PointGrab is an occupancy sensing and analytics company serving corporate real estate, workplace, and facilities teams. Its system changes a basic CRE workflow: instead of estimating office use through reservations, badge records, surveys, or occasional observation, operators can collect continuous data about presence, headcount, and space utilization. That evidence can inform portfolio planning, workplace design, cleaning schedules, room availability, and building operations. PointGrab is CRE adjacent rather than a complete property management platform, because it supplies a specialized data layer rather than managing leases, accounting, tenants, or work orders.
The product family includes CogniPoint CP 1 for permanent infrastructure and CP 2 Flex for deployments requiring less cabling and easier relocation. PointGrab says its devices combine object detection, motion detection, and people counting, supporting applications ranging from desk and meeting room analysis to floor level headcounts. Its proposition is broader than a simple motion sensor: one installed system is intended to serve multiple operational and workplace applications through granular spatial data.
Privacy is central to the buying decision. PointGrab states that its system does not collect, store, or share personal information and describes its sensing as anonymous, without cameras or wearables. The company also states that uploads are encrypted, GDPR compliance is built into the design, and third party penetration testing occurs annually. Buyers should still perform their own privacy, cybersecurity, labor relations, and data governance reviews, particularly when monitoring reaches desk level.
BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab is most compelling when an organization has an identified occupancy decision and existing software capable of consuming sensor data. It is less persuasive as an open ended workplace experiment. The vendor claims 95% accuracy, but buyers need to define the applicable metric, test performance in their room types, and measure data completeness over time. Pricing is not published, while public evidence about deployment economics and portfolio level outcomes remains limited. A bounded pilot is therefore the appropriate procurement path.
What PointGrab Does and How It Works
PointGrab installs sensors above or within workplace areas to detect whether spaces are occupied and, where configured, count people. The system converts those observations into time stamped utilization data that can show when desks, rooms, zones, or floors are being used. This is materially different from reservation data, which records intent rather than actual presence. Facilities teams can compare bookings with observed use, identify persistently empty capacity, and examine peaks, dwell patterns, or mismatches between room size and actual attendance.
The hardware strategy separates permanent and flexible deployment models. CogniPoint CP 1 is positioned for new construction, refurbishment, and larger long term installations where open ceilings and planned infrastructure make fixed placement practical. It supports area counting and traffic line counting. CP 2 Flex is positioned for existing or occupied buildings, with zero cabling and the ability to move devices as layouts or measurement priorities change. PointGrab says the flexible model can begin producing data quickly, although actual deployment time will depend on coverage design, network approval, installation access, calibration, and integration work.
Data becomes useful through downstream applications. PointGrab describes the system as software agnostic and says standard APIs can send occupancy information into workplace and building platforms. Publicly named platform relationships include Planon and Metrikus, and PointGrab announced a WellStat integration in May 2026. The vendor also promotes operational uses such as cleaning, HVAC decisions, employee experience, space planning, and sustainability reporting. BestCRE’s analysis is that sensing alone does not produce those savings. The customer must map sensor events to spaces, maintain that mapping after layout changes, establish reliable baselines, and connect the data to an action. For HVAC or cleaning automation, governance matters as much as detection accuracy because stale mappings, communication failures, or poorly selected thresholds can create bad operating decisions.
9AI Framework: Dimension by Dimension Analysis
CRE Relevance: 8/10
PointGrab earns an 8 for CRE relevance. Occupancy measurement addresses concrete decisions in corporate real estate, including space consolidation, workplace design, room allocation, cleaning, and building control. Unlike a general analytics product, the system collects data directly from physical commercial spaces and organizes it for workplace applications. The limitation is scope. PointGrab is a specialized sensing layer, not a property management, lease administration, facilities management, or financial system. Its value is consequently concentrated in office portfolios and other settings where presence and headcount influence operating decisions. BestCRE’s analysis is that relevance rises when a buyer has costly uncertainty about actual use and falls when badge, booking, or building automation data already answers the decision adequately.
Data Quality and Sources: 8/10
PointGrab earns an 8 for data quality because its combined sensing approach is designed to capture presence, movement, people counts, and utilization at a more granular level than reservations or periodic surveys. Dynamic area coverage and data stitching can provide a continuous operational record rather than a snapshot. The vendor states that personal information is not collected, which improves the usability of the dataset in privacy sensitive workplaces. Important validation questions remain. Buyers should establish how events are sampled, aggregated, retained, filtered, and matched to the floor plan. They should also test blind spots, overlapping coverage, furniture changes, network interruptions, and device relocation. BestCRE’s analysis is that the data architecture appears strong for its purpose, but customer specific quality depends on installation discipline and ongoing spatial mapping.
