Electric Strike vs. Maglock: How Commercial Doors Get Wired

Quick answers

• What's the difference between an electric strike and a maglock? A strike replaces the door frame's keeper and lets the existing lock latch release electrically; a maglock is a separate electromagnet and plate that holds the door shut with no moving parts.
• Which one is fail-safe and which is fail-secure? Maglocks are always fail-safe (they unlock on power loss); strikes and electrified levers can be wired either way depending on the hardware and the application.
• Can I use a maglock on any commercial door? Only with a code-compliant release path (request-to-exit sensor, push bar, or both) because fail-safe devices can't be the only thing standing between people and an exit in a fire.
• Which is better for a glass storefront door? Electric strikes are the usual fit for aluminum storefront doors; maglocks need surface mounting that's harder to make clean on narrow stile frames.
• Does the fire marshal care which hardware I pick? Yes — the AHJ has final say on egress hardware, and that conversation should happen before you order parts, not after.

It's not an electrical decision, it's a door decision

Once a business decides to put in access control, the conversation usually jumps straight to the software side: cards, fobs, mobile credentials, who gets access to what. That part's the fun part. The part that actually determines whether the door works the way everyone expects is the hardware bolted into the frame.

I see this mixed up constantly: an owner tells us they want maglocks because that's the word they know, when the door and the fire code say they need a strike. Or they've got a glass storefront door where a maglock is going to look like an afterthought bolted to the header. The hardware has to match the door, the use case, and the egress requirements — in that order. Software comes after.

Electric strikes: the quiet, usual answer

An electric strike replaces the metal keeper in the door frame that the latch bolt drops into. Instead of a fixed pocket, it's got a pivoting keeper held in place by a small solenoid or motor. Release power (or apply it, depending on wiring) and the keeper swings open, letting the latch slip through without turning the handle. The door's existing lock, closer, and latch all keep doing their normal job — the strike just lets the frame release on command.

Strikes are the default for most interior office doors and a lot of storefronts because:

• They work with hardware that's often already there (mortise locks, cylindrical locksets, panic hardware).
• They mount inside the frame, so there's nothing visible on the face of the door.
• They're available in fail-safe and fail-secure versions, which matters a lot (next section).
• They handle solid-core wood and hollow metal doors well, and there are narrow-stile versions built for aluminum storefront frames.

The trade-off: a strike only controls the latch. If someone's got a key, or the door is left unlatched, the strike isn't doing anything. It's a very good access control device and a mediocre forced-entry device on its own — that's what the rest of the door hardware (quality locksets, proper strike plates, door closers) is still doing.

Maglocks: strong holding force, more rules attached

A magnetic lock is a flat electromagnet mounted to the frame header with a matching steel armature plate on the door. Apply power and the magnet holds the plate (and the door) shut with a lot of holding force, rated in pounds. Cut power and it releases completely — there's no latch, no moving parts, nothing to pick or shim.

That simplicity is also the catch. A maglock doesn't know the difference between "someone badged out" and "the power went out." It only knows power or no power. Which means:

• Maglocks are always fail-safe. They have to be — code won't allow a door to lock people in during a fire with no power-independent way out.
• They need a legitimate free-egress path on the inside — a request-to-exit sensor, a panic bar, or both — so people can always leave without needing a credential.
• They're commonly specified on doors with heavy glass, high-security requirements, or a need for very high holding force, like certain server rooms, labs, or high-traffic doors that would chew up a strike's moving parts.
• They mount on the surface of the frame and door, which isn't always a clean look on a narrow-stile aluminum door.

In my experience, maglocks are the most misapplied device in this trade. People spec them because they sound more "high security," then skip the request-to-exit device to save a step, and now you've got a door that's one power blip away from a code violation and an insurance headache. A maglock done right isn't a problem. A maglock done as a shortcut is.

Fail-safe vs. fail-secure, explained without the jargon

This is the single most important design decision on any electrified door, and it gets confused constantly.

• Fail-safe means the door unlocks when power is removed. Good for doors where life-safety egress matters more than keeping the door locked during an outage — most doors on an egress path.
• Fail-secure means the door stays locked when power is removed, and only unlocks with power applied. Good for doors where you want the door to stay locked through a power event — think server rooms, cash rooms, or anywhere the asset inside matters more than convenience, as long as it's not someone's only way out.

