smart360 vs starnik: which fits your utility?

One Utility Platform,
Priced Per Account.

Starnik is a cloud billing and CIS platform for cities, MUDs and special districts, and for over 7,500 multifamily communities, including military housing, with 25+ years in the industry. SMART360 is one platform your own staff runs for billing, customer information, meter data, field work and the consumer portal, built for US utilities with 3,000 to 100,000 connections.

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Analytics & Insights

Total Revenue

$298,500

↑ 12.5% from last month

Service Requests

718

↑ 8.3% from last month

Collection Rate

82%

↑ 3.2% from last month

Active Complaints

↓ 5.8% from last month

Revenue

Services

Usage

Revenue Trend

Revenue by Consumer Category

Key Takeaways

The real choice is focus. Starnik bills for cities, MUDs and special districts and for multifamily, HOA and military communities. SMART360 is built only for utilities with 3,000 to 100,000 connections.
Starnik is a cloud CIS with StarnikPay payments, SMRT Mobile field work, meter data management, asset tracking and AI customer service, priced by the modules you use.
SMART360 is one cloud platform for billing, customer information, meter data, service orders, assets and the consumer portal, priced per account with unlimited users.
Choose Starnik for multifamily or sub-metered billing, a system under 3,000 accounts, or a fast cloud start. Choose SMART360 for a utility in its range that wants a planned 20 to 24 week go-live.

How SMART360 Differs

Three differences that set SMART360 apart

Utilities and housing, or utilities only

Starnik

Serves cities, MUDs and special districts, plus over 7,500 multifamily communities, with sub-metered, RUBS and military housing billing.

SMART360

Built only for US water, electric and gas utilities with 3,000 to 100,000 connections, so setup, training and support are planned around the utility team.

Priced by module, or per account

Starnik

Uses subscription pricing, so a utility pays only for the modules it uses, such as payments, field work and AI customer service.

SMART360

Priced per account with unlimited users, for billing, customer information, meter data, service orders, assets and the consumer portal in one platform.

Live in weeks, or a planned 20 to 24 weeks

Starnik

Says cloud deployment means a utility is live in weeks, not months or years.

SMART360

A 20 to 24 week implementation, with data migrated in validated stages and a full billing cycle run in parallel before cutover.

How it works

When utilities start looking at a change

Most utilities do not change billing systems because something broke. They change when one of these events forces a decision:

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A support or contract date is coming up

A support or contract end date on the current system is approaching.

An AMI rollout is coming

An AMI rollout means the billing system has to take in far more meter data.

A new service joins the bill

The utility is adding a service, such as sewer, electric or trash, to the same bill.

Field work is still on paper

Field work and asset records live on paper or in a separate tool.

Key staff are near retirement

The people who know the current system best are close to retirement.

AT-A-GLANCE COMPARISON

SMART360 Vs Starnik

Dimensions	Starnik	SMART360
Best fit	Cities, MUDs and special districts, plus multifamily, HOA, student and military housing¹³	Utilities with 3,000 to 100,000 connections that want billing, meter data, field work and assets in one platform
Product	Cloud CIS with StarnikPay, SMRT Mobile, Starnik AI, MDM/AMI, asset and inventory tracking, and a customer portal²	SMART360, one cloud-native utility platform
Delivery	Cloud, with every module on the same database and login²	Cloud-native, multi-tenant, one codebase on AWS
What it bills	Water, gas, electric, wastewater, trash, stormwater and irrigation, plus sub-metered and RUBS billing³⁴	Water, electric, gas, sewer and trash on one bill
Meter reads	MDM/AMI that recognizes, validates and bills smart meter data in real time²	Meter data management included, with reads validated before they reach a bill
Field work and assets	SMRT Mobile GPS-enabled work orders that work offline; asset and inventory tracking²	Service orders, mobile field apps and asset management included
Customer service	Customer portal, built-in IVR, and AI customer service by phone and chat²⁵	Consumer portal included
Payments	StarnikPay, PCI DSS Level 1 certified with full tokenization²	Pre-built payment connectors
Security	PCI DSS Level 1 payments, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and 256-bit encryption²	SOC 2 Type II certified, on AWS
Pricing	Subscription pricing by module; prices not shown on its website³	Priced per account, unlimited users⁶
Go-live	Live in weeks, not months or years, according to Starnik¹³	20 to 24 weeks, with a parallel billing cycle before cutover⁶
Company	Starnik, founded in 2000; 750+ utility districts and 7,500+ multifamily communities¹⁵	Product of Bynry Inc.

¹ Scale and go-live: starnik.com (as of October 2026).

² Modules, delivery, payments and security: Starnik, Products.

³ Utilities served, services billed and pricing model: Starnik, Utilities.

⁴ Multifamily and military housing billing: Starnik, Multifamily.

⁵ Company history: Starnik, About.

⁶ SMART360 packages and implementation timeline: bynry.com/pricing.

Comparisons reflect Bynry's understanding of publicly available information as of October 2026. Where a detail is not publicly available, it is not stated. All product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners. Bynry is not affiliated with or endorsed by Starnik.

