An honest comparison
URBI vs HqO
HqO built the best known tenant experience app in commercial real estate, then bought its way into operations, analytics, and vendors: Office App in 2021, Leesman in 2022, Symbiosy in 2024. URBI built one system for the whole tower from day one, with AI that acts, not just advises. Here is the real comparison.
URBI runs your tower on one AI native system: HERO executes multi step plans with your approval, Arthur answers tenant calls around the clock, and accounting reconciles itself, In Beta. HqO's tenant app is genuinely strong, but its Intelligence Suite advises rather than acts, its work orders run on two different rails, and it has no accounting at all.
Choose URBI if
- You want AI that does the work: HERO executes multi step workflows with your approval, Arthur answers tenants 24/7 by voice, SMS, email, and chat
- You want one operations desk instead of a newer IoT layer bolted to an older partner integration for the same tickets
- Your vendors should not need an account: URBI vendors work an RFP or a work order from an emailed link, no login required
- You want accounting in the platform: CAM reconciliation, straight line rent, estoppel statements, and books pre reconciled before month end at up to 90 percent, In Beta
- You want inclusive tiers with no setup fee instead of an enterprise deal assembled from subscription plus implementation, integration, and setup fees
Choose HqO if
- Tenant experience polish is the only category you are buying, and operations, vendors, and accounting can stay someone else's problem
- You are comfortable running work orders across two systems: a newer Symbiosy derived operations layer and an older Building Engines Prism partner integration
- Your vendors are fine creating an account and a profile before they can pick up a job
- Your organization already has an accounting system and only ever wanted HqO for the tenant app and portfolio dashboards
URBI and HqO at a glance
| Category | URBI | HqO |
|---|---|---|
| Platform shape | One system: Kore dashboard, tenant app, HERO AI, with Arthur on Premium. Everything included in the tier | A platform assembled by acquisition: Office App (2021), Leesman (2022), Symbiosy (2024) layered under one brand |
| AI | Built AI native. HERO groups multi step work into a plan you approve; Arthur answers tenants by voice, SMS, email, and chat, 24/7 | Real AI, insight first. An AI Analyst Agent answers portfolio questions and recommends; nothing in HqO's own copy executes a work order, dispatches a vendor, or answers a phone |
| Work orders and operations | One native operations desk in Kore: tickets, tasks, and vendor work orders in one place, HERO can act on any of them with your confirmation | Two rails for the same job: a newer IoT and fault detection layer built from the Symbiosy acquisition, plus an older Building Engines Prism partner integration for tenant facing requests |
| Vendor experience | Vendors answer RFPs and manage work orders and subtasks from an emailed link, no account required | A real Vendor Suite (directory, compliance, RFPs, invoicing), but self service registration and role based access point to an account and login model |
| Accounting | AI accounting In Beta: general ledger, CAM reconciliation, straight line rent, estoppel statements, books pre reconciled before month end at up to 90 percent | No accounting, AP or AR, or CAM reconciliation anywhere in the product |
| Tenant experience app | Included tenant app: room, coworking, and amenity booking, visitor and parking access, messaging, Apple Wallet passes, HERO and Arthur woven in | A genuinely polished tenant app, the category HqO built its name on: resource booking, events, food ordering, visitor management |
| Service level tracking | Tickets tracked start to finish with vendor auto assignment inside the same operations desk that raised them | SLA and performance tracking language lives on the Vendor suite page for vendor performance, not on the Operations page for ticket resolution |
| Terms | Month to month, cancel anytime, no service agreement | Landlord and portfolio level enterprise sale |
| Pricing model | Inclusive tiers, custom by volume, no setup fee | Subscription plus separate implementation, integration, and setup fees typical of an enterprise portfolio deal |
Last verified August 2026. Corrections welcome at hello@myurbi.co. See real buildings running URBI.
What is the fundamental difference between URBI and HqO?
HqO started in 2018 as a tenant experience app and grew into a platform by acquiring the pieces around it: Office App in 2021 for European tenant engagement, Leesman in 2022 for workplace benchmarking data, Symbiosy in 2024 for the smart building and IoT layer that now underpins its operations claims. Each piece is real. The platform is a federation of them.
