What is the best CMMS software in 2026?
Most CMMS price tags hide one question: which plan actually includes preventive maintenance?
Your PM schedule lives in a spreadsheet, work requests come in by phone or a yelled question across the shop floor, and nobody can say when the compressor was last serviced. A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) fixes that: one work order per job, a history per asset, and recurring PMs that land on the technician's phone without anyone chasing them.
The short answer. MaintainX is the best CMMS for most teams of 2 to 30 technicians: a free plan, unlimited recurring work orders on Essential at $20 per user per month billed annually, and the mobile app technicians actually open. Fiix has the best free plan for a PM pilot, with 25 active PMs at $0. Yuman fits service contractors who quote and invoice their jobs. UpKeep has a polished app, but PM scheduling starts on Premium. SafetyCulture is the pick when inspections and checklists drive the work.
The trap most "best CMMS" lists skip: the entry price rarely includes PM scheduling, parts inventory and offline mode all at once. Before you compare two price tags, check which plan holds those three features.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best CMMS for your shop
Unlimited recurring PMs from $20 per tech
Best free plan25 active PMs at $0
Best for service contractorsQuotes, invoices and PMs in one tool
Best for mobile-first teamsPolished app, PMs from Premium at $55
Best for inspectionsFree for up to 10 seats
Plants, multi-site, complianceLimble, eMaint, Tractian, Fracttal
5 CMMS platforms compared
This ranking targets maintenance teams at small and midsize plants, facilities and service contractors, with 2 to 30 technicians. Every price comes from the vendor's own pricing page. The extra column answers the question that changes the budget: the first plan with recurring preventive maintenance.
| Best for | First plan with PM scheduling | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MaintainX | Best overall | Essential, $20/user/mo billed annually | 4.5/5 | Free, then $20/user/mo (annual) | ✓ | 2 to 50 techs | Visit → |
| 2 | Fiix | Best free plan | Free (25 active PMs), unlimited on Basic at $45 | 4.2/5 | Free, then $45/user/mo | ✓ | Pilot line, small plants | Visit → |
| 3 | Yuman | Best for service contractors | MAINTENANCE, €79/user/mo | 4.1/5 | €69/user/mo (CORE) | — | Contractors and field service | Visit → |
| 4 | UpKeep | Best for mobile-first teams | Premium, $55/user/mo | 3.9/5 | $24/user/mo (Essential) | — | Facilities spread across buildings | Visit → |
| 5 | SafetyCulture | Best for inspections | Premium, $24/seat/mo billed annually | 3.8/5 | Free (10 seats), then $24/seat/mo | ✓ | EHS and operations teams | Visit → |
Scores use five weighted criteria, detailed in our method. Prices checked in 2026 on official vendor pages; taxes extra where the vendor says so. Yuman lists its prices in euros without saying if VAT is included; UpKeep does not say monthly or annual.
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How we compared and scored
This page is for the maintenance manager picking a CMMS for a real crew: a machine shop, a midsize plant, a portfolio of buildings, a contractor servicing customer equipment. It is not a guide for enterprises rolling out SAP PM or IBM Maximo across twenty sites with a systems integrator.
We read each vendor's pricing page plan by plan to find where PM scheduling, parts inventory, offline mode and the API actually sit. Then we went through user reviews, starting with the negative ones, and technician discussions. One complaint shows up everywhere: a CMMS that asks for too much data entry gets abandoned, and the crew goes back to paper.
The weights follow what makes a rollout succeed or fail. PM and work orders weigh 30% because that is why you buy a CMMS. The mobile app weighs 25%, since a tech who never opens it makes the tool useless. Real cost weighs 20%, priced on the plan that includes PMs rather than the teaser tier. Inventory and analytics count for 15%, support and onboarding for 10%.
What is not ranked, and why. Limble, eMaint, Fracttal, Tractian, Fabrico and Mobility Work publish no prices on their official pages, so they get a card below without a score. Timly is an asset inventory tool first.
