# Kadence — Desk Booking & Hybrid Workplace

Kadence by Kadence, Inc. holds a panel rating of 3.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-06. Provenance: Rest of world; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Kadence, Inc. (https://kadence.co)
- Category: [Desk Booking & Hybrid Workplace](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): Rest of world
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-06 · evaluated 2026-11-06 · oldest source captured 2026-11-05

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Kadence, Inc.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

Kadence, a desk booking and hybrid workplace platform from Kadence, Inc., scores strongest on booking and floor plans, hybrid coordination, and check-in and booking rules, each 7-8: desks, rooms, parking, lockers, pods and private offices sit on browser-editable floor plans, bookable from Teams, Slack, Outlook and the mobile apps; team days, starred colleagues, events and incognito mode carry the hybrid routine; attendance is counted from check-ins via the desktop agent, badge data, Wi-Fi, kiosks and displays, with no-shows auto-released. Occupancy analytics holds at 7 — check-in, badge, Wi-Fi and agent signals with a confidence score — but exports identify who booked and who checked in, and we found no public information on anonymised reports or minimum group sizes. Sovereignty is the genuine split, three judges at 6 and three at 4: stated US or EU hosting, published sub-processor locations, Standard Contractual Clauses and SOC 2 Type II against a New York-law contract with Kadence, Inc. and no EU entity or representative in the captured pages. Integration sits at 7-8; the pricing page offers quotes rather than listed prices.

**Speaks for it:**
- Books desks, rooms, parking, lockers, pods and private offices on floor plans imported and edited in the browser, syncing two ways with Outlook and Google calendars
- Counts attendance from check-ins through the Kadence Agent, badge data, Wi-Fi, kiosks and room displays rather than bookings alone, with automatic release of no-show bookings
- Coordinates hybrid work with a weekly view of who is in, starred-colleague notifications, team days with neighbourhoods, events with RSVPs and an incognito mode that hides a person's location
- Administers identity with SAML and OpenID Connect single sign-on that can be made mandatory, SCIM sync, HR feeds from Workday, BambooHR and HiBob, and a public REST API on all plans
- States hosting in the US or EU with a published sub-processor list showing processing locations, a DPA, Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers to the US, UK, EU and Canada, SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials

**Held against it:**
- Contracts through Kadence, Inc. under New York law with JAMS arbitration, and no EU contracting entity or representative appears in the captured pages
- Booking exports show who created each booking and who checked in, and we found no public information on anonymised reports with minimum group sizes or role-based access to personal booking data
- We found no public information on works council material, on administrative audit logs, or on running several companies or tenants in one account
- We found no public information on EV chargers, wayfinding to the booked desk, or accessibility of the web and mobile apps
- Offers 'Get a quote' and 'Book a demo' rather than listed prices, with fees set in an order form

**Best for:**
- You coordinate hybrid teams that already live in Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook or Google Workspace and want booking, team days and events inside those tools
- You need occupancy evidence built from check-ins, badges, Wi-Fi and the desktop agent, with consolidation scenarios, to support a lease or footprint decision
- Your identity stack runs on Microsoft Entra ID, Okta or Google and you want enforceable single sign-on, SCIM directory sync and a REST API available on all plans

**Avoid if:**
- Your procurement requires an EU contracting entity or governing law outside New York
- Your works council or data protection officer must approve aggregate-only reporting before rollout, since exports identify who booked and who checked in
- You need published prices to budget before engaging the vendor