Ease of Adoption: 7/10
PointGrab earns a 7 for ease of adoption. CP 2 Flex is designed for occupied buildings, requires no cabling, and can be moved as measurement needs change. That can reduce construction coordination and make a limited pilot practical. CP 1 offers a more permanent route for projects where ceilings are accessible during construction or refurbishment. Hardware installation is only one part of adoption, however. Corporate IT approval, network configuration, privacy review, floor plan mapping, API work, change communication, and calibration can extend the project. A workplace team must also decide who owns device health and space metadata after deployment. BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab can be easier to introduce than wired building infrastructure, but it is not a self contained software signup. Adoption should be planned as a building technology project.
Output Accuracy: 7/10
PointGrab earns a 7 for output accuracy. The vendor says achieving 95% accuracy is fundamental to its system, but that statement requires procurement level definition. Accuracy may refer to presence detection, counts, particular configurations, or tested environmental conditions, and those measures are not interchangeable. Ceiling height, partitions, room geometry, traffic patterns, installation position, and changes in furniture can affect observed results. Even a strong aggregate result may be inadequate for an application that makes real time room availability or HVAC decisions. BestCRE’s analysis is that the underlying sensor specialization supports confidence above a typical software derived estimate, but buyers should not accept a headline claim as proof for their estate. Contractual test methods, error tolerances, exception handling, and periodic validation should be agreed before expansion.
Integration and Workflow Fit: 7/10
PointGrab earns a 7 for integration. The company presents its system as software agnostic and supports data exchange through standard APIs. It publicly identifies Planon and Metrikus among compatible workplace platforms, while the announced WellStat relationship adds another route for connecting environmental and occupancy information. This approach is useful for owners that want sensor data to flow into an established experience, analytics, or building operations layer rather than another isolated dashboard. Publicly available information does not establish the depth, commercial availability, or field performance of every connection. Buyers should distinguish a documented product integration from a custom API project and confirm authentication, data frequency, space identifiers, alert behavior, and support ownership. BestCRE’s analysis is that the architecture is promising, but integration quality must be verified platform by platform.
Pricing Transparency: 3/10
PointGrab earns a 3 for pricing transparency. The vendor does not publish list prices, subscription rates, installation charges, minimum deployment sizes, support fees, or contract terms. That makes it difficult for a CRE team to compare the system with competing sensors or with lower cost proxies such as badge and booking data before entering a sales process. Hardware projects reasonably vary by sensor type, coverage, ceilings, networking, geography, and integration scope, but buyers still benefit from indicative unit economics and clear recurring fee categories. BestCRE’s analysis is that the absence of public pricing creates avoidable procurement friction. Proposals should separate hardware, installation, configuration, software, data access, integration, support, replacement, and renewal costs so the buyer can model ownership over the intended holding period.
Support and Reliability: 7/10
PointGrab earns a 7 for support. The company says it provides onboarding assistance, and published partner testimonials describe helpful implementation support, straightforward deployment, and sustained supplier relationships. Those signals matter because sensor projects require more than shipping hardware. Coverage design, commissioning, calibration, integration troubleshooting, firmware management, and device replacement can determine whether the dataset remains credible. However, the vendor does not publish enough detail to compare service levels systematically. Public information does not clearly establish standard response commitments, support hours by region, uptime remedies, replacement timelines, or included professional services. BestCRE’s analysis is that available evidence supports a positive but not exceptional score. Buyers should negotiate named ownership across PointGrab, the installer, and the consuming software provider, especially when an operational workflow depends on live occupancy data.
Innovation and Roadmap: 8/10
PointGrab earns an 8 for innovation. Combining multiple occupancy functions in one device can reduce the need to select separate systems for presence, traffic, and area counting. The choice between permanent infrastructure and movable, cable free deployment also reflects the practical differences between new construction and existing offices. Edge based processing and privacy conscious outputs address a difficult workplace requirement: producing granular information without creating an identity tracking system. The announced WellStat integration suggests a direction in which occupancy and environmental signals can be interpreted together. BestCRE’s analysis is that this is meaningful product design rather than novelty for its own sake. The deduction reflects the fact that occupancy sensing is an established market with capable competitors, and that product innovation becomes valuable only when integrations convert observations into measurable CRE decisions.
