Smart Locks for Self Storage
A keypad at the gate and a combination lock on each unit run about 95% of the facilities we set up, and that is what we recommend. Whoever tells you an unmanned facility needs a smart lock on every door may be asked whom that serves. Smart locks, an electronic lock on every unit door, cost a few hundred dollars per door plus a yearly license and solve a problem most facilities do not have. An unmanned self storage facility still needs electronic access: at the gate. What else runs a facility with no on-site manager: unmanned self storage.
1. What is an access control system in self storage?
An access control system lets a tenant through the gate and into their unit without an office visit. A keypad or an app at the gate, a lock on the unit. The management software controls both: access once the rent is paid, none when it is not. The code arrives with the rental confirmation and is deleted at move-out.
Three ways to build it:
- Battery. The lock sits on the unit door and opens by Bluetooth or NFC, the tap-to-pay chip in the tenant’s phone. No wiring, so it is the choice for relocatable units and retrofits. The battery lasts two to ten years, depending on the system.
- Wired. Every lock runs to a controller in the hallway; the electrician pulls the low-voltage wiring before the hallway systems and doors go in. No battery swaps, and door sensors, alarms and cameras attach to the same wiring. Most systems built specifically for self storage are wired.
- Battery-free, by NFC. The phone powers the cylinder while it opens it, neither battery nor wire. Tenants without a suitable phone get a key fob.
Wired means planning. In a new build the conduit for gate, keypads and locks goes into the construction documents before you break ground. Somebody still has to connect the gate to the software, and the gate installer does not. A smart lock also needs a door built for it: the door vendor prepares it with a strike or a hasp the lock can grip. Keep that option open when you order the roll-up doors and hallway systems.
2. What does an access control system do for an unmanned facility?
Operation with no on-site manager: the tenant rents online on a Saturday at 9 p.m., pays and stands at their unit ten minutes later, and nobody had to be there. Four things the system does:
- Instant access. Gate code or app come with the rental confirmation; the move-in needs no appointment, after hours included.
- Automatic overlock. When the rent is past due, the software disables the tenant’s code; once they pay, it works again, and nobody drives out. Your lease and your state’s lien law say when you may lock a tenant out; the Self Storage Association keeps every state’s lien statute.
- Access log. The system shows who was on the property and when; after an incident, the log and the cameras are the trail.
- One code per tenant, one per unit. At the gate every tenant has their own code, on the unit every lock its own. Without a code per unit, a tenant moves into the bigger unit next door, never mentions it, and months later the next tenant stands in front of a full unit.
Most tenants bring their own padlock. The combination lock on a vacant unit is what makes the Saturday move-in work: the code arrives with the rental confirmation, and the tenant may swap in their own lock later.
3. Which smart locks and access control systems exist for self storage?
These 38 we know from projects, quotes and the market, with one sentence each on what they are: battery, wired, battery-free by NFC, gate and entrance only, or software for combination padlocks. New ones come every year, and most have few self storage customers; from the outside it is hard to tell which vendor will still be around in five years.
| Vendor | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Nokē Ion | Wired | Hardwired unit lock by Janus International, mounted inside the door track on constant low-voltage power; made for new construction, installed by Janus. |
| Nokē Infinitē | Battery | Battery unit lock by Janus International on the outside of the door, Bluetooth and NFC, a five-year battery; made for retrofits. |
| PTI Security Systems | Wired | Self storage specialist (ASSA ABLOY): keypads, door alarms, unit locks such as Door Boss, software StorLogix Cloud. |
| OpenTech Alliance | Battery | Maker of the INSOMNIAC kiosks; its INSOMNIAC SmartLock runs on AA batteries. |
| SpiderDoor | Gate/entrance only | Gate keypads (cellular, solar) and door alarms. |
| Gatewise | Gate/entrance only | Cloud gate access over the cellular network; tenants still get in during an internet outage. |
| Storable Access | Gate/entrance only | Access control software of the software vendor Storable, without hardware of its own; it drives gate keypads by DigiGate, DoorKing, PTI, SpiderDoor and others. |
| DaVinci | Padlock software | Software for combination padlocks: the code goes out by text or email when the tenant rents or pays; the unit needs neither power nor network. |
| KISS | Battery-free (NFC) | Start-up from Charlotte (Keep It Simple Storage): unit locks without a battery, the NFC phone supplies the power. |
| Lockstry | Battery-free (NFC) | NFC locks for existing unit latches, without battery or wiring. |
| Sentinel | Gate/entrance only | Classic gate keypads for self storage (as of 2021). |
| Verkada | Gate/entrance only | Cloud cameras and door access control. |
| 6Security | Wired | Wired system sold alongside the software 6Storage and distributed from Italy: door magnets, display keypads, backup battery. |
| AXIS | Gate/entrance only | Network door controllers and video door stations from Sweden; the hardware under Entryfy. |
| BearBox | Wired | Self storage access from the UK, with an office in Spain: the BearLock unit lock, plus PIN, QR code and app. |
| Boxtronic | Battery | System from Germany: padlocks with Bluetooth and RFID, sensors for climate, motion and water (as of 2021). |
| Buno | Wired | Platform from Austria: online rental, CRM and access in one, locks including installation, also for retrofits. |
