Visitor management software for manufacturing: 2026 guide  

Keeping track of visitors in an office is one thing. Doing it in a busy manufacturing plant with employees, clients, contractors, and advanced machinery is something else entirely. 

In this guide, we will look at what visitor management software means in a manufacturing context, why it matters so much for plants and warehouses, what features to look for, and how the best visitor management systems compare for industrial use.

What is visitor management software in a manufacturing context?

Visitor management software is like a digital gatekeeper for your manufacturing site. It helps you keep track of everyone who is not a regular employee, while also making sure they follow the rules before they step onto the shop floor.

In a manufacturing setting, “visitors” usually include:

• Customers and partners coming for tours, reviews, or project meetings
• Vendors and contractors doing maintenance, repairs, or installations
• Truck drivers and delivery staff picking up or dropping off goods
• Auditors and inspectors from customers, regulators, or certification bodies
• Temporary workers, trainees, and interview candidates

Instead of using a paper sign-in sheet at reception, visitors check in through a tablet, kiosk, or reception screen. But, in a manufacturing plant, a visitor management system is more than an electronic sign-in book. It often connects to your access control system, safety training tools, and emergency response processes. It helps you know who is on site, where they are allowed to go, and which rules they have agreed to follow.

Visitor management does not replace project coordination

Visitor management software focuses on who is on site, when they arrive, and what rules they follow. But in manufacturing, many visits are tied to ongoing projects, like equipment installations, plant upgrades, audits, or maintenance work that spans days or weeks.

This is where project management tools like IC Project come into play.

IC Project helps manufacturing teams plan and track projects that involve multiple external parties, such as contractors, vendors, and internal teams. While a visitor management system controls access and safety at the gate, IC Project helps teams coordinate tasks, timelines, responsibilities, and progress behind the scenes.

Used together:

• Visitor management software controls access, safety, and compliance
• IC Project manages work execution, schedules, and accountability

This combination is especially useful for plant upgrades, shutdowns, audits, and complex installations where knowing who is allowed on site is just as important as knowing what they are supposed to be working on.

Why visitor management matters for manufacturing

Visitor management is important in any workplace, but it is critical in a plant or warehouse. You are protecting people, machines, production lines, and sometimes sensitive formulas or designs. The way you handle visitors directly impacts safety, compliance, security, and how smoothly your operations run.

Safety around heavy equipment

A factory is full of hazards that visitors are not used to, like forklifts, moving vehicles, conveyor belts, robotics, chemicals, noise, and heat. Employees are trained to move safely in this environment. Visitors usually are not.

Visitor management software helps you build safety into the check-in process. You can show a short safety video, ask them to agree to your rules, and make sure high-risk areas are only accessed with an escort. Without a straightforward process in place, it is easy for someone to skip a briefing, forget their gear, or wander into a dangerous zone. A digital system makes the safe way the default way.

Compliance and audits

Most manufacturers work under strict regulations and standards. Auditors and customers often want to know who was on site, when they visited, what they did, and which documents they signed. Paper log books make this hard. They are slow to search, easy to lose, and often messy to read.

A visitor management system keeps all this information in one place. You can quickly pull reports that show who visited on a given day or shift, what safety information they saw, and which areas they accessed. This saves time during audits and shows that you take your legal and customer obligations seriously.

Security, IP protection, and production continuity

Manufacturing sites hold valuable stock, equipment, and intellectual property. If visitor access is not controlled, you face higher risks of theft, photos in sensitive areas, tampering, and unplanned shutdowns or quality issues.

Modern visitor software lets you see exactly who is on site and why, and can limit visitor access to specific doors or zones. If something goes wrong, you have a clear record to review. That helps protect your people, your production, and your reputation.

