Biometrics are moving from exception to default across security programs generally. In HID’s 2025 State of Security and Identity Report — a global survey of roughly 1,800 security and IT practitioners, integrators, and end users — 35% of organizations said they already use biometric technology of some kind, and another 13% plan to adopt it. Building access is following the same curve.

But not every facial recognition system performs the same way once it’s installed. The stakes of getting it wrong — a bad fit for your building type, a compliance gap, an accuracy problem in real-world lighting — are higher than a typical hardware swap.

This guide is built for that decision: how facial recognition compares to other access methods, what privacy and compliance requirements apply to your property, how to tell if it’s the right fit for your specific building, and what to actually verify before you commit to a vendor.