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Workplace Manager | The People Lead | The Microsoft 365 Administrator | The Works Council Member | The Office Manager | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Desk, room & parking booking | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Check-in, auto-release & booking rules | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| Hybrid work coordination | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Occupancy analytics & employee privacy | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Integrations, identity & administration | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** | **3.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Workplace Manager** (v1.0): Runs workplace and facilities for a 900-person insurer with offices in Cologne, Munich and Vienna and 0.6 desks per employee since the move to hybrid work. Tuesdays are full, Fridays are empty, and the Munich lease is up in eighteen months. Wants desks, rooms and parking on real floor plans, no-shows released automatically, neighbourhoods per team, and occupancy figures built from check-ins rather than bookings, good enough to take to the board.
- **The People Lead** (v1.0): Head of People at a 250-person software company in Hamburg that asks for two office days a week and gets complaints that nobody else is there on them. Wants everyone to see who is coming in before they commute, team and anchor days, desks next to the colleagues they plan with, all of it inside Microsoft Teams where people already are, and nudges rather than a control system the works council would never sign.
- **The Microsoft 365 Administrator** (v1.0): Runs Microsoft 365, Entra ID and Intune for a 1,200-person manufacturer with six sites and forty room mailboxes nobody keeps tidy. Will not create accounts by hand: wants single sign-on and SCIM provisioning from Entra ID, room bookings synced both ways with Exchange, a Teams app and an Outlook add-in deployed centrally, room displays that are not a closed box, an API, audit logs, and a subprocessor list the security team can review.
- **The Works Council Member** (v1.0): Sits on the works council of a 2,000-person utility and chairs its IT committee. Under § 87(1) no. 6 BetrVG a desk booking system is a technical device that can monitor employees, so nothing goes live without a works agreement. Wants to know who sees who sat where, how long booking and check-in records are kept, whether reports stay anonymous below a minimum group size, whether presence can be hidden, and where the data is hosted and by whom.
- **The Office Manager** (v1.0): Office manager at a 70-person design and marketing agency in Leipzig with 40 desks, three meeting rooms and twelve parking spaces, and does it next to reception, purchasing and onboarding. The parking spreadsheet causes an argument every Monday. Wants a floor plan set up in an afternoon, booking from Slack and the phone, a fair rule for the parking spaces, desks released when someone does not show, and a monthly price read off the website.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "real-time occupancy" that counted bookings and never a person, an auto-release nobody switched on because check-in annoyed the board, and a per-user price that doubled once rooms, parking and SSO were added. Asks how a no-show is detected, what the occupancy figures are built from, which room displays and sensors work without the vendor's own hardware, where the booking history is stored — and how it would leave.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Certifications: SOC 2 Type II · Cyber Essentials [S2]
- Children age limit: 18 [S10]
- Control monitoring: Drata · yes [S11]
- Cyber essentials: yes [S11]
- Data protection: yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- Data transfer countries: US · UK · EU · Canada [S10]
- Data transfer safeguards: yes [S10]
- Disclaimer infra ISO: yes [S11]
- Do not track: no [S10]
- DPA available: yes [S10]
- DPA available: https://kadence.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DPA-2024.pdf · yes [S9]
- Encryption: yes · HTTPS and TLS 1.2 or later [S11]
- Encryption: yes · yes [S10]
- GDPR CCPA: yes · yes [S11]
- Infrastructure partners: yes · yes · yes [S11]
- Mobile owasp masvs: OWASP MASVS · yes [S11]
- Pen test: at least annually · yes [S11]
- Pentesting: yes [S1]
- Platform data not advertising: yes · yes [S10]
- Privacy contact email: Data Protection Officer · privacy@kadence.co [S10]
- Privacy policy effective date: 2025-04-17 [S10]
- Privacy rights email: privacy@kadence.co [S10]
- Regular audits: yes · yes [S10]
- Security measures: yes · yes [S10]
- Security training: all staff · yes [S11]
- Security whitepaper: reliability · encryption · data residency · penetration testing · incident response · yes [S11]
- Sensitive data prohibited: no [S9]
- SOC 2: yes [S11]
- SOC 2 cyber essentials: yes · Drata · yes [S1]
- Ssl: yes [S10]
- Trust portal: trust.kadence.co · yes [S11]

**Data**
- No sale of data: no [S10]
- Platform retention days: 30 [S10]
- Retention admin control: yes [S4]
- Termination retrieval: yes · 30 [S9]
- Website retention: yes [S10]

