What does office access control really cost — per door and per user?

Where the money goes in a typical office

For a company of 10 to 500 people renting commercial office space, access control rarely shows up as one big line. It is a handful of small, recurring costs that grow with headcount — which is exactly why it is easy to overpay for years without noticing.

Who charges per user, and who charges per door

Access-control pricing usually grows in one of two ways: with the number of people who hold a credential, or with the number of doors on the platform. Here is what vendors and resellers publish. Prices change and are often discounted, so treat these as pointers to the line on your own invoice.

Figures as published when we checked in October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners; GateStride is independent and not affiliated with any of them.

Per-user charges are the ones that quietly grow every time you hire. Per-door charges are what a rip-and-replace platform adds on top of the hardware. GateStride is built to avoid the first and make the second unnecessary — use the calculator above with the figures from your own invoice.

How GateStride changes each line

Per-user fees. GateStride connects to your existing access-control system as one integration user and manages your people itself. People who move to phone access no longer need their own credential on the underlying system, so per-person mobile-credential fees on that system stop growing with headcount. Check your vendor’s licence terms with your integrator; they differ by product.

Badges. A phone, watch or tablet carries its own key, created on the device. Nothing to print, nothing to hand back. People who keep cards still can — the calculator only counts the share you move.

Admin time. Access is sent as an invite and revoked in one click from the GateStride center, for every door and site at once. There is no physical item to retrieve when someone leaves.

Replacement. GateStride overlays the system you already own. Your readers, controllers, locks, request-to-exit and fire release stay exactly as they are, so a working system does not need a rip-and-replace project just to get phone unlock. See the overlay-versus-replace comparison.

The line no statement shows: who has left

Card systems record people coming in. Almost none record people going out, because leaving an office is meant to be free: you push the bar or a motion sensor releases the door, and the system only sees “door opened” — not who opened it. So when the fire alarm goes off, at lock-up time, or when someone asks “was anyone still here at 9pm?”, the honest answer is usually a guess.

GateStride records exits without anyone swiping out, and without changing how the door releases. That gives you a live list of who is still inside and a one-tap roll call at the muster point. It does not appear in the statement above because it saves time and risk rather than invoice dollars — but for many offices it is the reason to switch. How exit tracking works.

How to find your real numbers

1. Pull last year’s access-control invoices. Look for lines named cardholder, user, license, mobile credential, mobile pass, seat or subscription. Divide annual amounts by 12.
2. Count the badges you bought. Your office manager or integrator will know how many cards and fobs were ordered last year, and at what price.
3. Ask HR for turnover. Joiners plus leavers is a good proxy for issue-and-revoke events.
4. Time one onboarding. From request to working badge, including the follow-ups. Most people underestimate this.
5. Find the replacement quote. If an integrator or vendor has proposed a new system, that figure belongs in the one-off field.

When it won’t save you much

Be honest with yourself before you switch anything. If your system charges no per-user fees, very few people change each year and nobody loses badges, the yearly saving will be small — the case for GateStride then rests on the features (hands-free entry, knowing who has left, one-tap fire muster) rather than on cost. If your doors or controllers genuinely need replacing because they are failing or unsupported, an overlay will not fix that.

Questions

Where do I find my per-user or mobile credential fee?

Look at the recurring invoice from your access-control vendor or integrator for lines such as cardholder license, user license, mobile credential, mobile pass or seat. If the fee is annual, divide by 12. If you cannot find it, ask your integrator for the per-person cost of adding one more employee with mobile access.

Does GateStride remove every one of these costs?

No. The calculator lets you set how many people move to phone access, and it only counts what changes. Some people may keep cards, your integrator still services the hardware, and GateStride itself has a cost. Enter a GateStride quote to see the net figure.

Are the starting numbers real prices?

No. They are example values so the calculator shows something on load. They are not GateStride prices and not any vendor’s prices. Replace every field with your own figures.

Is anything I type sent to GateStride?

No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is stored or sent unless you choose to request a demo.