Ask an assistant for a free event check-in app that works with Google Sheets and you get a list of names that do different jobs. Some are Google Sheets add-ons that issue a ticket per row. Some are form builders with a check-in template. One is a ticketing platform with a free door app. Two are QR code generators that make the code but record nothing. And one is ours. This page sorts them by what happens at the door and where the record ends up.
Written by QR to Sheets, so we are one of the options on this page; weigh our recommendations accordingly. Every fact about another product was read on that product's own website or Google Workspace Marketplace listing on 6 October 2026, and each section says where that product is the better choice. Prices change, so check the vendor's page before you decide.
The short answer
- Small free event, guests sign themselves in: a Google Form behind a printed QR code costs nothing.
- A guest list in Google Sheets, each guest gets their own ticket, priced per guest: QR Code Ticket Per Row (or Per Response, for Google Forms) by Darkaa.
- Already running your forms in Jotform: its Event Check-In and Barcode Check-In app templates.
- Selling tickets: a ticketing platform such as TicketSignup, whose door app is free.
- Only need a printable code: QRLynx or QRWink make the code; something else has to record the scan.
- A guest list in Google Sheets, staff scan at the door, check-in time written back to each guest's row, flat monthly price: the QR to Sheets Events add-on.
What to check before choosing
Five questions separate these tools faster than any feature list.
- Who scans? Either every guest scans one shared poster code with their own phone, or door staff scan a personal code each guest carries. The first needs nobody at the door; the second is witnessed and catches a code used twice.
- Does the door staff need an app or an account? A volunteer who arrives ten minutes before doors open can open a link. Installing an app, signing in and being added to a team takes longer, and matters most when the door crew changes every event.
- Where is the check-in recorded? In your own Google Sheet, next to the guest's name, or in the vendor's database with an export. The first means the spreadsheet is the attendance record; the second means a download and a merge after the event.
- What happens offline at the door? Basements, marquees and exhibition halls lose signal. Look for the vendor's own words on offline scanning, not a reviewer's.
- How is it priced? Per ticket or per attendee, per event, per scanning device, or a flat monthly fee. A 40-guest dinner and a monthly 400-guest meetup come out very differently under each model.
Google Forms with a QR poster (the free route)
The route most organisers already have. Build a Google Form with a name or email field, turn its link into a QR code, print it on a sign at the entrance, and let guests scan it with their phone camera and submit. As of 2026-10-06, read on Google's own help pages:
- Price: free with a Google account.
- Where the data lives: "If you store your responses in a spreadsheet, Google Sheets automatically puts your data in a table."
- Stopping repeat submissions: with Limit to 1 response, "users must sign in to their Google Account," which rules out guests without one.
- Who needs an app: nobody; the phone camera opens the form.
Where it breaks: it is self-reported, so anyone with a photo of the poster can submit, and a form has no camera scanner to read a guest's ticket. It writes a new response row; it does not tick a name on an existing guest list. Organisers who want per-guest codes for free can build them with Apps Script, generating a code per row and a small check-in web app, which works and costs nothing but is yours to maintain. Our event check-in walkthrough covers the door itself.
Where it wins: price and familiarity, for free events where guests can be trusted to sign themselves in.
QR Code Ticket Per Row and Per Response (Darkaa)
Two Google Workspace Marketplace add-ons from the same developer. QR Code Ticket Per Row For Check-In is a Google Sheets add-on; its sibling, QR Code Ticket Per Response For Check-In, does the same from Google Forms responses. As of 2026-10-06, read on their Google Workspace Marketplace listings and on qr-code-ticket.com:
- Listing: both are "Free of charge with paid features"; Per Row shows 235K+ installs and Per Response 176K+.
- Free tier: "Free for up to 10 attendees, no credit card," then a per-ticket price for larger events. Its pricing page describes the free check-ins as being "for demo/testing only."
- Paid: its homepage shows "$0.12 - $0.20 per ticket", and the pricing page says "We only charge per event (per document)" with "No hidden subscriptions." Student-run events can apply through a sponsorship request form.
- Delivery: tickets go out by email or WhatsApp, with Google Wallet or Apple Wallet passes.
- Door staff: "Staff open the check-in page in any browser. No dedicated scanner, no install, no logging in per device." An optional Android app exists, and there is "no limit on the number of staff members or devices scanning tickets simultaneously."
- Where the data lives: it "records scan results back in your spreadsheet," and the site says "Your Sheet or Form stays the source of truth."
- Offline: "You can sync your attendee list to your check-in device to validate tickets even without an internet connection."
