Salto vs Paxton: Wireless Locks or Wired Doors?

The architectural difference that drives everything

Paxton doors are wired: controller, PSU, lock, reader, cables — real-time events, remote release, no batteries, costed per the Net2 guide (£500–£900/door). Salto doors are self-contained: the escutcheon (handle-reader-lock in one) runs on batteries, holding permissions locally and updating through the SVN network (data riding on credentials between wired update points) or BLUEnet wireless — £400–£700 fitted with near-zero cabling. Consequences: Salto's per-door economics transform interior estates (20 doors wired = cabling project; 20 escutcheons = an afternoon each), while wired doors retain the edge for instant lockdown, heavy traffic and harsh/exterior conditions. Neither 'wins' — door types do.

Where each dominates

• Salto-heavy estates: hotels (the sector it conquered), student accommodation, universities, care settings (privacy + audit per room), heritage interiors (no cable chases — pairs with our listed-building methods), co-working hot-office churn
• Paxton-heavy estates: SME offices (handful of doors, wired simplicity), multi-tenant blocks with intercom integration, industrial perimeters, anywhere lockdown-speed and remote release matter most
• The mixed pattern (our common recommendation): Paxton on perimeter/fire-critical/high-traffic doors + Salto escutcheons across interiors — one credential (DESFire carries both), each architecture where it's strongest
• Audit/real-time nuance: wired = instant events; Salto SVN = events upload at update points (BLUEnet closes the gap wirelessly) — compliance-driven estates check this against their needs
• Battery logistics: Salto's honest tax — 1–2 year cycles, low-battery warnings, planned rounds (we fold them into maintenance); wired doors' tax is the cabling you already paid

Costs and decision discipline

Money side-by-side: 10 interior doors — Salto ~£4,500–£6,500 total vs wired Paxton ~£5,500–£8,500 with cabling disruption; 3 exterior doors — Paxton ~£1,700–£2,500 vs Salto exterior-rated units similar but with battery/positioning caveats. Platform costs: Salto's software/licensing tiers (KS cloud per-door subscriptions vs Space on-prem) against Paxton's licence-free Net2/licensed Paxton10 — 5-year modelling per the platforms guide settles it per estate. Decision shortcuts: count cable-hard interior doors (Salto's case builds past ~6–8); name your lockdown requirement honestly (wired wins seconds); check fire-door certification on escutcheon choices for fire doors (rated furniture exists — specify, per the fire-door hardware logic); and pilot one floor before estate rollout — both ecosystems expand gracefully, which is the luxury of choosing well-supported platforms.