Comparison · Structured data · Sourced
MaintainX vs UpKeep
The two best-known mobile-first CMMS products, frequently shortlisted together, and genuinely similar in positioning. Both publish entry pricing, both have AI features front and centre, and both reserve a great deal for an unpriced enterprise tier. The differences that matter are in what you get before you reach it.
Last reviewed 7 November 2026
The products
MaintainX
MaintainX
AI-assisted CMMS and asset management platform for frontline maintenance teams, with a free tier, published per-user pricing and multi-site reporting on the enterprise plan.
Full profileUpKeep
UpKeep
AI-native CMMS and asset operations platform covering work orders, preventive maintenance, parts, safety and its own Edge IoT sensors, with a documented REST API.
Full profileThe main differences
Free and entry pricing. MaintainX has a free forever tier and an Essential plan at USD 20 per user per month annually, with both annual and monthly rates published. UpKeep has no free tier and starts at USD 24, and does not state whether that assumes annual commitment. MaintainX is the cheaper and clearer entry.
Offline mobile. UpKeep documents it clearly, gated to the Professional tier and above. We could not verify MaintainX's offline support at all. If offline matters, UpKeep is the one with a documented answer, albeit at a quote-only tier.
Asset hierarchy. UpKeep is the only product in this entire directory that publishes its hierarchy limits: four asset levels, two location levels below Enterprise and six on Enterprise, corroborated by its API fields. For MaintainX we found nothing. That candour is worth something when you are designing a register.
IoT. UpKeep sells its own Edge sensors, which can open work orders automatically, so condition monitoring needs no third-party integration. MaintainX names partners but gates the integration to Enterprise. UpKeep's path is simpler.
What sits behind Enterprise. Both load it heavily. UpKeep puts the API, SSO, custom roles, multi-site, purchase orders and workflow automation there. MaintainX puts multi-site, IoT, SSO, asset health insights and Report Builder there. Neither publishes an Enterprise price, so neither full platform is publicly comparable.
Side by side
| Attribute | MaintainX | UpKeep |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | MaintainX | UpKeep |
| Primary use | Hybrid EAM and CMMS | Hybrid EAM and CMMS |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Organisation size | Small, Medium, Enterprise | Small, Medium, Enterprise |
| Licensing model | Freemium | Commercial |
| Free version | Yes | No |
| Trial | Yes | Yes |
| Published price | USD 20 per user per month (Essential plan, billed annually; free Basic tier available) | USD 24 per user per month (Essential plan; billing cadence not stated by the vendor) |
| Product status | Active | Active |
| Capabilities | ||
| Asset register and hierarchy | Not verified | Yes A four-level asset hierarchy via parent assets, corroborated by parentAsset and subAssets fields in the API. Locations nest two levels below Enterprise and six on Enterprise. source |
| Work order management | Yes Work orders on every tier including the free plan. Basic is capped at 2 work orders with attached procedures per month. source | Yes Unlimited work orders on every tier. source |
| Preventive maintenance scheduling | Yes Scheduled PMs, condition-based triggers and repeating work orders, with meter-based maintenance from Premium. source | Yes PM scheduling from the Premium tier. source |
| Predictive or condition-based maintenance | Not verified | Not verified |
| Mobile technician app | Yes iOS and Android apps. Offline support was not verified in this pass. source | Yes iOS and Android, with a true offline mode gated to the Professional tier and above. source |
| Spare parts and inventory | Yes Parts inventory with low-stock alerts and auto re-orders, gated to Premium. source | Yes Parts and inventory with costing, from Premium. source |
| Procurement and purchase orders | Yes Purchase order management, gated to Premium. source | Yes Purchase order management on Enterprise; the API exposes purchase orders and categories. source |
| Asset lifecycle and cost tracking | Not verified | Not verified |
| Multi-site operation | Yes Multi-site management and reporting, on the Enterprise tier only. source | Yes Multi-site module support, on the Enterprise tier only. source |
| Contractor management | Not verified | Not verified |
| IoT and BMS integration | Yes IoT sensor integrations on Enterprise, with Waites, MachineMetrics, Samsara and Ignition named. No building-management-system connector is listed. source | Yes UpKeep Edge is the vendor's own sensor line, measuring vibration, temperature and runtime and able to open work orders. For building systems the vendor describes a generic REST route rather than a named BMS connector. source |
| Maintenance KPI reporting | Yes Advanced analytics on every tier with history limits of 1 to 3 months below Premium, plus Report Builder on Enterprise. source | Yes Customisable reports and dashboards, with analytics history by tier and custom dashboards on Enterprise. source |
| Documented API | Yes Open REST API access from the Premium tier, with documentation at api.getmaintainx.com. We could read only the title of that documentation, so its depth is unverified. source | Yes A public REST API reference with bearer token auth and webhooks, covering assets, work orders, parts, locations, requests, PM, meters, purchase orders, vendors and users. Enabled only for Enterprise accounts. source |
| Last reviewed | 7 November 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
| Profile | View profile | View profile |
Not verified means the capability has not been checked for that product. It does not mean the product lacks it. Blank cells and unverified rows are never counted as a "no".
Strengths and limitations
Drawn from each product's own profile, where every item is labelled a verified fact or an editorial judgement.
MaintainX
Read the full assessmentUpKeep
Read the full assessmentWhich to choose
Choose MaintainX for the cheapest credible start, a real free tier, free requester accounts and predictable published rates. For a frontline team moving off paper it removes the most friction.
Choose UpKeep if you need documented offline mobile, first-party condition monitoring without an integration project, or a published asset hierarchy you can design against.
For either, the honest warning is the same: the published entry price is not what a full maintenance programme costs. Work out which tier your real requirements land in first, as described in what maintenance software really costs.
Related comparisons
Sources and review basis
Attribute values come from each product's structured profile rather than being written into this page, so a correction made once appears everywhere. This comparison was last reviewed on 7 November 2026. Assessment of this category is documentation-based, not hands-on testing of every product.
Disclosure
Alongside advisory work I also build a CMMS and CAFM platform, so I have a commercial interest in enterprise software generally. No vendor here has paid for inclusion, placement or wording, and there are no reseller or affiliate arrangements.
Deciding between these?
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