What are different types of turnstiles? The comparison of different turnstiles and what are the advantages & disadvantages of each type of turnstiles gate, and which different occasions will use these types of turnstiles?
After communicating with some new customers many times, I found that many new customers do not know the comparison of different turnstiles, their advantages, and their disadvantages. So, it is difficult to choose which types of turnstiles and how many types of turnstiles do they need. This will affect and increase the completion time of their security project.
This article I wrote includes the answers to these questions, what are the types of turnstiles, and I hope to help people who really need to know them to make the right choices and save time.

The turnstile gate is also called the pedestrian turnstile. The pedestrian turnstile is generally composed of mechanism, chassis, gate pendulum (gate wing, gate rod), control module, and some auxiliary modules such as alarm, counting, traffic detection, and so on. According to the difference of blocking ways and blocking body, it can be separately listed as different types of turnstiles:
Its blocking body (gate rod) is composed of three metal rods, which are usually made of hollow closed stainless-steel pipe, which is strong and not easy to deform and can be stopped and released by rotation.
Tripod turnstile is the earliest type of turnstile gate and it’s the most mature and perfect turnstile so far, but it has the trend of being replaced by a swing turnstile gate and a flap barrier gate.
The movement control mode is separately listed as mechanical, semi-automatic, automatic. It is separately listed as vertical and bridge type in the form, the vertical tripod turnstile is smaller in volume and easy to install, and the bridge tripod turnstile has a longer passage and higher security.
Advantages of tripod turnstile:
1.It can be very effective to achieve a single person pass, only one person can pass at a time, security and reliability are relatively high.
2. The cost is low.
3. Very good waterproof and dust-proof ability, adaptability to all kinds of the environment is very strong, suitable for both indoor and outdoor.
Disadvantages of tripod turnstile:
1. Passage width (refers to the width of pedestrian passage) is relatively small, generally around 500 mm.
2. Pass speed is relatively slow.
3. Restricted by blocking body, it is not suitable for carrying luggage.
4. Appearance plasticity is not perfect; most styles are not good enough appearance.
5. Mechanical and semi-automatic tripod turnstile operation process will have mechanical collision, noise, automatic tripod turnstile does not have this problem.
Applications of tripod turnstile:
Suitable for ordinary pedestrians and people flow is not very large or pedestrian use is not very good, as well as some of the worse outdoor occasions

Swing Turnstile Gate:
Office building swing turnstile from STXtek
The swing turnstile gate is a very common type of turnstile gate, its blocking body (brake pendulum) shape is a certain area of the plane, perpendicular to the ground, through rotating swing to achieve blocking and release. 304 Stainless steel, plexiglass, and tempered glass are commonly used in blocking the body, and some metal plates are used to wrap special flexible materials (reduce the damage of hitting pedestrians).
It is divided into mechanical and automatic by movement control method. The shape is divided into the vertical, bridge, cylindrical, vertical, and cylindrical, the volume of vertical and cylindrical is small, easy to install, but the length of the passage is short, the function of the pedestrian detection module is limited, the bridge swing turnstile gate is longer passage, the pedestrian detection module has stronger function and higher security.
Advantages of swing turnstile:
1.The wide range is the largest among all turnstile gates, generally between 550 mm-1000mm, some high-end products can be 1500 mm, more suitable for carrying luggage wrapped pedestrians or bicycles, can also be used as special access for people with mobility disabilities.
2.Compared with the tripod turnstile gate, the swing turnstile gate increases the pedestrian traffic detection module, which can effectively detect the traffic target and has a strong tail-proof ability.
3.The plasticity of appearance is the strongest among all turnstile gates, the material of blocking body has rich variety, the shape of the box body is also diversified, it is easy to design very beautiful shape, so it is often used in high-end occasions such as office building, smart business building, high-end club and so on.
4. Swing turnstile operation process with no mechanical collision, the noise is relatively small.
Disadvantages of swing turnstile:
1.The cost is high, especially for some special customized models, such as increasing passage width and using special materials, the technical difficulty will increase a lot correspondingly.
2.Some models waterproof and dust-proof ability is insufficient, only suitable for indoor, environmental adaptability is not strong than tripod turnstile.
3.limited by the shape of the blocking body, the impact resistance of the brake is lower than the tripod turnstile gate, and the illegal and rapid passage of pedestrians is easy to damage the brake pendulum and movement.
4. if the manufacturer’s design is not good, it will greatly reduce the reliability of the product and reduce the ability to avoid personal injury.
Applications of swing turnstile:
It is suitable for the occasions where the width of the passage is wide, including the occasions where pedestrians or bicycles with luggage parcels are more, and the special passage for the disabled. It is also suitable for occasions with high aesthetic requirements.