- Preventive maintenance and work ordersCalendar and meter-based PMs, work requests, asset history, and the plan that includes them.30%
- Mobile app for techniciansClose a job from the phone, QR codes, photos, offline mode and the plan that includes it.25%
- Real costAnnual cost for 5 techs on the first plan with PMs, free seat types, trial.20%
- Inventory and analyticsSpare parts, purchase orders, MTTR and MTBF, dashboards.15%
- Support and onboardingSupport speed and quality reported by users, setup effort.10%
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
CMMS vendors move features between plans all the time. Get the changes
MaintainX
MaintainX is the CMMS that keeps topping review sites, and the reason is simple: techs use it. Reviews keep coming back to fast onboarding and a mobile app built like a messaging app. The tech gets the work order, ticks through the procedure, snaps a photo, done.
The free Basic plan is a genuine starting point: unlimited work orders, unlimited requesters, real-time chat. It runs out fast on preventive work, though, with 2 recurring work orders a month. The plan that fits most small teams is Essential: $20 per user per month billed annually, $25 monthly, with unlimited recurring work orders. That is the cheapest way to run real PMs in this ranking.
Run the numbers for 5 technicians: $1,200 a year on Essential, billed annually. Requesters (the operator who reports a leak) are free; only people with a technician login count.
The catch: parts inventory, purchase orders, meter-based maintenance (every 500 run hours) and the REST API sit on Premium, at $65 per user per month billed annually. That is a big jump. Essential also caps work orders with attached procedures at 3 a month. Some users say Limble lets you customize priorities and views further, and analytics stay fairly basic.
Tip: if your PMs run on the calendar and parts already live in another system, Essential is enough. Move to Premium the day you need to track machine hours.
- Unlimited recurring work orders on Essential
- Free, unlimited requester seats
- Chat-style mobile app
- ✓Cheapest real PMs in the ranking
- ✓Techs adopt it quickly
- ✓Free plan works for a pilot
- ✗Inventory, meters and API only on Premium at $65
- ✗3 procedure work orders a month on Essential
- ✗Per-user pricing adds up with headcount
Our first pick for a team starting its CMMS. Go Essential on annual billing and save Premium for when meters and inventory become non-negotiable.
Fiix
Fiix, owned by Rockwell Automation, has the most generous free plan for preventive work. Free covers 25 active PMs, unlimited assets, unlimited work orders, and even parts inventory and purchasing. For a pilot on your twenty most critical machines, that is enough to prove the case before you go ask for budget.
Basic, at $45 per user per month, unlocks unlimited PMs, standard reports, resource-based scheduling and phone support. Professional, at $75, adds multi-site management, inventory cycle counts, rotating assets (a pump that moves between lines) and advanced analytics.
Run the numbers for 5 technicians: $2,700 a year on Basic. More than MaintainX Essential, but Basic already includes the parts inventory that MaintainX keeps for Premium.
The catch: Fiix offers no trial of its paid plans, only the free tier, a guided tour or a demo. Users also point out that reporting is missing from Free and that some basic tools sit behind the paywall. ERP integrations and the API are paid add-ons on Enterprise.
Tip: spend your 25 free PMs on the assets whose downtime hurts most. Three months later you have a failure history to show, not a spreadsheet.
- 25 active PMs on the free plan
- Parts inventory and purchasing on Free
- Multi-site on Professional
- ✓Most complete free PM plan
- ✓Inventory included at $0
- ✓Solid enough for a plant
- ✗No trial of paid plans
- ✗No reports on Free
- ✗ERP and API are Enterprise add-ons
The best way to start for free. Pilot on 25 PMs, then move to Basic when you bring the whole asset list in.
Yuman
Yuman, a French vendor that also sells in English, is the only tool in this ranking built around the contractor's real headache: billing. An HVAC contractor, an elevator maintenance firm or an industrial cleaning company schedules techs, sends a quote, does the job and invoices. Yuman covers all four steps.
