Virtual waiting room
Prevent website crashes during peak traffic with a virtual waiting room
Deliver reliable & fair digital experiences by controlling traffic surges with an online waiting room
110+ billion users through our customers' waiting rooms
of Queue-it customers sell through product more efficiently without errors or overselling
say their customers' online experience has improved after using Queue-it
is the average database scaling savings with Queue-it in place
* Based on 214 survey responses from Queue-it customers (2023 & 2024).
- Handle massive traffic with your existing systems instead of re-architecting for a few traffic spikes a year
- Protect bottlenecks like logins & database calls to keep your systems online
- Adjust the flow of traffic in real-time when behavior doesn't match load test expectations
- Get peace of mind knowing that no sensitive data goes through Queue-it
- Fully brand your waiting room & display your other offerings while customers wait
- Use multiple queues to segment & prioritize existing customers
- Keep customers informed & communicate in real time
- Give customers fair access with mechanisms like first-in-first-out access or “live raffle” randomization
- In peak situations customers will be sent to your branded waiting room with an HTTP 302 redirect
- While in the waiting room visitors are on Queue-it's infrastructure & see clear wait information
- Once it's their turn they're flowed back to your site with another HTTP 302 redirect & have a secure token confirming they've been through the queue
- Monitor key traffic metrics like inflow, outflow, number in queue & wait time
- Throttle traffic outflow up & down depending on how your web app is performing
- Keep out bots & malicious users that jeopardize web performance
- Reduce prep time for high-traffic events & the need for on-call staff
- Stop spending time putting out fires & let your team focus on driving business value
- Save on server and database scaling with Queue-it in place
Break sales records without breaking your website
Without Queue-it ❌
- Risk website crashes & poor user experience during peak traffic
- Struggle to handle high demand without costly infrastructure expenses
- Lose customers due to slow loading times, errors, or failed transactions
With Queue-it ✅
- Prevent website crashes, slowdowns & overselling by controlling traffic flow
- Reduce server & database scaling costs during peak demand
- Capitalize on peak demand & build trust by delivering a smooth & fair experience
- Get tailored advice for your specific use case
- Discover how to control traffic with an online waiting room
- Learn how to implement Queue-it so you're prepared for your next sale
“Queue-it’s a great bolt-on piece of infrastructure, completely dynamic to our needs. The virtual waiting room made much more sense than re-architecting our systems to try to deal with the insanity of product drops that take place a few times a year.”
TRISTAN WATSON, ENGINEERING MANAGER
"The peace of mind we get from using Queue-it is outstanding. The best thing is feeling relaxed, not having to worry, knowing that everything will be okay. The virtual waiting room reacts to and controls our traffic instantaneously, and if we need to make any changes, we can easily do it on the spot with the API or the dashboard.”
THIBAUD SIMOND, INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGER
“I can count on one hand the number of times in my career I've implemented a new technology and it exceeded my expectations. Queue-it is one of those times, both in how easy it is to implement, and in how well it works.”
DENIS GOULET, NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE CIO
Queue-it redirects online visitors to a waiting room that enables a controlled flow of traffic to your site or app. In high-demand situations, customers are redirected to a customizable waiting room on Queue-it's infrastructure using an HTTP 302 redirect. They're then flowed back to the website or app at a controlled rate using another HTTP 302 redirect and get a secure token confirming they've passed through the waiting room.
Queue-it can be used:
- As a safety net that only activates when a traffic threshold is reached
- For scheduled sales where you anticipate a traffic spike
- Or for exclusive or early access sales where you want to gate access to a page
If you have Queue-it set up as a safety net, customers are redirected to a customizable waiting room only when traffic exceeds the capacity you've set. They're then flowed back to your website or app in a controlled, first-in-first-out order.
If your sale or registration is set to start at a specific time, customers are held on a countdown page and then randomized just like a raffle, giving everyone an equal chance. Everyone arriving later gets a first-come, first-served spot in the online queue.
If you're using Queue-it for exclusive access, only the customers you've chosen can access the queue and the protected page. Customers can verify they're "invited" with either a unique single-use link or their email address.
Scaling your systems is a good idea, but it’s often not enough to ensure systems perform no matter the demand. Relying on autoscaling alone comes with these challenges:
- It’s expensive to scale servers & databases to many multiples of baseload capacity
- It’s risky because some systems may not scale (e.g. legacy backend, 3rd party systems) and visitor traffic and behavior is hard to predict
- It’s labor intensive because it requires expertise and active monitoring to ensure it’s meeting the demand
Using Queue-it to control traffic flow can help you:
- Reduce costs of scaling servers and databases
- Lower the risk of systems breaking because a key bottleneck can’t scale
- Minimize work needed to keep systems online 24/7
When visitors are placed in the waiting room depends on how you set up Queue-it.
First, you can choose whether the waiting room should be “Always Visible” or “Visible at Peak”. If you choose “Visible at Peak”, the waiting room will activate only when traffic inflow (in visitors per minute) exceeds the threshold you've set.
Second, you choose the parts of the user flow that Queue-it covers. This could be your entire website, a landing page, the login page, or a dynamic request like when customers click “Add to Cart”. This way, you queue visitors only at the stage in the user journey that needs protection, while visitors who haven’t taken the protected action can browse the site normally.
You choose the traffic outflow level, measured in visitors per minute, and can adjust it up or down on-the-fly using Queue-it's API or web-based admin platform.
The best way to determine your outflow is to use a load test. If you haven't run a load test, Queue-it's peak traffic experts bring years of expertise in identifying system bottlenecks, understanding how many visitors your infrastructure can handle, and recommending a starting outflow level that's optimal for your site's performance.
You can integrate Queue-it with a client-side, server-side, edge, or mobile SDK connector. Queue-it offers over 25 connectors and dedicated support staff for implementation.
Yes, Queue-it can be used on mobile devices and integrated into iOS, Android, Cordova, or React Native app frameworks. Visitors on a desktop can even transfer their position in queue to their mobile device if they need to queue on the go.
The waiting room is a lightweight solution built specifically to avoid bottlenecks and handle extreme load, meaning holding users is less resource-intensive than on typical sites or apps.
Queue-it is cloud hosted, with several dedicated global AWS data centers, enabling high levels of scalability and eliminating single points of failure. Queue-it processes an average of 75 million visitors daily.