Bolt and Paxton
Still running a server for your doors? Still building a server for every job?
Paxton built a business on a sound idea for its time: a server in the building runs the doors. Bolt starts from the opposite assumption. Here’s the difference, row by row, including the rows Paxton wins. Paxton needs a server or appliance on the LAN before the first door is commissioned. Bolt doesn’t. Here’s the difference, row by row, including the rows Paxton wins.
Web-based is not the same as cloud.
“Paxton10 is web-based” is true, and it muddles things. Paxton10 is a local appliance that serves a web page. Net2 is the older version of the same idea, on Windows. Solo, Paxton’s newest, really is cloud-hosted, and phone-first.
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Net2
A Windows server
Sits in your comms room. Needs Windows licences, backups, patching, and somebody willing to look after it when it falls over.
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Paxton10
A local appliance
A dedicated box with a nicer web page. Still on your LAN, still a single point of failure, still something to back up. One per site.
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Solo
A phone app and a cloud
Paxton’s newest: a controller, a DoorTag and an app. Cloud-hosted, set up from a phone, no on-site data network needed. Genuinely cloud, and aimed at small, phone-only jobs.
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Bolt
Controllers and a cloud
No access server on site. Controllers keep their own rules and talk to the cloud directly. Offline-first, so doors work when the internet doesn’t.
Bolt is probably your answer if… Bolt is probably your next job if…
- You don’t want a server in the comms cupboard.
- You want doors, cameras and space booking on one system.
- You want visitors in without an app to download.
- You run between one and a hundred doors, on one site or several.
- You want updates to just happen.
- You want a UK company where the person on the phone built the thing.
- You don’t want to build and look after a server on every job.
- You want to fit doors, cameras and space booking as one system.
- You’d rather visitors got in without an app to download.
- You fit between one and a hundred doors, on one site or several.
- You want updates to happen without a site visit.
- You want a UK supplier where the person on the phone built the thing.
Three things we can’t match yet.
A comparison that only lists our wins isn’t a comparison.
A big UK installer network
Paxton has thousands of trained installers. We have a smaller group of partners we chose. If you need a van in a particular postcode tomorrow morning, Paxton may get there first.
Paxton has thousands of trained installers. We have a smaller group of partners we chose. If a client needs a van in a particular postcode tomorrow morning, a Paxton firm may get there first.
A sprawling accessory catalogue
Decades of reader variants and edge cases. We keep a seven-part stock list on purpose. If your site needs something unusual, ask about OSDP readers and ONVIF cameras before assuming we can’t.
A free single door, no network
Paxton Solo runs one door for one user with no subscription, and needs no data network on site, just power and an internet connection. For a single door on a shed or a holiday let, that’s hard to argue with.
Paxton Solo runs one door for one user with no subscription, and needs no data network on site. For a one-door, phone-only job, Solo is a fair pick. Bolt earns its keep when the site wants cards, cameras or visitors too.
Fourteen things you’re going to ask about.
Row by row, with a straight call on who’s ahead. Row by row: the questions your customer will put to you.
| Topic | Net2 and Paxton10 | Bolt | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the software lives | A box on your LAN: Net2 on a Windows server, Paxton10 on a local appliance. Power it, patch it, back it up, replace it when it dies. | No access-control server on your LAN. Controllers talk to the Bolt cloud directly. (Cameras use a small local recorder; doors don’t need one.) | Bolt |
| Where you manage it from | Net2: a Windows desktop client. Paxton10: a web page served from the box on your LAN, so if the box is off, so is the page. | Any browser, any device, any network. | Bolt |
| Getting it installed | Server provisioning, Windows setup and client install before controller commissioning starts. | Controllers provision themselves once they reach Ethernet. No server to build first. | Bolt |
| Software updates | Run manually on the server or appliance. Somebody has to log in and run the installer. | Over the air, signed and rollback-safe. Nobody logs into anything. | Bolt |
| Mobile credentials | The Paxton Key app, installed on every user’s phone. | Bolt.Tap: any phone taps a sticker, no app. Apple and Google Wallet passes are in early access. | Bolt |