URBI was built the other way: one system from the first line of code, where the tower's operations, tenant experience, and accounting all live on the same data model instead of being stitched across acquired products. HERO and Arthur are not a suite bolted onto an experience app; they are the intelligence the system was built around.
The practical test: ask HqO which product actually owns a given work order and you may get two answers. Ask URBI and there is one operations desk, one answer, every time.
How does URBI's AI compare to HqO's Intelligence Suite?
HqO's Fall 2025 Intelligence Suite is real: an AI Analyst Agent that answers natural language portfolio questions, dashboards for NOI and tenant health, and predictive fault alerts pulled from the Symbiosy IoT layer. This is genuinely useful analytics and it deserves to be called what it is, an insight and recommendation engine. Nothing in HqO's own product copy claims it creates a work order, dispatches a vendor, or picks up a phone.
URBI's AI is built to act, with a person always in the loop. HERO works a plan across the property's records and groups multi step work into steps you approve one by one, whether that is a service ticket, a vendor RFP, or a unit access request. Arthur answers tenants directly across voice, SMS, email, and in app chat, in the building's own tone, around the clock. Reads run instantly; every action stays a proposal until someone confirms it.
The test that settles it: ask each vendor to show their AI doing your tower's actual work, live, on your scenarios. URBI will. That is what the demo is.
Which platform actually runs your work orders?
HqO markets an Operations Suite as a vertically integrated building management system, built largely on the 2024 Symbiosy acquisition and centered on equipment and IoT fault detection. It also maintains an older partner integration with Building Engines Prism, in place since 2021, for tenant facing work order submission and tracking. A buyer asking whether HqO handles work order management gets a real answer, but it depends on which of the two systems the ticket lands in.
SLA and performance tracking language on HqO's own site sits on the Vendor suite page, scoped to vendor performance, not on the Operations page, scoped to how fast a tenant's ticket gets resolved.
URBI runs one operations desk in Kore: tickets in list, kanban, and calendar views, with vendor auto assignment by category and full visibility from request to resolution. HERO can create the ticket, the task, or the vendor work order itself, with your approval, from the same conversation where the tenant raised it.
How do the vendor experiences compare?
HqO's Vendor Suite is a real, broad product surface: a curated vendor directory, compliance and certificate of insurance management, RFP and procurement workflows, invoicing, and SLA and performance tracking. The site describes self service vendor registration and profile creation with role based access for admins, technicians, and billing contacts, the shape of an account and login based portal.
URBI's vendors never create an account. They answer an RFP or manage a work order and its subtasks entirely from an emailed token link. Amenity closures can be scheduled straight from a ticket, no vendor login involved at any step.
A vendor who has to register, remember a password, and log in before touching a job is friction you pay for on every trade, on every building, every time.
What about accounting and CAM reconciliation?
This is a clean gap: HqO has no accounting, no accounts payable or receivable, and no CAM reconciliation anywhere in its product. The Vendor suite's invoicing and payment tools cover vendor spend, not tenant billing or common area cost recovery.
URBI's accounting, In Beta, is a full double entry engine: general ledger with an auto seeded chart of accounts, CAM reconciliation, straight line rent, and estoppel statements built for commercial leases, alongside automatic bank reconciliation that arrives pre matched at up to 90 percent before close. AI drafts the adjusting entries; a person accepts or modifies before anything posts.
It is In Beta, and that is the opportunity: portfolios in the Beta program get the accounting stack early and help shape it. Sign up through the demo and we will walk your books through it.
What does the tenant experience look like on each?
Give HqO its due here: it is the tenant experience brand for a reason. Resource booking for desks, conference rooms, and freight elevators, tenant events with self check in, food ordering through partner and native integrations, visitor management, and a digital key through Apple or Google Wallet are all real and well built.
URBI's tenant app covers the same core: room, coworking, and amenity booking with capacity aware scheduling, visitor and parking access granted digitally before arrival, direct messaging, and Apple Wallet passes for bookings and access. The difference is what sits behind it: HERO and Arthur are woven into the same app and the same operations desk, not a separate insight layer reporting on an experience product from the outside.
