CrowdScan is a Belgian crowd-analytics company that measures how many people are in a space and how densely they are packed, using wireless radio sensors instead of cameras. Its AI-driven software turns that sensor data into real-time dashboards and alerts for cities, transport hubs and event organizers. It is a B2B infrastructure product, not a self-serve app, and it remains active in September 2026 with festival and transit deployments.
Last updated: September 2026
What is CrowdScan?
CrowdScan is a spin-off of imec and the University of Antwerp, launched on July 14, 2020, according to imec’s own announcement. The company is based in Belgium and is led by CEO Ben Bellekens. It grew out of roughly six years of academic research into device-free crowd measurement, developed to help authorities monitor social distancing and crowd safety without collecting camera footage or tracking people’s phones.
The core product is a network of small wireless sensors that transmit low-energy radio waves at 868 MHz across a monitored area. According to imec, the system works by measuring how much the sensors’ radio signals are attenuated compared to an empty environment: more people in the space absorb and scatter more signal, and CrowdScan’s software converts that attenuation pattern into a crowd-density estimate, refreshed as often as every 50 milliseconds. CrowdScan’s own site states the method reaches about 95% accuracy against other measurement techniques and works in poor weather, where camera-based systems can struggle.
CrowdScan does not sell a consumer app. It sells sensor hardware plus a data and analytics layer to operators of airports, train and metro stations, stadiums, festivals and city public spaces. In 2026, the company is listed as an official partner of the SuperNova festival, and it has previously been associated with monitoring around Tomorrowland and major transit stations, according to the company’s own marketing and independent write-ups. CrowdScan also partners with the spatial-analytics platform xyzt.ai: in a customer testimonial on xyzt.ai’s site, CrowdScan CEO Ben Bellekens describes the combination as letting customers “spatially visualize the data, learn about the different segmentations, and create data dashboards” from the raw sensor feed.
Is CrowdScan an AI tool or a hardware company?
Both. CrowdScan sells physical radio sensors, but the value of the product is in the analytics layer: software that processes noisy radio-signal data, filters out environmental interference, and produces density estimates, historical trend charts and congestion predictions. That processing and forecasting layer is what CrowdScan and its partners describe as the AI/data-science component, distinguishing it from a simple sensor readout. Buyers evaluating it should think of it less like a downloadable app and more like managed sensor infrastructure with an analytics subscription attached, closer in shape to a smart-building or IoT deployment than to a typical SaaS sign-up.
Deployments beyond festivals: city foot-traffic monitoring
Beyond one-off events, CrowdScan has run multi-year municipal deployments. In Bruges and Ghent, it supplied real-time dashboards tracking pedestrian density and foot traffic in shopping districts as part of the VLOED project, giving retailers, hoteliers and city planners comparable data across time intervals rather than a single snapshot. This kind of ongoing city-level monitoring, alongside the SuperNova festival partnership, shows CrowdScan is used for both scheduled events and continuous urban analytics.
Key features of CrowdScan
Camera-free, device-free crowd measurement
CrowdScan does not use video cameras and does not track individual mobile devices or MAC addresses. It measures aggregate radio-signal attenuation, so no personally identifiable images or device IDs are captured, which is central to how the company positions itself for public-sector deployments.
Real-time density updates
The sensor network can refresh density readings roughly every 50 milliseconds, according to CrowdScan’s site, which is fast enough to support live dashboards rather than only after-the-fact reporting.
Weather and lighting independence
Because the system relies on radio propagation rather than visible light or line of sight, CrowdScan states it keeps working in rain, fog, darkness and other conditions that commonly degrade camera-based crowd-counting systems used outdoors.
Spatial dashboards via the xyzt.ai integration
Through its partnership with xyzt.ai, CrowdScan customers get map-based visualizations of density across defined zones, ingested continuously via a REST API, plus historical playback of how crowd levels changed over a day or event.
Open data and smart-city integration
CrowdScan describes its data as compatible with smart-city and open-data systems, letting municipalities feed density readings into broader traffic, safety or public-transport planning platforms rather than keeping the data siloed in a single app.
