Best Office Occupancy Sensors 2026: Top Picks for IT Teams

The right office occupancy sensor tells you exactly how your space is being used, which floors are underutilised, which meeting rooms are ghost-booked, and how your desk-to-headcount ratio holds up in practice. The wrong one generates inaccurate data, creates privacy concerns, and sits unused after the pilot. This guide compares the strongest workplace occupancy sensors for 2026, with specific attention to accuracy, privacy architecture, and what integration with your existing tools actually looks like.

Below you will find a vendor comparison table covering eleven workplace occupancy sensor providers, a direct answer to who makes the best office occupancy sensors for each scenario, and an explanation of what a full occupancy sensor system (hardware, gateways, software and integrations) consists of. Vendor details were checked against each vendor’s own website and documentation in October and November 2026.

Quick verdict

Density leads on a genuinely privacy-safe approach (no cameras, no images) and is one of the few vendors that publishes list pricing for part of its range. VergeSense is the strongest enterprise choice when you want rich spatial analytics from on-device computer vision plus a planning platform that also ingests Wi-Fi and badge data. Butlr is the other camera-free option worth shortlisting: its thermal sensors count people anonymously across rooms and open-plan zones, though pricing is quote-only. XY Sense suits large open-plan floors where you want desk-level detail from a wired, image-free sensor. For budget desk-level presence, Pressac, Haltian and Disruptive Technologies make small battery-powered sensors. Cisco Meraki MT is no longer a sensible new purchase: Cisco has announced end of sale for the whole MT line, and it never included a people-counting sensor. Robin and Envoy are booking and workplace platforms that consume occupancy data from third-party sensors, badge systems and Wi-Fi rather than selling their own sensor hardware.

Who this is for

• IT managers planning a space utilisation measurement programme
• Facilities managers who need data to justify a real estate reduction or desk ratio change
• Organisations rolling out hot-desking and needing live availability data
• Teams comparing occupancy sensor vendors, or looking for alternatives to a vendor they already use

Who makes the best office occupancy sensors?

There is no single best office occupancy sensor. The right vendor depends on what you need to count, how sensitive your workforce is about monitoring, and what infrastructure you already run. By scenario:

• Privacy-first headcount (rooms and open-plan zones): Density, Butlr and XY Sense. All three are camera-free: Density uses depth and radar sensing, Butlr uses thermal sensing, and XY Sense processes optical data on the device and says no images are ever captured. These are the easiest to get past a works council or a privacy review.
• Desk-level occupancy: XY Sense (one ceiling sensor tracks individual positions across an area), or under-desk presence sensors from Pressac, Haltian and Disruptive Technologies when you only need a yes/no per desk. Density’s Waffle is priced per room or desk and counts 0, 1, 2 or 3+ people within its field of view.
• Rich analytics and portfolio planning: VergeSense. Its Infinity Area Sensor detects people as well as belongings and furniture, and its Meridian platform combines sensor data with Wi-Fi, booking and videoconferencing data.
• Existing Cisco Meraki network: not the MT sensors, which are end of sale. Meraki MV smart cameras offer people counting through presence analytics, but that is a camera-based approach. If you want camera-free data, pick one of the vendors above and feed it into your booking or analytics platform via API.
• Budget and battery-powered rollouts: Pressac (hardware only, no recurring fees according to Pressac), Disruptive Technologies and Haltian. Expect presence (occupied or not) rather than accurate headcount.
• Occupancy and air quality in one platform: VemSpace from Vemco Group. It is software rather than a sensor brand: it pulls desk presence, room counts, CO2, temperature and humidity from third-party sensors into one dashboard, with EU hosting in Frankfurt.
• Booking-led deployments: Robin or Envoy as the platform, with sensors, badge data or Wi-Fi feeding check-ins and auto-release.

Office occupancy sensors compared

This table compares the main workplace occupancy sensor vendors on the points that decide most shortlists. Pricing models change, so treat the last column as a starting point and confirm with the vendor.

Types of occupancy sensing technology

Radar (mmWave) sensing, used in Density’s newer sensors, sits alongside ToF and thermal: it counts people without capturing an image and is less affected by lighting. For a deeper look at room-level options specifically, see our room occupancy sensors buyer’s guide.