| When the network fails | The estate runs from a server or appliance on your LAN. That one box is a single point of failure. | No on-site server to lose. Each controller holds its own rules, so doors keep working when the internet doesn’t. | Bolt |
| Cabling between controllers | Cable to every controller: Ethernet to each, or an RS-485 daisy-chain. | One Ethernet run to the first controller. Bolt.Mesh links up to nine controllers, eighteen doors, wirelessly. | Bolt |
| Several sites | Each site has its own server or appliance. | One login, many buildings, from day one. | Bolt |
| CCTV | A separate video system: second contract, second login. | Bolt.Vision on the same platform. Door events and camera clips on one timeline. | Bolt |
| Desk, room and parking booking | Not a Paxton product. Add a third-party booking tool. | Bolt.Spaces on the same platform, in the same app. | Bolt |
| Heating, lighting, energy | Not a Paxton product. A different vendor and a different login. | Bolt.BMS is in development, built to share the same platform so heating can follow occupancy. Not available yet. | Not yet |
| Developer APIs | Net2 ships a Windows-oriented SDK with server-bound integrations. | REST API, MQTT event stream, HMAC-signed webhooks. | Bolt |
| UK installer network | Thousands of trained installers. You can probably find one in the next town. | A newer, smaller network. We’re not on every street corner yet. | Paxton |
| Accessory catalogue | Huge: many reader variants and decades of backward-compatible kit. | A seven-part stock list: controller, two readers, two PSUs, a Wiegand converter and a camera recorder. Small on purpose. | Paxton |
Claims about Net2 and Paxton10 are from Paxton’s public product documentation, reviewed 22 April 2026. Paxton Solo is compared separately below.
Paxton Solo
And Paxton Solo?
Solo is Paxton’s phone-first system: the phone sets it up and opens the door, and it lives in the cloud. It’s a different animal from Net2 and Paxton10, so it gets its own rows. Solo is Paxton’s phone-first, cloud-hosted system, paid for with credits bought through Paxton distributors. A different job from Net2 and Paxton10, so it gets its own rows.
| Topic | Paxton Solo | Bolt | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A door controller, a DoorTag and the Paxton Solo app on iOS and Android. In Paxton’s words, “your phone is the system and the key”. | Bolt.Access BDC2 controllers (two doors each) and readers, run from the Bolt cloud in any browser. | Depends on the job |
| Setting it up | Created and commissioned from a phone. Paxton says it “really takes minutes”. | Enter the claim code from the box and the controller joins the customer’s account. | Level |
| Network on site | “Infrastructure-free with no on-site data network needed”: power and an internet connection, using mobile connectivity. | One Ethernet run to the first controller. Bolt.Mesh links up to nine controllers, eighteen doors, wirelessly. | Solo |
| When the internet drops | Paxton says Solo “works in offline mode meaning you can still get access whenever you need”. | Each controller holds its own credentials, rules and schedules, and events catch up when the line comes back. | Level |
| Ways in | The phone, through the Solo app. The Solo pages we read don’t mention cards, fobs or PINs. | MIFARE DESFire cards, PINs, Bolt.Tap from any phone with no app, QR codes and visitor passes. | Bolt |
| Paying for it | Low cost to start: a one-door, one-user system runs free indefinitely. Beyond that, a monthly per-door subscription paid in Solo Credits, bought from Paxton approved distributors or in the app. | Licensed per door through your installer. Ask for a quote. | Solo |
| Beyond the door | Solo’s pages describe access control only. | Cameras (Bolt.Vision), visitors and Spaces booking on the same platform. | Bolt |
Solo facts as of October 2026, from paxton-access.com/systems/solo and its Solutions and Tech Hub pages. Quoted words are Paxton’s own.
Bolt.W2O
Already on Net2? Keep the readers. Swapping out a Net2 site? Price the readers last.
Talk to us about switching. Readers that speak OSDP can often stay on the wall, and the BOLT-W2O converter keeps Wiegand readers in service while you change over. Readers that speak OSDP can often stay on the wall, and the BOLT-W2O converter keeps Wiegand readers in service while you change over. Ask us before you price the readers.
See a door work with the internet unplugged.
Twenty minutes, real hardware. Bring your Paxton questions. Demo kit on your bench, a live door to show people. Bring your Paxton questions.
Paxton, Net2, Paxton10 and Solo are trade marks of Paxton Access Ltd. Bolt Access Systems Ltd is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Paxton Access Ltd.
Comparative statements are based on publicly available Paxton product documentation as of 22 April 2026 (Net2, Paxton10) and October 2026 (Solo). If anything here is wrong, email [email protected] and we’ll correct it promptly.