Resources / Comparisons
A sourced comparison, checked 13/10/2026
UpKeep and Solmex are both maintenance management systems for work orders, preventive maintenance, parts and assets. This page compares them on facts, sourced from each pricing page. Solmex covers more of the work around maintenance, such as routine jobs, fuel, work permits, workforce records and tools.
Where Solmex goes further than UpKeep
Choose Solmex if
In short: both are maintenance management systems for work orders, preventive maintenance and assets. They differ in how much of the work around maintenance they cover, in language, and in price.
Modules not listed by UpKeep. Solmex includes routine maintenance, fuel management, work permits and tools. None of these is named on UpKeep's pricing page, which does not mean the product cannot do any of it.
Where both list a module, the approach differs. UpKeep also lists breakdowns, purchasing and cost ledger. The cards below describe what Solmex does in each, so you can compare like with like.
List price, ten full users. USD 350 a month on Solmex Business and USD 550 on UpKeep Premium, billed annually where the vendor publishes an annual price.
What Solmex does in each module, and what UpKeep's pricing page lists for the same work. We have read UpKeep's pricing page, not tested its product, so a module it does not list may still exist there.
In Solmex: For jobs too frequent for a preventive programme and too small for a work order: greasing, washing, filter cleaning. Each job has its own interval, a daily board shows every asset against every job as done, due soon, overdue or never recorded, and each maintenance team has its own members, areas and jobs. A job never recorded reads as not tracked, never as overdue.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Not listed on its pricing page
In Solmex: A failure code tree up to four levels deep that each organisation defines for itself, on every plan including the free one. A breakdown records what is blocking the repair and the expected return date, and one logged in error is cancelled rather than marked repaired, so it never counts as a failure. Availability, MTBF, MTTR, repeat failures and a Pareto of causes are reported on Business.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Listed on its pricing page
Reliability and downtime tracking on Enterprise, with asset downtime reports. Failure codes are not named.
In Solmex: Fill-ups for many machines entered on one grid, fuel stations kept as a register, and each fill-up judged against that machine's own median consumption. An exception register lists oversized fills, meters that did not move and fills larger than the stated tank, and names the checks it cannot run, such as receipts it holds no record of, rather than guessing.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Not listed on its pricing page
In Solmex: Employee records with departments and teams, certifications with expiry dates, timesheets, and leave requests with approval. Work permit crews are picked from the same records, so the people named on a permit are people the organisation actually employs.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Something related is listed
Time and labor tracking on Premium, with teams and custom roles. Leave and staff certifications are not named.
In Solmex: Fourteen permit types from editable templates, with a draft, approval, sign-off, active and closed lifecycle. One permit can cover a site, one machine, a work order or several machines, and prints as a PDF with a QR code. A closed permit is never reopened; continued work is a new permit.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Not listed on its pricing page
In Solmex: A purchase request goes through the approval chain you configure. Each approver can approve, reject or send it back, and can refuse individual lines with a reason. An approved request becomes a purchase order its buyer cannot approve, and receiving the delivery posts the stock to the warehouse in the same step.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Listed on its pricing page
PO management on Enterprise, which is priced by quote.
In Solmex: Fuel, parts issued from the warehouse and manual entries land in one ledger, each with its source, category and status. A cost is voided with a reason, never deleted. What an asset has cost over its life, this year and this month is one screen.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Listed on its pricing page
Parts and inventory with costing on Premium, and time and cost tracking.
In Solmex: A register of hand and power tools with calibration dates, assigned out to a person and returned, one active assignment at a time, so anyone can see who has the torque wrench.