Desk-level vs room-level vs building-level occupancy sensors

Most failed sensor projects measured at the wrong level. Decide which question you are answering before you pick hardware.

Desk occupancy sensors

A workplace desk occupancy sensor answers “is this desk in use right now, and how often is it used?” There are two approaches. Under-desk sensors (Pressac, Haltian, Disruptive Technologies) give a yes/no per desk, are cheap per unit and run on batteries, but you need one per desk and they cannot tell you how many people are standing around a desk cluster. Ceiling-mounted area sensors (XY Sense, VergeSense, Butlr, Density) cover several desks per sensor and estimate occupancy per desk from position data. Our desk utilisation sensors guide goes deeper on that choice.

Meeting room occupancy sensors

Room sensors answer “is this room occupied, and by how many people?” Presence (yes/no) is enough to release ghost bookings. Headcount tells you whether eight-person rooms are routinely used by two people, which is the data you need to justify converting large rooms into smaller ones. Thermal, radar, ToF and on-device optical sensors provide headcount; PIR generally does not.

Office building occupancy sensors

Building-level occupancy answers “how many people are on site, per floor, per day?” Doorway counters (Density Entry, XY Sense Entry, Haltian entry counting) are the most accurate sensor option here. Badge swipes and Wi-Fi connection data are cheaper because you already have them, which is why platforms like Envoy and VergeSense combine them with sensor data, but they track individuals rather than anonymous counts and miss tailgaters and visitors without badges.

What an office occupancy sensor system consists of

When vendors talk about an “occupancy sensor solution” or “occupancy sensor system” they mean more than the sensor itself. A full deployment has four layers, and each one affects cost and IT effort.

1. Sensor hardware

The devices on ceilings, desks or above doorways. The key hardware choices are sensing technology (see the table above), coverage per sensor, and power. Battery sensors install quickly with no cabling but need a replacement plan; PoE sensors need cable runs and switch ports but never need maintenance visits for batteries.

2. Gateways and network

Battery sensors typically talk to a gateway over a low-power radio (Wirepas mesh for Haltian, EnOcean for Pressac, DT’s own protocol to a Cloud Connector), and the gateway backhauls over Ethernet or cellular. Wired sensors connect directly to your LAN. Ask early whether gateways can use a cellular connection: it keeps sensor traffic off the corporate network and often shortens the security review.

3. Occupancy sensor software

The platform that turns raw events into utilisation reports, heatmaps and live availability. Most sensor vendors bundle their own (Density Atlas, VergeSense Meridian, XY Sense Insights, Haltian Workplace, DT Studio). Pressac is the exception: it sells hardware only and leaves software to you or a partner. Check data retention, export options and API rate limits, not just the dashboards.

4. Integrations

Sensor data earns its keep when it reaches the systems people use: room booking (auto-release of no-shows), desk booking (live availability), BMS and HVAC (ventilation and lighting by occupancy), and BI tools. Our guide to smart building IoT integration covers the integration patterns, and how to build a smart office with IoT sensors covers the wider rollout.

Density

Density counts people without cameras. Its Entry doorway sensors count people entering and leaving a space: the original Entry used Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth sensing, while the newer Entry LR uses Density’s own radar, which is unaffected by lighting conditions. Its Open Area sensor and the newer Waffle use mmWave radar to count people within an area. Crucially, none of these sensors capture images. No photos, no video, no identifiable information. This makes Density straightforward to deploy in privacy-sensitive environments (Europe, legal and financial services) where camera-based systems face employee pushback or GDPR complexity.

The Density platform handles building, area, room and desk-level sensing. Density says a single Open Area sensor covers up to 1,000 sq ft and runs on PoE, so there are no batteries to manage. The Waffle is a smaller, self-installable radar sensor that connects over Wi-Fi and reports 0, 1, 2 or 3+ people. Density offers real-time and historical data through its API, and Envoy lists a Density integration. Density publishes Waffle pricing as hardware plus a monthly per-room or per-desk subscription, while Open Area and Entry are quoted; check density.io for current rates. Particularly well suited to organisations that need accurate, granular data and cannot compromise on privacy.

