by times. With vFound Lost & Found as well, the things you choose from what is left at closing move into it with their photo. vFound records a fee taken in cash or on your own card terminal, but it does not take guest payments online or send text messages, so if you need either, one of the tools above will fit better.

Moving from CoatCheck? Our guide to switching from CoatCheck covers what moves and what stays. Need paper tickets tonight? The free coat check tag and ticket printer prints numbered hanger tags with matching stubs, with no sign-up.

Start a 14-day vFound Checkroom free trial. A valid card is required, and Stripe charges the yearly price after day 14 unless you cancel renewal first. Or read our guide to running a coat check without paper tickets.

How we checked

We publish vFound and have not independently tested the other tools. Their descriptions come from their own pricing, product and help pages, with primary sources and fact-check dates shown in the table and linked comparisons. vFound’s price comes from the same catalogue used by billing.

The checklist is our operational buying advice. “Not publicly stated” means we did not find the detail in the linked sources; it does not prove that a feature is absent. Confirm current terms with each vendor. Request a correction with the primary source if a detail has changed.