What manufacturing teams need from visitor management

Manufacturing sites need more than a simple lobby sign-in. A good visitor management system should help you with:

1. Controlling who comes on-site

• Pre-register vendors, contractors, and auditors
• Use different flows for drivers, suppliers, visitors, and inspectors
• Connect to access control so badges and turnstiles only work after checks are done

2. Building safety and compliance into check-in

• Show safety videos, site rules, and evacuation steps during sign-in
• Collect and store signatures for NDAs and policies
• Keep searchable logs by site, date, visitor type, or host for audits

3. Supporting security and emergency response

• Give a real-time view of who is on site, where, and why
• Allow watchlists and ID checks where needed
• Provide roll call lists and mass alerts during evacuations or incidents

Now, let’s look at the best visitor management systems that help you do just that. 

Best visitor management software for manufacturing 

For the manufacturing industry, the top visitor management software solutions are: 

#1 Archie Visitors – Best fit for small to mid-sized manufacturing companies that want solid security, good compliance features, and a reasonable pricing structure.

#2 Eptura Visitor – Enterprise-level system that grew out of Proxyclick. Strong workflows, access control, and watchlists for highly regulated plants, but pricing is quote-only and usually on the higher side.

#3 Envoy Visitors – Polished, iPad-based front desk with advanced features that focus on compliance and audits. Pricing sits in the mid to high range.

#4 VisitorOS – Originally iLobby, now part of a broader FacilityOS platform. Built for complex industrial, logistics, and critical infrastructure sites that need strong screening and managed hardware.

#1 Archie Visitors

Source: archieapp.co/industry/manufacturing

Archie is a workspace & visitor management platform that helps you stay in control of who is on site, which areas they can access, and how your space is used, so you can better protect your people, your facilities, and your know-how: 

• Self-service kiosk app that allows visitors, drivers, and contractors to check in upon arrival. Archie’s kiosk app runs on both iOS and Android tablets, so you can usually reuse existing hardware rather than buying vendor-specific devices.
• Pre-registration and invites so supervisors can send QR codes to contractors, vendors, and auditors before they arrive.
• Custom workflows and forms where you can collect information by visitor type, for example, vehicle plate, contractor company, permit numbers, or safety declarations.
• Document signing with built-in e-signatures for NDAs and site rules. 
• Photo capture and badge printing to help security and floor staff identify who is allowed where.
• Real-time “who is on site” view that supports roll calls and emergency evacuations across one or many sites.
• Evacuation alerts to notify everyone who’s on site in case of an emergency. 

Pricing is one of Archie’s biggest strengths. Archie Visitors starts at $109 per month per location, and for that level of functionality, it usually works out much cheaper than tools like Envoy or Eptura Visitor.

At the same time, Archie is designed for everyday security and compliance rather than the most extreme, high-security environments. It covers the essentials like visitor logs, document signing, evacuations, and standard compliance steps. If you need deep government watchlist screening, armed security workflows, or very advanced ID verification, solutions like Eptura Visitor or VisitorOS may still be a better fit.

#2 Eptura Visitor 

Source: eptura.com/industries/manufacturing

Eptura Visitor grew out of Proxyclick, one of the early leaders in digital visitor management. In 2025, Proxyclick was rebranded as Eptura and more tightly integrated into the wider Eptura workplace platform. The product is built for multi-site enterprises that need detailed visitor workflows, strong integrations, and advanced features, including: 

• Custom visitor workflows using a visual builder. You can define different flows for contractors, visitors, suppliers, drivers, and VIPs.
• Pre-registration and invites, so plant teams can control visit slots and capacity.
• Access control integration to issue QR codes, RFID badges, and destination dispatch elevator access only after all checks are complete.
• Watchlists and screening which are key for high-security manufacturing and regulated sectors.
• Emergency communication tools for sending alerts to on-site visitors during an incident.
• Analytics and occupancy reports across multiple plants and entrances.

All of this makes Eptura Visitor a strong option for plants with strict audit and regulatory needs. On the flipside, it is very much an enterprise product. Eptura does not publish list pricing, and most public sources describe it as powerful but not cheap, with a more complex setup than lighter tools. To get exact numbers, buyers need to speak to sales and go through a quote-based process.

