Both do the same basic job: the door stays locked, and the right people open it without a key. The difference is what they identify. A keypad knows a code, and anyone who has the code is let in. A card or fob reader knows a credential, and each credential belongs to one person. Almost everything else in this article follows from that one difference.
How a keypad works on a business door
A commercial keypad lock is usually a standalone unit: the keypad, the lock and the memory are in the same body on the door, and it runs on batteries. It needs no cable, no controller and no software, so it is the quickest and least expensive way to take a door off keys. Good ones hold a code per person rather than one shared code, and some can be set to lock and unlock on a schedule.
Its weakness is people. Codes are shared, written on sticky notes, and told to the delivery driver. Six months after the install, the code on the back door is known to more people than anyone could list, and changing it means telling everyone who should still have it. Many standalone keypads keep only a short log, and it is read at the door rather than on a screen.
How a card or fob reader works
A card reader sits beside the door and talks to a controller, which decides whether a credential may open that door at that time and then releases the lock, usually an electric strike or an electrified lever. Every credential is one person's. When someone leaves or loses a fob, that one credential is switched off in a minute and nobody else is affected. Every opening is logged with a name and a time, and several doors can be managed from one screen.
The cost is in the setup, not the reader. The controller, the cable to each door, the power supply and the lock hardware are what make a card system more expensive to start than a keypad. Credentials cost something too: cards and fobs per person, or a subscription where the phone is the credential.
When the battery or the power fails
A standalone keypad warns when its batteries run low, usually with a light or a tone at the door, and most commercial models have a key override, so the door can still be opened if the batteries die. The battery change belongs on someone's calendar, not left to the day the door stops answering.
A reader system runs on building power, and the lock behind it is set one of two ways. Fail-secure stays locked when the power drops, which suits most office and storage doors, and the door still opens from inside by the lever or the panic bar. Fail-safe unlocks when the power drops, and is used where the code requires a door to unlock on a fire alarm, as on some stairwell doors. A fire-rated door still has to latch, so its hardware is chosen with that in mind. Which one a door needs depends on the door and on the local code, and we check that before we quote. A backup battery on the power supply keeps the readers working through a short outage.
Keyless entry for a small business: a quick comparison
- Staff turnover. Low and stable, a keypad with a code per person is fine. Frequent hires, part-time staff or contractors, a reader, because removing one person should never mean changing everyone's code.
- Knowing who came in. If you ever need to answer who opened the stockroom on Saturday, you need a reader. A keypad cannot tell you with any confidence.
- How many doors. One door, a keypad usually wins. Three or more doors that the same people use, a reader system wins, because one credential works on all of them and is managed in one place.
- Wiring. A keypad needs none. A reader needs a cable run to the door, which is easy above a drop ceiling and harder in a glass storefront or across a slab.
- Where the door is. A back door staff use at opening and closing is keypad territory. A front entrance that locks on a schedule, a server room, or a pharmacy or records room are reader doors.
Card reader door installation: what the job includes
Card reader door installation is more than mounting the reader. The door has to latch reliably, so a sagging door or a worn closer gets fixed first. The lock is chosen for the door: a strike on most swinging doors, a narrow strike on an aluminum storefront, an electrified exit device on a door with a panic bar. A door-position switch tells the system whether the door is actually shut, and a request-to-exit device means leaving never needs a credential. On a fire-rated door only listed hardware goes on, and nothing is drilled that would void the label.
Access control system for an office: the usual answer
For most small offices the right setup is a mix. A reader on the front entrance and on the one or two rooms that need a record, and a standalone keypad or fob lock on a door that only a few people use. If you start with keypads, choose a model that can join a system later; if you start with readers, choose ones that can take a phone credential, so the hardware outlasts the first choice of card.
We walk the building, look at each door and its hardware, and write down which door gets which device and why, in a free estimate that lists every door separately. The walkthrough is same-day when the schedule allows.