On UpKeep's pricing page: Not listed on its pricing page
| Feature | Solmex | UpKeep |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | IncludedStarter, free forever. One full user, up to 25 machines, work orders, faults, work requests and QR labels | Not listed on its pricing pageNo free plan listed on its pricing page; the cheapest listed plan is Essential |
| Cheapest paid plan | IncludedGrowth, USD 10 per full user per month billed annually (USD 12 month to month), with preventive maintenance and inspections | Higher list priceEssential: USD 24 per user per month; the page lists unlimited work orders and locations, and no preventive maintenance or inventory |
| Preventive maintenance and inventory | IncludedBusiness, USD 35 per full user per month billed annually (USD 42 month to month), no machine limit | Higher list pricePremium: USD 55 per user per month; its page lists PM scheduling and parts and inventory with costing here |
| Purchase orders | IncludedBusiness plan, with a rule that the buyer cannot approve their own order | Quote onlyListed under Enterprise, which is quote only |
| Fuel management | IncludedBusiness plan, judged against each machine's own consumption | Not listed on its pricing page |
| Work permits (permit to work) | IncludedBusiness plan, fourteen permit types with sign-off and a QR-linked PDF | Not listed on its pricing page |
| People who only report faults | IncludedFree and unlimited on every plan, no account needed | IncludedIts FAQ says requester and view-only users need no paid licence |
IncludedLimitedHigher list priceQuote onlyNot listed on its pricing page
Sources: UpKeep's pricing page and Solmex pricing, both read on 13/10/2026. Vendors change plans without notice, so check the current page before you decide. A dash means the feature is not listed on the pricing page; it may still exist in the product.
Where Solmex comes from
Solmex was written by people who have run maintenance themselves: the fault that arrives as a phone call with no asset named, the service that slips because nobody read the meter, the part that sits on someone's desk waiting for approval while the job waits with it. Whether you look after a production line, a hotel, a building or a set of vehicles, those problems are the same, and they shaped how Solmex works.
Every maintenance team has heard these sentences. Here is what Solmex does with each one.
“The person who saw the leak has no login.”
In Solmex: Every asset carries a QR code. Scanning it opens the asset's card with a button to report the problem: no app, no login, no paid licence, and the report already names the asset.
“The 250 hour service on the compressor was done at 285.”
In Solmex: The next service is still due at 500, not 535. Services stay on the manufacturer's fixed milestones, so one late job never shifts the whole programme.
“The chiller has no meter at all.”
In Solmex: It is recorded as having none, never as a reading of zero, and scheduled on the calendar instead. An asset nobody has inspected yet reads as never inspected, not overdue.
“The part has been waiting for approval since Monday.”
In Solmex: Purchase requests go through the approval chain you set, each approver is told when it is their turn, and everyone can see exactly who the request is waiting on.
“Permits are in a binder, parts in a spreadsheet, costs in another.”
In Solmex: Work orders, services, parts, permits, purchasing and costs sit on the same asset record. What an asset has cost over its life is one screen.
“The generator used twice its usual fuel this week.”
In Solmex: Each fill-up is judged against that machine's own median consumption, so the outlier is flagged at the pump, before anyone has to go looking for it.
A worked example, not a quote. Take ten people who create and close work orders, plus any number of colleagues who only report faults. Those reporters are free on Solmex, so only the ten are priced. On listed prices Solmex Business is USD 350 a month (USD 4,200 a year, billed annually). UpKeep Premium is USD 550 a month (USD 6,600 a year). UpKeep's page shows one monthly price per user and no annual price, so the comparison sets its monthly price against Solmex's annual one; on Solmex's month-to-month price (USD 42) the gap is smaller. UpKeep lists purchase orders only on Enterprise, which is quoted, so a team that needs purchase orders would not be on the Premium price.
Difference: USD 2,400 a year
Start with the assets, not the history. Take your register out of UpKeep as a spreadsheet.
Solmex checks the whole file before writing anything, so one bad row never leaves you with half an import.
Every workspace starts with 14 days of the Business plan, free and with no card. Try it on a few assets first, and enter past services as history where the schedule needs them.
The ten maintenance KPIs worth tracking, with the formula for each, the data it needs, what it tells you and the mistakes that make it lie.
9 min read GuidesA work order is a written instruction to do one maintenance job on one asset. What goes on it, the main types, the lifecycle, and how to write one a technician can follow.
9 min read ChecklistsDaily, weekly and hour-based air compressor maintenance checklist with sourced intervals, a leak test you can run today, and a free Excel and PDF to print.
9 min readTry the Business plan free for 14 days, with no card. After that, one user and up to 25 assets stay free for as long as you like.