For most in-house maintenance teams, the best work order software to start with is MaintainX: its free Basic plan has unlimited work orders and unlimited free requester users, and its paid plans are published (Essential is $20 per user per month billed annually). Fiix also has a free plan (25 active preventive maintenance schedules) with paid plans from $45 per user per month, and UpKeep publishes $24 and $55 per-user tiers. Limble, eMaint and FMX price by quote or calculator; eMaint suits calibration-heavy and regulated operations, and FMX suits schools and facilities teams that also book rooms and spaces.
Work order software (usually sold as a CMMS, a computerized maintenance management system) is for teams that maintain their own assets: a plant's machines, a district's buildings, a hotel's HVAC. Someone reports a problem, a work order gets assigned and closed out with notes, parts and time, and preventive maintenance (PM) schedules aim to stop the next breakdown. Field service software, by contrast, is built around booking and invoicing customers.
How we compared
We checked each vendor's own site for: the free plan and its caps; which tier first includes PM scheduling; where parts inventory and purchase orders start; which plan has mobile offline mode; whether requesters need a paid license; and whether prices are published. Prices were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on October 4, 2026, and are stated as of October 2026 with the billing basis the vendor gives (where a page doesn't say monthly or annual, we say so). We compared published plans; we didn't run hands-on tests.
At a glance
| Software | Best for | Pricing (as of October 2026) | Notable limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| MaintainX | Teams that want to start free and grow into PM | Basic free; Essential $20/user/month billed annually ($25 monthly); Premium $65 ($75); Enterprise custom | Free plan allows 2 active repeating work orders |
| Fiix | Teams that want free PM scheduling to start | Free (25 active PMs, limited users); Basic $45 per user per month; Professional $75; Enterprise custom | Multi-site management starts on Professional |
| UpKeep | Small teams moving off paper | Essential $24/user/month; Premium $55/user/month (billing period not stated); Professional and Enterprise by quote | PM scheduling starts on Premium; offline mode on Professional |
| Limble | Teams that want unlimited assets and PMs on the first tier | Standard, Premium+ and Enterprise; prices come from an online calculator | No list prices |
| eMaint | Calibration-heavy and regulated operations | Professional (3-user minimum) and Enterprise (5-user minimum), by demo | Billed as a prepaid annual commitment |
| FMX | Schools and facilities teams that also schedule spaces | Personalized quote based on users and features; public K-12 priced by enrollment | No list prices |
The 6 best work order software tools
1. MaintainX – best overall, with a usable free plan
MaintainX is the easiest place to start because the free tier is a real product, not a trial. The MaintainX pricing page lists Basic at $0 per user per month, Essential at $20 per user per month billed annually ($25 billed monthly), Premium at $65 billed annually ($75 monthly) and Enterprise at custom pricing. A user is anyone with their own login to the app; requester accounts are free.
Basic includes unlimited work orders and procedures, unlimited requester users and real-time messaging, but only 2 work orders with attached procedures and 2 active repeating work orders, which is the real cap for PM. Essential removes the repeating work order limit and allows unlimited work orders with images. Premium adds meter-based maintenance, parts inventory, purchase orders, time and cost tracking, open REST API access and external work orders shared with vendors. Enterprise adds SSO, multi-site tools, IoT sensor integrations and custom permissions. The plan comparison also lists an offline mode for saved work orders.
The limit: the jump from Essential to Premium is large, and parts inventory sits on Premium.
2. Fiix – best free plan for preventive maintenance
Fiix is a Rockwell Automation trademark, per its site footer, and its free plan is built around PM. The Fiix pricing page lists Free at $0 with 25 active PMs, unlimited service requests, work orders, downtime tracking, asset management, inventory and the mobile app for "limited users"; Basic at $45 per user per month; Professional at $75 per user per month; and Enterprise at custom pricing. The FAQ offers month-to-month or annual terms with no setup fees.
Basic adds unlimited PMs, reports, resource-based scheduling and pass/fail inspections. Professional adds multi-site management, purchasing and RFQs, nested PMs, multi-asset work orders, inventory cycle counts and Fiix Foresight. Enterprise adds failure codes, customized workflows, the Integration Hub, custom API integrations, e-signatures, an audit trail and SSO. Fiix says its mobile app works even without an internet connection.
The limit: the free plan's user cap isn't spelled out beyond "limited users", and the paid entry price is the highest published one here.
3. UpKeep – best for small teams getting off paper
UpKeep pitches Essential at single-site teams leaving paper. The UpKeep pricing page lists Essential at $24 per user per month and Premium at $55 per user per month (the page shows "/user/mo" without saying whether that's monthly or annual billing), with Professional and Enterprise at custom pricing.
Essential covers unlimited work orders and locations. Premium adds PM scheduling, custom checklists, parts and inventory with costing, time and labor tracking and 30 days of analytics history. Professional adds mobile offline mode, an external request portal, full analytics history, asset lifecycle tracking and signature capture. Enterprise adds multi-site support, workflow automation, PO management, API access and SSO. View-only users, requesters and third-party vendors (who update a tagged work order through a public link) don't need paid licenses.
The limits are tier placement and setup: PM scheduling isn't on Essential, offline mode needs a quote-priced plan, and implementation is extra. UpKeep lists packages at $500 (training only), $1,500 (Quickstart implementation and training) and $5,000 (expanded training).