Sector-specific deployments
CrowdScan markets tailored setups for airports and public transport, sports venues and stadiums, festivals and outdoor events, and city public spaces, each with different sensor density and alert-threshold configurations.
Benefits of CrowdScan
- Privacy by design: no camera footage or device tracking to store, retain or potentially misuse, which simplifies compliance conversations with venues and city authorities.
- Works outdoors and at scale: radio sensors avoid the blind spots, glare and weather sensitivity that limit camera-based systems at open-air festivals and transit plazas.
- Fast refresh rate: near-instant density updates support live operational decisions, such as opening an extra gate or rerouting a crowd, rather than only retrospective reports.
- Fits existing smart-city stacks: open-data compatibility means the readings can feed dashboards and alerting systems a city already runs, instead of requiring a standalone platform.
CrowdScan use cases by role
- Event safety managers: monitor real-time density at stage fronts, entrances and bottleneck points during festivals to trigger crowd-control action before conditions become dangerous.
- Airport and transit operators: track passenger density across terminals, platforms and concourses to manage queuing, staffing and passenger flow.
- City and municipal planners: monitor pedestrian density in public squares, shopping streets or transit hubs to inform infrastructure and event-permitting decisions.
- Stadium and venue operators: watch concourse and exit density during matches or concerts to manage evacuation planning and concession-area congestion.
- Emergency services: use aggregated density data, rather than camera surveillance, to assess where crowd risk is building during large public gatherings.
How much does CrowdScan cost?
CrowdScan does not publish a public pricing page or self-serve plans, as of September 2026. Like most sensor-and-analytics infrastructure sold to cities, transport authorities and event organizers, pricing is quote-based and depends on the number of sensors, the size and type of the monitored area (indoor vs. outdoor, permanent vs. temporary event), and whether the deployment includes the xyzt.ai dashboard layer or integration with a customer’s existing smart-city system. Prospective customers request a quote directly through CrowdScan’s website.
| Pricing model | What determines cost | How to get a price |
|---|---|---|
| Custom / quote-based | Sensor count, coverage area, indoor vs. outdoor, deployment duration (temporary event vs. permanent installation), dashboard/analytics tier | Contact CrowdScan directly via crowdscan.be; no self-serve checkout or published price list |
Because CrowdScan has no published rate card, we could not verify per-sensor or per-project costs, and this review does not estimate them. Anyone comparing options should request quotes from CrowdScan and any shortlisted alternative before budgeting.
CrowdScan pros and cons
Pros
- No cameras or device tracking, which is easier to justify to the public and to privacy regulators than video surveillance
- Very fast refresh rate for near-real-time operational decisions
- Performs outdoors in weather conditions that degrade many camera systems
- Backed by imec and University of Antwerp research, with several years of real deployments at festivals and transit sites
- Open-data approach fits into broader smart-city and public-safety systems rather than locking data into one dashboard
Cons
- No public pricing, so cost comparisons require contacting sales directly
- Requires physical sensor installation, unlike software-only or Wi-Fi-based competitors, which means lead time and site work before go-live
- Built for aggregate density, not individual tracking or demographic breakdowns, so it will not answer questions a camera-based or Wi-Fi analytics system can
- Best suited to organizations that already manage physical venues or public infrastructure; it is not a tool for marketers, researchers or individual professionals
- Independent, recent (2026) case-study data with hard accuracy numbers from named deployments is limited in public sources
How to use CrowdScan
- Contact CrowdScan through its website to describe the venue, event, or public space you need to monitor.
- Work with CrowdScan on a site assessment to determine sensor placement and count for the area’s size, layout and indoor/outdoor conditions.
- Have CrowdScan’s team install the wireless sensor network, either as a temporary setup for a one-off event or a permanent installation for ongoing monitoring.
- Connect the sensor feed to a dashboard, either CrowdScan’s own interface or a linked platform such as xyzt.ai, or integrate the data into your existing smart-city or operations system via the open data feed.
- Set density thresholds and alerts for the zones that matter most, such as entrances, stages or platform edges.
