The Best Manufacturing Maintenance Software: Comparing nine top vendors

There are two things most people do when looking for new software. The first is a Google search or ChatGPT conversation. That often leads to a maze of vendor websites and generic lists. It’s not a fun (or fast) experience.

The second route is more helpful—you ask for advice from people you trust. The words of your peers can cut through the jargon and hard-to-judge promises in a way no other source can.

These first-hand referrals are important. After all, uncertainty is not an option when you’re looking for software that costs thousands of dollars a year.

That’s why this article is built on thousands of reviews of manufacturing maintenance software so you can find the best one for your team. We sifted through millions of words from other maintenance managers, technicians, and operations leaders to find the best vendors in the space, along with top features, gaps, and overall sentiment around each maintenance software.

Key takeaways

• This guide compares nine leading manufacturing maintenance software using user-generated feedback from maintenance management and asset management professionals.

• MaintainX ranks as the top overall computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) in the manufacturing sector for its ease of use, mobile-first design, and maintenance workflows that best match the needs of teams in manufacturing.

Who is this guide for?

This guide was made for you if you’re:

• A maintenance manager, director, supervisor, or have a role accountable for maintenance operations and reliability

• In charge of maintenance at a manufacturing facility, including automotive, building materials, chemicals, food and beverage, heavy machinery, plastics, or a similar industry

• Responsible for a maintenance team with 10 or more people operating at a single site or across multiple sites

• Looking to purchase cloud-based manufacturing maintenance software for reducing unplanned downtime, asset tracking, managing parts inventory, and optimizing maintenance costs

How we assessed manufacturing maintenance software

Each CMMS was assessed based on direct customer insights from the following sources:

1. Gartner Peer Insights
2. Capterra
3. G2
4. Software Advice

Each CMMS needed to have a minimum number of reviews to ensure an adequate sample size of users.

The best CMMS software for manufacturing: MaintainX

What makes MaintainX the best maintenance software for manufacturing

• Rapid adoption: Reviewers repeatedly call the platform “very easy to use,” noting their teams “adopted the new system much quicker than anticipated” and technicians were able to pick up and use the software from day one. This ease of use sped up plant-wide rollouts and the execution of daily maintenance tasks.
  
  
• A+ implementation and support: Customers highlight “patient and helpful” launch teams, “top notch” support, and fast answers (often within minutes). This ensured setup and ongoing optimization was smooth.
  
  
• Data-driven maintenance: Features like asset metering and KPI tracking help plants forecast and schedule large repairs and drive better decisions with “better quality data.”
  
  
• Mobile-first practicality: Android and iOS apps, and an intuitive UI let techs create and complete work on the floor, eliminating long repair times and errors from inputting data long after a job is completed.
  
  
• Continuous innovation that matches manufacturing needs: Customers praise frequent updates and evolving capabilities (including AI and IoT capabilities), helping them adapt to changing priorities and technology in manufacturing.

How the top manufacturing maintenance software compare: Key features, fit, and feedback

MaintainX

What customers like

• Work order management that flows: Easy creation, assignment, and auto-generation of work orders, along with simple tracking and editing of maintenance tasks.

• A mobile app that drives efficiency in the field: Users cite the easy to use and reliable mobile app on Android and iOS apps as a major source of technician efficiency.

• Request portal and cross-team communication: The ability for non-maintenance users to easily request and track work, along with a live chat feature and high visibility into upcoming work for maintenance managers, is what won over many manufacturing teams.
  
  
• KPI dashboards and custom reporting: Users love the depth of KPI tracking, dashboards, and custom filters that allow them to see performance across teams and manufacturing sites.

What to watch out for

• Parts inventory management takes a bit longer to set up: Some users say that the parts management capabilities may take longer to set up than other parts of the software.

• Customization sometimes requires support: Some custom set ups require vendor support, according to some customers.

What customers think of MaintainX

"We use MaintainX to manage and maintain more than 50 critical assets, achieving significant improvements in machine uptime and overall efficiency. MaintainX is the very definition of a modern CMMS." - Jorge, General Manager, Plastics and Chemicals Manufacturing

"Compared to anything else I've used over the last 20 years, this is without a doubt the most powerful tool. The speed at which data can be retrieved improves communications and allows for analysis, further planning, and total transparency." - Timothy, Maintenance Supervisor, Automotive Manufacturing

“The user friendliness and mobile app are by far the best on the market. My technicians were able to pick it up and run with it with little training.” - Jacob, Director of Facilities, Food and Beverage Manufacturing

“MaintainX is the reason we have gone from an overall plant efficiency of 60% to over 95%.” - Scott, Maintenance Superintendent, Consumer Goods Manufacturing

“MaintainX has transformed the way we manage our assets. I chose MaintainX because it’s the only CMMS with a fully functioning app. No more running back to the maintenance shop to find the manual.” - Ken, VP of Operations, Electronics Manufacturing

Limble

Key features

• Centralized maintenance hub: Reviewers say Limble brings work orders, preventive schedules, and asset histories into one place.
  