VergeSense

VergeSense takes a camera-type approach with on-device AI processing: low-resolution optical data is analysed locally on the sensor, and VergeSense says images do not leave the sensor and are not stored on the device or in the cloud during normal operation. Only detection results are sent to the cloud. This is a meaningful privacy safeguard, though camera-type systems still require more employee communication than image-free alternatives.

VergeSense’s current hardware is the Infinity Area Sensor: battery-powered with a claimed ten-year battery life, magnet-mounted, wireless mesh networking, and coverage of up to 1,000 sq ft per sensor according to VergeSense. VergeSense’s strength is richness of data: it distinguishes active occupancy (a person) from passive occupancy (a bag left on a chair), recognises furniture and screens, and can flag layout changes. Its Meridian platform layers predictive planning on top and also ingests Wi-Fi, booking and videoconferencing data. For organisations that want to understand how different work modes use space, VergeSense provides data depth that simpler sensors cannot match. Enterprise pricing only, contact vergesense.com.

Butlr

Butlr uses thermal sensing rather than cameras or depth sensors. Its Heatic sensors read low-resolution body-heat data and use machine learning to work out presence, headcount, movement, and entries and exits. Because the sensors capture temperature pixels rather than images, Butlr says they are physically unable to capture faces or other personally identifiable information. That puts it in the same privacy-first bracket as Density, which matters in the same places: European offices, organisations with works councils, and any workforce that pushes back on anything resembling a camera.

There are two current sensor options. The Heatic 2 comes in wired and wireless versions, while the Heatic 2+ is wireless only, battery-powered with what Butlr describes as multi-year battery life, and mounts magnetically on the ceiling. The wired version suits permanent, high-traffic installations where you would rather not manage battery replacements. Butlr offers an open REST API with webhooks, and according to Butlr it integrates with workplace platforms such as Envoy and Ricoh Spaces, BMS and HVAC systems, the KOLO smart cleaning system, BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) and Disruptive Technologies.

Trade-offs: Butlr’s own documentation says one sensor can often cover around four desks in an open-plan area or a small meeting room, with larger rooms needing two or more. That is area coverage, so if you need a definitive yes/no for every individual seat, compare it with under-desk sensors before committing (our desk utilisation sensors guide covers that choice). Pricing is custom and quote-based, which makes early budgeting harder than with list-priced hardware; contact butlr.com for a quote.

Customers point to operational uses beyond utilisation reports:

“Butlr’s technology has proven to be indispensable to our workplace endeavors. From repurposing office spaces to implementing smart cleaning schedules, we are revolutionizing the way we operate, ensuring efficiency and productivity at every step.”

Zubair Chowdhry, Workplace Technology and Data Lead, Snowflake

Best for organisations that want headcount-grade data with a no-camera privacy story, especially for meeting rooms and open-plan zones, and that plan to feed occupancy data into BI tools or building systems.

XY Sense

XY Sense makes ceiling-mounted optical sensors that process everything on the device; the company states that zero images are ever captured. Rather than a simple count, the sensor reports the position of each person in its field of view, which is how one sensor can deliver desk-level occupancy across an open-plan area. XY Sense says its Area Pro sensor covers up to 3,000 sq ft and locates people to within about one foot, with updates every few seconds. The range also includes an Entry sensor for doorway counts, a Presence sensor for pods and small rooms, and PremLink, an on-premise appliance for feeding data into building systems.

Trade-off: XY Sense sensors are PoE-powered, so you need cable runs and switch ports. That removes battery maintenance entirely but makes installation a bigger project than magnet-mounted battery sensors. Pricing is not published; contact xysense.com for a quote. A strong fit for large open-plan floors where you want desk-level data without a sensor on every desk.

Haltian

Haltian, a Finnish IoT company, makes the Thingsee PRESENCE sensor, a small battery-powered PIR device that detects body heat. It mounts under a desk, in a meeting room or phone booth, or above a doorway to count passers-by. Haltian quotes battery life of up to four years, extendable with an optional power accessory, and all its devices connect over a Wirepas wireless mesh to a gateway, so there is no cabling to individual sensors. Data flows into Haltian’s own workplace software or into third-party workplace and facility management applications.

