Do Brivo and Salto work together on the same site?

Yes, and it's a common pattern. Many sites run Brivo for perimeter doors, server rooms, and loading docks that need wired electric strikes or maglocks, and add Salto wireless locks for interior offices, conference rooms, and storage rooms where cable is expensive or impractical. The two run in parallel on separate dashboards. Tec-Tel scopes mixed-architecture deployments regularly and defines which doors belong on each system.

Are Brivo and Salto both NDAA Section 889 compliant?

Yes. Brivo is headquartered in Bethesda, MD and publishes NDAA 889 documentation. Salto is headquartered in Spain and also publishes NDAA 889 documentation for its access hardware. Both pass typical federal-touching procurement reviews. Neither contains covered telecommunications equipment from FCC Covered List vendors.

Is Salto a good fit for a commercial office retrofit?

Often, yes. If you have 40 private offices and conference rooms on a built-out floor and pulling cable through finished ceilings isn't feasible, Salto adds electronic access to every door with lock replacement and programming rather than a cabling project. For perimeter entries, loading docks, and server rooms, a wired platform like Brivo gives you better hardware options and fail-safe capability.

What does the Salto offline key update model mean in practice?

Some Salto lock models operate offline, storing access rights locally rather than communicating with the cloud in real time. When you revoke a credential, the user keeps access until they tap a network-connected door or use the Salto app to receive an update. Where real-time revocation is critical, such as a termination, that's an operational wrinkle to plan for. Salto's online models (SVN-Flex, BLE Wi-Fi locks) communicate in real time, so selecting the right lock model for your revocation requirements matters.

Which is better for a hotel property?

Salto, for guestroom doors. It has a hospitality-specific product line for guestroom lock control with mobile key, key card, and check-in integrations. For back-of-house, server rooms, and perimeter entries where wired fail-safe hardware is a code requirement, Brivo or another wired platform handles those. Most hotel projects end up mixed: Salto for guestrooms, a wired platform for high-security openings.

How does battery life affect Salto deployments at scale?

Salto lock battery life depends on model and door traffic. Published figures range from one to four years per set of batteries under normal commercial use. For a 100-door deployment, you're replacing batteries on 25 to 50 locks per year on a rolling basis. The Salto KS portal surfaces low-battery alerts before a lock goes offline, so it's manageable for a facilities team. It's an operational item wired deployments don't have. Build it into your 5-year TCO.

Compare · Access control

Brivo vs Salto, from a 15-year integrator.

Wired cloud access platform vs wireless battery-powered lock ecosystem. Different architectures solving different retrofit problems. The right answer depends on your door types, building conditions, and whether pulling cable to every door is feasible.

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Platform-agnostic
1,000+ deployments over 15 years

Pick Brivo when you need a mature cloud access platform for wired door infrastructure, multi-tenant commercial buildings, or sites already running a structured cabling project. Pick Salto when you want access control on interior doors without new wiring, especially retrofits where pulling cable through finished walls isn't feasible. They solve different problems: Brivo is a cloud access platform, Salto is a wireless lock ecosystem. Many sites use both.

§01 At a glance

Eight criteria access-control buyers actually weigh.

Pick the row that matches your biggest constraint. Claims are sourced to each vendor's public product documentation and NDAA Section 889 statements.