  
• Customization and roles: Users note flexible configuration, custom roles and permissions, and the ability to tailor dashboards, templates, and forms to plant workflows.
  
  
• Calendar and scheduling: Users like the calendar view and straightforward preventive maintenance setup to plan monthly and recurring work.

What to watch out for

• Dashboard and reporting specificity: Plants that want specific KPIs or visualizations may need extra configuration time. “The dashboard is not set up in a way that I would like to use them. I would like to see more flexibility with the data in my reports.” — Martin, Plant Manager, Machinery

• Mobile app usability hiccups: Floor technicians sometimes report refresh or visibility quirks on mobile or tablets. “[One of the cons is] working with a tablet on the floor as a technician. New work orders or requests do not stay visible long enough.” — David, Facility manager, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
  
  
• Steep learning curve for PM setup: Scheduling periodic maintenance the way a plant expects can take time to get used to. “Setting up some of the PMs can be confusing.” — Timothy, Maintenance Engineer, Machinery
  
  
• Accessibility limitations for contractors and other occasional contributors: Teams with contributors outside the in-house maintenance team are often constrained. “I cannot assign work to non-users. I have employees that do PMs that are infrequent that can’t get access.” — Michael, Maintenance Supervisor, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing

UpKeep

Key features

• Easy to use and quick to adopt: Many describe the interface as simple and intuitive, with technicians and requesters getting up to speed fast.
  
  
• Mobile friendly for the floor: The mobile app is frequently mentioned for its real-time updates, photo uploads, and work request creation.
  
  
• Onboarding and support: Multiple reviews call out responsive tech support, training, and helpful resources.

What to watch out for

• Unnecessary complexity in basic reporting: Some teams want faster, standard reports for routine analysis. “The reporting is comprehensive, but could be more straightforward for creating simple reports.” — Richard, Fleet Administrator, Automotive

• Recurring preventive maintenance and scheduling noise: Editing frequencies or making one-pass changes to recurring work can be clunky, and repeated PMs can clutter open work lists.  “The editing of reoccurring work orders (PMs) could be improved. Frequency can't be easily changed.” — Matthew, Maintenance Manager, Food Production

• Search, sorting, and work history access: Finding older work orders and viewing historical context can take more effort, and some reviewers flagged removed features that made viewing asset history more difficult.  “Some of the sorting isn't great. Looking up older work orders is not convenient.” — Jared, HVAC Technician, Automotive
  

Fiix

Key features

• Solid core maintenance workflows: Reviewers say it’s easy to generate work orders and set up preventive maintenance, with options like nested PMs and if-then triggers.
  
  
• Inventory and parts tracking: Teams highlight quick lookups, linking parts usage to work orders, and low-stock notifications.
  
  
• Flexible structure and permissions: Open architecture makes it simple to add assets and PMs, and admins call out granular user-group permissions.

What to watch out for

• Reporting complexity and limits: Teams wanting tailored KPIs may find customization harder without services or higher tiers. “Custom reports are difficult to create and they are not fully custom.” — Robert, Maintenance Manager, Automotive
  
  
• Mobile app parity: Some users report a disparity between the mobile app and the desktop version of the software. “The mobile app does not work well, frequently crashes when scanning barcodes.” — Steve, Director of Facilities, Consumer Goods
  
  
• Learning curve for advanced capability: Power features can require more upfront time and training to configure correctly.  “It really takes some time to understand how to set up all of the functions.” — Joe, Quality Tech Lead, Consumer Goods

eMaint

Key features

• Highly configurable workflows: Reviewers highlight the system’s customization, flexible forms, and user hierarchies that let plants tailor permissions and processes.
  
  
• Straightforward PM and work orders: Users call out easy work order creation, auto-generated PMs, and multiple scheduling options.
  
  
• Ecosystem and data tools: Integrations with monitoring tools, plus import and export options, help plants centralize data.

What to watch out for

• Reporting complexity for custom KPIs: Plants with audits and cost targets often need tailored dashboards that require specialist help. “The reports can be quite difficult to set up. When I called customer service, they told me they'd rather set the reports up for the end users than train people.” — Michael, Plant Manager, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
  
  
• Mobile app usability for technicians: Several supervisors report the mobile experience can slow techs down during the shift. “The one thing I do not like is the mobile app for my technicians. There are too few search options and scrolling through work orders can be very tiresome. Most of my 14 techs end up printing out their work orders.” — Joe, Supervisor, Automotive
  
  
• Navigation and learning curve during rollout: Some maintenance teams encounter usability friction. “The way navigation works where it is not very intuitive. And the lack of a standalone mobile app is kind of disappointing.” — Chee Choong, Maintenance Engineering Manager, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing

Brightly (Asset Essentials)

Key features

• Easy to learn for techs and requesters: Multiple reviewers highlight a straightforward interface for both technicians and requesters.
  
