UpKeep vs FMX (2026): Features, Pricing and Reviews
Quick overview
UpKeep suits maintenance teams that run work orders and spare parts from a phone, while FMX suits schools, campuses and public facilities that book rooms and events alongside maintenance, whereas multi-building portfolios that need BMS and energy data look beyond both.
UpKeep and FMX land on the same shortlist when a maintenance or facilities team moves off spreadsheets, yet they come from two different philosophies. UpKeep is built around the technician and the asset, so most of the work happens on a phone. FMX is built around the facility calendar, so work orders sit next to room bookings, events and capital plans.
Both are cloud-based CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) platforms rather than enterprise asset management (EAM) suites. The fastest way to choose is to ask what you run: a plant, a field crew or a property maintenance team points one way, while a school district, a campus or a public building estate points the other.
This guide compares UpKeep or FMX on features, pricing, mobile apps, AI, setup and real user reviews, then makes a clear call for each type of operation. Need more than two names on the list? The roundup of the best cmms software compares the wider field.
Quick take: UpKeep or FMX for your team
UpKeep is the stronger pick if your technicians live on their phones and you need parts inventory, preventive maintenance and equipment history tied together, with a price you can see upfront.
FMX is the stronger pick if your facilities team also runs room reservations, event calendars and community use, as most K-12 districts, campuses and public buildings do.
If you run a multi-building portfolio and need BMS, energy and vendor data on one platform, look beyond both at Facilio.
UpKeep vs FMX at a glance: the master comparison
| Platform | Key features | Hidden / gated features | Add-ons | Pricing | Reviews | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UpKeep | Work orders, preventive maintenance by calendar, meter or runtime, parts and inventory, asset tracking, native iOS and Android app, Nova AI, Edge IoT sensors | PM scheduling, checklists and inventory start at Premium; offline mode, request portal and asset lifecycle at Professional; multi-site, purchase orders, API and SSO at Enterprise | Edge sensors (hardware plus a monthly subscription, quoted), Safety (EHS) and Learn modules, training packages of $500, $1,500 and $5,000 | Essential $24 and Premium $55 per user per month; Professional and Enterprise by quote | G2 4.5 (1,106); Software Advice 4.6 (1,331); Gartner Peer Insights 4.5 (268) | Manufacturing, field and property maintenance teams that work from a phone |
| FMX | Work Manager (requests, work orders, time, usage or inspection PMs), Event Manager (room and facility reservations), Warehouse Manager, Capital Planner, Iris AI assistant | Sold as separate suites (Event, Warehouse, Capital Planner, Utility, Fleet, IT Asset); no published tiers; MCP access for outside AI tools is early access | One-time implementation fee; Interactive Mapping (floor plans) is a paid add-on; facility condition assessment services | Quote only, based on billable users or, for public K-12 districts, student enrollment; requesters and vendors are free | G2 4.8 (46); Software Advice 4.7 (452); Gartner Peer Insights 4.8 (4) | K-12 districts, higher education, local government and non-profits that schedule spaces alongside maintenance |
UpKeep vs FMX feature-by-feature comparison
The UpKeep vs FMX features that separate them, grouped by area, with Yes, Partial or No and a short line of evidence behind each call in the grid below.