Pricing is per user per month, with no commitment, listed in euros; Yuman does not say whether VAT is included, so confirm it in the demo. CORE, at €69, handles technicians, corrective maintenance, quotes and invoices, with scheduling, an offline mobile app, QR codes and API access. PMs arrive on MAINTENANCE, at €79: equipment records, maintenance plans, task libraries and asset hierarchy. Advanced, at €99, adds customer contracts with price indexation and automatic contract billing.
Run the numbers for 5 technicians: €4,740 a year on MAINTENANCE. The priciest option here, but it also replaces your quoting and invoicing tool.
The catch: for an in-house plant team that never sends an invoice, you pay for features you will not use, and MaintainX or Fiix cost less. The pricing page mentions volume discounts without the thresholds, and offers a 30-minute demo rather than a self-serve trial. No dollar pricing either.
Tip: in the demo, ask how Yuman handles your yearly contract price revisions. That is where contractor margins leak, and where Advanced pays for itself.
- Quotes and invoices from CORE
- Offline mode and API from CORE
- Contract billing on Advanced
- ✓Only tool that invoices jobs
- ✓Offline included on the first plan
- ✓Strong fit for European contractors
- ✗PMs only from €79
- ✗Volume discounts not published
- ✗No self-serve trial, euro pricing only
The pick if you bill for your work. For in-house maintenance with no invoices, MaintainX gives you the same PMs for less.
UpKeep
UpKeep built its name on mobile, and reviews back that up: the app is clean, and support gets described as friendly and quick. For a crew moving between a warehouse, offices and a parking structure, that matters.
Read the plan grid carefully though. Essential, at $24 per user per month, gives you unlimited work orders and locations plus the Nova AI assistant. It does not include PM scheduling. PMs, custom checklists, parts inventory and labor tracking start on Premium, at $55. Offline mode in the app needs Professional, by quote. The API, multi-site and purchase orders need Enterprise.
Run the numbers for 5 technicians: $3,300 a year on Premium at list price (UpKeep does not say if that is monthly or annual billing), the first UpKeep plan that does real preventive maintenance. View-only, requester and third-party users are free.
The catch: the gap between the teaser price and the useful plan. Users mention the price jump from Essential to Premium and an offline mode that still misses statuses, timers and parts. The guided Quickstart setup costs another $1,500.
Tip: compare UpKeep Premium with MaintainX Essential, not Essential with Essential. That is where the two tools do the same job.
- Unlimited work orders and locations on Essential
- PMs and inventory on Premium
- Free view-only and requester seats
- ✓App techs like using
- ✓Support reported as fast
- ✓Trial without a credit card
- ✗No PM scheduling on Essential
- ✗Offline only from Professional
- ✗Guided setup at $1,500
A good mobile CMMS, as long as you budget for Premium from day one. At that price, MaintainX gives you more.
SafetyCulture
SafetyCulture (Mitti) did not start as a CMMS; it started as an inspection app, and its pricing page now carries the "Mitti by SafetyCulture" brand. Inspections are still where it shines. Checklists on the phone, photos, signatures, and corrective actions that fire the moment someone marks an item as failed. For safety walks, vehicle checks or hygiene audits, nothing in this ranking is simpler.
Pricing helps: free for up to 10 users and 5 active inspection templates, then Premium at $24 per seat per month billed annually, $29 monthly, which adds automated maintenance. The free plan has no maintenance features, so a 5-person team pays $1,440 a year on Premium billed annually, or $1,740 monthly.
The catch: asset management shows as "limited" on the official comparison. No real asset hierarchy, little for spare parts or reliability metrics like MTBF (mean time between failures). A plant tracking machines down to the component will outgrow it.
Tip: if audits trigger most of your work orders, keep SafetyCulture for inspections and connect it to a proper CMMS, rather than forcing one tool to do both.