Flap Barrier:
flap barrier turnstile gate case
The flap barrier types of turnstiles, also known as the Fastlane speed gate in many places, the arresting body is generally a fan-shaped plane, which is perpendicular to the ground and can be blocked and released by expansion. Plexiglass and tempered glass are often used to block body materials, and some metal plates are also used to wrap special flexible materials (to reduce pedestrian injury).
The core control mode is only automatic. The form also only bridge type, pedestrian detection module function is strong.
Advantages of flap barrier:
1. Pass speed is the fastest among all turnstile gates.
2. Passage width is between the tripod turnstile gate and the swing turnstile gate, generally between 550 mm-990mm.
3. appearance is more beautiful; the gate wing material is a relatively rich variety.
4. In case of emergency, the gate wing will be quickly retracted into the box, which can easily be a barrier-free passage, improve the speed of passage, and facilitate pedestrian evacuation.
Disadvantages of flap barrier:
1. control mode is more complex, high cost.
2. waterproof and dust-proof ability are insufficient.
3. appearance is relatively single; plasticity is not strong.
4. limited by the shape of the blocking body, the impact resistance of the wing gate is lower than that of the three-roll gate, and the illegal punching of pedestrians is easy to damage the wing and movement. 5. the technical requirements for the manufacturer are relatively high, if the design is not good, it will greatly reduce the reliability of the product, as well as the ability to avoid personal injury.
Applications of flap barrier:
Suitable for a large flow of indoor occasions, such as subway, railway station ticket office. It is also suitable for occasions with high aesthetic requirements.

Full height turnstiles:
full height turnstile case study
Full height turnstiles, developed from tripod turnstile gate, draw lessons from the characteristics of the rotary door (the biggest difference is that the blocking body is not a glass door, but a metal fence). According to the height of the blocking body, it can be divided into a full-height turnstile gate and a half-height turnstile gate. There are many applications of a full-height turnstile gate. In all types of turnstiles, a full-height turnstile has the highest level of security.
The blocking body (brake rod) is generally composed of 3 or 4 metal rods. It is divided into mechanical and semi-automatic by core control mode. According to the number of passages, it is divided into the single passage, double passage, three passage, four passage, and so on, single passage and double passage are more common.
Advantages of full height turnstiles:
1. The security of the full height turnstile gate is the highest among all turnstile gates, it’s the only one that can be unattended in all turnstile gates.
2. It can be very effective to achieve a single pass, only one person at a time, security and reliability is relatively high.
3. Very good waterproof and dust-proof ability, adaptability to all kinds of the environment is very strong, suitable for both indoor and outdoor.
Disadvantages of full height turnstiles:
1. Passage width is generally about 550 mm.
2. Pass speed is relatively slow.
3. Restricted by blocking body, it is not suitable for carrying luggage.
4. appearance from plasticity is not strong, most style appearance is insufficient.
Applications of full height turnstiles:
All full height turnstile is suitable for unattended and very high-security occasions, as well as some outdoor occasions with the poor environment.
The full height turnstile is suitable for occasions with high demand for traffic orders, such as gymnasium, prison, and so on.
Above is a brief introduction about the comparison of different turnstiles, the advantages and disadvantages of each type of turnstile gate. Different types of turnstiles gates are used in different situations.

For details or further information about the comparison of different turnstiles, please contact: info@stxtek.com
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Edited on March 13, 2023