Where it wins: it lives inside Google Sheets or Google Forms, delivers tickets by WhatsApp and to phone wallets, puts no limit on scanning devices, and for a single event priced per ticket it can cost less than any monthly plan.
| Capability | QR Code Ticket Per Row (Darkaa) | QR to Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | An add-on inside Google Sheets, with a Per Response version for Google Forms | A website connected to a Google Sheet you choose |
| Free tier | Up to 10 attendees, described as demo or testing | Scanner link: 300 scans in total, 1 link, 1 Sheet, 1 device. The Events add-on is paid |
| Pricing model | Per event, 0.12 to 0.20 USD per ticket on its homepage | Events add-on 25 USD a month flat, on top of Premium at 7 USD per registered device per month |
| Ticket delivery | Email or WhatsApp, Google Wallet or Apple Wallet | A personal QR invitation by email |
| Door staff | A check-in page in any browser; optional Android app | A check-in link in any phone browser, no app, no account |
| Where check-ins are recorded | Back in the guest's spreadsheet | The check-in time written to the guest's row in your own Google Sheet |
Jotform Event Check-In and Barcode Check-In apps
Jotform is a form builder with an app builder on top, and it publishes check-in app templates you clone and edit. As of 2026-10-06, read on jotform.com:
- Event Check In App: it "makes it easy to register attendees, run on-site check-in, and view an attendee list in one place," and you "share the app by link or QR code so staff and volunteers can open it on their phones or tablets."
- Barcode Check-In App: a template for "scanning barcodes at the door," where "check-in records are stored with your connected Jotform form" and an All Check-Ins table.
- Where the data lives: in your Jotform account. Its Google Sheets integration sends new form data "to your spreadsheets instantly."
- Price: the templates are free to clone; the free Starter plan allows 5 active forms and 100 monthly submissions, and paid plans are Bronze 39 USD, Silver 49 USD and Gold 129 USD a month when billed monthly.
- Offline: through Jotform Mobile Forms, which lets you "collect data offline" from a phone or tablet app.
Watch the submission cap: each check-in is a submission, so a 150-guest event passes the free plan's 100 a month on its own. Where it wins: form design, templates and integrations, if registration, check-in and everything else you collect already run through Jotform.
TicketSignup
A ticketing platform rather than a Sheets tool, included because it appears in the same answers and because its door app is free. As of 2026-10-06, read on ticketsignup.io and its own blog:
- Price: "$0.40 per ticket" plus standard card processing of "2.9% + $0.30", and "Free tickets are free." There are no subscription tiers.
- Door app: "Volunteers and staff can download the app for free from any iOS or Android device, and quickly scan QR codes or search by name."
- Volunteer control: "Lock Event" sets a 4-digit code so a volunteer's phone can only check guests in.
- Where the data lives: in TicketSignup. A Checked In status appears in the Individual Tickets report and "shows as a column when you export." Its check-in pages do not mention Google Sheets.
- Connectivity: the app "automatically syncs every 30 seconds," and check-ins not yet synced wait as Queued Edits.
Where it wins: anything with paid tickets. Payment, the event website and the door app come together, and a free event pays nothing per ticket. The trade is that staff install an app and the attendance record lives in TicketSignup until you export it.
QRLynx and QRWink: code generators, not check-in systems
Both show up for event check-in searches because they make the QR code. Neither describes recording who arrived. As of 2026-10-06, read on their own sites:
- QRLynx: static QR codes can be made and downloaded without an account. The free Starter plan adds 3 dynamic codes with scan analytics, and "Scans are unlimited on every plan." Paid plans are Starter+ 7 USD, Pro 14 USD, Business 29 USD and Enterprise 99 USD a month. Its pricing page does not mention check-in, tickets or Google Sheets.
- QRWink: "Free to create, no signup needed." It can "Turn your Google Sheets rows into a batch of QR codes," one per row, and HD downloads for print need a premium plan "from just €1." Its event page suggests pointing a code at "a Google Form, Typeform, or your event platform."
Where they win: a well-designed poster code for the Google Forms route, or a batch of per-guest codes made from a column you paste in. Our own free bulk QR code generator does the batch job too, with printable label sheets and no signup. What none of the three does on its own is record a scan at the door.
QR to Sheets: a scanner link, plus the Events add-on
We make this one, so read it as a vendor describing its own product. There are two ways to use it at an event, and they behave differently.