Results Utilities have Measured on SMART360

Island Water Authority

35,000 accounts, with 99% billing accuracy. Read Case Study ->

00⁺

Meters Live

Faster meter to bill

Billing accuracy

Customer retention

starnik OR SMART360?

When SMART360 is a better fit

You serve 3,000 to 100,000 connections.

SMART360 is built only for that range, so the setup, training and support are planned for a small or mid-sized team.

You want a parallel billing cycle before cutover.

SMART360 migrates data in validated stages and runs a full billing cycle in parallel against your current system before cutover.

You want one price per account.

SMART360 is priced per account with unlimited users, so adding staff does not change the price, and every customer is upgraded at once.

starnik OR SMART360?

How To Compare?

Count your accounts and billing types.

Note your connection count, every service you bill, and any sub-metered, RUBS or district billing. This shows which system is sized for you.
Price the modules you need.

List payments, field work, meter data, the portal and phone service, and ask each vendor which are in the quoted price.
Run the same test billing cycle.

Give both vendors the same rates, accounts and reads, including a missing read and a meter change.
Get the go-live plan in writing.

Ask for the weeks to go-live, whether a parallel billing cycle is included, and a reference utility your size.

What Utility Leaders Are Saying

What others are saying about SMART360

We were really impressed with how the Bynry team took the time to understand what we needed… They didn't just offer a product, they offered a solution.

Reshimna William

Project Manager at Isle Utilities

SMART360 has really changed the way we manage customer information, billing, and service requests - it's fast, easy to use, and gives us real-time visibility.

John Mauli

IT leader at Island Water Authority

What impressed me the most was how grounded the Bynry team is. They really understand utilities and aren't just selling software - they're solving problems.

Doug Rosenberg

Business Advisor with Deep Utility Experience

See SMART360 run your billing cycle

SMART360 is a cloud-native platform for US water, electric and gas utilities, with billing, meter data, service orders, assets and the consumer portal in one system, priced per account with unlimited users.

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COMPARING OTHER PLATFORM?

See SMART360 Next To

SMART360 vs Muni-Link

Two cloud billing platforms, compared on meter data, assets and fit by utility type.

SMART360 vs MuniBilling

One platform your team runs, or billing software with managed services, compared side by side.

SMART360 vs CUSI

Two billing platforms for utilities, compared on scope, deployment and go-live.

Common FAQs

What is Starnik?

Starnik is a cloud utility billing and CIS platform, founded in 2000, that serves cities, MUDs and special districts as well as multifamily communities. Starnik says it is trusted by 750+ utility districts and 7,500+ multifamily communities.

Is SMART360 or Starnik better for multifamily or sub-metered billing?

Starnik bills sub-metered and RUBS allocations for apartments, condos, HOAs, student housing and military communities. SMART360 is built for US water, electric and gas utilities with 3,000 to 100,000 connections, so a property manager or sub-metering biller is likely to find Starnik the closer fit.

Does Starnik include payments and field service?

Starnik lists StarnikPay for payments, which it describes as PCI DSS Level 1 certified, and SMRT Mobile for GPS-enabled work orders that work offline on iOS and Android. SMART360 includes service orders and mobile field apps, with pre-built payment connectors.

How is Starnik priced?

Starnik does not publish prices on the pages we checked. It describes subscription pricing where a utility pays only for the modules it uses. SMART360 is priced per account with unlimited users.

How long does a SMART360 implementation take?

A standard SMART360 implementation runs 20 to 24 weeks. Data is migrated in validated stages and a full billing cycle runs in parallel against the current system before cutover.

Is SMART360 secure and compliant?

SMART360 is SOC 2 Type II certified and hosted on AWS with a 99.9% uptime SLA. It uses role-based access control, encryption at rest and in transit, and exportable audit logs.

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Capabilities

Solutions

smart360 vs starnik: which fits your utility?

Three differences that set SMART360 apart

Utilities and housing, or utilities only

Priced by module, or per account

Live in weeks, or a planned 20 to 24 weeks

When utilities start looking at a change

A support or contract date is coming up

An AMI rollout is coming

A new service joins the bill

Field work is still on paper

Key staff are near retirement

SMART360 Vs Starnik

Results Utilities have Measured on SMART360

When SMART360 is a better fit

You serve 3,000 to 100,000 connections.

You want a parallel billing cycle before cutover.

You want one price per account.

How To Compare?

Count your accounts and billing types.

Price the modules you need.

Run the same test billing cycle.

Get the go-live plan in writing.

What Utility Leaders Are Saying

See SMART360 run your billing cycle

See SMART360 Next To

SMART360 vs Muni-Link

SMART360 vs MuniBilling

SMART360 vs CUSI

Common FAQs

What is Starnik?

Is SMART360 or Starnik better for multifamily or sub-metered billing?

Does Starnik include payments and field service?

How is Starnik priced?

How long does a SMART360 implementation take?

Is SMART360 secure and compliant?

Latest Blogs