**Hosting**
- Regions: US · EU [S2]

**Integrations**
- AI assistants: Microsoft Teams · Slack · Outlook · Google · Okta · Workday [S1]
- AI assistants: ChatGPT · Claude [S2]
- API events feed: API provides an events feed with booking.created and presence.updated events [S20]
- API purpose: Kadence API connects bookings, check-ins, and space usage with existing systems [S20]
- API webhooks: yes · yes [S2]
- Auto checkin authentication: Automated check-in via computer login, onsite booking, or wifi access [S20]
- Badge data: yes [S4]
- Badging integration: Automatic check-in through badging integration systems [S20]
- Booking operations: API supports create, check in/out, and cancel bookings [S20]
- Building management systems: Integration with existing building management systems for space utilization [S20]
- Calendar: Integrates with calendar system [S17]
- Calendar sync: yes · two_way · yes [S16]
- Calendar sync: Outlook · Google Calendar [S2]
- Checkin API scope: buildings · users · bookings · check-ins · no [S20]
- CSV export: yes · yes [S5]
- Floor plan inputs: yes [S18]
- HR systems: Workday · BambooHR · HiBob [S2]
- HR workops pro: WorkOps Pro · Workday · BambooHR · HiBob [S6]
- Hybrid workplace API: Hybrid workplace API [S5]
- Invitation channels: email · Slack · Microsoft Teams · mobile [S17]
- Kadence agent windows: Kadence Agent signs in silently on Windows with Entra [S6]
- Kadence AI chat booking: yes [S16]
- Languages: 38 [S2]
- Live date: October 2026 [S6]
- Mcp: yes [S1]
- Mcp: Book desks, rooms, parking and visitors from ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, with each person's own permissions. Early access; an admin turns it on. [S6]
- Mcp server early access: Kadence MCP server for booking via AI assistants [S5]
- Microsoft outlook: Book rooms from a meeting invite with the Outlook add-in, with two-way sync to Microsoft 365 room calendars. [S6]
- Microsoft teams: yes [S16]
- Microsoft teams: Book desks and rooms, chat with Kadence AI, get check-in reminders and see who is in, all inside Teams. [S6]
- No show release: yes [S6]
- Outbound webhooks: yes · yes [S4]
- Outlook addin: Microsoft Teams · Outlook add-in · Slack · iOS · Android [S2]
- Public API room booking checkin: Public API for room booking and check-in via badging, access control or wifi [S15]
- Public rest API: yes · yes [S5]
- Rest API all plans: yes [S6]
- Slack: yes [S16]
- Slack: See when teammates are going in, book desks and rooms with Kadence AI and get weekly schedules in Slack. [S6]
- Slack bot notifications: Slack DMs notify users of visitor check-ins and booking confirmations [S21]
- Slack setup steps: Slack integration enabled via Kadence web app Settings > Integrations > Add to Slack, then add the Kadence app in Slack [S21]
- SSO: yes · yes [S16]
- SSO mandatory: yes [S6]
- SSO providers: Okta · Microsoft · Google · JumpCloud [S1]
- Third party services: yes [S9]
- Workplace data: bookings · badges · Wi-Fi · rooms · check-in [S1]

**Legal**
- Cal henderson endorsement: Cal Henderson, Slack co-founder, Kadence investor since 2022 (testimonial) [S21]
- Copyright: 2026 · Kadence [S14]
- Dispute resolution: arbitration · JAMS [S9]
- Entity name: Kadence, Inc. [S10]
- Governing law: New York [S9]
- Privacy policy: privacy policy published covering collection, use and protection of personal data [S11]

**Pricing**
- Billing error window: 60 [S9]
- Fee change notice: end of initial or current renewal term · 30 [S9]
- Taxes customer responsibility: customer [S9]

**Product**
- Adhoc booking channels: mobile · browser · room display [S3]
- Agent auto login: Microsoft Entra · Okta · yes [S4]
- Agent platforms: no · Windows · Mac · ChromeOS · Linux [S4]
- AI booking: AI multi-desk booking [S2]
- AI in teams slack: yes · yes [S3]
- AI planning agent: AI planning agent builds/changes stack and space plans from plain-English requests [S18]
- AI positioning: Kadence positioned as AI workplace management for corporate real estate [S21]
- AI room recommendations: yes [S3]
- Analytics: office/space usage analytics with export and data platform integration [S2]
- Analytics overview: Workplace analytics connecting bookings, attendance, and utilization [S5]
- Assigned desk schedule: assigned/permanent desks [S2]
- Attendance counting rules: Admins choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance [S4]
- Attendance metric: Attendance counted from check-ins by day, team and location [S5]
- Attendance reporting: Compare in-office attendance across teams, actual vs expected presence [S4]
- Auto release: auto-release of unchecked-in desks [S2]
- Auto release: yes [S4]
- Auto release: Auto-release of no-show bookings [S5]
- Automated communication: Automated announcements such as company-wide events [S17]
- Automatic checkin: automatic check-in via Kadence Agent with network detection [S2]
- Book by the minute: yes [S3]
- Bookable resources: lockers · pods · parking · private offices [S2]
- Booking credits: booking credits [S2]
- Booking exports: booking exports with check-in data [S2]
- Booking resources: Book amenities and resources for events [S17]
- Booking rules: booking rules and windows [S2]
- Booking scheduler role: Booking Scheduler role for on-behalf booking [S2]
- Booking types: advance · recurring · same-day [S2]
- Building admins: yes [S3]
- Building closure announcements: Email announcements for office closures [S16]
- Building search: non-Liquid space customers · web app · Building search for bookings [S15]
- Buildings profiles: Building profiles showing activity at any particular building [S17]
- Bulk import: bulk spreadsheet import, per-building admins, closures [S2]
- Bulk room import: yes [S3]
- Campus amenities: Dashboard of nearby amenities: restaurants, bars, wellness facilities [S17]
- Capacity limits: yes · per floor per day [S4]
- Capacity limits: Per-floor occupancy capacity limits per day [S5]
- Catering: Set dietary requirements on invites for catering [S17]
- Catering amenities: yes · yes [S3]
- Check in tracking: yes [S16]
- Checkin enforcement: display · mobile · sensor [S3]
- Checkin reminders: Check-in reminders via Slack notifications [S21]
- Checkin sources: kiosks · room displays · badge data · public API · no [S2]
- Checkin sources: kiosks · room displays · badge data · public API [S4]
- Community building: Event planning for team engagement and belonging, from team lunches to company-wide events [S17]
- Cross team connections: Group people by shared interests or locations, in or out of office, remote or in-person; schedule, manage, track participation [S17]
- Customer data ownership: yes [S9]
- Customer story karger: Karger · 80 [S18]
- Customized events: Curate events to match team interests and culture [S17]
- Customized seating: Manage office neighborhoods and assigned desks [S4]
- Customized seating: Office Neighborhoods and Assigned Desks management [S5]
- Data export: Data export of employee and booking data included [S16]
- Data export reporting: Data export for utilization reporting [S5]
- Data hosting region: yes [S3]
- Data minimization: only data necessary for the solution to function is stored [S11]
- Desk booking: Desk booking: book desks or conference rooms, see availability and nearby teammates [S16]
- Desk booking channels: Microsoft Teams · Slack · web · mobile app · Kadence AI [S2]
- Desk pass: Confirmed desk pass feature [S12]
- Display analytics feed: yes [S3]
- Display hardware: iOS tablets · Android tablets · Neat devices · no [S3]
- Display ticketing: yes · yes [S3]
- Early termination fee: lesser of remaining-term fees or 6 months of fees [S9]

