WhosOnLocation Alternative: Contractor and Visitor Sign-In

WhosOnLocation isn’t sold under that name anymore. MRI Software, a real estate software company, bought the New Zealand developer in March 2021, per Reseller News’ report on MRI Software’s Kiwi acquisitions, and the product now ships as MRI OnLocation. If you’re shopping for a WhosOnLocation alternative, there’s a fair chance the renewal notice on your desk came from a company you never signed with.

The rename matters less than the product’s shape. WhosOnLocation was never really a lobby sign-in screen. It’s a people-presence platform: employees, contractors, and visitors tracked against a site, with emergency roll calls built on top of that data. A safety manager running three plants lives inside that roll call. An office manager with one front desk and a paper logbook doesn’t.

This post covers what the platform is built for, what contractor sign-in actually has to prove, who should stay, and when a per-location iPad app does enough. InstaCheckin publishes this post and makes one of the products discussed.

Feature claims about WhosOnLocation and MRI OnLocation are based on publicly available product information as of September 2026. Vendor practices, pricing, and feature sets change; verify directly with the vendor before purchasing. Trademarks are property of their respective owners. InstaCheckin is not affiliated with WhosOnLocation, MRI OnLocation, or MRI Software.

A presence platform with a visitor module attached

MRI’s product page splits OnLocation into four modules. Visitor covers movement through your locations. Contractor covers attendance, hazard notice compliance, and induction management. Employee covers staff profiles, permissions, and presence. Emergency covers accounting for everyone on site, with manual roll calls and self-verification.

Around those modules sit lone worker tracking with geolocation and SOS alerts, QR code sign-in, ID scanning, document capture for certifications, desk booking, and real-time occupancy alerts across multiple facilities. That’s a health-and-safety system that happens to have a lobby screen. Not a lobby screen with some safety features bolted on.

It’s the same corner of the market Sine by Honeywell occupies. Our Sine visitor management breakdown walks through that decision for a contractor-heavy platform too.

What contractor sign-in has to prove

Contractors are where the stakes change. Under OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy (CPL 02-00-124), more than one employer can be cited for the same hazard on a shared worksite, and a “controlling employer” has a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent and detect violations. If you host a roofing crew, you can’t treat their safety briefing as entirely their problem.

Evacuations raise a second question. OSHA’s emergency action plan rule at 29 CFR 1910.38 on eCFR lists “procedures to account for all employees after evacuation” as a minimum element, and it lets employers with 10 or fewer employees communicate the plan orally. Whatever you use at the door, somebody has to be able to answer “who’s still inside?” For the planning side, see our guide to writing an emergency evacuation plan.

So a contractor sign-in record has two jobs: show the contractor saw and accepted your site rules before starting, and show when they arrived and left. How far beyond that you go depends on your risk. This describes general regulatory context, not legal advice; confirm your obligations with a safety professional or counsel.

Who should keep MRI OnLocation

Stay on the platform if most of these are true:

• You run several facilities and need one occupancy and roll-call view across all of them.
• Contractor pre-qualification is a program, with inductions that expire and certifications someone audits.
• You have lone workers in the field who need SOS alerts and location tracking.
• Staff presence and desk booking already run through the same system, and ripping them out would break HR workflows.

That’s a real set of requirements, and a lighter tool would leave gaps. Construction and industrial sites often land here. Our construction site visitor management page covers what those sites usually ask for at the gate.

When a WhosOnLocation alternative makes more sense

The signs you’re overbuying tend to show up in the admin panel. Modules nobody configured. A lone worker feature for a team that never leaves the building.

1. One site, one front desk. Maybe a second iPad at the loading dock.
2. Contractors are occasional, like the HVAC tech twice a quarter, and a signed safety waiver is the whole requirement.
3. The daily complaints are basic. Hosts don’t know their visitor arrived. The paper logbook shows every previous visitor’s name.
4. Nobody owns the platform. No safety manager maintains inductions, and the roll-call feature has never been tested in a drill.

If staff presence is part of why you bought WhosOnLocation, read the employee sign-in app page before you decide. For another enterprise platform weighed the same way, see the Traction Guest alternatives guide.

Side by side: InstaCheckin and MRI OnLocation

Based on each vendor’s public product pages at the time of writing. Features vary by plan and module; confirm with the vendor.

The “No” rows are real. InstaCheckin doesn’t verify identity beyond the captured signature, and it doesn’t track people once they’ve left the lobby.

What InstaCheckin covers at the front desk

InstaCheckin does the reception job for visitors and contractors, and stops there:

• Paperless sign-in on an iPad kiosk that captures name, company, and reason for visit, so the next person can’t read the last one’s details.
• Safety waivers and NDAs shown before the badge prints, signed on the touchscreen, and archived with the visit. A contractor gets the site rules; a client gets the NDA.
• Photo badges printed on Brother QL label printers with logo, name, photo, host, and date, so a contractor on the floor is easy to spot.
• Host notifications by email and SMS the moment someone checks in, including name, photo, and reason for visit.
• Pre-registration, so the facilities lead can invite a contractor in advance and the contractor skips data entry at the kiosk.
• A cloud visitor log with timestamps and photos, filterable by location, host, date range, or name, and exportable to CSV or PDF.

Licensing is per location, with 1 to 5 kiosks per location. Rates, including a Free plan, are on the pricing page. To lock the iPad to the sign-in screen, follow the iPad kiosk mode guide.

Electronic-record and e-signature law varies by jurisdiction. This describes product features, not legal advice; verify enforceability of kiosk-signed waivers with counsel.

FAQ

Is WhosOnLocation still available?

Under a different name. Reseller News reported MRI Software’s acquisition of WhosOnLocation in March 2021, and the platform now carries the MRI OnLocation name. Some login and help pages still use the old domain.

How much does WhosOnLocation cost?

At the time of writing, the MRI OnLocation product page doesn’t list prices. It offers a free trial and a demo request, so you’ll need a conversation with the vendor to get a number.

Does InstaCheckin handle contractor inductions?

Partly. It shows a safety waiver or site rules on the kiosk, captures a signature before the badge prints, and routes documents by visitor type. It doesn’t track induction expiry, licenses, or insurance certificates.

What’s a good WhosOnLocation alternative for one office?

If you don’t need lone worker tracking, ID scanning, or multi-facility roll calls, a standalone iPad app does the job. InstaCheckin covers sign-in, photo badges, waiver signing, email and SMS host notifications, and an exportable visitor log per location.

Run one week of contractor sign-ins on an iPad

Your renewal date is the deadline, so use the weeks before it. Start a free trial, set up a contractor visitor type with your site waiver, and put the iPad at reception. By Friday you’ll know from real visits whether you miss the roll call and lone worker modules, or whether you were paying for them to sit idle. Multiple sites or a formal contractor program? Contact sales and talk through whether InstaCheckin fits.