Trade-off: PIR detects presence rather than counting people, so Haltian is best for desk and room availability rather than headcount-per-room analysis. Pricing is not published on Haltian’s site. A good option for European organisations that want a wireless, camera-free rollout of desk and room presence at scale.

Pressac

Pressac, a UK manufacturer, makes wireless desk, table and room occupancy sensors on the EnOcean standard. The desk sensor sticks to the underside of a desk, detects the passive infrared radiation from a seated person, and sends an update when someone sits down. Pressac quotes typical battery life of more than five years, and data reaches the network through Pressac’s gateway over Ethernet, LTE or Wi-Fi.

Pressac’s differentiator is its commercial model: it sells hardware and, according to Pressac, charges no recurring fees. The sensors are system-agnostic, so you can feed data into a BMS, an IoT platform or your own software. The flip side is that you need somewhere to send the data, either your own platform or a partner’s. Best for budget-conscious desk-level deployments and teams with in-house IoT or BMS skills.

Cisco Meraki MT sensors

If you came here expecting Meraki to be the easy choice for a Meraki shop, the situation has changed. In May 2026 Cisco announced end of sale for the entire Meraki MT sensor line (MT10, MT11, MT12, MT14, MT15, MT20, MT30 and MT40). The last date to order hardware is 10 November 2026, support continues until 30 November 2031, and Cisco states there is no replacement product. Existing deployments will keep working and receiving updates, but starting a new occupancy project on MT makes little sense.

The MT line also never included a people-counting sensor. The MT14 and MT15 measure air quality, and the MT20 is a door open/close sensor rather than a room occupancy sensor. For people counting within the Meraki ecosystem, the option is Meraki’s MV smart cameras, whose presence analytics provide line-crossing and area-occupancy counts in the Meraki dashboard and via API. That is a camera-based approach, so it carries the privacy conversation that camera-free sensors avoid. Check cisco.com/meraki for current camera models and licensing.

Robin Powered

Robin is a room and desk booking platform rather than a sensor manufacturer: its site does not list its own sensor hardware at the time of writing. Instead, Robin takes occupancy signals from integrations, including VergeSense sensor data and access control systems such as Kisi, Avigilon and Brivo, where a badge swipe can count as a check-in. If you are adopting Robin as your booking system, those signals detect whether a booked room or desk is actually in use and drive auto-release of no-show bookings, the “ghost booking” problem that wastes meeting room capacity. Check robinpowered.com for current pricing and the latest integration list.

Envoy

Envoy is a workplace platform covering visitor management, desk and room booking and workplace analytics. Like Robin, its value is integration rather than hardware: Envoy’s analytics combine badge swipes, Wi-Fi connection data (it lists integrations with Cisco Meraki and Aruba), space bookings and sensor data in one view, and Envoy offers a Density integration for anonymous occupancy counts. Butlr also lists Envoy among its integrations. Strong for organisations that want a single workplace platform rather than best-of-breed point solutions, provided you pair it with a sensor vendor if you need anonymous headcount. Check envoy.com for current pricing.

Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive Technologies (DT), based in Norway, makes extremely small wireless sensors (the desk occupancy sensor measures 19 x 19 x 3.5 mm) that send data over an encrypted low-power radio protocol to a gateway called the Cloud Connector. DT quotes battery life of between 5 and 15 years depending on how often a sensor reports, and around 8 years for the desk occupancy sensor, which keeps maintenance overhead low for large deployments. DT’s sensor range covers desk occupancy, room motion, temperature, humidity, CO2, proximity, door and window, water and touch. The desk sensor uses temperature measurements and machine learning, and DT says it detects occupancy within 5 to 10 minutes of arrival. Cloud Connectors connect via Ethernet or a cellular connection, so sensor traffic can stay off the corporate network. Butlr lists Disruptive Technologies among its integrations, which may suit teams that want DT environmental sensors alongside thermal headcount data. Check disruptive-technologies.com for current pricing.

