Frontelio vs Kisi
Kisi is a strong standalone cloud access-control product — clean BLE mobile credentials, polished admin console, and great hardware integrations. Built primarily for US/EU offices and co-working spaces.
Honest, fact-checked comparison. We cite both products' public pricing pages and feature lists.
Kisi nailed cloud access control as a single-purpose product. Their hardware ecosystem (Kisi Reader Pro, Controller Pro), their iOS Wallet support, and their visitor-management add-ons are best-in-class. Tap-to-unlock BLE experience is smooth. Strong choice if access control is the only problem you're solving.
Feature-by-feature
| Capability | Frontelio | Kisi | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Yes | No | Us: bundled at AED 299/outlet/mo inside GROWTH plan. Them: per-door subscription, separate bill, separate vendor. |
| Per-door cost | Yes | No | Us: included with GROWTH (no per-door fee). Them: $30–49/door/month per Kisi public pricing. |
| Mobile credential — NFC tap (Android) | Yes | Yes | Both ship phone-tap unlock; we use Android HCE, Kisi uses BLE. |
| Mobile credential — iPhone | Yes | Yes | Honest: Kisi supports Apple Wallet NFC; we use QR on iOS because Apple gates third-party NFC HCE. Same security, slightly less ‘tap-magic’ on iOS for now. |
| QR fallback (zero-hardware deploy) | Yes | No | Print a QR sticker, point camera, done. Kisi requires their reader hardware to unlock anything. |
| HR-tied auto-revoke on termination | Yes | No | We cascade from HR module → /admin/access in the same database write. Kisi requires a manual revoke in their dashboard or a Zapier-style integration. |
| Schedule-aware access (only during shift) | Yes | No | Tie a Zone grant to a shift template. Kisi has time-of-day schedules but doesn't know who's on shift today. |
| Audit log unified with payroll / checklists / shifts | Yes | No | One log, one search, one CSV export. Kisi keeps access events in its own dashboard separate from your workforce system. |
| Arabic RTL UI | Yes | No | Full RTL on every Access screen. Kisi is English-only. |
| Multi-tenant hierarchy (group → company → outlet) | Yes | No | Critical for groups with multiple brands. Kisi is single-tenant per organisation. |
| Cloud-native (no on-prem appliance) | Yes | Yes | Both are SaaS — Kisi's reader hardware does the on-site work, no rack server. |
| Public API + webhooks | Yes | Yes | We ship HMAC-signed webhooks on 13 events including access.grant.created / access.verify.deny. Kisi has API + webhooks too. |
| Reader hardware ecosystem | No | Yes | Honest: Kisi makes its own Reader Pro / Controller Pro hardware. We integrate with theirs (and HID Origo, Salto, Brivo, Latch) — we don't manufacture readers. For greenfield deploys we point at the Kisi Reader Pro or our reference RPi/ESP32 bridge. |
| Visitor management | No | Yes | Kisi has a polished visitor-management add-on. We don't ship visitor flows yet — on the roadmap. |
| Comes with: scheduling, payroll, training, comms, AI forecasting | Yes | No | We're a full workforce platform. Kisi is access-control only — you still need 7shifts/Connecteam/Bayzat/etc alongside. |
Comparison reflects features as of 27 May 2026. Last verified against the Kisi public pricing + features page on the same date.
Who switches to us
Multi-outlet GCC F&B and retail operators who already run scheduling + payroll on Frontelio and are paying Kisi a separate $30–49/door/mo bill. The cost saving alone is usually 60–80% of the Kisi bill, and you get HR-tied revoke + Arabic RTL + schedule-aware grants thrown in. If access control is the ONLY thing you need and you don't want a workforce platform, Kisi is still a perfectly good standalone choice.
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