Criterion	Brivo	Salto
Architecture and wiring	Wired cloud access. Brivo ACS300 and DP2 controllers connect to doors via structured cabling and power the electric strikes, maglocks, and exit devices. A wired IDF or electrical closet is required per floor or zone. Best where cabling is in place or part of a construction project.	Wireless battery-powered locks. Salto locks run on battery and communicate wirelessly (SVN-Flex or SALTO Virtual Network, newer devices on BLE and Wi-Fi). No low-voltage wiring to the door. The lock is the controller. Retrofits where cabling through finished ceilings or walls is prohibitively expensive are its strongest case.
Pricing model	Per-door cloud subscription. Brivo publishes a starting figure around $13.50 per door per month. Hardware (controllers, readers, door hardware) billed separately. Higher tiers unlock visitor management, advanced reporting, and ecosystem integrations.	Hardware-plus-cloud. Salto locks sell as hardware with a cloud subscription (Salto KS, or Salto Space for on-prem). Per-door pricing not publicly listed; quotes vary by lock model, door type, and scale. Battery replacement is an ongoing cost wired systems don't carry.
Door types supported	Electric strikes, maglocks, exit devices, parking gates, elevator control, and perimeter doors with standard low-voltage hardware. Brivo supports high-security openings needing continuous power, fail-safe or fail-secure configurations, and request-to-exit wiring.	Interior office doors, hotel rooms, storage rooms, stairwell doors, and openings where wiring is difficult. Salto works best on doors that don't require continuous power. Exterior perimeter doors with demanding fail-safe or fail-secure requirements aren't the primary use case.
Credential types	Mobile credentials via Brivo Mobile Pass (Bluetooth and NFC, iOS and Android). Also HID iCLASS, Prox, Mifare, key fobs, and PIN. Existing badge populations run without a forced migration.	Mobile credentials via Salto JustIN Mobile (BLE, iOS and Android). Also Salto RFID cards and fobs, with online or offline key encoding by lock model. Offline models require users to tap a network-connected door periodically to receive new access rights.
NDAA Section 889	Compliant. Brivo is headquartered in Bethesda, MD and publishes NDAA Section 889 documentation.	Compliant. Salto is headquartered in Spain and publishes NDAA 889 documentation. Hardware contains no covered telecommunications equipment from FCC Covered List vendors.
Installation and project scope	Wired installation requires a licensed low-voltage contractor to run cable to each door, mount the controller in a nearby IDF, and connect door hardware. Higher labor per door than wireless. Payoff is battery-free operation and the full range of door hardware types.	Wireless installation is much faster per door. Lock replacement plus programming is the scope. No cable pull, no IDF work, no power supply per door. For large interior-door retrofits, Salto cuts installation cost and time materially.
Cloud management and reporting	Brivo Access cloud portal: real-time event logs, cardholder management, access schedules, video integration, and multi-tenant delegation. SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA-aligned hosting. Audit reports tuned for compliance teams.	Salto KS provides cardholder management, access schedules, event logs, and mobile credential management. Simpler than Brivo in reporting breadth and integrations, but covers the core workflow for most deployments.
Video integration	Brivo integrates with Eagle Eye Networks, Rhombus, Cisco Meraki MV, Avigilon Alta, and others via open API. Brivo Video is a native cloud-video add-on. The stronger platform for linking access events to camera footage.	Salto has no native video product. Third-party integrations exist via the Salto API, but video linkage is an integration project, not a built-in workflow. Operators needing tight video-plus-access correlation combine Salto with a separate VMS or use Brivo or Verkada at those doors.

§02 Where Brivo wins

Pick Brivo when these matter most.

Wired perimeter and high-security doors

Electric strikes, maglocks, and fail-safe or fail-secure exit devices require continuous low-voltage power at the door. Brivo is built for this. Perimeter entries, loading docks, and server room doors needing a hardwired access point are natural Brivo territory.

Multi-tenant CRE buildings

Property managers running buildings with multiple independent tenants have relied on Brivo for decades. Each tenant manages its own cardholder pool and schedules; the property manager holds the master account. The delegation model is purpose-built, not bolted on.

Video integration depth

Brivo integrates with multiple cloud video vendors and has a native cloud-video add-on that links door events to camera clips. You get a real choice of video partners rather than lock-in to a single camera ecosystem.

HRIS and identity provider integrations

BambooHR, Rippling, Workday, Okta, and Azure AD connectors are production-ready. New hires get access from the HR system on Day 1. Departures are cut off at termination. The integration library has been building for over twenty years.

§02 Where Salto wins

Pick Salto when these matter most.

Retrofit without new wiring

Salto wireless locks replace the existing lockset and communicate wirelessly. No cable pull, no IDF work, no power supply at the door. For finished walls, drop ceilings with limited access, or historic structures where cabling is difficult, this is the decisive advantage.

Interior doors at scale

Conference rooms, private offices, storage rooms, and stairwell doors are Salto's natural territory. A 100-room hotel, a school with 80 interior classrooms, or a campus with dozens of private offices adds access to every door in a fraction of the time and cost of a wired deployment.

Fast deployment, lower install labor

A Salto install is lock replacement plus programming. A 50-door retrofit takes a day or two. The wired Brivo equivalent adds conduit, cable, controller mounting, and door hardware, stretching the timeline by days or weeks. On a large interior-door retrofit, the labor savings can offset the hardware cost difference.

Hotel rooms and hospitality

Salto has a hospitality-specific product line for hotel guestroom lock control. Key-card and mobile-key check-in flows are built in. For hotels, the wireless lock ecosystem is purpose-built in a way a generic wired access platform is not.

§03 Pricing reality

What each platform actually costs per door.

Brivo publishes a starting figure around $13.50 per door per month for its cloud subscription. That is the software cost only; hardware (ACS300 or DP2 controller, readers, electric strike or maglock) and installation labor are separate. In Tec-Tel quotes, a fully installed Brivo door on standard wired interior infrastructure runs $800 to $1,500 all-in, depending on door type and cable run length. Perimeter doors with complex hardware run higher. The software rate recurs annually for the life of the deployment.