Core maintenance
| Capability | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Work order management | Yes (photos, Voice Fill; custom statuses at Enterprise) | Yes (configurable request forms; technicians close work in the mobile app) |
| Preventive maintenance | Yes (calendar, meter or runtime triggers; Premium and up) | Yes (time, usage or inspection triggers, with checklists) |
| Mobile app (iOS and Android) | Yes (native app built for technicians) | Yes (FMX Work List app; PM tasks and inventory cannot be created in it) |
| Mobile offline mode | Partial (Professional and Enterprise only) | Not documented by FMX |
| Checklists and inspections | Yes (checklists from Premium; Safety module for EHS inspections) | Yes (PM and inspection checklists; FIT reports for California schools) |
| Workflow automation | Yes (Nova Workflows, launched September 2026; rule-based workflow automation at Enterprise) | Yes (configurable approval routing) |
Asset and facility management
| Capability | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Asset lifecycle tracking | Yes (Professional and up) | Yes (condition, useful life and replacement cost per asset) |
| Parts and inventory | Yes (barcode scanning, low-stock alerts, Photo-to-Part; Premium and up) | Yes (Warehouse Manager suite: multiple storerooms, QR scanning, FIFO, LIFO or weighted-average valuation) |
| Purchase orders | Yes (Enterprise tier only) | Yes (purchase orders and invoices, plus a built-in accounting feature) |
| Multi-site management | Yes (Enterprise tier only) | Yes (multi-campus districts, map-based views) |
| Room, space and event booking | No | Yes (Event Manager suite: reservations, calendars and payments) |
| Capital planning | No | Yes (Capital Planner suite: replacement timelines and budget scenarios) |
| Utility tracking | No | Yes (Utility Manager suite) |
| Fleet maintenance | Yes (QR fleet inspections, Samsara telematics) | Yes (Fleet Manager suite: mileage-based PMs, inspections, Samsara telematics) |
Intelligence and integrations
| Capability | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| IoT condition sensors | Yes (own Edge IIoT sensors and gateway, quoted separately) | Partial (third-party sensor integrations such as iMonnit and SensorHubb) |
| Predictive maintenance | Partial (AI Insights health scores on Edge sensor data, in beta) | No (no built-in predictive maintenance) |
| AI assistant | Yes (Nova on every plan, with monthly credits) | Yes (Iris, focused on work requests) |
| API access | Yes (Enterprise tier only) | Yes (REST API covering requests, tasks, inventory, purchase orders and equipment) |
| Pre-built integrations | Yes (ERP, finance and fleet tools; business integrations at Enterprise) | Yes (school, campus, security and device-management tools) |
Deployment and support
| Capability | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | Yes (no credit card) | Yes (14 days, set up by FMX staff) |
| Implementation | Self-serve, or paid packages from $500 to $5,000 | Four guided onboarding meetings and a one-time fee; live in about 60 days |
| 24/7 support | Yes (24/7 live chat; phone 8am to 5pm Pacific on weekdays) | No (Software Advice lists no 24/7 option; dedicated account manager) |
The operational view
A feature list shows what exists. The grid below scores how each product behaves day to day for the technicians, coordinators and directors who use it.
| Dimension | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Execution and accountability | ||
| Technician updates from the field | Yes (photos, voice-to-text, live status updates) | Partial (resolve work orders, scan QR codes and log labor in the app; the desktop carries the rest) |
| Technician app ratings (App Store / Google Play) | 4.3 from 319 / 3.9 from 920 | 3.6 from 22 / 2.9 from 11 |
| Reporting and visibility | ||
| Analytics history | Partial (30 days on Premium; full history from Professional) | Yes (configurable reports and dashboards on every suite) |
| Asset data and lifecycle | ||
| Asset history and traceability | Yes (reviewers single out equipment history) | Yes (acquisition cost, useful life, documents and service history) |
| Capital replacement forecasting | No | Yes (multi-year budget scenarios) |
| Workflows and flexibility | ||
| No-code changes | Yes (UpKeep Studio and Nova apps; not on Essential) | Yes (forms, fields and workflows configured without IT) |
| Scale without rework | Partial (multi-site, API and SSO need Enterprise) | Partial (each new area is another suite) |
| Compliance, audits and certifications | ||
| Audit readiness | Yes (OSHA logs, CAPA and inspection records in the separately priced Safety module) | Partial (inspection checklists and California FIT reports) |
| Communication and collaboration | ||
| Requester access | Yes (free requester, view-only and third-party seats) | Yes (free requesters and vendors, plus text-message requests) |
| Support reach | Yes (24/7 live chat, weekday phone) | Partial (no 24/7 option; a dedicated account manager for every customer) |
UpKeep: the mobile-first CMMS built around technicians and parts
UpKeep is the phone-first CMMS that maintenance teams in plants, fleets and properties use to log work where it happens, with AI layered across the whole app.
UpKeep is a cloud-based CMMS and asset operations platform founded in 2014 in Los Angeles, and its G2 listing says more than 4,000 companies use it. It centralizes work orders, preventive maintenance, parts inventory and asset records, and it was designed for the technician first, so jobs are created and closed on the floor rather than at a desk.
The tradeoff sits in the tiers. The $24 Essential plan covers work orders and Nova, while preventive maintenance scheduling, inventory, offline mode, multi-site management and the API arrive step by step up to Enterprise.
