Brilliant: Features, Pricing, Integrations & AI Visibility

Brilliant sells an in-wall touchscreen control panel as the center of the smart apartment. The panel sits in the wall and becomes the surface a resident uses for the lock, the thermostat, the lights and dimmers, the intercom and video doorbell, the shades and the sound, with a resident app for unlocking and automations. Around the panel Brilliant sells smart locks and keypads, thermostats, water leak detectors, parking gate access and lighting. Its multifamily page claims 100,000 or more homes powered, a $50 or greater monthly rent increase per unit, a 20% energy cost reduction and a 75% or greater decrease in water damage costs, with case studies at 286 units in College Park, 486 units at Las Olas Walk and 50 units at Seneca Living. Among the vendors in the smart home for multifamily category it is the one selling a visible in-unit fixture rather than a hub in a closet. The facts panel below is rendered from our vendor database with a source URL and verification date on each entry.

Who it fits and who it does not

The database tags institutional multifamily and student housing, and the vendor’s page names multifamily of all classes plus new construction and retrofit. The buyer is a developer or owner who wants the smart home to be something a prospect sees on the tour, because the rent premium case rests on the panel being an amenity in its own right. A lease-up in a market where every competitor has smart locks is the deal Brilliant is built for.

It does not tag single-family rental or small multifamily. An operator whose priority is back-office automation, vacant-unit setbacks and leak alerts becoming work orders, should weigh the panel against a platform that names its PMS integrations, since Brilliant’s fetched page does not.

Pricing

Pricing is not published. Ask for the panel figure per unit, the lock and thermostat figures, and the installation cost, and ask specifically whether the in-wall panel needs an electrician and a wall box in each unit, since that is a different line item from a hub on a shelf. Ask for the per-unit monthly software figure, the minimum commitment, and who owns the panels at the end of the contract. The $50 or greater rent increase is a vendor figure; ask for the premium achieved at the College Park or Las Olas Walk communities by unit type, and for the energy and water figures separated from the rent line.

Integrations

The fetched page names no property management system. Its line is that the platform integrates with the best of the best and products you already use, which is not a list. Ask for the list in writing and for the move-out demonstrated: a resident leaving in Yardi, RealPage or Entrata should change the lock code and set the thermostat back without a site visit. Ask which lock brands the panel controls and whether an operator standardized on one brand can keep it.

The alternative for a buyer on RealPage or Entrata is the smart-building module the PMS sells itself. Ask what it covers before adding a second contract.

Limitations and questions to ask

Connectivity first. The fetched page does not state what the panel connects over or what happens when the connection is down, and no vendor page in the category states lock behavior when the link is lost. Ask both, and ask whether the panel needs the property’s Wi-Fi, a resident’s Wi-Fi or a separate network.

Then the panel itself. Ask whether it is required in every unit or optional per floor plan, what a damaged panel costs to replace at turn, and how the site team resets it between residents, since the research names device resets every lease cycle as the recurring cost.

Then the water claim. A 75% or greater decrease in water damage costs is a large number. Ask what the alert does after it fires, whether it becomes a work order in the PMS, and whether any shutoff valve is part of the system or a separate purchase.

Then parking. The page lists parking gate access, which is unusual in the category. Ask how it is credentialed and whether it ties to the same resident record as the unit door.

Alternatives

The vendor list for the smart home category compares all seven vendors with the same facts. SmartRent is the platform an institutional buyer will compare it with first, with four named PMS integrations and hubs that fall back to cellular. Rently sells the same rent-premium case, $50 to $100 a month, around a Z-Wave hub with an integrated thermostat and five named PMS integrations.

AI visibility

The AI Shortlist Index will measure smart home platforms when a prompt set for the category is approved, and the Brilliant row will appear here from that edition on.