6 Top-Rated Free Building Maintenance Software
From broken door knobs and leaky faucets to flickering lights and faulty appliances, the daily challenges faced by maintenance managers can be relentless. That’s where building maintenance software can assist. Think of it as a digital assistant for buildings and facilities that tracks maintenance needs and assigns work requests. The software also enables preventive maintenance to identify and proactively resolve potential equipment failures.
If you’re new to building maintenance software or seeking an affordable option, starting with a free tool is a great way to evaluate software usability before purchasing a paid plan. In this article, we’ve listed, in alphabetical order, six top-rated free building maintenance software products based on verified software reviews.
All the products in this article are dedicated maintenance management tools with asset tracking, maintenance scheduling, preventive maintenance, and work order management as the core features.
What is free software?
Free software refers to software that users can access and use without incurring any costs. To meet this criterion, a software solution should grant users free access to either all or some of its features. Software requiring payment after a specific time frame does not qualify as free software.
We selected products for this article based on their average ratings between January 2022 - January 2024, which may differ from their current overall average ratings.
1. Coast
Coast is a maintenance management platform that lets you create and manage new and recurring work orders (called cards) for building asset maintenance, repairs, and inspections. It allows you to customize the work orders by adding asset details, task descriptions, assigned technicians, and due dates, among other performance-related information. It also lets you access a maintenance dashboard to track the work order status and attach notes or photos for technicians to refer to.
Coast’s free plan supports unlimited work orders, file uploads of up to 3MB, and image uploads of up to 3MB. You can send unlimited messages to your maintenance team and access up to seven days of work order and message history. Once you exceed these limits, you’ll have to upgrade for unlimited file uploads, time and cost tracking, and reporting dashboard access.
Free features:*
Shareable work orders: Create and share customized work order cards, which include details about the maintenance task, relevant images, and due dates. You can also search, share, and download any past work orders stored in the system.
Team communication: Use built-in chat to communicate with your team. The app sends alerts to team members when tasks are assigned to them, and you get notifications when the tasks are completed.
File uploads: Attach notes, images, videos, and documents to work orders. The supported file formats include PNG, JPG, GIF, PDF, Word, and Excel.
Customer support options: Help center
Cost to upgrade: $20 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Who should consider Coast?
Maintenance teams looking to improve work order accessibility for technicians can consider Coast. It includes a dashboard wherein maintenance managers can add, edit, or delete work orders and procedure instructions. Technicians can use this dashboard as a one-stop information center to access all active and upcoming work orders. Coast also includes built-in chat functionality that lets technicians and managers communicate in real time. Additionally, the messages sent and received are automatically linked to the tasks they’re related to, connecting all discussions and eliminating lost messages or email chains.
2. Fiix
As a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), Fiix lets you submit work requests and search, sort, and track them from within the work request portal. For each work order, you can create to-do lists, define the standard operating procedure (SOP), and add due dates, photos, etc. You can select from pre-built report templates or build custom reports to monitor maintenance completion rates, repair dates, total costs, follow-up tasks, and failed inspections. Fiix uses AI to analyze these reports and identify anomalies that could cause compliance issues, process delays, and equipment downtime.
Fiix’s free plan lets you track unlimited work order requests, assets, inventory parts, and task lists. You can also schedule up to 25 active preventive maintenance [1] requests. Upgrade to a paid plan for advanced features such as AI work orders and multisite asset management.
Free features:*
Preventive maintenance scheduler: Plan and schedule routine maintenance tasks based on predetermined intervals (e.g., monthly equipment checks) or specific triggers such as events or conditions.
Downtime tracking: Track the downtime for building assets, such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and elevators, by logging the duration, cause, and impact. These logs help pinpoint recurring issues and identify equipment nearing failure to plan proactive maintenance.
Analytical and reporting dashboard: Use an analytics dashboard to monitor metrics such as the average time between equipment failures, average time to repair, total downtime, work order completion rates, and preventive maintenance compliance.
Customer support options: Call, email, and live chat
Cost to upgrade: $45 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Monthly
Who should consider Fiix?