- Free for 10 users and 5 active templates
- Checklists that trigger corrective actions
- Automated maintenance on Premium
- ✓Easiest tool for inspections
- ✓Free for small teams
- ✓Very approachable app
- ✗Limited asset management
- ✗Little for parts and reliability
- ✗Per-seat pricing
Great when inspections are the core of the job. For plant maintenance, take MaintainX or Fiix and keep SafetyCulture for rounds.
What a CMMS really costs for 5 technicians
A starting price means little until you know which plan holds PM scheduling. Here is the yearly cost for a 5-tech crew on the first plan with recurring preventive maintenance, at list prices.
Under $1,500 a year
MaintainX Essential: $1,200 a year on annual billing. SafetyCulture Premium: $1,440 billed annually ($1,740 monthly), since Free has no maintenance. Fiix Free: $0, within 25 active PMs and a limited number of users.
$2,500 to $4,000 a year
Fiix Basic: $2,700 at list price, unlimited PMs and inventory included. UpKeep Premium: $3,300 a year at list price (UpKeep does not say monthly or annual), the first UpKeep plan that schedules PMs. MaintainX Premium: $3,900 billed annually, with meters, inventory and API.
In euros
Yuman MAINTENANCE: €4,740 a year; Yuman does not say whether that excludes VAT. It also replaces a contractor's quoting and invoicing tool.
- Which plan includes PMs, parts inventory and offline mode?
- Who counts as a paid user? Are requesters free?
- Is the price annual or monthly, and are taxes extra?
- Are there setup or ERP integration fees?
- Can you export your full history if you leave?
- Where is your data hosted, and does the contract say so?
Quote-only CMMS worth a demo
Several serious CMMS vendors publish no prices. We do not score them, because we cannot compare their cost. Here is when they still deserve a demo, and what their official pages say.
Limble: the most configurable option
ConfigurabilityLimble often goes head to head with MaintainX for teams that want fine control over priorities and views. Standard includes unlimited assets and unlimited recurring PMs, but no offline mode, no parts inventory, and only 3 procedure work orders a month. Premium+ adds offline mode, meter-based scheduling, inventory, the REST API and IoT sensors. The page gives no prices, only a calculator. If you already automate with Make, there is a documented Limble integration.
- Price
- Calculator on site, no list price
- Plus
- 99.99% uptime SLA on every plan
eMaint: when calibration matters
CalibrationeMaint, from Fluke, also covers instrument calibration and tool tracking, which few others do. Professional needs at least 3 users, Enterprise at least 5, on a prepaid annual commitment. The mobile app works offline. No prices are shown.
- Price
- By quote, annual prepaid
- Minimum
- 3 users (Professional)
Tractian: CMMS plus vibration sensors
PredictiveTractian sells a CMMS bundled with sensors that catch failures before they happen. Pricing depends on the assets you protect and how critical they are, not on sensor count. The vendor says most customers are fully live within 14 days. Worth a look if unplanned downtime costs more than the software.
- Price
- By quote, per asset coverage
- Go-live
- 14 days, per the vendor
Fracttal: strong in Latin America and Spain
GlobalFracttal is headquartered in Spain with offices in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and the US. It is a cloud and mobile CMMS with a large Spanish-speaking user base. Subscriptions follow the plan you pick; consulting and integrations are billed separately. No prices on the official site.
- Price
- By quote, per plan
- Extra
- Consulting and integrations billed separately
Fabrico: CMMS plus production tracking
PlantsFabrico pairs a CMMS with production tracking (OEE, downtime, scrap). Pricing is by quote, per plant, depending on modules and connected machines. Full rollout takes three to four months. Data is hosted on AWS in Germany or the US.
- Price
- By quote, per plant
- Hosting
- AWS Germany or US
Mobility Work: built for European plants
EuropeMobility Work, a French vendor, targets industrial sites. Its three plans (Premium, Advanced, Enterprise) are by quote, with unlimited equipment and work orders on all of them. Production and contractor profiles are free and unlimited. Rollout takes three weeks at most, per the vendor, and Enterprise adds SAML SSO and a 21 CFR Part 11 audit trail for pharma.
