Indoor positioning system cost: how we scope and price a project
There is no honest price list for indoor positioning, because the same requirement can cost very different amounts in two different buildings. What we can publish is our floor, our engagement models, and the five variables that decide the final number.
We work with a minimum commitment of USD 5,000. Below that, we will tell you on the call and point you elsewhere.
No form to fill before you see a number. The floor and the cost drivers are on this page.
Why nobody will give you a price
If you have been researching indoor positioning system cost, you have probably met the same wall several times. Here is why, and what to do about it.
Every quote arrives after a long form
You want an order of magnitude to see if the idea is viable at all. You get a discovery questionnaire and a call with a salesperson instead.
Quotes are not comparable
One supplier prices hardware only. Another includes installation. A third adds a license per tag per year. The three numbers look like the same thing and are not.
The cheap quote grows later
Cabling, mounting at height, out of hours work on an active site, and the integration that was assumed to be simple. These appear after the purchase order more often than before it.
License terms are buried
Whether you are buying a system or renting access to it is the single biggest long-term cost difference, and it is rarely the headline. We answer that question on this page rather than in a contract annex.
You cannot budget without a range
Internal approval needs a figure before a detailed design exists. Without a public floor and a clear list of cost drivers, that is impossible to produce.
Three questions that move the budget more than anything else
Before comparing suppliers, answer these three internally. They change the order of magnitude far more than the choice of vendor does.
How accurate do you really need to be?
Zone level, a few meters, or sub-meter. Each step up multiplies infrastructure density, survey effort and validation time. This is the most expensive assumption in most specifications, and the one most often inherited from a brochure rather than from a requirement.
How many items, and for how long?
The number of tagged assets drives tag cost, logistics and battery replacement over the years. An item that needs tracking for one project phase is a different cost from an item tracked permanently.
Is this one building or a portfolio?
A pilot in one wing and a rollout across twelve sites are different commercial conversations. Say which one you are heading towards, because it changes what makes sense to commit to at this stage.
What actually drives the cost
These five variables explain most of the difference between a project at the minimum commitment and a project many times larger. Here is a hypothetical example, not a customer of ours: the same sentence, track pallets across the site, means one thing in a single level distribution center that can be surveyed on a quiet Sunday, and something quite different in a plant on three floors that never stops and where every mounting point is at height. Same requirement, same accuracy, very different number. We can only price a project once we know these five, which is what the site assessment is for.
Area to cover
Square meters, number of floors and number of buildings. This sets the count of nodes or gateways and most of the installation effort. Building structure matters as much as size: thick concrete, high racking and large metal surfaces change the plan.
Number of assets
How many tags, beacons or devices, and how often each must report. Tag cost is per item and scales linearly, so a large fleet can outweigh the fixed infrastructure cost.
Accuracy required
Zone level, meter level or sub-meter. Higher accuracy means denser infrastructure, more survey work and a longer validation phase. Our Bluetooth Beacon Tracker is a 1-3 m technology in 90% of cases. Sub-meter needs a different technology and a different budget.
Installation
Mounting, power, network, work at height, permits, and whether the site keeps operating during the work. Installation on an active plant at night costs more than installation in an empty building, for identical hardware.
Integration
API work, connecting positions to your ERP, CMMS, WMS or dashboards, custom views, and user training. This is the item most often left out of a comparison, and the one that decides whether the system gets used.
When it does not make sense to engage us
We would rather lose the inquiry now than run a project that was never going to work. These are the situations where we say no, or point you elsewhere.
Your budget is below the minimum commitment
Below USD 5,000 we cannot assess, pilot and deploy properly. Instead of shrinking the method until it stops working, we will tell you on the call and suggest a simpler off-the-shelf route.
You need a fixed price before anyone has seen the site
We can give a floor and the cost drivers, which is what this page does. We cannot give a firm number for a building we have not assessed. If a supplier does, ask what happens to that number when the installation conditions turn out to be different.
You want the cheapest installer for a fixed spec
If the specification is already frozen and the only variable is price per node installed, an installer will beat us. Our value sits in the phase before the specification is frozen.
The problem is not a positioning problem
Inventory accuracy, process discipline and machine safety are sometimes solved by a barcode routine, a process change or a certified safety system. We will say so, even when a positioning project would have been easy to sell.
Nobody internally owns the outcome
Without a named owner and a system to receive the data, the project will be judged a failure whatever the accuracy. Better to come back when that person exists.
The minimum commitment, and what it does not include
Our minimum commitment is USD 5,000. It is the smallest engagement in which we can do the work properly: assessment, a measured pilot and a deployment you can actually use. It is a floor, not a typical project value and not a quote.
The discovery call is free
Thirty minutes, no cost and no obligation. If the outcome is that you do not need us, that is a valid outcome of the call.