Maintenance managers looking for a proactive, data-driven approach to scheduling can consider Fiix. Its preventive maintenance scheduler uses sensors and meters to track the performance and condition of in-service equipment to estimate when maintenance should be performed. The scheduler also acts as a data hub, offering insights into the maintenance history of building assets. This allows managers to identify patterns in asset performance (e.g., seasonal usage trends, correlation between maintenance actions and equipment performance) and plan maintenance schedules based on expected usage.
Pro tip
Identify the maintenance issues you want to solve. Whether you wish to switch from reactive maintenance [2] to preventive maintenance, eliminate workflow inefficiencies, or optimize maintenance costs, having clarity about the internal pain points you’re hoping to solve with a building maintenance platform will help you choose the right software.
3. Fracttal
Building maintenance software Fracttal helps create maintenance plans, generate work orders, and monitor maintenance activity using real-time analytics. It lets you build a searchable library of assets with details including asset names, work descriptions, tags, and codes. It also allows you to track building assets and equipment using QR codes and near-field communication (NFC) chips. Additionally, you can monitor asset health using sensor readings and access a dashboard to visualize metrics such as temperature, air quality, and energy consumption.
Fracttal’s free plan supports up to two users, 100 work orders, and 50 location and equipment catalogs. Upgrading to a paid plan provides unlimited access to preventive maintenance activities along with an interactive reporting dashboard, among other features.
Free features:*
Asset catalogs: Create a catalog to manage and organize building assets by defining their location, equipment, spare parts, and tools. These assets can include HVAC systems, elevators, lighting fixtures, plumbing systems, and electrical panels.
QR and NFC integration: Attach QR codes and NFC chips to building assets. You can scan the codes and chips to access asset data, including its location, ownership, and maintenance history.
Financial depreciation module: Automate the process of calculating depreciation on fixed assets such as buildings and equipment. This module keeps track of assets’ original cost versus their current book value after depreciation.
Customer support options: Call, email, help center, and live chat
Cost to upgrade: $229 per month for five users
Billing cycle: Annual
Who should consider Fracttal?
Fracttal is worth considering for building maintenance managers who struggle with calculating depreciation, especially for large asset portfolios. Its financial depreciation module creates a depreciation schedule for each asset, which includes details such as the purchase date, purchase price, and expected lifespan. It also tracks an asset’s original price versus present-day book value to help correctly estimate its actual cost. These insights prevent maintenance teams from overstating or understating their total asset expenditure. They also help plan maintenance activities, including repairs, upgrades, or replacements, to ensure optimal asset usage.
4. Limble CMMS
Limble CMMS offers a centralized database to monitor the condition and performance of building assets, organize work orders, and schedule preventive maintenance. You can attach SOPs, checklists, photos, and other relevant documents to work orders and assign them to technicians based on their skills and previous maintenance projects. You can also allow field technicians to raise new work requests in the form of tickets and include details such as the asset name, maintenance requirements, and location.
Limble’s free plan supports unlimited work orders, unlimited work requestors, and up to four active recurring work orders. You also get unlimited access to procedure templates, a work request portal, and asset management. Upgrading to a paid plan offers unlimited recurring schedules, automated work orders, and custom escalation notifications, among other features.
Free features:*
SOPs with inspection checks: Embed specific inspection points within maintenance SOPs. These can include checking for signs of wear, damage, or leaks; verifying equipment operation and performance; recording readings from sensors or gauges; and ensuring adherence to safety regulations.
Signature capture: Capture electronic signatures on maintenance records or documents, such as inspection reports and preventive maintenance checklists. Electronic signatures provide a verifiable record of who reviewed and approved a document, improving accountability.
Pre-built reports: Use pre-built templates to create reports on maintenance operations, such as work order completion rates, technician performance, asset downtime, and maintenance history. You can export these reports in Excel, PDF, or CSV format.
Customer support options: Help center and live chat
Cost to upgrade: $28 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Who should consider Limble CMMS?
Limble CMMS could be a suitable option for maintenance managers looking to establish a structured inspection process. The software eliminates the pitfalls of ad-hoc or inconsistent procedures with customizable SOPs featuring detailed inspection checklists. This flexibility ensures thorough inspections that cover essential aspects such as signs of wear, damage, leaks, and other critical indicators. By proactively addressing issues at their inception, maintenance teams can mitigate the risk of costly equipment breakdowns, extend lifespan, and optimize their overall inspection strategies.