  
• Configurable to different plant needs: Users mention flexible forms, permissions, and workflows that can be tuned to how their department manages basic PM generation, and broader asset, inventory, and cost tracking.
  
  
• Work order and PM management: Reviewers report simpler scheduling, quick creation of work orders, and better visibility into what is coming up each day, alongside asset history lookups.

What to watch out for

• Reporting and data extraction can take work: Some leaders say getting actionable insights requires extra clicks and know-how. “I do not like how difficult it is to navigate [dashboards]. It’s difficult to understand how to generate reports and get actionable information.” — Thomas, Operations Manager, Food Production

• Mobile experience for shop floor techs: Several manufacturing users prefer the browser view, noting search and navigation can feel more limited on mobile. “I feel the mobile app should be more like the web browser version.” — Mark, Maintenance lead, Plastics

• Performance under heavier admin workflows: Some users report noticeable page load delays that add up during busy shifts. “The biggest restricting factor is response time…When many different tasks need to be done, one after another, the lag time in loading rapidly builds up, causing as much time waiting as working.” — Brenden, Maintenance Assistant, Plastics

Maximo

Key features

• Customization and scalability : Users say it’s highly configurable for enterprise scale across many sites.
  
  
• Asset hierarchy and spare parts control: Clear asset and location structures, plus a robust spare parts database, help manufacturers keep equipment serviceable.
  
  
• Integrations and automation: Reviewers note helpful integrations (for example, with MES) and rules or automations that trigger work.
  

What to watch out for

• Steep learning curve for shop-floor users: Users say that it takes considerable time to train frontline workers and for admins to unlock the breadth of features. “It took some training on how to use it properly. There are a lot of features, not sure if you could really use them all.” — John, Maintenance Manager, Food and Beverages
• Bulk asset data entry can feel slow: Building deep asset trees and attributes can be time consuming. “Very slow to add each and every asset.” — Jason, Analyst, Oil and Energy
• Keeping organized work orders and clean data can be complex: If processes or forms are not set up clearly, work can be hard to trace. “It’s easy for work orders to get lost if you don't write them correctly. This is extremely frustrating.” — Bret, Facilities Engineer, Defense and Space

IFS Ultimo

Key features

• Configurability and modularity: Highly configurable by administrators, with many modules to tailor processes across teams and sites.
  
  
• Work orders and preventive maintenance: Strong for creating, assigning, and tracking jobs, as well as standardizing preventive maintenance and capturing asset history.
  
  
• Cloud readiness and upgrades: Many teams have moved from on-premise to cloud or long-term web deployments.

What to watch out for

• Dashboards and analytics depth: Built-in dashboards may be basic for some plants, prompting external BI use. “Dashboard options are still basic. We still use Power BI for this” — Robert, maintenance manager, Chemicals
• Mobile experience variability: Field users may find the mobile app less friendly.
  “The mobile app is less user friendly to me.” — Jozsef, Maintenance manager, Dairy
• Stability and error clarity: Occasional freezes and unclear error messages slow teams down. “Now and then we have problems with the software getting stuck and there are several error messages.” — Mark, Werkvoorbereider, Machinery

Maintenance Connection

Key features

• Reporting and notifications: Users value robust reports and alerts that guide priorities and keep teams aligned.
  
  
• Procurement and inventory in one place: Several teams run purchase orders, receiving, and inventory alongside maintenance, helping tie costs to work.
  
  
• Implementation and support: Many call out responsive onboarding and ongoing help, especially around reporting and configuration.

What to watch out for

• Gaps in preventive maintenance setup and scheduling: Some teams find PM design steps overly complicated. “The steps to design and implement preventive maintenance are very cumbersome.” — Robert, Plant Maintenance Manager, Electronic Manufacturing
• Reporting and analytics usability: Report building can feel non-intuitive for non-experts. “The reporting functionality is not intuitive. We only have one person that knows how to get the reports to work.” — David, Maintenance Supervisor, Utilities
• Admin lift and training to unlock full value: The platform’s breadth can require a dedicated admin and significant training to master. “Its scope of use makes it almost unapproachable without a dedicated team administrator to learn the platform.” — Logan, Branch Manager, Hospital and Health Care
  
  
• Module depth and cohesion: Some modules are less robust than others, which can matter for complex manufacturing workflows. “I wish some modules were more robust; I wish the procedure tasks were easier to use; I wish there were a better chat feature available for techs.” — Britt, CMMS and Planning Supervisor, Electronic Manufacturing

A checklist for finding the best maintenance software for manufacturing companies

Getting the wrong software is an expensive mistake, mostly because the problems it was supposed to solve are getting worse. To avoid this problem and find the right maintenance software, you need to identify the best system for your team. 

