Choosing the right smart building management software can significantly impact your buildings’ performances, tenant comfort, and ultimately your portfolio value. 85% buildings in the EU were built before 2000 and amongst those, 75% have a poor energy performance–so there is plenty of room for improvement in terms of building optimization.

bGrid is one smart building management software, but with so many options available how do you know if it’s the right one for you? To help you make the right choice, we've researched the top 5 bGrid alternatives on the market today. In this article we’ll provide an overview of each software, list the key features, and advise who it is best suited to. Let’s jump straight into it.

bGrid software overview

bGrid is a sensor-based smart building solution that collects real-time data and provides users with actionable insights for optimizing occupancy, air quality, and energy use. While it delivers useful environmental insights, it may be less suited for portfolio-wide management or organizations seeking advanced ESG reporting, custom analytics, or strategic decision support. 

That’s why we wrote this list of the best 5 bGrid alternatives:

1. Healthy Workers
2. MRI Software
3. Spacewell
4. Cohesion
5. Noda

We’ll now walk through each alternative in more detail. 

Top 5 bGrid alternatives

Smart building management isn’t just about collecting data from your properties, it’s about using that data to make smarter investment decisions, improve your ESG strategy, and significantly boost your asset value. And smart building management software can help you do exactly that. Here are the top 5 alternatives to bGrid:

1. Healthy Workers

Healthy Workers–yes, that’s us–changes the way buildings are managed by combining powerful data analytics with an intuitive, human-focused approach. Unlike other solutions, Healthy Workers doesn’t just deliver numbers, it collates complex building data like energy consumption, temperature, and CO2 levels, and translates it into clear, actionable insights that help improve the comfort and productivity of everyone inside your buildings. 

More than just smart building management, Healthy Workers takes a holistic view of real estate portfolios. By proactively optimizing everything from energy consumption, HVAC settings, and indoor air quality to predictive management schedules, it enables you to implement sustainability initiatives and easily comply with ESG standards, all while increasing asset value. 

And what truly sets Healthy Workers apart is that it provides both a smart building management platform and expert advisory services. This ensures that you’re not just handed data, but also receive personalized guidance on how to reduce operational costs, optimize your buildings, and make better investments.  

Simply put, Healthy Workers helps you create more sustainable, profitable buildings by combining an advanced, data-driven platform with advice from building optimization experts.  

Website: Healthy Workers

Best for: Real estate owners and property managers seeking a comprehensive solution for building optimization, ESG compliance, and improved tenant satisfaction across all portfolios.

Key features:

• Expert consulting combining data-driven insights with tailored strategic advice
• Strategic ESG insights and compliance tracking
• Real-time, intuitive dashboard for energy and building management
• Predictive maintenance insights for reduced operational costs
• Automated building system adjustments based on occupancy and environmental data
• Human-centric analytics improving occupant comfort and productivity
• Scalable management across multiple properties with centralized portfolio insights

What users value most: Users love how Healthy Workers translates complex building data into actionable insights that improve the performance, sustainability, and tenant comfort of their buildings. 

VORM, a prominent real estate developer, experienced significant improvements in building performance through their collaboration with Healthy Workers:

"We're in close contact, and Healthy Workers handles a lot more than just data collection. They also interpret, report, and verify the data. Plus, we involve tenants - showing them what we've done, how we've done it, and what's still planned to strengthen the relationship." - Bas Doedens, Technical Managers VORM Holding

2. MRI Software

MRI Software is a robust, integrated platform for property and tenant management, including financial management, strategic forecasting, and comprehensive portfolio oversight. MRI Software places emphasis on the operational and financial sides of property management, providing insights into building performance, tenant satisfaction, contracts, and costs. 

By combining building data with financial analytics, MRI Software’s platform aims to support better, more informed decision-making across property portfolios. It’s primarily suitable for those who are seeking a clear overview of financial performance of their properties in conjunction with building usage analytics.   

Website: MRI Software

Best for: Property owners and managers looking for a comprehensive property management platform that also has robust financial monitoring and reporting tools.

Key features:

• Integrated property and investment management platform
• Financial analytics and forecasting tools
• Facilities and space management optimization
• Tenant management tools
• Customizable reporting and dashboards

What users value most: Users appreciate MRI Software’s ease of use and extensive reporting capabilities to provide accurate, in-depth views of their buildings’ financial performance. 

3. Spacewell

Spacewell is a smart building management solution that primarily focuses on optimizing use of space and improving facility operations. It integrates with IoT sensors and existing building systems, providing real-time insights into occupancy, energy usage, indoor climates, maintenance, and more. The platform’s main strength lies in improving efficiency within workplaces through clear and actionable data insights.

While Spacewell is effective for businesses prioritizing space optimization and employee comfort, its primary focus is on facility management rather than broader strategic portfolio management. If you’re looking for deeper financial analytics, predictive maintenance, or extensive ESG insights, you may find Spacewell somewhat limited compared to other alternatives. 

Website: Spacewell

Best for: Organizations focused on creating an optimal workplace for employees, as well as monitoring building performance metrics. 

Key features:

• Real-time occupancy monitoring
• Advanced workspace analytics and reporting
• Integration with IoT sensors and building systems
• Facility operations optimization
• Space utilization tracking

What users value most: Users value Spacewell for its user-friendly, reliable platform, with many users noting that the software updates are implemented smoothly without disrupting operations.

4. Cohesion

Designed to improve occupancy experience and streamline building operations, Cohesion is a good smart building management platform alternative to bGrid. Cohesion prioritizes user engagement by providing tenants with intuitive apps for controlling their immediate environment, accessing building services, and staying informed about building occupancy and air quality. 

