Best Software Inventory Management for IT Teams

Website: https://snipeitapp.com

Best for: free, open-source register for assigning and tracking assets

Starting price: $39.99 per month (Basic Hosting)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: free to self-host with unlimited users and assets; simple check-in and check-out for laptops, licenses, and accessories

Cons: no automated network discovery; the team that installs it handles the server, backups, and upgrades

Snipe-IT is a free, open-source asset register for IT teams that want full-featured inventory at zero license cost. It tracks laptops, licenses, accessories, and consumables, with check-in and check-out, audit trails, and custom fields for the details your team actually records. The self-hosted edition is free with unlimited assets and users and no missing features, which makes it the cheapest credible option in this guide for a team that can run its own server.

The trade-off is discovery. Snipe-IT has no automated network discovery, so assets enter through manual entry, CSV import, API, or sync from an MDM or RMM tool. For teams that already know what they own and need a register rather than a scanner, that is fine. For teams with unknown devices on the network, Lansweeper or AssetExplorer will find more. Hosted plans cost 39.99 dollars a month for Basic, 99.99 dollars for the middle tier, and 249.99 dollars for the top tier, or 399.99, 999.99, and 2,499.99 dollars a year, all with unlimited users and assets.

Website: https://www.lansweeper.com

Best for: agentless network discovery across IT, OT, and cloud assets

Starting price: $299 per month (Starter, billed annually)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: discovery across IT, OT, and cloud with unlimited user seats; vulnerability and end-of-life insights on the Pro plan

Cons: no published price on the vendor site for some tiers, so budgeting needs a quote; learning curve plus database work at scale

Lansweeper leads with network discovery and inventory, finding IT, OT, and cloud assets without agents on every device, plus agent discovery for remote devices that rarely touch the office network. That breadth suits IT and security teams that need to know what is connected, not just what was purchased. All plans have unlimited user seats and are billed annually, which keeps the seat count out of the pricing conversation entirely.

The free tier supports up to 100 assets with unlimited users and community support, plus a 14-day full premium trial. Starter starts from 299 dollars per month billed annually and includes 2,000 assets and one installation. Pro starts from 528 dollars per month billed annually, includes 2,000 assets expandable to 9,000, up to three installations, vulnerability and lifecycle insights, and all integrations. Enterprise is custom, starts at 10,000 assets, and adds full API access and a customer success manager. Reviewers report a real learning curve and database work at scale, so plan admin time accordingly.

Website: https://www.manageengine.com/products/asset-explorer/

Best for: full-lifecycle ITAM with a free edition and published prices

Starting price: $115 per month (Cloud, 250 assets)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: genuinely free edition that never expires; published price bands from 250 to 10,000 assets for cloud and on-premises

Cons: discovery and CMDB depth vary by edition; larger estates need a quote for the top bands

ManageEngine AssetExplorer is a full-lifecycle IT asset management product for multi-site IT teams that want discovery, license compliance, and a CMDB in the cloud or on-premises. It discovers assets through agents and agentless scans, plus barcode, QR, and RFID capture for physical audits, and it ties asset records to software licenses, contracts, and purchase orders. That combination covers the whole asset lifecycle from purchase to disposal in one system.

Pricing is published by asset count for both deployment models. The Free edition covers 50 nodes in the cloud version or 25 on-premises and never expires. Cloud pricing starts from 115 dollars a month for 250 assets, rising to 1,545 dollars a month for 10,000 assets, with annual billing from 1,245 to 16,695 dollars for the same tiers. On-premises pricing starts from 955 dollars a year for 250 assets. The free edition is the real deal for a small team, fully functional rather than a trial with an expiry date.

Website: https://www.invgate.com

Best for: per-device pricing tied to service management

Starting price: $1,499 per year (Starter, 500 IP devices)

Free plan: No

Pros: per-device pricing counts IP devices rather than users or agents; network discovery, CMDB mapping, and software deployment

Cons: no free tier; the buy path runs through a demo and a sales conversation

InvGate Asset Management is built for mid-market IT teams that want network discovery, CMDB mapping, and software deployment at a fixed device price. Discovery runs through agents, agentless scans, cloud, MDM, and directory integrations, plus physical audits with QR and RFID codes. The asset data ties directly into InvGate service management, so a ticket can reference the exact device, its owner, its warranty, and its software in one view.