Market Reputation: 6/10
PointGrab earns a 6 for market reputation. The company presents testimonials from workplace technology partners and enterprise project participants, including references to multiyear collaboration and large sensor deployments. It also has visible relationships with workplace platforms and distribution partners. These are credible signs of operating experience in commercial environments. PointGrab does not publish enough standardized customer evidence for a higher score, however. Public information does not provide a comprehensive customer count, independently audited performance record, retention rate, or broad set of detailed case studies with comparable financial outcomes. BestCRE’s analysis is that the company appears established within the specialist occupancy sensing market, but buyers have less public evidence than they would receive from larger property software platforms. Reference calls should focus on estates resembling the buyer’s buildings, integration stack, and governance requirements.
Who Should Use PointGrab
PointGrab best suits corporate real estate and workplace leaders managing office portfolios where actual attendance remains uncertain. A strong buyer has a specific decision pending, such as consolidating floors, resizing meeting rooms, testing neighborhood layouts, reconciling bookings with attendance, or establishing utilization baselines before a lease event. Facilities teams can also benefit when reliable counts can change cleaning frequencies, room availability displays, or building control strategies. Organizations with hybrid work policies and expensive space commitments are the clearest candidates because small improvements in planning confidence may affect large operating decisions.
The product also fits enterprises that already use a workplace management, building analytics, or employee experience platform and need a better physical data source. Buyers should have internal ownership for floor plan metadata, privacy governance, IT approval, and post installation analysis. BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab is most defensible when the organization can name both the operational action and the person responsible for taking it. New construction and refurbishment teams may favor CP 1, while operators testing existing occupied space may find CP 2 Flex better aligned with a phased rollout.
Who Should Not Use PointGrab
PointGrab is a weak fit for landlords or managers seeking a comprehensive property management system. It does not replace accounting, lease administration, maintenance management, tenant communication, or asset reporting platforms. Small offices with obvious utilization patterns may also struggle to justify dedicated sensing. If occasional observation, reservation records, or access control data can answer the decision at acceptable confidence, another hardware layer may add cost without changing an outcome.
Organizations should also defer adoption if they lack a defined privacy position, integration owner, or process for acting on the data. Desk level measurement can raise employee concerns even when information is anonymous. A buyer expecting sensors alone to reduce energy or real estate costs is likely to be disappointed. BestCRE’s analysis is that value depends on downstream operating changes, so teams unable to connect the measurements to portfolio, cleaning, workplace, or building control decisions should first improve their workflow and governance.
Pricing and ROI Analysis
PointGrab does not publish pricing for sensors, software, installation, support, integrations, or renewals. Buyers should request a complete cost schedule covering hardware ownership, subscription obligations, deployment labor, gateways or network components, commissioning, API access, analytics, training, replacement devices, and ongoing support. The proposal should also identify minimum order quantities, warranty terms, data export rights, renewal increases, and costs associated with moving sensors. Comparing proposals on device price alone would be misleading because coverage requirements and integration services can materially affect total ownership cost.
BestCRE’s analysis: use simple decision based ROI math before procurement. If a pilot and first year of service cost C, and the organization expects annual benefits from avoided space, adjusted cleaning, or operating improvements totaling B, the first year net benefit is B minus C. The simple payback period is C divided by monthly verified benefit. Do not count theoretical savings unless the budget or lease decision will actually change. Run conservative, expected, and high cases, then require pilot data to validate occupancy findings and the operational response. Because public pricing is unavailable, no responsible dollar estimate can be assigned without a vendor proposal and a defined deployment design.
Integration and CRE Tech Stack Fit
PointGrab is designed to act as a data source within a broader CRE technology stack. The company says standard APIs can deliver occupancy information to existing workplace applications and names Planon and Metrikus as compatible platforms. It also announced an integration with WellStat in May 2026. Buyers should confirm whether their target connection is a supported product, a partner configured workflow, or a custom implementation. Those distinctions affect cost, implementation responsibility, upgrade risk, and support.
The critical technical issue is consistent space identity across the sensor system, floor plans, reservations, IWMS records, and building controls. A room renamed in one platform but not another can corrupt analysis or automation. Procurement should test API documentation, authentication, update frequency, historical exports, error handling, device status data, and ownership of mapping changes. BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab fits best as the sensing layer beneath an existing system of engagement, not as the sole interface for workplace operations.
Competitive Landscape
VergeSense is the most direct alternative for enterprises comparing workplace occupancy sensors and utilization analytics. It has a visible focus on portfolio level workplace intelligence and is often considered when corporate real estate teams want both sensing and analytical software. Density is another credible option, particularly for buyers emphasizing people counting, space analytics, and privacy conscious measurement. Buyers should compare practical coverage, count definitions, installation requirements, floor plan workflows, data access, and the analytical experience rather than relying on headline accuracy claims.