Pro tip
Prioritize remote asset tracking features, including QR codes, GPS trackers, and sensors. These tools help collect real-time data on your assets’ location, condition, and performance. Sensors and trackers also provide data on equipment health, enabling you to identify potential issues, reduce downtime, and extend the lifespan of assets.
5. MaintainX
MaintainX is another maintenance management software on our list that lets you create work orders, assign them to a team or an individual, and track their progress in real time. It uses AI to analyze asset information and generate maintenance SOPs, including details about the task, materials required, and safety protocols. You can also customize the SOPs by adding if-then conditional logic. The software includes pre-built maintenance reports, including work order completion rates and average time to repair, to offer real-time visibility into operations.
MaintainX’s free plan supports unlimited work orders and requesters, two active recurring work orders, and two work orders with attached procedures. You can manage unlimited assets across locations and access QR scanning and calendar-based scheduling. Upgrade to a paid plan to access unlimited users and features such as inventory management and resource planning.
Free features:*
Calendar-based scheduling: Plan and schedule maintenance activities, tasks, or procedures using a calendar interface. This feature helps view, manage, and track activities over time.
QR and barcode scanning: Automatically generate QR codes and barcodes for all assets. You can scan these codes to access asset information, such as location and maintenance history.
Procedure scores: Set specific targets or criteria for evaluating the performance of maintenance procedures or work orders, including completion time, adherence to safety protocols, quality of work, or any other relevant metrics.
Customer support options: Help center and live chat
Cost to upgrade: $16 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Who should consider MaintainX?
Maintenance teams struggling with inconsistent operating procedures could consider MaintainX for its AI-powered procedure generator. Users can upload maintenance documents or type instructions, and the tool automatically generates a detailed SOP that serves as a structured guide for executing maintenance tasks. This functionality ensures standardized, consistent maintenance processes across assets and teams. Additionally, the procedure generator detects irregularities or deviations in the input work data, reducing the risk of errors or inconsistent procedures.
6. ManWinWin
ManWinWin CMMS helps create, assign, and track work orders for corrective and preventive maintenance tasks. It lets you prioritize work orders based on the urgency and criticality of maintenance tasks. You can create a dashboard with custom key performance indicators (KPIs) to analyze the performance of maintenance operations. These KPIs may include the average time between failures, average time to repair, total downtime, work order completion rates, and preventive maintenance compliance.
ManWinWin’s free version supports a single user account and up to 100 assets. Upgrade to a paid plan to access unlimited assets and user accounts, as well as plug-ins and premium technical support.
Free features:*
Smart maintenance: Leverage an AI assistant to get real-time alerts for potential issues, insights into equipment performance and historical data, and predictive forecasts about resource needs and potential failures.
Digital signature: Get maintenance documents digitally signed to get approval from stakeholders. These signatures can also be used to sign off completed work orders, authorize service contracts, and confirm material requisitions.
Cost tracking: Track and manage the costs associated with maintenance activities, including labor, materials, and external services.
Customer support options: Call, email, and live chat
Cost to upgrade: $42.50 per user, per month**
Billing cycle: Monthly
**Converted from EUR to USD on Jan. 23, 2024, using xe.com
Who should consider ManWinWin?
ManWinWin is worth considering for maintenance teams looking to automate cost tracking for maintenance activities. Manual or Excel-based tracking of maintenance costs—whether related to labor, materials, or external services—can be prone to errors, time-consuming, and not provide real-time insights. ManWinWin’s cost tracking feature enables businesses to track all maintenance costs within a centralized system. They can also generate reports to understand where costs are concentrated or where there may be inefficiencies to optimize spending and reduce overall maintenance costs.
Pro tip
Opt for a maintenance platform that offers mobile accessibility. This feature allows maintenance staff to access and update information on the go, enhancing flexibility and responsiveness. Mobile accessibility ensures technicians can receive work orders, update task status, and access important data in real time, contributing to a more agile and efficient maintenance workflow.
What is the cost to upgrade from free building maintenance software to paid software?
