At many German and Swiss trade shows, the organiser offers a badge scanner for hire: Scan2Lead in Düsseldorf or Zurich, LeadSuccess in Stuttgart or Munich. It is simple and official. But each show has to be ordered separately, before a deadline, and leads do not stay on the platform indefinitely.
Exhibitors looking for an alternative often do several shows a year, or also exhibit where no scanner is offered. This page compares the two approaches based on official pages consulted on 25 September 2026, starting with what the organiser's scanner does better.
At a glance
| Criterion | Organiser's scanner | Scanlead |
|---|---|---|
| Published price and unit | Per licence, for one show: Scan2Lead €149 excl. VAT at glasstec 2026 (source), CHF 229 excl. VAT at IFAS Zurich 2026 (source); LeadSuccess €149 at Messe Stuttgart, excl. or incl. VAT not stated (source) | Free; Pro €19 excl. VAT per month; Pro+ €39 excl. VAT per month, all shows included |
| Commitment | Licence bought for one show, before the organiser's deadline (source) | No commitment, cancel at any time |
| Free plan / trial | Sometimes included: 2 LeadSuccess licences included at Mesago (source); Scan2Lead trial licence without badge reading (source) | Free plan: 50 captures per month, no credit card |
| App languages | LeadSuccess: English stated on the App Store (source); Scan2Lead: not published | French, German, English, Italian, Spanish |
| Badge | Every badge at the show, from the registration database (source) | Badge QR code if it contains a vCard, a contact or a profile URL |
| Business card | Yes; LeadSuccess OCR does not read Asian or Cyrillic scripts (source) | Yes, photo read automatically |
| Offline | Yes (source) | QR code and manual entry: yes, sync without duplicates. Card reading: connection required |
| Qualification | Questionnaires, notes, voice memos, photos, stars (Scan2Lead) (source) | Hot, warm, cold, plus notes |
| File export | Excel (Scan2Lead) (source); Excel or PDF (LeadSuccess) (source) | CSV and Excel, on every plan |
| CRM | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics; fees possible depending on volume (source) | API and webhooks (Pro, Pro+) to Make or Zapier; direct link with CRMlead |
| Team | One licence per device (source) | Pro+: up to 5, roles, "Added by" column |
What the organiser's scanner does better
- It reads every badge. Scan2Lead SMART retrieves name, company, job title, email and phone number from the organiser's database, with nothing to type (source). Scanlead does not read badges that only contain a number: you then have to photograph the business card or enter the contact.
- It is sometimes already paid for. At ORGATEC 2026, lead tracking is included in Koelnmesse's mandatory marketing package, €2,035 excl. VAT per main exhibitor (source). Mesago and NürnbergMesse include LeadSuccess licences free of charge (source).
- It comes with hardware and a service desk. A rental iPad with 1 GB of data (€299 excl. VAT at glasstec 2026, source), a mini scanner, collection from the Scan2Lead desk at the exhibition centre (source). Scanlead has neither hardware nor an on-site presence.
- It has more qualification features. Customisable questionnaires, voice memos, named CRM integrations (source). Scanlead has no customisable questionnaire, no voice notes and no native Salesforce or HubSpot integration.
What Scanlead does differently
- One subscription for all your shows. The same price in Basel, Lausanne or Lyon, whether or not the organiser offers a scanner.
- No ordering per show. No shop, no deadline: the subscription covers all your shows.
- Business cards everywhere. Photo read automatically: name, company, job title, email, phone number; website and address in the notes.
- An interface in English, as well as French, German, Italian and Spanish.
- The API from €19 excl. VAT per month. At Koelnmesse, API access costs €2,499 for ORGATEC, excl. or incl. VAT not stated (source).
What it really costs
Example: three trade shows a year, three people on the stand.
Organiser's scanner. At the glasstec 2026 rate, three Scan2Lead SMART licences cost 3 × €149 = €447 excl. VAT for one show (source). If all three of your shows apply this rate, the year comes to €1,341 excl. VAT. At IFAS Zurich, three licences come to 3 × CHF 229 = CHF 687 excl. VAT for that show alone (source). Scan2Lead says so itself: prices "vary depending on the organizer and product".
Scanlead. Pro+ for the three show months: 3 × €39 = €117 excl. VAT, or €390 excl. VAT per year with annual billing.
The calculation is reversed when the organiser provides the scanner free of charge, and it does not include access to the registration database, which Scanlead does not have.
When to choose the scanner, when to choose Scanlead
The organiser's scanner is the right choice if the show's badges only carry a number, if most visitors have no business card, or if the licence is included free of charge. It is then the only way to capture every visitor with a single scan.
Scanlead is the right choice for the other shows of the year, those where no scanner is offered, and for keeping all your contacts in one place. Nothing stops you from combining them: the scanner at your main show, Scanlead at the others.
Switching tools
Export your leads before the platform closes: at Scan2Lead, they are deleted 8 weeks after a partner show, in Excel (source); at LeadSuccess, the portal stays open for 4 weeks, with Excel or PDF export (source).
On the Scanlead side, contacts come in by manual entry or via the API (Pro and Pro+).
What the usual options cost a small exhibitor, published prices included: Lead capture for small exhibitors. And after the show: Trade show leads to your CRM.