**Subprocessors**
- List published: yes · yes [S11]

**Support**
- AI customer results: MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks. [S2]
- Channels: help center · FAQs [S14]
- Customer story karger: Karger reduced office space by 80% [S2]
- Customer support: dedicated customer experience support team [S11]
- Dedicated customer support: Dedicated customer support team [S5]
- Faqs: yes [S19]
- Help center: yes [S19]
- Help center: yes [S13]
- Help center admins: setting up, managing, and optimizing Kadence for users · 106 · yes [S7]
- Help center employees: book desks, join events, manage schedule, collaborate · 43 · yes [S7]
- SLA standard: https://kadence.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Standard-Kadence-SLA.pdf · yes [S9]

143 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence

## Questions

### Is Kadence European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Kadence as Rest of world.

### Where does Kadence store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026.

### Does Kadence have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 5 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Kadence?

As of 6 Nov 2026, the panel rates [deskbird (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/deskbird), [Mapiq (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/mapiq) and [anny (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/anny) highest among the other 15 Desk Booking & Hybrid Workplace products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [deskbird](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/deskbird) (UK / wider Europe). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Kadence alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 49 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 27 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 legal fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://kadence.co/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S2] Features page (desk booking): https://kadence.co/desk-booking-software/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S3] Features page (room booking): https://kadence.co/room-booking-software/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S4] Features page (workplace occupancy): https://kadence.co/workplace-occupancy/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S5] Features page (workplace analytics): https://kadence.co/workplace-analytics/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S6] Integrations page: https://kadence.co/hybrid-workplace-integrations/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S7] Documentation: https://help.kadence.co/en/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S8] Pricing page: https://kadence.co/pricing/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S9] Terms of service: https://kadence.co/terms-conditions/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S10] Privacy policy (names the privacy contact): https://kadence.co/privacy-policygdpr/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S11] Security / trust page: https://kadence.co/security/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S12] Desk, room & parking booking — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/mobile-app/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S13] Desk, room & parking booking — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/product-updates/kadence-room-displays-bring-live-availability-and-real-workplace-intelligence-to-every-door/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S14] Check-in, auto-release & booking rules — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/videos/public-check-in-api-demo/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S15] Check-in, auto-release & booking rules — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-6-0/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S16] Hybrid work coordination — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/hybrid-working-coordination/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S17] Hybrid work coordination — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/workplace-events/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S18] Occupancy analytics & employee privacy — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/space-planning-software/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S19] Occupancy analytics & employee privacy — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/videos/room-booking-comparison-dashboard/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S20] Integrations, identity & administration — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/hybrid-workplace-api/ (checked 2026-11-05)
- [S21] Integrations, identity & administration — found from sitemap: https://kadence.co/slack-desk-booking-integration/ (checked 2026-11-05)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Kadence — Desk Booking & Hybrid Workplace", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/desk-booking/kadence

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1573?target=page