The floor is not the price
A project is priced after the site assessment, using the five drivers above. Anyone quoting a full site before seeing it is quoting a risk premium or an underestimate.
Pilot before rollout
You commit to a pilot, see measured results from your own building, and only then decide on the rollout. The pilot is deliberately small so that the decision is cheap to reverse.
Your data is included
API access and access to your raw position data are part of the scope, not an add-on.
Engagement models
How the commercial relationship is structured, from a single assessment to a multi-site rollout. Two things shape it. We build products of our own, the Bluetooth Beacon Tracker and the Sentinel Video Tracker, and we also work as consultants on indoor geolocation projects, including projects built on technologies we do not make. An engagement can use one side or both, and the licensing question below only applies to the part that runs on our software.
Which model fits is a question about your IT policy, your connectivity and how your organization prefers to book the cost, not a question about the technology. Both are on the table on the discovery call, before any commercial document exists.
Assessment and technology comparison
A scoped piece of work in which we assess your site, compare the candidate technologies for your case, and produce a recommendation you can take to procurement. It can end there: the recommendation is yours whether or not you deploy with us.
Pilot
A small, measured deployment in a real area of your site. For our Bluetooth Beacon Tracker this means at least 6 nodes covering about 300 m2. From you we need a scaled floor plan of the areas to monitor, optionally the position of the power outlets, and a few photos.
Rollout and integration
Full deployment sized on what the pilot measured, connection to your systems via API, user training and handover.
Licensing: subscription or one-time license
There are two models, and both are real options rather than an opening position. You can run the system as a cloud subscription, hosted by us, with updates included. Or you can buy a one-time license and install the system on-premise, on infrastructure you own and control. The same floor applies either way: a minimum commitment of USD 5,000. We price both after the site assessment, against your building and your scope, so the comparison you make is on your own project.
Choosing between cloud and on-premise
Cloud is the default and the lighter start: nothing to install on your own servers, no machine for your IT team to keep alive, updates handled by us. A one-time on-premise license earns its place in three situations. When a policy or a customer contract does not allow position data to leave your building. When connectivity at the site is not reliable enough to depend on. When your finance team would rather treat the system as a capital purchase than as a recurring operating cost. A hypothetical case, not a customer of ours: a contract manufacturer whose customer agreement forbids any production data leaving the plant has effectively chosen already, before accuracy or coverage has even been discussed.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an indoor positioning system cost?
We work from a minimum commitment of USD 5,000. The final figure depends on the area to cover, the number of assets, the accuracy required, the installation conditions and the integration work. We publish the floor and the drivers rather than a price list, because the same requirement in two different buildings produces two very different numbers.
Why will you not give me a price on the phone?
We will give you an order of magnitude and tell you whether your budget is realistic. We will not give a firm price for a building nobody has assessed, because the installation conditions are usually what moves the number.
What do I get for the minimum commitment?
A properly scoped engagement rather than a partial one. In practice that means the site assessment, a measured pilot and a deployment that is sized on the pilot results. The exact scope is agreed before any work starts.
Do you charge for the discovery call?
No. The 30-minute call is free, with no obligation and no conditions attached. If the honest answer is that you do not need a positioning system, you get that answer on the call.
Do I pay a subscription, or can I buy the system outright?
Both are possible. The cloud model is a subscription: we host the system, updates are included and there is no server for you to run. The on-premise model is a one-time license for an installation on your own infrastructure. The choice is usually decided by three things: whether your data is allowed to leave the building, how reliable connectivity is on site, and whether your finance team prefers a capital purchase to a recurring cost. The USD 5,000 minimum commitment is the floor in both cases, and we put both options in front of you after the site assessment rather than before it.
Can we start with one site and expand later?
Yes, and for a portfolio that is usually the right order. A pilot on one representative area gives you measured numbers to use in the business case for the other sites.
Is hardware included in the figures you quote?
The scope of every engagement states explicitly what is hardware, what is installation and what is integration. Comparing suppliers is only meaningful when the three are separated, so we separate them.
Specifications
Minimum commitment: USD 5,000
Discovery call: free, 30 minutes, no obligation
Cost drivers: area to cover, number of assets, accuracy required, installation, integration
Typical pilot: at least 6 nodes, about 300 m2 (Bluetooth Beacon Tracker)
What the client provides for a pilot: scaled floor plan of the areas to monitor, optionally the position of the power outlets, a few photos
Deployment: cloud by default, on-premise supported
Licensing models: cloud subscription, or one-time license for an on-premise installation
Find out what your project would actually cost
Thirty minutes on a call is usually enough to place your project in an order of magnitude, and to tell you if the budget you have in mind does not match the requirement you described. You will get that answer even when it is a no.