Occuspace offers a different sensing approach and may appeal to organizations seeking broad occupancy trend data with relatively lightweight deployment. PointGrab differentiates itself through a sensor system that combines presence, movement, traffic counting, and area counting, plus permanent and flexible hardware options. That breadth may reduce device fragmentation, but it should be tested against the exact granularity and real time requirements of the intended use case.
DoorLoop, Entrata, AppFolio, Venn, TurboTenant, VTS, and Yardi Virtuoso occupy other parts of the broader property technology category. They are not close substitutes for PointGrab’s physical occupancy collection. A buyer needing accounting, leasing, resident operations, tenant experience, or portfolio workflow software should begin with those respective platform categories. BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab competes primarily for the occupancy data layer, and its selection should follow, not precede, a decision about which CRE workflow will consume that data.
The Bottom Line
PointGrab should make the shortlist for corporate real estate teams that need defensible, granular evidence of how offices are actually used. Its combined sensing capabilities, privacy positioning, flexible deployment option, and API oriented model address real weaknesses in booking and badge data. The product is particularly credible when a planned lease, design, cleaning, or building operations decision can be tied to measured occupancy.
Do not approve an estate wide rollout solely on vendor accuracy claims or projected savings. Run a representative pilot, define acceptance tests, verify the intended platform connection, and assign responsibility for maintaining spatial mappings. Require a transparent ownership cost and measure whether the data changes a funded decision. BestCRE’s analysis is that PointGrab is a capable specialist, but its business case must be proven building by building.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is PointGrab?
PointGrab is an occupancy sensing and analytics provider for corporate real estate, workplace, and facilities teams. Its CogniPoint sensor system detects presence, counts people, and produces utilization data for desks, rooms, zones, and floors. Organizations can use that information to evaluate office demand, plan space, compare bookings with actual attendance, adjust cleaning, support room availability, or inform building operations. PointGrab is not a full property management or integrated workplace management system. It functions primarily as a physical data collection layer that can supply other workplace and building applications. The company states that its system does not collect personal information and does not depend on cameras or employee wearables.
How does PointGrab compare with VergeSense and Density?
PointGrab, VergeSense, and Density all address the gap between planned workplace use and observed occupancy. PointGrab emphasizes a combined sensor capable of presence detection, movement detection, traffic counting, and area counting, with separate options for permanent and flexible deployments. VergeSense is a direct competitor with a strong focus on workplace intelligence across portfolios. Density also offers privacy conscious people sensing and space analytics. The best choice depends on required granularity, ceiling and network conditions, analytical software, integration depth, privacy review, and total ownership cost. BestCRE’s analysis is that buyers should run comparable tests in the same room types and evaluate data completeness, count errors, device health reporting, installation effort, and the quality of downstream workflows.
How much does PointGrab cost?
PointGrab does not publish list pricing. Public information does not disclose sensor prices, software subscriptions, installation costs, support charges, minimum order sizes, or standard contract terms. A buyer should request an itemized proposal separating hardware, installation, commissioning, network components, software, API access, integration services, training, support, replacements, and renewals. Coverage design matters because the required device count can vary with floor layout, ceiling conditions, and the level of measurement requested. BestCRE’s analysis is that buyers should calculate payback only from operational or real estate decisions they are prepared to implement. A low device price does not establish value if the data remains isolated, while a higher project cost may be justified when it changes a major portfolio decision.
Who should use PointGrab occupancy sensors?
PointGrab is best suited to corporate real estate, workplace, and facilities teams managing offices where actual use is uncertain and financially important. Strong use cases include validating consolidation plans, measuring hybrid attendance, comparing room bookings with observed presence, redesigning meeting space, adjusting cleaning schedules, and supplying occupancy inputs to building systems. It is also appropriate for organizations that already have a workplace platform but need more reliable physical data. The buyer should have an identified business decision, an integration owner, and a process for maintaining floor plan mappings. Small workplaces with obvious usage patterns, or organizations seeking accounting, leasing, maintenance, or tenant management software, should consider other tools. Anonymous sensing also requires an internal privacy and employee communication plan.
What should buyers expect next from PointGrab?
Buyers should expect PointGrab to continue positioning occupancy data as shared infrastructure for workplace, environmental, and building applications. Its announced WellStat integration points toward combining presence information with other indoor building signals, while the company’s API approach supports delivery into third party platforms. BestCRE’s analysis is that future value will depend less on adding another dashboard and more on converting reliable occupancy events into governed actions, such as changing cleaning schedules, identifying space for consolidation, or adjusting building services. Prospective customers should ask for a product roadmap, supported integration list, firmware policy, data schema commitments, and migration protections. They should also determine whether new analytical or conversational features are included in existing contracts or require additional subscriptions.
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