Electric strikes and electrified levers can be ordered either way. Maglocks are fail-safe, full stop, because of how the electromagnet works.

This is exactly why the door-by-door decision isn't about personal preference. It's dictated largely by egress code, occupancy type, and what your local fire marshal or building official wants to see. This is general guidance, not a code citation — your AHJ has the final word, and on anything touching egress, that conversation belongs in the design phase, before hardware gets ordered. We'd rather make one phone call up front than reroute a door's wiring after an inspector walks the site.

Electrified levers and exit devices: the middle option

Between a strike and a maglock sits the electrified lever or electrified panic bar — a lockset or exit device with the locking mechanism built in and wired to accept power directly. These show up a lot in retrofit situations where the door already has code-required panic hardware and the goal is to add access control without changing the exit device itself. They tend to cost more per door than a basic strike, but they keep the existing hardware's fire and egress listing intact, which is often the deciding factor on doors that already have panic bars installed.

Matching hardware to the door

That's the general pattern — the actual call still comes down to the door's construction, the existing hardware, and what the AHJ wants on that specific opening.

What a retrofit actually involves per door

Adding electrified hardware to a door that doesn't have it isn't just screwing on a new part. A typical retrofit touches:

• The frame — routing or prepping the frame for a strike pocket, or mounting a header bracket for a maglock, which sometimes means dealing with an aluminum storefront header that wasn't built for it.
• Power and low-voltage wiring — running cable from the door to a power supply (often shared across several doors) and back to the access control panel, through the frame or a door loop if the door itself needs to swing with wires attached.
• A request-to-exit device on fail-safe doors, wired into the same release logic.
• The reader and credential hardware on the push side (or sometimes both sides for in/out tracking).
• Door position and tamper monitoring, if the system is going to actually tell you when a door's propped open.
• Fire/life-safety tie-in, on doors where the system needs to release on a fire alarm signal — this is its own coordination step with the fire alarm contractor, not an afterthought.

Cost per door varies a lot based on whether it's new construction (easy, pre-wired) or an occupied retrofit (harder — existing frames, finished walls, matching existing hardware finishes). That's exactly why we walk every door individually before quoting rather than pricing a system by headcount of doors alone.

Where this fits with the rest of the system

Door hardware is one piece of a bigger access control decision — what you're also deciding at the same time is how credentials get managed and where that system lives, which we cover in our cloud vs. on-prem access control comparison. And if you're still weighing whether to go electrified at all versus sticking with keys, our piece on access control vs. keys for a small office is a good starting point before you get into strike-versus-maglock decisions.

If you're adding access control to a building that's also getting cameras or network upgrades, it's worth planning the door hardware, the structured cabling, and the access control system together rather than as separate projects — the conduit and cable runs for door hardware often share pathway with camera and network drops, and it's cheaper to plan that once.

Frequently asked questions

Can I mix strikes and maglocks in the same building?

Yes, this is common. Storefront entries often get strikes, while a server room or lab down the hall gets a maglock for the added holding force. The access control panel doesn't care which type of lock is on each door as long as it's wired correctly.

Do maglocks fail open during a power outage?

Yes, that's what "fail-safe" means — no power, no magnetic hold, door releases. That's a design requirement for life safety, not a flaw.

How long does it take to retrofit a single door?

A straightforward interior door with an accessible frame can often be done in a day. A storefront door needing aluminum frame prep, new wiring routes, and panic hardware coordination takes longer. A site walk is the only reliable way to scope it.

Does electrified hardware work with existing keyed locks?

Usually yes. Most strikes and electrified levers keep the mechanical key override, so staff and fire personnel can still get in with a physical key if the electronics ever go down.

Who decides if a door can be fail-secure instead of fail-safe?

The local fire marshal or building official (the AHJ) has final say, based on the occupancy type and whether that door is part of a required egress path. It's worth getting that answer in writing during design.

If you're planning access control for a new door or retrofitting an existing one, request a site walk and we'll tell you straight which hardware actually fits.