Free Global Entry Appointment Alerts
Free Global Entry appointment scanners exist, they work, and for some people they are genuinely the right answer. Here is every free option we know of, what each one actually costs you in effort, and the honest case for when paying is worth it.
We sell a paid alert service, so read this with that in mind. We've tried to write the page we'd want to read.
Your free options, and the catch with each
Open-source bots (GitHub)
Alerts via: Push, Telegram, or terminal — varies by project
The catch: Needs a machine running 24/7 and some comfort with code. No SMS in most projects.
Free tiers from paid services
Alerts via: Email (or browser notifications)
The catch: Typically one enrollment center, and no SMS — SMS is what these services charge for.
Refreshing ttp.dhs.gov yourself
Alerts via: Your own eyes
The catch: You must be looking in the two-second window a slot is live. TTP rate-limits heavy refreshing.
Reddit threads (r/GlobalEntry)
Alerts via: Community posts
The catch: By the time an opening is posted and you read it, it's gone. Useful for strategy, not for alerts.
The free open-source scanners
Several developers have published Global Entry appointment bots that poll the same public TTP availability data we do. They are free, and because the source is public you can read exactly what they do before you run them — genuinely more transparency than any paid service offers, ours included.
- arun0009/global-entry-appointment — real-time push notifications, no signup required.
- grahamplace/global-entry-alerter — polls the DHS scheduler API on an interval you set.
- guoguo12/global-entry-bot — posts open slots publicly to X/Twitter, so you can follow rather than install anything.
The real cost is not money, it's operations. A bot only helps if it is running the moment a slot opens, which means a machine that stays awake 24/7 — a spare computer, a Raspberry Pi, or a small cloud instance you maintain. Most of these projects also notify by push or Telegram rather than SMS. If that setup sounds like a fun afternoon, you genuinely do not need to pay us.
Free tiers from paid services
A few competitors offer a free plan as a way in. TTP Appointments has the most usable one we found — a free tier covering one enrollment center with email alerts, no credit card. getglobalentry.com offers free email alerts and charges $2.99 one-time for texts, which is the actual price floor for SMS in this market. TTP Tracker offers free browser notifications.
Prices and plans observed July 2026 and may have changed — check the source before relying on them.
The pattern is consistent across all of them: free gets you email and one location; SMS is the paid upgrade. That is not a trick, it's just economics — sending texts costs the operator real money per message, which is why nobody gives SMS away.
So when is paying actually worth it?
Two situations, and if neither describes you, use a free option with our blessing.
You need SMS. Global Entry cancellations are claimed in seconds. An email alert that you read at lunch is a notification that a slot existed, not a chance to book it. A text buzzes your pocket. That difference is the entire product — ours and everyone else's.
You don't want to run infrastructure. The free bots work, but they are software you operate. If the thought of keeping a Raspberry Pi alive to catch an interview slot sounds worse than $25, that's a reasonable trade to make.
That's the whole pitch. We charge $25 once — not a subscription — for SMS alerts on up to three centers across Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI, and we don't ask for your TTP login.
Decided the free route isn't for you?
$25 once. No subscription, no auto-renew.
Comparing the paid services instead? We ranked every Global Entry alert service, including the ones that beat us.
Free Global Entry alerts FAQ
Is there a free Global Entry appointment scanner?
Yes, several. There are free open-source bots on GitHub that poll the TTP scheduler and notify you, and a few paid services offer a limited free tier — typically email-only alerts for a single enrollment center. They genuinely work. The trade-offs are that the open-source bots need a computer running 24/7 and some technical setup, and the free tiers usually don't include SMS, which is the channel that actually wakes you up in time to book.
Can I just refresh the TTP website myself?
You can, and some people do get appointments this way. The problem is arithmetic: cancellations are claimed within seconds, so catching one by hand means refreshing at the exact moment a slot appears. TTP also rate-limits aggressive refreshing. Manual checking works best as a supplement — it costs nothing but your attention, and it's a reasonable thing to try before paying anyone.
Why would I pay when free options exist?
Only two reasons, and neither applies to everyone. First, SMS: free tiers are usually email-only, and email is where alerts go to be seen twenty minutes too late. Second, effort: the open-source bots require you to set up and babysit a machine that runs continuously. If you're comfortable self-hosting and check email obsessively, a free option may genuinely be all you need.
Are free Global Entry alert bots safe to use?
The open-source ones are auditable — you can read exactly what they do before running them, which is more transparency than any paid service offers, including us. Be more careful with free browser extensions or sites that ask for your TTP login. No legitimate alert service needs your Trusted Traveler credentials; we don't ask for them, and nothing that does should be trusted with them.