Cohesion excels at creating digitally connected environments for facilities managers and real estate professionals, but its capabilities are more limited when it comes to broad-scale portfolio management, extensive financial analytics, or predictive maintenance. So, if you’re looking for deeper financial insights or more comprehensive ESG functionalities, it might be worth considering alternate solutions. 

Website: Cohesion

Best for: Companies who want a smart building platform that provides good user experiences for their employees and tenants.

Key features:

• Occupant-focused digital experiences
• Real-time occupancy and air quality insights
• Comprehensive sustainability and ESG reporting
• Visitor management and digital access control
• Integration with existing building systems

What users value most: Users appreciate Cohesions' ability to integrate with existing building systems, providing an easy-to-use, unified platform that improves operational efficiency and tenant experience.

5. Noda

Noda is a cloud-based energy management platform designed primarily to optimize energy efficiency and automate facility operations for commercial buildings. It provides you with real-time visibility into your building’s energy performance, helping you to improve decision-making, reduce operational costs, and achieve sustainability goals. 

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While Noda’s platform is great for energy management and sustainability reporting, it offers fewer capabilities in areas such as deep financial analytics, tenant engagement, and broader portfolio insights compared to some other available solutions.

Website: Noda

Best for: Real estate professionals looking for a platform that helps them reduce energy usage and make sustainability improvements in their buildings.

Key features:

• Cloud-based energy and facility management platform
• Automated building adjustments
• Comprehensive sustainability reporting
• Integrates with existing IT systems
• Data-driven analytics for predictive maintenance

What users value most: Users value Noda most for its user-friendly interface and efficient customer support.

Considerations when choosing between bGrid and alternatives

Now that you’re familiar with the top 5 alternatives to bGrid, it’s time to decide which software is the best option for you. Every solution has strengths and weaknesses, so to help you decide between them we’ve listed some factors that’ll help you pinpoint exactly what you need for your property portfolio.

Software-based vs sensor-based

One of the biggest distinctions between the building management solutions is how they collect and manage building data. Sensor-based solutions like bGrid rely heavily on installing specific hardware sensors, which is great for precise real-time measurements but might pose limitations when scaling across multiple buildings or integrating with existing systems. 

On the other hand, software-based solutions collect most data directly from your existing equipment and systems, making them quicker to roll out and more flexible in their use. The choice between software-based or sensor-based solutions depends largely on the initial investment you’re comfortable with, and how quickly you want to scale. 

Portfolio management 

If you’re managing more than just a few buildings, you need software that allows you to manage and optimize multiple buildings simultaneously in the same platform. This helps you maintain consistency across your portfolio, enabling you to easily compare your buildings’ performances against each other and simplifies your reporting. 

Custom reporting capabilities

Speaking of reporting, make sure your chosen alternative offers intuitive and customizable reporting tools. Not every stakeholder needs the same information, so custom reporting means that you can easily create separate dashboards and reports for your portfolio and individual buildings. This enables your team to identify opportunities for improvement and improves decision-making with precise, relevant data insights.

If you’ve multiple tenants in some of your buildings, also check that the solution provides reporting on a per tenant basis. 

Compliance with ESG rules

The operations of buildings account for 30% of global final energy consumption and 26% of global-energy-related emissions, which explains why ESG compliance has rapidly become a non-negotiable in commercial real estate. When deciding between building management solutions, check that it allows you to easily track and report on ESG metrics. This is essential to both comply with  regulatory requirements and to meet the increasing expectations of investors and tenants.

Ignoring ESG compliance can have serious repercussions, not just regulatory, but financial and reputational. By prioritizing ESG you can position your buildings ahead of competitors and improve your overall sustainability credentials, helping you attract and retain tenants as well as reducing your buildings’ operational costs.

Availability of customer support

Lastly, when comparing bGrid alternatives, evaluate the customer support that each solution provides. Users of building management software frequently highlight effective and accessible customer support as one of the most crucial success factors. Remember, even the most sophisticated systems can have technical issues or roadblocks that require guidance to overcome. 

Responsive and dedicated customer support ensures minimal disruption to your business and tenants.  After all, excellent support means issues get resolved faster, allowing your team to stay focused on strategic growth rather than getting frustrated with technical glitches.

Why Healthy Workers is the best smart building management software for commercial real estate

If you’re looking for a smart building management software that is scalable, flexible, and uses a  human-centric approach, Healthy Workers checks all the boxes. Unlike strictly sensor-based platforms, Healthy Workers collects data from your existing equipment and systems, enabling you to quickly and seamlessly roll it out across your buildings. 

With an intuitive dashboard and extensive customization options, Healthy Workers ensure your real estate portfolio stays manageable, whether you’re operating two buildings or twenty. Moreover, ESG compliance isn’t just an afterthought, it’s embedded into the Healthy Workers’ platform. We empower you with comprehensive ESG reporting capabilities, helping you easily comply with sustainability and building regulations and also transparently report on your ESG performance to investors.  

With 97% of customers achieving positive ROI from energy savings alone in the first year, it’s clear Healthy Workers doesn’t just promise results, we consistently deliver them. Take the VORM case as an example: VORM achieved up 15% to 23% energy savings across their buildings when they started working with Healthy Workers. 

Finally, excellent customer support is a hallmark of the Healthy Workers experience. Having responsive support means minimal disruption, ensuring you spend less time troubleshooting and more time optimizing your building’s performance and improving tenant satisfaction. 

Whether you’re aiming to improve your buildings’ performance, improve tenant comfort, or meet ambitious ESG goals, we’re here to support your journey. Book a free demo today and see how we can help you create sustainable, healthy, and profitable smart buildings.