How do the pricing models compare?
URBI prices by building, in inclusive tiers with no setup fee: onboarding, the tenant app, and the Kore dashboard are all in the tier you pick. Exact pricing is custom by volume, and the demo covers it straight.
HqO sells to landlords and portfolio owners as an enterprise deal: a subscription layered with separate implementation, system integration, and portfolio data setup work, the professional services overhead typical of a multi component portfolio rollout. What you see in the pitch is rarely the full number until the statement of work is signed.
Where URBI is simply the better choice
Strip the tenant experience branding away and the comparison for office portfolios reads one way:
- One system built as one product versus a platform assembled by acquisition: Office App, Leesman, Symbiosy
- AI that acts versus AI that advises: HERO executes plans you approve and Arthur answers the phone, while the Intelligence Suite queries and recommends
- One operations desk versus two rails for the same ticket: a newer IoT layer and an older Building Engines Prism partner integration
- Vendors work from an email link, no login, versus vendor registration and role based accounts
- Accounting that pre reconciles books at up to 90 percent, In Beta, versus no accounting or CAM reconciliation at all
- Inclusive tiers with no setup fee versus an enterprise deal built from subscription plus implementation, integration, and setup fees
URBI vs HqO: common questions
Is URBI a replacement for HqO?
Yes, and more. For office portfolios, URBI covers the ground HqO's tenant experience app covers (booking, visitor access, messaging, wallet passes) plus operations, vendor management, and accounting that HqO's tenant experience layer does not touch at all. Book a demo and bring your current HqO workflows; watching them run in URBI is the fastest answer.
Does URBI's AI actually do work, or just recommend it?
It does the work, with a person approving each step. HERO groups multi step tasks into a plan, creates tickets, tasks, vendor work orders, and RFPs, and waits for confirmation before anything executes; reads run instantly. Arthur answers tenants directly by voice, SMS, email, and chat, around the clock. HqO's AI Analyst Agent answers portfolio questions and recommends action; its own product copy does not claim it executes a work order or answers a phone.
How does URBI handle work orders compared to HqO?
URBI runs one operations desk in Kore: every ticket, task, and vendor work order in one place, tracked start to finish with vendor auto assignment. HqO splits the same job across two systems, a newer Symbiosy derived operations and fault detection layer, and an older Building Engines Prism partner integration for tenant facing requests, so which system owns a given ticket depends on how it was raised.
Does URBI have accounting like CAM reconciliation?
Yes, In Beta. URBI's accounting engine includes CAM reconciliation, straight line rent, and estoppel statements built for commercial leases, plus automatic bank reconciliation that lands books pre reconciled at up to 90 percent before close. HqO has no accounting, AP or AR, or CAM reconciliation surface in its product at all. Sign up for the Beta program through the demo.
What does URBI cost compared to HqO?
URBI uses inclusive per building tiers with no setup fee, priced custom by volume; the demo gives you the exact number in one conversation. HqO sells as a landlord level enterprise deal, a subscription plus separate implementation, integration, and setup work typical of a multi component portfolio rollout, so the real total assembles itself across a statement of work.
How is URBI's vendor experience different from HqO's?
URBI vendors answer an RFP or run a work order and its subtasks from an emailed link, no account or login required. HqO's Vendor Suite is broad (directory, compliance, RFPs, invoicing, SLA tracking) but describes self service vendor registration and role based access, the shape of an account and login based portal. Fewer logins means faster vendor response on every trade.
See your building on URBI.
The fastest way to compare is to watch your own workflows run. Twenty minutes, your building's scenarios, straight answers on pricing, with the founder, not a sales rep.
HqO, Office App, Leesman, Symbiosy, and Building Engines Prism are trademarks of their respective owners. URBI is not affiliated with HqO. Statements about HqO reflect publicly available information; if anything here is out of date, tell us at hello@myurbi.co and we will correct it.
Sepehr Shoarinejad
Founder, URBI