- Price
- By quote, three plans
- Free seats
- Production and contractor profiles
Get your CMMS live in 90 days
CMMS projects rarely fail because of the software. They fail because techs stop logging work. These steps keep showing up in rollouts that stuck.
Start with your 20 most critical assets
Do not import the whole asset register on day one. Pick the 20 machines whose downtime costs the most, build their PMs, and leave everything else on reactive. That also happens to fit inside Fiix's free plan and its 25 active PMs.
Stick a QR code on every machine
A QR code per asset lets an operator open a request in ten seconds without hunting for the asset number. On MaintainX and UpKeep, requesters are free, so this costs you zero seats.
Pay only for real users
Count technicians and planners, not the whole plant. Operators, managers and contractors usually fit a free seat type (requester, view-only, third party). With 5 techs and 40 operators, that is the difference between 5 and 45 paid seats.
Pilot with your grumpiest tech
During the demo or trial, hand the phone to your most skeptical technician and ask them to close a real work order. If they manage it in under a minute, the tool will stick. If not, switch tools before you sign.
Show techs what they get back
A CMMS dies when techs feed it and never get anything back. Every week, put up the history of the machine that fails most. Once a tech finds last year's part swap in thirty seconds, logging becomes a habit.
Check the export before you sign
Ask how you get your work order and asset history out if you leave. A full CSV export saves you from starting over in three years. Fiix keeps database export on Enterprise, so ask every vendor.
Want to wire your CMMS into your ERP or alerts? Get our next guides
Keep going
These pages pick up where this one stops, on spare parts and automation.
Your questions about CMMS software
Is there a free CMMS?
Yes, three in this ranking. Fiix Free allows 25 active PMs and unlimited assets. MaintainX Basic gives unlimited work orders but only 2 recurring ones a month. SafetyCulture is free for up to 10 seats, mostly for inspections. For real PMs at $0, Fiix is the most generous.
What is the difference between a CMMS and an EAM?
A CMMS runs day-to-day maintenance: work orders, PMs, parts. An EAM (enterprise asset management) adds the full asset lifecycle, finance and multi-site governance, and suits large enterprises. SAP PM and IBM Maximo sit on the EAM side. Most small and midsize teams need a CMMS.
Is there a free CMMS with PM scheduling?
Yes, but with tight caps. Fiix Free keeps up to 25 PMs active, enough for a pilot on your most critical assets. MaintainX Basic allows only 2 recurring work orders a month, so it suits reactive work more than a PM program. SafetyCulture Free has no maintenance features at all.
Can a spreadsheet replace a CMMS?
For about ten assets and one tech, often yes. Beyond that, a spreadsheet will not generate PM work orders, notify anyone, or keep history in the field. The sign it is time: more than half your jobs are unplanned breakdowns.
How long does a CMMS rollout take?
For a small team, a few weeks on a pilot scope. Mobility Work quotes three weeks at most, Tractian 14 days for most customers, Fabrico three to four months for a full rollout with production tracking. Loading asset data takes longer than configuring the software.
Do I need a CMMS that works offline?
Yes if techs work in basements, boiler rooms or dead zones. Offline is included on Yuman CORE, but needs Professional on UpKeep and Premium+ on Limble. Test it in the demo in the worst-covered room on site.
Can a CMMS connect to my ERP?
Yes, but rarely on the entry plan. Fiix sells ERP integrations as Enterprise add-ons, MaintainX opens its API on Premium, UpKeep on Enterprise. For simple flows, an automation platform like Make links the CMMS and the ERP without custom code.
Which KPIs should a CMMS track first?
Start with three: MTBF (mean time between failures), MTTR (mean time to repair) and the share of planned versus reactive work. They need clean history, which is why every work order should be closed on the phone at the time of the job.