Desks, meeting rooms, visitors, parking, services, facilities management, security: which platforms can really manage several workplace uses in a single environment?
From flex office to end-to-end workplace management
What organisations need has changed. Booking a desk or declaring an office day is no longer enough when the workplace also has to cover meeting rooms, visitors, parking, services, incidents, maintenance requests and usage data.
JLL's 2026 benchmark shows that optimising the property portfolio remains the top priority for the real estate teams surveyed (71%), while reliable space data has become the second. Global office utilisation has reached 56%, up from 49% in 2024. The study covers 84 organisations representing 716 million square feet. [1]
CBRE sees the same rise in data-driven management: its 2026 study, based on 303 million square feet, measures average office utilisation of 53%, compared with 38% in 2024. [2]
At the same time, Gartner now frames the market around Workplace Experience Applications (WEX): applications that improve how employees interact with the office, in particular to plan their attendance, book spaces or services and make use of occupancy data. In 2026, Gartner recommends moving towards unified WEX platforms. [3][4]
WEX: what does it mean?
WEX stands for Workplace Experience Applications. Gartner mainly uses the term for applications that improve the employee experience in the workplace: desk and collaborative space booking, parking or lockers, planning days on site, finding colleagues and analytics. [4] The Hamilton Apps scope is broader: on top of the employee experience, it adds operational features for visitor and flow management, facilities management, safety and security. On this page, we therefore mainly use the term “workplace management platform”, which more accurately reflects the scope being compared.
Why older comparisons are no longer enough
Journal du Net compared five French flex office solutions on criteria such as attendance declaration, space booking, shared calendars, space optimisation, visitor reception and smart office features. [5] This framework is still useful for understanding where the market came from, but on its own it no longer covers the needs of a multi-purpose workplace.
In 2026, a meaningful comparison has to look at functional breadth, integrations, data, multi-site capabilities and the pricing model.
The 8 criteria to compare
Spaces and resources — Desks, meeting rooms, shared spaces, equipment and parking.
Visitors and flows — Invitation, pre-registration, reception, checks, sign-out and the related flows.
Services and facilities management — Service requests, incidents, maintenance and operational follow-up.
Safety and security — Event traceability, incident management and security logbook needs for the sites concerned.
Data and reporting — Occupancy, usage, dashboards and the data needed to optimise spaces.
Integrations — Microsoft 365, SSO, access control, API, devices and business applications.
Multi-site and administration — The ability to manage several buildings, user groups, rules and permissions from a shared environment.
Price for an equivalent scope — The entry price is not enough: you need to compare the cost of every functional category you actually need.
Price: compare a complete platform, not a single module
Pricing models vary across the market. Some platforms charge for a base product, then for additional products or modules. Envoy, for example, states that its products are bought as modules added to a platform, each priced according to use. [6] deskbird offers base plans topped up with add-ons, notably for meeting rooms and visitor management. [7][8] Eptura separates several products within its pricing structure. [9]
The new Hamilton Apps takes a different approach: every plan gives access to the platform's main categories — desk and flex office management, rooms and resources, visitors and flows, safety and security, data and reporting, support and integrations — with a level of functionality that grows with the plan. As final pricing has not yet been set, no amounts are published in this comparison.
The right indicator is therefore the total cost of covering the same functional scope.
Comparison: 6 workplace management platforms
This table compares the main scopes visible in the vendors' public offers. It is not a ranking. “Module / depends on plan” means that the feature exists as a separate product, option, add-on or plan tier; the exact scope should be confirmed at the time of reading.
| Criterion | Hamilton Apps | Witco | Envoy | Eptura | Deskare | Deskbird |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desks / flex office | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Rooms / resources | Included | Included | Module / plan | Included | Included | Included |
| Parking | Included | Included | Module / plan | Depends on plan | Included | Included |
| Visitor management | Included | Included | Dedicated module | Dedicated product | Depends on plan | Add-on |
| Facilities / maintenance | Included | Included | Depends on modules | Depends on product | Depends on plan | Depends on plan |
| Safety / security / incidents | Included | Depends on plan | Depends on modules | Depends on product | Depends on plan | Depends on plan |
| Analytics / reporting | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| API / integrations | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Pricing model | One price covers every category | On quote / scope to be confirmed | Platform + modules [6] | Products / tiers [9] | Scope to be confirmed | Plans + add-ons [7] |
Methodology note
Offers change. Before final publication, every “depends on plan” entry should be checked against the vendors' latest product pages or sales proposals. The table compares functional and pricing architectures, not the overall quality of the solutions.
Hamilton Apps: all-in-one as a product and pricing model
The new Hamilton Apps is not designed as a series of standalone software products to add up. The platform brings together space and resource management, flex office, meeting rooms, visitors and flows, facilities management, safety and security, as well as data and reporting, in one environment.
It also stands apart through its pricing model: a single plan gives access to all the platform's main categories. The level of functionality increases with the plan, but organisations do not have to piece their workplace back together by buying each product category separately.
This approach shifts the comparison: rather than setting the price of one desk booking module against another, you can compare the cost and coverage of a complete workplace environment.
Which workplace platform should you choose in 2026?
For a single need, a specialist solution may still make sense. As soon as several uses have to coexist — desks, meeting rooms, visitors, parking, services, maintenance or security — functional breadth, integration with your IT systems, data quality and total cost matter more than the price of a single module.
The choice should therefore start from the scope you actually need today, but also from the platform's ability to support new uses without multiplying tools, contracts and interfaces.
Sources
[1] JLL — Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report 2026 — https://www.jll.com/en-uk/insights/occupancy-benchmark-report
[2] CBRE — 2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights — https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/global-workplace-and-occupancy-insights
[3] Gartner — Magic Quadrant for Workplace Experience Applications, 6 April 2026 — https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/7675861
[4] Gartner Peer Insights — Workplace Experience Applications — https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/workplace-experience-applications
[5] Journal du Net — Comparatif : 5 outils pour gérer le flex office (in French) — https://www.journaldunet.com/collaboratif/1518893-comparatif-5-outils-pour-gerer-le-flex-office/
[6] Envoy — Workplace management platform — https://envoy.com/workplace-management-platform
[7] deskbird — Pricing (French page) — https://www.deskbird.com/fr/tarifs
[8] deskbird — About us (French page) — https://www.deskbird.com/fr/a-propos
[9] Eptura — Pricing — https://eptura.com/pricing/
[10] Deskare — Official website — https://www.deskare.io/