Modern access control isn't a single technology, it's a menu. Most properties end up mixing all three credential types across different doors, and knowing the tradeoffs helps you land on the right mix instead of the most-advertised one.
Badge and fob-based readers remain the most common access control credential for a reason: they're fast, familiar to employees, and don't rely on a phone battery or app being installed correctly. They also make it simple to issue and revoke access instantly when an employee leaves or a badge is lost, without changing a shared code that everyone else has to relearn.
The tradeoff is a physical credential to manage: badges get lost, forgotten at home, or occasionally shared between employees when someone's running late, which weakens the audit trail you're paying for in the first place.
A keypad code is the lowest-cost, lowest-friction way to restrict a door, and it works well for low-traffic doors where a shared code among a small, trusted group is acceptable, a mechanical room, a back storage door, or a small office suite. The catch is that a shared code doesn't identify who actually opened the door, which matters a lot if you ever need to review who came and went after an incident. Codes are also harder to rotate quickly across a large staff without disrupting everyone at once.
Mobile credential access, unlocking a door from a smartphone app, has become popular for the obvious reason that almost nobody forgets their phone the way they forget a badge. Cloud-based platforms also make it far easier to issue and revoke access remotely, view door activity from anywhere, and set up temporary access for a visitor or contractor without printing a new card.
The tradeoff is a dependency on the employee's phone, its battery, its Bluetooth or NFC connection, and the app being installed and logged in correctly, which can occasionally be a bigger point of failure than a badge that just works when tapped.
Most well-designed systems don't pick one credential type for every door. A common layout for a multi-tenant building uses badge or mobile credentials on main entries and tenant suite doors where individual accountability matters, and a keypad on lower-risk interior doors like a shared mechanical room. Cloud-based platforms like Brivo make this straightforward, since they let you manage badge, mobile, and keypad access across every door from a single dashboard, instead of juggling separate systems.