Content date: 2 October 2026 · Editorial responsibility: Dimitris Mitsios · No individual check logged· AI use

Maintenance management (CMMS) · Guide revised September 2026

MaintainX vs UpKeep: Scope, limits and demo questions

Side-by-side comparison

MaintainX and UpKeep: pricing, evaluation starting point, scope, what to verify and offline scope. Select a row label to show its full text.
Attribute	MaintainX	UpKeep
	Published amount; check product and plan
	Asset Management
	Validate user roles, sites and scale against your proposed deployment.
	Confirm hosting, support languages and contractual coverage for your region.
	See the linked profile's capability evidence
	See the linked profile's unresolved questions
	Documented offline workflow

Where the two scopes differ

Both records describe a mobile maintenance system for work orders, recurring work, assets and parts, so the useful differences sit in where each vendor draws its tier boundaries. The one capability that most often decides a field pilot is working on a phone without a signal. The MaintainX record documents it for every listed plan, limited to Full Users and Administrators in the mobile app, after the cache has been prepared. The UpKeep record documents it only for Professional and Enterprise, and those are the two tiers that are quoted rather than priced on the page. A team that needs disconnected work from the first day therefore has a published-price route in one record and a proposal-only route in the other. UpKeep's help text also says that cache, draft and image limits vary by plan, which makes a realistic shift a better test than a feature list.

Intake and purchasing are where each record adds a qualifier. MaintainX describes requester users and public portals that submit requests for approval, with team routing listed as Enterprise-only, and it places requesters and the web app outside its offline mode. UpKeep describes a Request Portal that takes submissions without a login through a link or QR code, and says the redesigned portal is a Professional or Enterprise feature. For buying parts, MaintainX documents purchase requests, approvals, vendor transmission and partial fulfilment on eligible plans, while UpKeep's Procurement offering (requisitions, RFQs, three-way matching) is described as separately scoped unless a quote includes it. Neither record lets a buyer assume that a purchasing screen seen in a demonstration belongs to the tier being quoted.

Several adjacent scopes differ. MaintainX lists a Permit to Work capability that the record dates as Beta from August 2026 and warns against relying on for hazardous work. The UpKeep record lists no permit capability and treats its Safety, Learn, Edge and Fleet offerings as outside the profile. Security statements are vendor-published in both cases: MaintainX states SOC 2 and ISO 27001:2022 and offers SAML single sign-on on Enterprise, and UpKeep's Trust Center states a SOC 2 Type II examination with customer data stored and processed in the United States only. The entry prices are shown in dollars with no verified currency code: $20 and $65 per user per month for MaintainX on annual billing, and $24 and $55 for UpKeep with the billing commitment not established. The tiers are not defined as equivalent, so no pairing of them is established.

MaintainX: status on record

Trial: Free trial documented.
Offline: Documented offline workflow.
Pricing: Published amount; check product and plan.
Profile record checked 2 October 2026.

UpKeep: status on record

Trial: Free trial documented.
Offline: Documented offline workflow.
Pricing: Published amount; check product and plan.
Profile record checked 2 October 2026.

When each is the safer first demo

Start with MaintainX when

MaintainX is the safer first demo when the first requirement is a repeatable procedure whose failed check must create corrective work. The record documents pass, flag and fail checks, photos, signatures, meter readings and location check-ins, with the corrective behaviour depending on configuration and plan. Run it on the tier you could buy, and ask the reviewer to send back incomplete evidence so that you can see whether the original submission survives the correction.

Start with UpKeep when

UpKeep is the safer first demo when planning logic and stock come first: a time, meter or condition trigger that creates an order with a checklist and a required part, followed by an issue from a storeroom and a low-stock reorder draft. Ask the vendor to name the tier before the session starts. If offline work is a requirement, the tier is Professional or Enterprise, and a demonstration on Essential or Premium would show you the wrong product.

A two-week evaluation plan

Ask MaintainX

Name the tier that holds recurring procedures, inventory, purchasing, the REST API, multi-site administration and team routing, and say whether Permit to Work is in the quote and in what status.
Ask for the currency, billing term and renewal terms, and for the paid-plan trial duration and entitlements, which the record could not confirm.

Ask UpKeep

Ask for Professional or Enterprise to be named if offline work matters, with the cache, draft and image limits for that tier written down, and for any quote line that adds Procurement, Edge, Safety or Learn.
Ask which integration route is quoted (native connector, Zapier, REST API or webhooks), who builds it, and which of the published implementation and training options apply.

Week 1, the connection test. In each product, prepare one assigned order on the phone and role you would deploy, switch the network off, add a note and a photo, complete the checklist, then reconnect and read the server record. In MaintainX, add a competing edit from a second account and see what the record shows. In UpKeep, write down which steps the tier refuses and what happens when two people change an order during an outage. Record the sync state that a technician can see. Both records show a free route in, but neither states the trial duration, so confirm it in writing before the clock starts.

Week 2, the planner and the reviewer. Build one recurring job with the trigger and parts you actually use, let it generate, and complete it with labour, parts and a photo. Have a reviewer return incomplete work and trace the history. Build one dashboard for PM compliance and cost in each product and follow a single figure back to its work orders. Finish with a first-year total that adds the tier, the users, any implementation or training line and any add-on, for the same headcount in both.

What the records do not establish

MaintainX

The duration or scope of a paid-plan trial, or the currency of the published prices.
That Permit to Work is production-ready, or that it covers suspensions, closeout and isolation controls.
Offline use for requesters or the web app, or how simultaneous edits are resolved.
A review of the SOC 2 report or ISO certificate behind the published statements.

UpKeep

A price, minimum user count or billing commitment for Professional or Enterprise, the tiers that carry offline work.
That Procurement, Safety, Learn, Edge or Fleet belong to a CMMS subscription.
Hosting outside the United States, or access to the restricted assurance reports.
Which integration route a quote covers and who pays to build it.

Neither product

Which product reduces downtime or maintenance cost: no outcome data was reviewed.
Implementation time, migration effort or customer satisfaction. Both records exclude independent customer reviews.
Any hands-on result: both records are reviews of vendor documentation.

Written from the profile records and the decision guide above, not from a hands-on test. Where a record is silent, the page says so instead of filling the gap.

Evaluate MaintainX

Identify the exact product, application and licence.
Review the profile's demonstration questions.
Run the same task and record unresolved questions.

See MaintainX profile

Evaluate UpKeep

Identify the exact product, application and licence.
Review the profile's demonstration questions.
Run the same task and record unresolved questions.

See UpKeep profile

MaintainX vs UpKeep | FAQ

Which product is cheaper?

Comparable total cost has not been established. Request the same applications, users, sites, configuration, migration, integrations and support period from both vendors. Published entry pricing is subject to the plan conditions shown in each profile.

How should I compare offline capability?

Use the exact proposed mobile application and plan. Download required data, disconnect, create a record with a photo, reconnect and inspect synchronization. Record which preparation and tasks require connectivity.

How should I decide between these products?

Set acceptance criteria for your actual workflow. Complete the same demo, record observed results separately from vendor statements and resolve remaining questions in a scoped pilot. The linked profiles show the sources and review status for each product.

Vendor sources and next steps

MaintainX21 sources, profile checked 2 October 2026

UpKeep14 sources, profile checked 2 October 2026

Record the same demo tasks in the scorecard →

Related comparisons

Need a personalised shortlist?

Answer the matching questionnaire to explore up to 5 platforms based on your industry, size and processes, then verify the requirements with each vendor.

Get matched