| dormakaba EXOS | Gate/entrance only | Access management of the Swiss group dormakaba, with an on-site server. |
| Eldes | Gate/entrance only | Gate control over the cellular network from Lithuania (ESIM420) for up to 2,000 users. |
| Entryfy | Gate/entrance only | Hub for access, alarm and cameras from Sweden (formerly Total Access), on AXIS hardware. |
| Glutz | Battery | Swiss door hardware maker: eAccess fittings with a battery, no wiring. |
| Heras Connect | Gate/entrance only | Remote monitoring of gates by the gate maker Heras; opens the gate on a call from a cleared phone number too. |
| Hikvision | Gate/entrance only | Video and access technology from China; the cloud HikCentral Connect assigns PINs and access levels. |
| iglooworks | Battery | Business platform of igloohome from Singapore: battery smart locks managed in a web console. |
| iLOQ | Battery-free (NFC) | Finnish system (S50): the NFC phone powers the cylinder, neither battery nor wire. |
| Kaba Confidant | Battery | RFID lock by dormakaba with an interface to the management software; three AA batteries last about two years. |
| Keynexis | Wired | Swiss vendor (keynexis AG) for access and monitoring in self storage, with a Storeganise integration. |
| Kinnovis Access | Wired | Access system of the self storage software Kinnovis from Austria: keypads, app and remote opening, built in. |
| Paxton Net2 | Gate/entrance only | Door access control by the British maker Paxton, managed on a computer on site. |
| Salto KS | Battery and wired | Cloud access by the Spanish maker Salto: a wired wall reader with keypad at the gate, battery locks, the Neoxx padlock. |
| SC Solutions | Wired | Self storage specialist from the Netherlands (SC Access): locks with Southco hardware, the unit doors are prepared for them. |
| Sedisto | Wired | German vendor of digital access from the gate to the unit, by app, keypad and sensors. |
| Sensorberg | Wired | System from Germany: every unit lock is wired to a Lock Control Hub, tenants open by app. |
| SimonsVoss | Battery | Wireless locks from Germany: the battery lasts up to ten years, a gateway connects up to 30 locks to the internet. |
| Tapkey | Battery | Platform from Austria (DOM group): battery cylinders and padlocks open by NFC phone, no internet at the lock. |
| Telenot | Gate/entrance only | German maker of alarm and access technology; keypads at the gate. |
| TP-Link | Gate/entrance only | Network and camera maker; some operators run their gate with it. |
| Unloc | Battery | Software from Norway for keyless access, on locks by Danalock and Master Lock. |
The access control system is chosen together with the management software: what the two do not integrate, somebody types by hand. Switching later works, but it is a project, because the systems are not standardized. One of our first clients had its unit doors prepared for electronic locks in 2016 and has run two systems on them since.
4. Which access control system is best?
A keypad at the gate and a combination lock on each unit serve most facilities best. The few facilities we set up with smart locks on the units had them already or wanted them anyway. The mix for a facility is chosen in the project, together with the software.
Smart locks on every unit save no work. That is the most common misconception. Owners who build think in trades and in hardware, and they want as little work in the facility as possible. Fair enough. But the work after opening comes from tenants, not from locks.
A self storage facility gets tenants from every walk of life, and many struggle with apps: cannot find the app in the store, sign up with the wrong email address, have Bluetooth off. One in five Americans 65 and older owns no smartphone. When the system runs perfectly and the tenant is the problem, the owner still gets the blame.
A REIT can put a help desk behind its app; a 100-unit facility with no on-site manager puts you behind it. A gate code, everybody gets.
“In the end the tenant calls anyway: at night, on a weekend, when you can least use it.”
Many owners choose the simple setup and plan to retrofit later. That never happens. The longer the facility runs, the smaller the problem: leased up at a steady 90%, with a few move-ins a month, the tenants are in the units and the facility runs.
The costs, as we put them side by side in every discovery call:
- Smart locks on every unit cost a few hundred dollars per door, plus a yearly lock license per unit.
- A keypad at the gate and a combination lock on each unit mean one keypad with its controller, a lock for a few dollars apiece, and a small yearly license for the keypad.
Side by side for your unit count, the two numbers decide it for most owners. Some say: “I wanted padlocks anyway.” Some: “If it works like that and saves that much, we’ll do it.” A few stay with the smart lock, and that is fine: Karibu recommends, the owner decides.
A tenant does not care whether the lock on their unit cost a few dollars or a few hundred: they rent the unit, not the lock.
The mix is a facility question. One of our clients lets tenants into the building by app, while the drive-up units outside carry combination locks, both from the same online rental.
Batteries drain by door, not by calendar: the lock on the door to the outside dies first, interior doors last longer. If you choose battery locks, plan the swap door by door.
The plan for a failed lock is written before the grand opening. How does the unit open when the lock fails, and who drives out? A second way in (Bluetooth and NFC), a mechanical key cylinder, or a tool on site.
The installer’s on-call service drives out, or you apologize, send a credit and repair later. Inside Self-Storage says the same: fallback measures, and someone who can get to the property quickly. With a combination lock, the fix is bolt cutters, carried by the 1099 contractor who stops by once a week.
Next step: a discovery call with both numbers for your unit count. “No smart locks” is a fine answer.