The checklist below will help you arrive at the perfect match. Here’s how it works:

• Add components that correspond to each category. These will be different for each team.
• Have technicians test and score relevant components of the software out of five.
• Each administrator should also score relevant components out of five.
• Total the scores for each component and the full evaluation to create a vendor short list.

Here’s an example of a checklist manufacturing teams can use to evaluate maintenance software:

This is an example of another checklist for evaluating a maintenance management platform when having initial conversations with vendors:

What is manufacturing maintenance software?

Manufacturing maintenance software helps companies manage assets, maintenance tasks, and work orders across manufacturing plants or facilities. This software centralizes all maintenance work, asset management, equipment history, inventory management, and safety procedures for maintenance teams. 

This software allows maintenance managers to schedule preventive maintenance, coordinate scheduled maintenance, and handle reactive maintenance when needed. Many manufacturers also use it to standardize maintenance operations and streamline maintenance requests.

For maintenance professionals working in a fast paced manufacturing environment, CMMS software helps manage maintenance activity, track progress on maintenance work, and balance reactive fixes with a proactive approach. The result is better maintenance management, higher productivity, reduced downtime, and safer operations for manufacturers.

What are the benefits of maintenance software for manufacturers?

Less fire-fighting, more uptime

A good CMMS helps maintenance teams shift from reactive maintenance to a proactive approach. By scheduling preventive maintenance and tracking asset condition, you reduce unplanned downtime, avoid costly repairs, and improve asset availability across the manufacturing plant.

Clearer planning and faster execution

Maintenance software centralizes work orders, maintenance requests, and technician assignments so the right technician gets the right job with the right parts. That translates into smoother maintenance operations, fewer delays on the floor, and higher productivity for manufacturing teams.

Smarter parts inventory management and cost control

With built-in inventory management, you can see spare parts levels, run simple cycle counts, and keep the right inventory on hand without overstocking. Tying parts and labor to each job gives maintenance managers better visibility into costs and helps justify repairs versus replace decisions.

Better decisions with data

From equipment history and meter readings to real time data and key metrics, a manufacturing CMMS turns maintenance data into insight. You can spot patterns that signal equipment failure, support predictive maintenance efforts, and make data-driven decisions that improve uptime and reliability across the manufacturing facility.

Stronger compliance and safety

A manufacturing CMMS makes it easier to prove safety procedures were followed. You can attach standard operating procedures to work orders, track inspections and calibrations, and keep an audit trail of maintenance activities. That helps manufacturers in regulated industries demonstrate compliance while improving equipment reliability and asset availability.

Standard processes across sites

Manufacturing maintenance software lets multi-site teams use the same asset management structure, codes, and job plans. Shared templates for preventive maintenance scheduling help manufacturing plants roll out improvements consistently, compare key metrics, and reduce unplanned downtime without rebuilding processes at each facility.

Faster onboarding and knowledge capture

A computerized maintenance management system centralizes equipment history, step-by-step tasks, and maintenance data. New technicians learn faster, seasoned maintenance professionals waste less time answering repeat questions, and the whole team can schedule maintenance with confidence based on real time data and historical data.

Mobile work that improves asset performance and maintenance operations

Techs can receive work orders, record meter readings, update equipment status, and issue maintenance requests from the manufacturing floor. Better data quality supports predictive maintenance, reduces unexpected breakdowns, and drives data driven decisions that improve uptime.

Cleaner data flow with the rest of the business

Integrations connect maintenance software for manufacturing to inventory management, purchasing, and other systems. That means parts usage, cycle counts, and costs stay in sync, the right inventory is on hand for repairs, and asset management data feeds leaders the analytics they need to track progress and improve operational efficiency.

The best maintenance management software is one that allows you to tackle your biggest problems

Finding the best maintenance management software is not all about features—it's about getting a system your team will use to improve asset reliability. If no one uses the software, it will sit in your tech stack, gathering dust, while you and your team face the same problems you always have. That’s why getting input from all stakeholders, from technicians to operations, is crucial to finding a platform that will be embraced by everyone.

It’s also important to look at how the software fits your goals, challenges, and workflows. Without a specific purpose for a maintenance management system, you won’t be able to get or show value from your purchase.

Invest the time and effort into your evaluation of maintenance software and it will pay off with a smoother implementation and maximum ROI down the road.