- comparison
- security
- data isolation
- desk booking
Desk & Park vs Archie: isolated database per customer
Archie and Desk & Park both price per resource. The difference is where your data lives: Desk & Park gives every organisation its own PostgreSQL database.
Desk & Park and Archie both charge per resource rather than per user, so the decision rests on two other things: where each customer's data lives and how the price is composed. Every Desk & Park organisation has its own PostgreSQL database, not rows in tables shared with other customers; Archie publishes no statement of per-customer database isolation. Desk & Park's price is one amount for a ceiling of spaces (128 USD net per month for 75, 230 USD for 125, the first 10 free); Archie's is composed per desk and per room with a monthly minimum and separate modules for visitors and coworking (archieapp.co, October 2026).
The comparison at a glance
| Desk & Park | Archie | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per bookable space, one amount per plan | Per resource: separate rates per desk and per room, with a monthly minimum |
| Entry price | Start plan: 0 USD, up to 10 spaces | Published minimums from 159 USD per month (desk booking) and 249 USD per month (Pro), per third-party reviews of archieapp.co |
| Modules | Desks, parking, rooms, guests, analytics, kiosks included in one plan | Visitor management and coworking as separately priced modules |
| Data isolation | One PostgreSQL database per customer organisation; per-organisation backup, restore and erasure | Not published |
| Onboarding | Self-serve, 60–90 minutes for one office, one admin | Setup assisted on higher plans (SSO, SCIM) |
| Check-in | QR sticker scan from the phone browser; automatic release of no-shows | Check-in by user action; badge-swipe integration |
| Parking | Parking spots and EV charger spots on the same map as desks | Desks and rooms are the primary resources |
| SSO / SCIM | OpenID Connect single sign-on and SCIM provisioning | Included on the Pro plan |
Competitor facts come from Archie's public website and third-party reviews as of October 2026; prices and features change, so check the current page before deciding.
Why a database per organisation matters
Most SaaS products keep every customer in the same tables and separate them with a column. It is efficient and it is how most breaches of "someone else's data" happen: one missed filter in one query. Desk & Park takes the other design:
- Smaller blast radius. A bug or a compromised credential in one organisation's database reaches that organisation, not the others.
- Per-organisation lifecycle. Backup, restore and erasure operate on one database. When a customer leaves, its database is dropped, which is an operation an auditor can verify.
- Honest scoping. The shared control plane holds only what must be shared: sign-in sessions, the security log, SSO and SCIM settings, calendar subscriptions and billing records. Bookings, maps, users and the audit log live in the organisation's database.
Archie may well have strong controls of its own; the point is that it does not publish the model, and a security review should ask. The question to put to any vendor is the same: is my data in its own database, and can you show me the erasure of it?
How the price is composed
Desk & Park: one amount per month for a ceiling of spaces of any type. A parking spot, a desk and a meeting room count the same, and guests, kiosks, analytics and the Android app are included. Archie: a rate per desk and a higher rate per room, a monthly minimum, and separately priced modules for visitor management and coworking operations. For a room-heavy office the per-room rate is the line to model; for a parking-heavy one, whether a spot is a "desk" in the price list.
Where Archie is the better fit
Coworking operators and multi-location flexible-space businesses: Archie has a coworking module, membership handling and a visitor product built for that. A hybrid office that is also a coworking space should look there first.
Where Desk & Park is the better fit
A company whose security review asks where the data lives, that wants desks, parking spots and EV chargers on one map with QR check-in and automatic release, and that prefers one flat price per plan to a per-resource composition. See the pricing and the article on the isolated database per organisation.
FAQ
Is Desk & Park a multi-tenant SaaS?
The application is shared; the data is not. Every customer organisation has its own PostgreSQL database for users, bookings, maps and the audit log, while a control-plane database holds sessions, SSO and SCIM settings and billing records. Backups, restore and erasure are per organisation.
Does Archie isolate each customer's database?
Archie does not publish its tenancy model as of October 2026. If isolation matters for your review, ask Archie directly and ask for the answer in writing; Desk & Park documents its model on the site and in its security documentation.
Which is cheaper for 75 desks and 10 rooms?
Desk & Park's Pro plan covers up to 125 spaces of any type for 230 USD net per month, and the Standard plan up to 75 for 128 USD. Archie's price is a desk rate plus a room rate with a monthly minimum, so the comparison depends on the current per-room rate; model it with the numbers on archieapp.co for the month you are deciding in.
Do both support single sign-on?
Desk & Park supports single sign-on over OpenID Connect and SCIM user provisioning. Archie lists SSO and SCIM on its Pro plan. Administrator accounts in Desk & Park sign in with a password and two-factor authentication rather than SSO.