VemSpace (Vemco Group)

Vemco Group is a Danish company best known for people counting in shops, malls and public buildings. VemSpace is its building and workplace product: a platform that combines desk presence, meeting room occupancy, ghost meeting detection and indoor climate data (CO2, temperature and humidity, plus particulate matter and VOCs with the right sensors) in one dashboard. It runs on the same platform as Vemco’s VemCount footfall product, so organisations that already count visitors at the entrance can analyse building use and footfall together.

VemSpace does not make its own sensors. Vemco says it supports sensors from Milesight, Elsys, Xovis and TDI Intelligence out of the box, and existing compatible sensors can often be connected through its VemFusion product. That makes it closer to Robin or Envoy than to Density or Butlr: you choose the sensor per space, and VemSpace does the analytics. The upside is flexibility, especially if you already have LoRaWAN or other IoT sensors on site. The downside is that accuracy and privacy depend on the sensor you pick, so judge those per sensor model rather than per platform.

For European buyers the hosting is a plus: Vemco hosts the platform on Amazon Web Services in Frankfurt for EU customers and says the data remains the customer’s property. VemSpace measures presence, not identity. Pricing is per sensor and not published. Hardware can be bought, rented without an upfront investment or rented to own, and the software comes with a 60-day free trial. Vemco lists Auckland University of Technology and the University of Melbourne among the universities using its solutions. Check vemcogroup.com for a quote.

Implementation approach that works

1. Start with a single floor pilot, 4-6 weeks to validate accuracy and staff acceptance before committing to building-wide deployment
2. Define your use case before selecting technology, headcount vs. presence (yes/no) vs. detailed spatial analytics require different sensor types
3. Communicate with employees before installing, unexplained sensors generate trust issues; a clear policy prevents problems
4. Integrate with existing systems from day one, standalone sensor data that does not flow into your room booking or IWMS platform has limited operational value
5. Plan a data review cadence, sensor data is only valuable if someone acts on it. Monthly utilisation reviews with facilities and real estate are the minimum

Deciding which metrics to review is its own project; our guide to workplace analytics tools covers what is worth measuring, and our smart office sensors guide covers pairing occupancy with air quality data. If you want both in a single dashboard, VemSpace is built for exactly that combination.

FAQ

Who makes the best office occupancy sensors?

For camera-free headcount, Density, Butlr and XY Sense are the strongest candidates; VergeSense leads on analytics depth with on-device computer vision. For simple desk presence on a budget, Pressac, Haltian and Disruptive Technologies make small battery sensors. The best choice depends on whether you need presence, headcount or desk-level data.

What is the best type of occupancy sensor for an office?

For rooms and open-plan areas where people sit, a ceiling-mounted thermal, radar, ToF or on-device optical sensor gives accurate headcount without images. PIR is fine for yes/no presence at a desk or in a small room but undercounts people who sit still for long periods unless the sensor is designed for seated detection. CO2 and Wi-Fi data are useful proxies but not accurate enough for desk-ratio decisions.

Are there occupancy sensors that don’t use cameras?

Yes. Density (depth and radar), Butlr (thermal), XY Sense (optical with no images captured, according to the vendor), Haltian, Pressac and Disruptive Technologies are all camera-free. VergeSense uses an optical sensor but processes images on the device and says they are not stored or transmitted.

How much does an office occupancy sensor system cost?

Most vendors quote per project, typically hardware plus an annual or monthly software subscription per sensor or per space. Density publishes Waffle pricing on its site, and Pressac sells hardware without recurring fees, which makes both easier to budget. Remember to include installation, cabling for PoE sensors, gateways and integration work.

What are good alternatives to VergeSense?

If you want to avoid any optical sensor, Density and Butlr are the closest camera-free alternatives for headcount, and XY Sense is the closest for desk-level data from ceiling sensors. If you mainly need desk presence, under-desk sensors from Pressac, Haltian or Disruptive Technologies are cheaper. If your goal is portfolio planning from existing data, Envoy combines badge, Wi-Fi and sensor data.

Do Cisco Meraki MT sensors detect occupancy?

No. The MT range covers environment, water leak, door open/close, buttons and power monitoring, and the whole line reaches end of sale on 10 November 2026. Meraki’s people counting comes from MV smart cameras with presence analytics.

See also our desk booking software guide and our comparison of room booking systems.