4. Limble – best for unlimited assets and PMs from the first tier
The Limble pricing page shows Standard, Premium+ and Enterprise without list prices; each links to a calculator that asks two questions and returns an estimate.
Standard includes the mobile app, unlimited assets and custom fields, unlimited work orders and PMs, unlimited work requesters, unlimited custom dashboards and automatic downtime reporting. Premium+ adds mobile offline mode, unlimited spare parts, vendor and purchase order management, meter and threshold-based scheduling, open REST API access and a customer success manager. Enterprise adds multi-location tools, custom roles and approval workflows, inventory cycle counts, 21 CFR compliance support, SSO and ERP and IoT integrations.
The limit: no list prices to compare, and offline mode is not on Standard.
5. eMaint – best for calibration-heavy and regulated operations
eMaint is part of Fluke (the site's consent text names eMaint Enterprises, LLC as a subsidiary of Fluke Electronics Corporation), and its feature list leans toward reliability and compliance. The eMaint pricing page lists two plans, Professional with a 3-user minimum and Enterprise with a 5-user minimum, both behind "Book a demo". Its FAQ says Professional and Enterprise are billed as a prepaid annual commitment, and that pricing won't increase during a contract term but may change at renewal.
Professional is already broad: work orders and PM, PM checklists, meter readings, downtime tracking, parts inventory with forecasting and cycle counts, purchase requisitions, condition-based maintenance triggers, workflow automation, e-signatures, calibrations and calibration labels, and a mobile app with offline work mode. Enterprise adds global multi-site operations, SSO, pre-built ERP connectors, API integrations and unlimited request-only portal licenses.
The limit: user minimums and an annual prepaid contract make it a poor fit for testing the idea.
6. FMX – best for schools and facilities that also schedule spaces
FMX is built around facilities, with K-12 schools front and center, and its product menu covers maintenance requests, preventive maintenance, facility scheduling and reservations, and capital planning. The FMX pricing page is a quote form: pricing is based on the number of users managing or closing out requests and the features and custom workflows you enable, and public K-12 schools are priced by student enrollment with as many users as they need.
The reason to pick it is handling work orders and space bookings in one system. The limit: no list prices.
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What actually separates these tools
Where PM starts. MaintainX caps repeating work orders on the free plan, UpKeep puts PM scheduling on Premium, Fiix's free plan includes 25 active PMs, and Limble includes unlimited PMs on Standard. If preventive maintenance is why you're buying, price the tier that includes it.
Who needs a paid seat. Requesters are free on MaintainX, UpKeep and Limble, and eMaint Enterprise includes unlimited request-only portal licenses. Count technicians and admins, not everyone who might report a leak.
Offline mobile. If technicians work in plant rooms, basements or remote sites, check the tier: offline mode is on UpKeep Professional and Limble Premium+, eMaint lists it on Professional, and Fiix says its app works without a connection.
Parts and purchasing. Parts inventory starts on MaintainX Premium and UpKeep Premium; purchase orders on MaintainX Premium, Limble Premium+ and UpKeep Enterprise. If inventory is a bigger problem than maintenance, our guide to custom inventory management software covers that decision on its own.
If your technicians go to customers' sites and you bill them, you're shopping in a different category; see our field service management software comparison. And if maintenance spend runs through employee cards and reimbursements, expense management software handles that side.
When a custom work request tracker is enough
For a team with real assets and PM schedules, buy a CMMS: meter-based scheduling, offline apps, sensor integrations and compliance features are a lot to rebuild.
A custom build is reasonable when the need is narrower, such as a small office or property team that just wants a request form, an assignment queue and a history per room or asset. Greta.sh is an AI app builder that generates that kind of full-stack web app (frontend, backend, database, authentication and deployment) from a plain-English description, with exportable code. The honest limits: it's a web app, not a native mobile app with offline mode; it has no prebuilt IoT, ERP or compliance features; and you own building and maintaining whatever you add. The free plan gives 5 credits a day to prototype; deployment starts on Starter ($5/month welcome offer, normally $20/month), and Database and team management are listed on Pro ($20/month welcome offer, normally $50/month), per Greta.sh pricing. Our roundup of internal tool builders compares other ways to build this kind of tool.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free work order software?
Yes. MaintainX Basic is free with unlimited work orders and unlimited requester users, but only 2 active repeating work orders. Fiix Free includes 25 active PMs, work orders and the mobile app for a limited number of users.
How much does a CMMS cost?
As of October 2026, published paid plans in this list range from $20 per user per month billed annually (MaintainX Essential) to $75 per user per month (Fiix Professional and MaintainX Premium billed monthly). Limble, eMaint and FMX don't publish list prices, and enterprise tiers are quoted everywhere.
Do people who only submit requests need a paid license?
Usually not. MaintainX, UpKeep and Limble all offer free or unlimited requester access, and eMaint's Enterprise plan includes unlimited request-only portal licenses.
What's the difference between work order software and field service software?
Work order software maintains your own assets with preventive schedules, equipment history and parts. Field service software books, dispatches and invoices jobs at customers' locations.
Can I build my own work order system?
For a simple request, assign and close workflow, yes: an AI app builder like Greta.sh can generate a custom web app. For PM schedules, offline mobile apps, meter readings and sensor integrations, a CMMS is the better buy.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required: Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
Buy for the PM tier you'll need
A free plan proves people will log work orders. The plan you'll live on is the one with the PM, parts and offline features you need, so price that tier across two or three vendors.
