Best HVAC monitoring software for restaurants and multi-site operators (2026)

Last updated: November 2, 2026. By Dan McKenna, founder, Elite Energy Management.

Nine platforms are worth evaluating if you run rooftop HVAC and walk-in refrigeration across restaurants, convenience stores, or retail locations, and the first question that sorts them is whether they install hardware. Eight of the nine install or connect sensors, controllers, or full equipment at each site, and price per location, per sensor, or by custom quote. One, Elite Energy Management, is software-only and prices per unit, with a walk-in cooler or freezer counted the same as a rooftop unit. Below: who each one fits, what it requires, and what it costs, from the vendors' own published materials.

How this list was built, and a disclosure

Elite Energy Management publishes this guide and appears in it, so here is how we kept it fair. Every claim about another vendor comes from that vendor's own website, press releases, or credible reporting as of November 2026, with sources listed at the end. Where a vendor does not publish pricing, we say so rather than repeating third-party guesses. Vendors are listed alphabetically, not ranked. We left out energy-savings percentages for every vendor, ours included, because those are marketing claims rather than comparable measurements. And if a vendor's facts change, we would rather you tell us than find out from a competitor.

The comparison at a glance

The platforms

75F (Carrier)

75F is a building automation company that Carrier acquired in July 2026, after Carrier had invested in its 2025 Series B. It installs wireless sensors and rooftop unit controllers and layers its own cloud software and AI-driven automation on top, so it is a controls system first with fault detection alongside. Carrier has said it plans to combine 75F with its existing building automation and controls platforms. Best fit: light commercial portfolios, offices, retail, and education, that want automation as much as monitoring. Considerations: restaurants are not its primary vertical, it is a hardware installation project priced by custom quote, and it is now part of an HVAC equipment manufacturer, so it is worth asking how the product and brand will carry forward inside Carrier and how it treats other manufacturers' equipment.

Budderfly

Budderfly is an energy-as-a-service provider, not a software product in the usual sense. It funds and installs new HVAC equipment, lighting, refrigeration controls, and metering at no upfront cost, then recovers its investment through the customer's energy spend under long-term agreements, reported at 10 to 15 years. It manages over 7,500 customer sites and has raised more than $1 billion in total capital, including a $550 million debt facility in 2026. Best fit: capital-constrained operators who want equipment upgrades without writing the check, and who are comfortable with a long commitment. Considerations: Budderfly owns the installed equipment and typically becomes the utility customer of record, so this is a financing and operations decision more than a monitoring one.

Elite Energy Management

Elite Energy Management is the software-only option on this list. It connects to the energy management system or connected thermostats a building already has, reads the temperatures, runtimes, staging, and setpoints they produce, and scores every rooftop unit from 0 to 100 each night against the unit's own weather-normalized baseline. It monitors walk-in coolers and freezers the same way, through the refrigeration controls a site already has, so HVAC and refrigeration sit in one ranked view. Nothing is installed. Pricing is $5 to $12 per unit per month on standard tiers, where a walk-in cooler or freezer is one unit at the same price as a rooftop unit, with Enterprise pricing negotiated for large fleets, no setup fee, and a free 30-day pilot. It currently monitors nearly 1,000 rooftop units across more than 250 commercial locations in 28 states. Across technician-confirmed repairs on that fleet, 87% were flagged before the technician arrived, with a median of 6 days advance warning; how that is measured, misses included, is on the methodology page. Best fit: operators whose sites already have connected controls and who want HVAC and refrigeration fault detection and early warning without a hardware project. Considerations: it is monitoring and diagnostics only, with no active control, and sites with no connected controls at all need some first, anything from a full energy management system to wireless thermostats a site can install itself.

ENTOUCH

ENTOUCH, based in Texas, sells energy management as a service to multi-site restaurant, retail, and fitness operators, combining an installed gateway and controls with analytics, predictive maintenance alerts, and a built-in issue-ticketing workflow. It was acquired by Respida Capital in November 2025 and states its systems work with existing HVAC equipment regardless of brand or age. Best fit: multi-site operators who want one platform for HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration with controls and service tickets included. Considerations: it requires installed hardware at every site, pricing is by custom quote, and the recent ownership change is worth asking about for roadmap continuity.

eViewIoT (Engenuity Systems)

eViewIoT is a cloud-based energy management platform from Engenuity Systems, based in Chandler, Arizona, that monitors and controls HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration across multiple locations from one dashboard. Engenuity describes it as hardware-agnostic: it connects to controllers already installed over standard building protocols such as BACnet, Modbus, and LonWorks, and supplies its own eViewIoT device family where a site needs one. Its PRO for Retail edition, launched in late 2024, is aimed at restaurants and convenience stores, with runtime optimization, refrigeration alerts, site-to-site comparisons, and remote management of every location. Best fit: multi-site restaurants, convenience stores, and retailers that want an energy management system with controls, particularly portfolios with a mix of existing equipment alongside sites that have no controls yet. Considerations: pricing is by custom quote, every site is a controls installation or integration project, and Engenuity does not publish site counts or named customers the way some larger vendors on this list do.

GlacierGrid

GlacierGrid, formerly Therma, provides AI-driven monitoring for refrigeration and HVAC using long-range wireless sensors connected to a gateway at each location. It publishes pricing, which is rare in this category: monitoring at $15 per sensor per month, with a $30 per month starter package of one hub and two sensors, and online cancellation at any time. It reports customers including national quick service and hospitality brands. Best fit: multi-unit restaurants and convenience stores where walk-in coolers and freezers are as important to watch as rooftop units. Considerations: its core strength is refrigeration and food-safety monitoring more than deep HVAC diagnostics, and it requires installed sensors and gateways.