- Monitor the live dashboard during operations and review historical density trends afterward to plan future layouts or staffing.
CrowdScan alternatives
- Xovis: pick it if you want 3D sensor-based people counting with claimed accuracy up to 99.9%, also camera-free at the image level (on-device processing, no image storage), for both indoor and outdoor events.
- Density: pick it for indoor occupancy in offices, meeting rooms and desks rather than large outdoor crowds; its Waffle sensor is priced from $229 per unit plus a software subscription, with published pricing that CrowdScan lacks.
- Purple: pick it when you want Wi-Fi-based location analytics for stadiums and venues alongside guest Wi-Fi and marketing features, accepting that it depends on visitors’ devices connecting to Wi-Fi rather than passive radio sensing.
- Crowd Dynamics: pick it for crowd-modelling consultancy and simulation work done before an event, rather than live sensor hardware, when the need is pre-event risk assessment and planning documentation.
Frequently asked questions
What is CrowdScan used for?
CrowdScan is used by cities, transport authorities, stadiums and event organizers to measure crowd density in real time without cameras. Its wireless sensors track how packed a space is so operators can manage safety, staffing and crowd flow at airports, train stations, festivals and public squares.
Does CrowdScan use cameras to track people?
No. CrowdScan measures crowd density using low-energy radio-wave sensors that detect changes in signal strength caused by people’s physical presence. It does not capture camera images and does not track individual mobile devices, which the company positions as a privacy advantage over video-based crowd-counting systems.
How accurate is CrowdScan’s crowd counting?
CrowdScan’s own site states its method reaches about 95% accuracy compared with other measurement techniques, with density readings refreshed roughly every 50 milliseconds. We could not independently verify this figure against a third-party benchmark, so treat it as a vendor-stated number.
How much does CrowdScan cost?
CrowdScan does not publish pricing as of September 2026. Cost depends on the number of sensors, the size of the area, whether the deployment is temporary or permanent, and which dashboard or integration options are included. You need to request a quote directly from the company.
Who founded CrowdScan?
CrowdScan was launched on July 14, 2020, as a spin-off of imec and the University of Antwerp, built on prior academic research into device-free crowd measurement. Ben Bellekens is the company’s CEO.
Is CrowdScan only for large events like festivals?
No. While CrowdScan is known for festival and event deployments, such as its 2026 partnership with the SuperNova festival, it also targets ongoing use cases like airports, metro and train stations, stadiums, and general public spaces managed by cities, not only one-off events.
What is the difference between CrowdScan and Wi-Fi-based crowd analytics?
Wi-Fi-based systems, such as Purple, detect crowds indirectly by seeing which devices connect to or probe for Wi-Fi networks, which misses people who have Wi-Fi turned off. CrowdScan’s radio sensors measure signal attenuation from the physical presence of people directly, regardless of whether they are carrying a connected device.
Verdict
CrowdScan is a credible, currently operating crowd-analytics company built on genuine academic research, with real 2026 deployments such as its SuperNova festival partnership. It is a strong option for cities, transit operators and event organizers that want density data without deploying cameras, and its radio-sensor approach holds up in outdoor and low-visibility conditions where camera systems can fail.
It is not a tool for individual professionals, marketers or researchers, and the lack of published pricing means every deployment starts with a sales conversation rather than a quick sign-up. If camera-free privacy and outdoor reliability matter most, CrowdScan is worth a quote; if you need indoor occupancy analytics with transparent published pricing, Density is easier to evaluate upfront, and if you already run Wi-Fi infrastructure at your venue, Purple may be a lower-friction starting point.
Sources
- CrowdScan — official site
- University of Antwerp and imec launch Crowdscan (imec)
- How Crowdscan provides cities and event organizers with people flow visibility (xyzt.ai)
- Crowdscan portfolio listing (imec.istart)
- CrowdScan — Official SuperNova partner
- Measuring Crowds at Indoor and Outdoor Events (Xovis)
- Density pricing
- Stadium Wi-Fi: high-density fan engagement and analytics (Purple)
- Crowd Dynamics — About Us
- CrowdScan provides Bruges and Ghent with real-time data