Salto hardware is the dominant Day 1 expense: a lock plus programming typically runs $300 to $700 per door by model and door type, with lower install labor since there's no cable run. The Salto KS cloud subscription adds a per-door recurring fee. Battery replacement is an ongoing cost that's easy to underestimate at scale. For a 100-door deployment, annual battery replacement across the fleet belongs in the five-year model.

→ Brivo: software starts around $13.50/door/month; full door cost with hardware and installation typically $800 to $1,500 per standard interior door.
→ Salto: lock hardware $300 to $700 per door plus Salto KS subscription; lower install labor but add battery replacement to the 5-year model.
→ New construction or active cabling project: Brivo per-door cost is lower when cable is going in anyway.
→ Large interior retrofit without cabling: Salto per-door cost can be significantly lower than pulling cable through finished walls.

§04 5-year TCO

Total cost of ownership over five years.

Brivo's five-year TCO is straightforward: per-door software plus hardware amortized over the deployment. For a 30-door building at $13.50/door/month, the software line over five years is roughly $24,300. Hardware and installation are one-time costs upfront, and wired door hardware has no ongoing consumable cost. That predictability is an underrated advantage for multi-site operators doing capital planning.

Salto's five-year model is hardware-first: upfront lock cost is higher relative to the subscription, and battery replacement adds an ongoing expense. For a 50-door deployment, annual battery replacement across the fleet (two to four AA batteries per lock, depending on traffic and model) compounds over five years. Against that is the lower retrofit install labor. Where Salto saves $300 to $600 per door in install labor vs. a wired alternative, that often more than offsets the battery maintenance over five years.

→ Brivo 5-year software: 30 doors at $13.50/door/month = $24,300 before hardware; no consumable hardware cost.
→ Salto 5-year model: higher lock hardware up front, lower install labor, add annual battery replacement per lock.
→ Installation labor delta: Salto saves $200 to $500 per door on a retrofit with no existing cable; model this explicitly.
→ Exit cost for both: replacing lock hardware or controllers plus credential migration drives switching cost; plan it at the hardware refresh boundary.

Questions buyers ask us

FAQ

Do Brivo and Salto work together on the same site?: Yes, and it's a common pattern. Many sites run Brivo for perimeter doors, server rooms, and loading docks that need wired electric strikes or maglocks, and add Salto wireless locks for interior offices, conference rooms, and storage rooms where cable is expensive or impractical. The two run in parallel on separate dashboards. Tec-Tel scopes mixed-architecture deployments regularly and defines which doors belong on each system.
Are Brivo and Salto both NDAA Section 889 compliant?: Yes. Brivo is headquartered in Bethesda, MD and publishes NDAA 889 documentation. Salto is headquartered in Spain and also publishes NDAA 889 documentation for its access hardware. Both pass typical federal-touching procurement reviews. Neither contains covered telecommunications equipment from FCC Covered List vendors.
Is Salto a good fit for a commercial office retrofit?: Often, yes. If you have 40 private offices and conference rooms on a built-out floor and pulling cable through finished ceilings isn't feasible, Salto adds electronic access to every door with lock replacement and programming rather than a cabling project. For perimeter entries, loading docks, and server rooms, a wired platform like Brivo gives you better hardware options and fail-safe capability.
What does the Salto offline key update model mean in practice?: Some Salto lock models operate offline, storing access rights locally rather than communicating with the cloud in real time. When you revoke a credential, the user keeps access until they tap a network-connected door or use the Salto app to receive an update. Where real-time revocation is critical, such as a termination, that's an operational wrinkle to plan for. Salto's online models (SVN-Flex, BLE Wi-Fi locks) communicate in real time, so selecting the right lock model for your revocation requirements matters.
Which is better for a hotel property?: Salto, for guestroom doors. It has a hospitality-specific product line for guestroom lock control with mobile key, key card, and check-in integrations. For back-of-house, server rooms, and perimeter entries where wired fail-safe hardware is a code requirement, Brivo or another wired platform handles those. Most hotel projects end up mixed: Salto for guestrooms, a wired platform for high-security openings.
How does battery life affect Salto deployments at scale?: Salto lock battery life depends on model and door traffic. Published figures range from one to four years per set of batteries under normal commercial use. For a 100-door deployment, you're replacing batteries on 25 to 50 locks per year on a rolling basis. The Salto KS portal surfaces low-battery alerts before a lock goes offline, so it's manageable for a facilities team. It's an operational item wired deployments don't have. Build it into your 5-year TCO.

Get a straight comparison

A free consultation defines which doors go on which platform.

Most commercial sites use both architectures: wired for perimeter and high-security doors, wireless for interior offices and conference rooms. The Tec-Tel team will walk through your door types and building conditions and give you a written recommendation with per-door cost for each scope. HQ in Morganville, NJ. Call 855-577-0400 or book online.

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