#3 Envoy Visitors

Source: envoy.com/solutions/manufacturing 

Envoy is a workplace platform that started with visitor management and later expanded into desks, rooms, and workplace analytics. For manufacturing plants, it offers several key features that work just as well for industrial sites as they do for traditional offices:

• iPad sign-in kiosks that can handle check-in, document signing, and badge printing.
• Pre-registration and invitations so hosts can collect compliance forms before visitors arrive.
• Custom sign-in flows and legal documents for different visitor types, including contractors and vendors.
• Compliance-friendly visitor logs that can be exported quickly to support audits and regulations. 
• Virtual Front Desk, a remote receptionist solution that lets lean teams welcome visitors and contractors across multiple plants without a full-time person seated at each lobby.

Envoy’s pricing is fairly transparent. There is a free Basic plan with limited features, which works for very small sites. The Premium plan is around $329 per location/month (when billed annually).

There are a couple of trade-offs to be aware of, though. Envoy’s kiosks are iPad-only, which is usually fine for a clean office lobby but can be limiting if you want rugged Android devices in dusty or outdoor gatehouses. And while the Basic plan is attractive, comparison sites often place Envoy on the more expensive side once you move to the paid plans and roll it out across multiple plants.

#4 VisitorOS 

Source: facilityos.com/industries/manufacturing-industrial 

VisitorOS is the visitor management module inside the FacilityOS platform. The product launched initially as iLobby, focused on high-security enterprises, and has since expanded into a broader suite that also covers contractors, logistics, and emergency management.

• Fully electronic check-in across sites to replace manual sign-in sheets at all entrances and guard shacks.
• Real-time visibility into who is currently on site and who is expected to arrive.
• Tailored workflows by visitor type so contractors, vendors, truck drivers, auditors, and VIPs can follow different sign-in steps.
• Watchlist and block list integrations with third-party databases and internal lists for higher security screening.
• Badge printing and multilingual kiosks to clearly identify visitors and support international crews.
• Compliance-focused records with digital logs to make audits easier.
• Hardware-inclusive deployment, with the option for FacilityOS to ship pre-configured kiosk devices with the visitor app ready to use.

All of this makes VisitorOS a strong fit for plants with tight security and regulatory requirements, such as food and beverage production, pharma, aerospace, logistics hubs, and critical infrastructure. The trade-off is that you are more tied to their hardware approach than with a pure software-only tool, where you reuse any tablets you already have.

When it comes to cost, FacilityOS says VisitorOS corporate plans start at around $199 per month. Most pricing guides also put it on the higher end of the visitor management market, mainly because it comes with managed hardware and stronger screening features. It is clearly aimed at enterprise customers rather than budget buyers, which matches the high-security manufacturing and logistics sites it is built for.

Best visitor management systems for manufacturing revealed 

There is no single “best” tool for every manufacturing site. Archie is a strong fit for small or mid-sized manufacturers that want solid security and clear pricing. Eptura Visitor and VisitorOS make more sense if you run high-security or heavily regulated sites and are ready for a more complex, enterprise-style rollout. Envoy is a good option if you prefer a polished iPad experience and are willing to pay a bit more for certain features and integrations.

To make the right choice, start with your own reality on the shop floor. Ask yourself:

• How many sites do we have today, and how fast are we growing?
• How strict are our security, audit, and regulatory requirements?
• What hardware can we realistically deploy at gates, guard shacks, and lobbies?
• What budget do we have per location, not just this year but over the next few years?

Once you are clear on these points, it becomes much easier to pick the visitor management system that fits your plant, your team, and your long-term plans.

Keep in mind that visitor management is a critical foundation for manufacturing security and safety, but it is only one piece of the operational puzzle. Many manufacturing sites also rely on project management software to coordinate ongoing work involving internal teams and external partners.

Tools like IC Project help manufacturing teams plan, track, and execute complex projects, such as maintenance programs, equipment installations, facility expansions, and compliance initiatives. When combined with visitor management software, teams get both visibility into who is on site and control over what work is being done.

For manufacturing leaders, this layered approach creates a safer, more organized, and more predictable operating environment.

‍