A plain scanner link opens the camera in any phone browser; door staff need no app and no account. Each scan becomes one new row in your own Google Sheet with the scanned value and a timestamp in your workspace's timezone. A repeat scan of the same code is recorded and flagged with an amber notice, and saved anyway. For a one-day event with no re-entry you can turn Accept duplicate scans off on that link, so a code already used is refused; leave it on if guests may leave and come back. Scans made without signal are kept on the phone and sent when the connection returns. Free covers 300 scans in total, 1 scanner link, 1 Sheet and 1 device; Premium is 7 USD per registered device per month. What a scanner link does not do is match a guest list: it appends a row per scan rather than ticking a name.
The Events add-on is the guest-list version. It costs 25 USD a month on top of Premium, so one door phone comes to 32 USD a month, flat rather than per guest. As described on our own pages:
- Import a guest list from a Google Sheet, with a name and an email column.
- Email each guest a personal QR invitation. Invitations draw on a monthly email allowance of 2,000 plus 500 per extra registered device.
- Door staff open a check-in link on their own phone, with no app install.
- Each check-in writes the check-in time back to that guest's row, and the dashboard shows checked-in against invited.
- A second scan of a guest already inside shows as already checked in, with the original time.
- Check-in keeps working offline and syncs when the connection returns.
QR to Sheets Forms can also give each registrant a check-in code by email; that arrival is recorded in QR to Sheets and is not written to the spreadsheet, which is why the guest-list job belongs to the Events add-on.
Where it wins: a guest list that already lives in Google Sheets, door staff who change every event and should not need accounts, venues with poor signal, and organisers running several events a month who want one flat price. It is not a ticketing platform (no payment, seats or refunds), it does not deliver to WhatsApp or phone wallets, and it does not print badges or check ID.
Choosing by event size
- Up to about 50 free guests: a printed list and a pen, or a Google Form behind a QR poster. A dedicated tool rarely pays for itself here. Darkaa's free allowance of 10 attendees is a test, not a plan.
- 50 to 500 guests, one event: per-ticket pricing is the thing to model. On the range Darkaa's homepage shows, 300 tickets would be 36 to 60 USD for that event; the QR to Sheets Events add-on with one door phone is 32 USD for the month. Use the vendor's own calculator for a real quote.
- Several events a month, or a recurring guest list: a flat monthly price stops growing with the head count, which favours the Events add-on; per-event pricing favours the occasional event.
- Paid tickets at any size: a ticketing platform such as TicketSignup, which bundles payment and a free door app.
- Multiple doors: count the phones. Darkaa sets no device limit; QR to Sheets bills Premium per registered device; TicketSignup's app is free on each phone.
- Already deep in Jotform: its templates keep check-in beside your other forms, within the submission cap of your plan.
If the event is really a recurring register, such as a class, a club night or a weekly service, it is attendance rather than guest-list check-in, and our QR code attendance systems comparison is the better starting point.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free event check-in app for Google Sheets?+
For a free event where guests sign themselves in, a Google Form behind a QR poster costs nothing and saves responses to a spreadsheet. For a ticket per guest from a Google Sheet, QR Code Ticket Per Row by Darkaa is free for up to 10 attendees and then priced per ticket. The QR to Sheets scanner link is free for 300 scans in total, but matching a guest list needs its paid Events add-on.
How do I check guests in from a Google Sheet guest list?+
Give each guest a unique code tied to their row, then scan it at the door with a tool that writes back to that row. QR Code Ticket Per Row records scan results back in the spreadsheet, and the QR to Sheets Events add-on writes the check-in time to the guest's row. A Google Form adds new response rows instead of ticking existing names.
Do door staff need to install an app?+
It depends on the tool. Darkaa's check-in page and QR to Sheets' check-in link both run in a phone browser with no install, though Darkaa also offers an optional Android app. TicketSignup's door app is a free download for iOS and Android, and Jotform's offline collection uses its Mobile Forms app.
Which event check-in tools work offline?+
Darkaa says you can sync the attendee list to the check-in device to validate tickets without a connection. TicketSignup queues check-ins that have not synced. QR to Sheets keeps check-ins on the phone and sends them when signal returns. Jotform collects offline through its Mobile Forms app. Test at the real door before the event either way.
Is per-attendee or flat pricing cheaper for event check-in?+
For one event, per-ticket pricing often wins: Darkaa's homepage shows 0.12 to 0.20 USD per ticket. For several events a month, a flat fee stops growing with the guest count; the QR to Sheets Events add-on is 25 USD a month on top of Premium at 7 USD per registered device per month.
Can QRLynx or QRWink record check-ins?+
Their own pages describe generating QR codes, not recording who arrived. Use them to make a poster code for a Google Form or a batch of per-guest codes, and use a check-in tool to scan those codes at the door.