Pricing is based on IP devices, meaning network-connected assets such as computers, servers, and network equipment, with each IP device including two non-IP devices such as monitors and headsets. Starter is a fixed package of 500 IP devices at 1,499 dollars per year. Pro costs 5 dollars per IP device per year, starting at 2,500 dollars per year for 500 to 5,000 IP devices. Enterprise starts from 12,000 dollars per year. There is no free tier, so evaluation runs through a demo, and buyers should count their IP devices carefully before comparing with per-agent tools.

Website: https://www.freshworks.com/freshservice/

Best for: ITAM inside an ITSM service desk

Starting price: $19 per agent per month (Starter, billed annually)

Free plan: Free trial (14 days)

Pros: ITIL-ready ticketing, change, and problem management beside the asset data; self-serve signup with a 14-day trial

Cons: asset management starts at the Growth tier, not Starter; assets are billed in units beyond the included allowance

Freshservice is Freshworks IT service management platform, and its asset management module sits alongside ticketing, change, and problem management in the same system. That combination suits mid-market teams that want ITIL-ready processes without hiring a platform team, because incident, problem, change, release, a service catalogue, and a CMDB are all reachable without a consultant. The asset data feeds the service desk, so technicians see device history when a ticket arrives.

Pricing is per agent, meaning per IT technician. Starter costs 19 dollars per agent per month billed annually and covers ticketing and knowledge base only, with no asset management. Growth costs 49 dollars and adds asset management, CMDB, and the service catalog. Pro costs 99 dollars and adds change, problem, and release management plus advanced analytics. Enterprise is custom. There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, and assets are billed in asset units beyond the included allowance, so ask for the asset line on the quote.

Website: https://www.sysaid.com

Best for: ITSM plus ITAM with AI included in one tier

Starting price: $89 per agent per month (Professional)

Free plan: Free trial

Pros: CMDB and discovery bundled into one tier; unlimited agentic AI and unlimited end users on Professional

Cons: no free tier; asset packs beyond 250 devices cost extra

SysAid is an all-in-one IT service management platform that brings together help desk, asset management, and automation in a single solution. The company consolidated its pricing in 2026 into one Professional tier that includes the CMDB, discovery, and automation, with unlimited agentic AI and unlimited end users. That single-tier shape suits teams that want asset management included rather than metered by module, and the AI agents resolve routine requests without a separate add-on purchase.

Professional costs 89 dollars per agent per month and includes 250 managed assets, with asset packs beyond that count priced separately. Enterprise is custom, starts at 20 agents, and adds tailor-made AI agents and a private AWS instance. There is no free tier, only a free trial, and the buy path still runs through sales. The published figure is real, but the final number moves with assets, not just seats, so count your devices before you compare SysAid with a per-agent rival.

Website: https://www.glpi-project.org

Best for: free ITAM plus helpdesk for technical teams

Starting price: $0 per month (self-hosted open source)

Free plan: Yes

Pros: free open-source core with native ticketing and asset inventory in one system; no asset or user limits

Cons: needs technical skill to install, upgrade, and maintain; interface feels dated next to commercial rivals

GLPI is a free, open-source IT asset management and helpdesk platform for technical teams with the resources to self-host. It combines native ticketing with asset inventory in one open-source core, covering hardware, software, licenses, contracts, and suppliers, with no asset or user limits in the self-hosted edition. The community is large and active, and the plugin ecosystem adds features such as advanced reporting, data injection, and integrations with common IT tools.

The self-hosted edition costs nothing in license fees, and a cloud-hosted option is available from about 19 euros a month for teams that prefer not to run a server. The trade-off is operational: your team installs, upgrades, backs up, and secures the system, and support comes from the community unless you buy a commercial support agreement. For a technical IT team on a tight budget, GLPI delivers the core inventory and ticketing job at zero license cost, and the money saved can fund the admin time it needs.