Market Analysis
How to read virtual waiting room ratings
Ask which virtual waiting room is rated highest and the answer depends on which rating you look at. The same five products come out in a different order on G2's star ratings, its satisfaction ranking, its usability ranking and its default sort. None of these is wrong. They measure different things.
This article sets out what each rating measures, using figures we checked in September 2026, so you can read them for what they are.
One category, four different orders
G2 publishes several ways of ranking the same products. Here's how the five products in its virtual waiting room category with enough data to rank come out on each.
| Provider | Star rating | Highest Rated | Easiest To Use | G2 Score sort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrowdHandler | 4.9 (2nd) | 5th | 3rd | 5th |
| DataDome | 4.7 (joint 4th) | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd |
| NetFUNNEL | 4.8 (3rd) | 4th | 4th | 4th |
| Queue-Fair | 5.0 (1st) | 1st | 1st | 2nd |
| Queue-it | 4.7 (joint 4th) | 2nd | 5th | 1st |
Four measures, and three different products come first on at least one of them. CrowdHandler has the second-highest star rating in the group and ranks fifth on G2's Highest Rated list. Queue-it ranks first on G2 Score and fifth on Easiest To Use.
What each one measures
The star rating is the average of the scores reviewers give. It's the easiest figure to read and the one most often quoted.
Highest Rated ranks products by G2's satisfaction score, which G2 describes as a proprietary calculation based on satisfaction ratings from review data. It isn't the same as the star average, which is why the two can disagree. The five products scored 91, 61, 38, 30 and 22.
Easiest To Use ranks products by a usability score built from ratings for ease of administration, ease of use and how well the product meets requirements. On this measure the five products are much closer together, scoring between 8.6 and 9.6.
G2 Score is the default sort on the category page. G2 says it combines satisfaction with market presence, so a product with a larger customer base or more reviews can rank higher on it without being rated higher by users.
When a vendor says it's ranked first on G2, the useful question is which ranking. Our full comparison links each ranking claim to the G2 page it comes from, so you can check.
Check what the reviews cover
A review count only compares like with like if the reviews are about the same kind of product. DataDome's G2 listing shows 244 reviews and a 4.7 rating, the largest review count in the category. Those reviews cover DataDome's bot and fraud protection platform, not its waiting room, which is an add-on called Priority Protect. Macrometa's waiting room is likewise one service within a wider platform.
Neither figure is misleading on its own terms. They just answer a different question from the one you're asking when you compare waiting rooms.
Review counts vary between sites
The same product can have very different review volumes on different sites. On G2, Queue-it has 164 reviews and Queue-Fair has 127. On SourceForge, Queue-Fair has 88, Queue-it has 8 and CrowdHandler has 7.
A rating based on 8 reviews moves a lot with each new one. Before comparing ratings across sites, check how many reviews each figure rests on.
Counting sites can also overstate the evidence. SourceForge and Slashdot are both run by Slashdot Media, so a rating that appears on both isn't two independent sources.
Check when the figure was recorded
Ratings change as reviews come in, and the same product can show slightly different figures on different G2 pages depending on when each was last refreshed. A figure quoted on a vendor's website, or in an article like this one, reflects the day it was recorded.
Review sites also keep listings for products that no longer exist. G2's virtual waiting room category still lists TrafficDefender, which Queue-it acquired and discontinued in 2023, and Section, which Webscale acquired the same year. A listing tells you a product existed. It doesn't tell you it's still for sale.
A quick check before you rely on a rating
Ask which ranking or score it is, and whether it measures satisfaction, usability, market presence or a simple average. Check how many reviews it's based on and what product those reviews are about. Note when it was recorded, and whether the product is still being sold. A rating that passes all of those is worth weighing. One that doesn't may still be accurate, but it's answering a different question.
Sources: G2 virtual waiting room category and ranking pages, SourceForge. Checked September 2026. Ratings change over time.