GridPoint

GridPoint is one of the largest energy management platforms in the category, reporting deployments in over 20,000 commercial buildings, with a $45 million strategic funding round in 2025 that included Mitsubishi-affiliated and other institutional investors. It installs proprietary controllers, submeters, and thermostats and bundles installation, equipment, and software into a monthly fee, with third-party financing available. Best fit: distributed enterprises, retail chains, restaurants, and dealerships, that want energy management, automated controls, and grid services such as demand response from one vendor. Considerations: proprietary hardware at every site, no published pricing, and a scope that may exceed what a smaller restaurant operator needs.

Monaire

Monaire provides AI monitoring for HVAC and refrigeration using wireless retrofit sensors and gateways that it describes as installable on existing equipment in under 15 minutes, paired with cloud software and its own technician services network. It integrates with ServiceChannel for automated work orders, and in August 2026 became the first HVAC and refrigeration solution offered through RSCS, the quick service procurement cooperative. Best fit: multi-site restaurants that want monitoring, work-order automation, and repair verification in one package with hardware and service included. Considerations: it is a sensor installation at every site, pricing is by custom quote, and it is a newer entrant relative to the platforms above.

SiteSage (Powerhouse Dynamics)

SiteSage, from Powerhouse Dynamics, a Middleby company, is one of the original restaurant energy management platforms, with smart thermostats, circuit-level energy monitoring, and temperature sensors that connect, monitor, and control the equipment footprint of a restaurant or store. It moved to a subscription model that bundles hardware, installation, and software into one monthly fee. Best fit: restaurants and convenience stores that want equipment-level energy visibility and controls from a vendor with deep foodservice heritage. Considerations: installation at every site, no published pricing, and a parent company that also manufactures kitchen equipment.

How to choose

Start with what your buildings already have. If your sites run an energy management system or connected thermostats, a software-only layer like Elite Energy Management can start monitoring without a site visit, and it is the only option on this list priced per unit rather than per location or sensor. If your sites have no connected controls, one of the hardware platforms has to come first, and the choice among them comes down to scope: eViewIoT is an energy management system with controls that can also take over equipment already in place, GlacierGrid and Monaire lean into refrigeration alongside HVAC, ENTOUCH and SiteSage add controls and equipment-level visibility, GridPoint adds grid services at enterprise scale, 75F, now part of Carrier, is a full automation system, and Budderfly replaces the capital question entirely with a long-term service agreement. Many multi-site operators end up mixing approaches, software-only where controls exist and hardware only where they do not, which the software-only vs hardware-bundled comparison covers in detail.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between HVAC monitoring software and an energy management system?

An energy management system controls equipment: schedules, setpoints, and sometimes lighting and refrigeration. HVAC monitoring software watches the data those systems produce and flags developing faults. Several platforms on this list do both by installing their own controls; software-only monitoring reads the EMS you already have and does not control anything.

Do I need new hardware to monitor rooftop HVAC units?

Only if your sites have no connected controls today. If an energy management system or connected thermostats are already installed, the data needed for fault detection already exists and software-only monitoring can read it. Eight of the nine platforms here install or connect hardware at the site; one does not.

How much does HVAC monitoring cost per location?

It depends almost entirely on the pricing shape. Software-only monitoring runs $5 to $12 per unit per month, so a restaurant with four rooftop units lands between $20 and $48 monthly, plus the same rate for each walk-in. Hardware-bundled platforms mostly quote custom per-location pricing that recovers equipment and installation, and one publishes per-sensor rates. The pricing breakdown covers the math.

How do I run a fair pilot?

Pick a slice of sites with known problem units and a few known-good ones, set a fixed window, and define success before starting: units flagged before a technician confirms a fault, false alarms, and time to first useful insight. Ask every vendor the same five questions: installation fees, per-unit versus per-location billing, contract length and cancellation, equipment ownership on exit, and data export rights.

Elite Energy Management offers a free 30-day pilot on any portfolio with existing connected controls: read-only access, first health scores within days, no hardware, no commitment. Pricing details here.

Related reading: software-only vs hardware-bundled HVAC monitoring, how much commercial HVAC monitoring costs per rooftop unit, and how detection and validation work.

Sources

Vendor websites: 75f.io, budderfly.com, entouchcontrols.com, glaciergrid.com, gridpoint.com, monaire.ai, powerhousedynamics.com. Carrier acquisition of 75F, carrier.com and PR Newswire, July 2026. Budderfly $550 million debt facility, pv magazine USA, March 2026; total capital raised, Hartford Business Journal, April 2026; agreement terms, Hartford Business Journal. ENTOUCH acquisition by Respida Capital, Business Wire, November 2025. eViewIoT product page, engenuity.com; eViewIoT PRO for Retail launch, Engenuity Systems and PR Newswire, November 2024. GlacierGrid published monitoring pricing, glaciergrid.com. GridPoint $45 million funding, PR Newswire, March 2025. Monaire RSCS availability announcement, August 2026, and ServiceChannel partnership, October 2025. Powerhouse Dynamics subscription model announcement and Middleby acquisition, middleby.com. First compiled August 2026; re-verified November 2, 2026.