Building maintenance software upgrades can cost as low as $13 per user, per month, or up to $400+ per month, depending on various factors—features, number of users, work orders, maintenance schedules, asset tracking, training availability, and deployment options. Most building maintenance solutions typically include the following pricing plans:
Free trials: Range from seven to 30 days and give users access to either all or limited features of the software. These no-cost trial plans are ideal for businesses that wish to try out a tool before purchasing it.
Free versions: Offer perpetual access to limited software features. These free plans are ideal for small businesses or individuals on a budget.
Entry-level plans: Start at $13 per month and offer access to standard features. These are suitable for small businesses with basic feature requirements, such as work order management and asset tracking.
Mid-tier plans: Range from $35 to $329 per month and offer advanced features such as preventive maintenance scheduling, mobile access, and customizable reporting. These are suitable for businesses that have outgrown entry-level solutions but don’t require the full range of functionality offered by enterprise-level tools.
High-end plans: Cost more than $400 per month and offer a range of advanced capabilities, including unlimited access to entry-level and mid-tier features, priority customer support, and integrations with third-party systems. These are suitable for large businesses with multiple properties and facilities to manage and extensive maintenance needs.
Hidden costs associated with building maintenance software
Besides the software license, additional costs may include:
Training expenses: Training users on the software can be a significant cost, particularly if the tool is complex or the user base is large.
Data storage: Some tools charge based on data storage, especially if projects involve large files or extensive data.
Support fees: While basic support may be included, premium or extended support plans often come at an extra cost.
Frequently asked questions when selecting free building maintenance software
Here are some questions to ask software providers before making a final purchase:
Does the free version have any limitations or restrictions?
Check whether there are any limitations on the number of user accounts, facilities or properties, assets, or maintenance work orders that you can manage with the free version. Clarifying these constraints upfront allows you to determine whether the free plan aligns with the scope and scale of your building maintenance requirements, helping avoid potential challenges or disruptions as your organization grows.
What types of reports can the free version generate?
Your chosen free software should generate various reports, including maintenance compliance, equipment downtime, space utilization, and energy consumption reports. These reports provide an overview of maintenance operations, helping you uncover patterns, identify over- or underutilized assets, and redeploy resources for efficiency.
Can the free software integrate with other tools or the systems we use?
Examine the integration capabilities for standardizing processes and improving communication with the other tools employed by your business. For example, integration with your ERP system can enhance data synchronization and collaboration across departments, while compatibility with IoT devices and sensors enables real-time monitoring and automated data input for building assets.
Methodology
To be considered for this list, products had to:
Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Software Advice within the past two years, with an average rating of 3.0 or higher (as of Jan. 23, 2024). We selected the six products with the highest ratings to feature in this article.
Offer a free, stand-alone version of the software—not a trial version where you have to purchase the software after a certain time period to get the full experience.
Meet our building maintenance software definition: “Building maintenance software manages business operations for service providers catering to the general upkeep of facilities. These applications help manage appointment scheduling, service call details, dispatch, and communication tools for technicians in the field. They offer features such as customer/location service histories, wireless communications integration, and job location mapping tools. They also integrate traditional business functions such as accounting, contract management, invoicing, and customer relationship management into one convenient tool.”
*Our research team identified these free features from vendor websites (as of Jan. 23, 2024) based on their analysis of what users find valuable in or expect from building maintenance software. This list is not exhaustive. For additional free features, refer to the vendor’s website.
Editorial independence: We select and rank products based on an objective methodology developed by our research team. While some vendors may pay us when they receive web traffic or leads, this has no influence on our methodology.
Note: Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Software Advice’s building maintenance software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Software Advice directory that offer them. Only products with publicly available pricing information, as of Jan. 23, 2024, were considered for pricing calculation.
Definitions
Preventive maintenance involves proactively scheduling and performing maintenance tasks, even when equipment functions correctly. The goal is to prevent breakdowns and extend the lifespan of assets by addressing potential issues before they escalate into major problems. Preventive maintenance strategies include routine inspections, lubrication, parts replacement, and other scheduled activities.
Reactive maintenance, also known as corrective or breakdown maintenance, only addresses maintenance issues when equipment or assets malfunction. In this approach, maintenance activities are carried out in response to a problem that has already occurred, and the goal is to restore the equipment to its normal functioning state.