Key industries: manufacturing, facilities, property management, retail, fleet and transportation, and hospitality and restaurants.
Key features
- Work orders on mobile: technicians create, update and close work orders from the native iOS or Android app, attach photos and dictate notes with Voice Fill; if work orders are all you need, compare it with the best work order software as well.
- Preventive maintenance: recurring schedules trigger by calendar dates, meter readings or runtime hours, each with a custom checklist attached; PM scheduling starts on the Premium plan.
- Parts and inventory: stock levels, minimum reorder thresholds, low-stock alerts and barcode or QR code scanning, plus Photo-to-Part, which builds a new inventory item from a photo of a part's label or packaging.
- Asset lifecycle tracking: asset registries hold lifecycle history, manuals and warranty data across one site or many, with full lifecycle tracking and full analytics history from the Professional tier.
- Mobile offline mode: technicians keep working in basements and plant rooms with no signal, then sync later; Professional caches 5 work orders automatically, Enterprise up to 100, and offline checklist.
- Edge IoT sensors: wireless sensors for vibration, temperature, current, pressure, humidity and leaks report through a cellular gateway, sold as hardware plus a monthly subscription, and AI Insights, still in beta, turns the readings into hourly asset health scores.
- Nova and UpKeep Studio: Nova answers plain-English questions about your own data, runs scheduled tasks through Nova Pulse, automates hand-offs through Nova Workflows (launched September 2026) and builds custom apps in UpKeep Studio that now run on mobile.
- Safety and fleet: UpKeep Safety adds incident and CAPA tracking, OSHA 300 logs, LOTO and permits, while Fleet covers QR-code vehicle inspections with Samsara telematics.
- Enterprise controls: multi-site support, purchase orders, API access, SSO, custom work order statuses, workflow automation and custom dashboards all sit on the Enterprise tier.
- The mobile app draws much of the praise, rated 4.3 out of 5 from 319 App Store ratings, because technicians can log work wherever the job is.
- The first two tiers carry published prices, so a small team can build a budget before it ever speaks to sales.
- Parts control ties stock levels, costing and reorder points to every work order and asset, so purchasing and replacement calls rest on real usage data.
- Requester, view-only and third-party users are free, so the bill tracks the people who actually do maintenance work.
What reviewers say: UpKeep holds 4.5 out of 5 across 1,106 reviews on G2, the largest review base in this matchup, and 86 percent of its Software Advice reviewers recommend it.
Lucien P., reviewing on G2 in August 2026, said that with UpKeep "every part has its place, which has made a big difference." Alya S., a product manager on Software Advice, valued in July 2026 that technicians can "update tasks, attach photos, and communicate in real time."
The criticism clusters around administration and support. A system administrator at a manufacturer wrote on Gartner Peer Insights in June 2026 that "Support never feels on top of issues." The full upkeep cmms review breaks the feedback down theme by theme.
- Core capabilities are spread across tiers: offline mode and asset lifecycle tracking need Professional, and multi-site, purchase orders, API access and SSO need Enterprise, so the $24 entry price rarely holds as a team grows.
- Reporting depth draws complaints; Paolo A., a program director on Software Advice, found in July 2026 that "advanced reporting and customization options can feel restricted without additional configuration."
- Setup takes real effort for a first-time CMMS team, and a facilities services reviewer on G2 said in September 2026 that loading assets, locations and inventory "takes a lot of time."
- Admin experiences are uneven, with the same Gartner reviewer describing an SSO setup that had been broken for months. If any of these rule UpKeep out, the list of best upkeep alternatives covers who fills each gap.
FMX: the facilities and scheduling platform for schools and campuses
School districts, campuses and civic building teams choose FMX to keep work orders, room bookings, event calendars and capital plans together in one system.
Education is FMX's heartland: 35 percent of its Software Advice reviewers work in education, and FMX says it serves more than 400,000 professionals. Short for Facilities Management eXpress, the Columbus, Ohio company dates to 2012 and sells a cloud-based CMMS with facilities scheduling built in.
FMX is sold as a set of suites rather than as tiers. Work Manager handles requests, work orders and preventive maintenance, and you add Event Manager, Warehouse Manager, Capital Planner, Utility Manager, Fleet Manager or IT Asset Manager as your scope grows. The cost of that breadth is a desk-first experience and a price you only see after a quote.
Key industries: K-12 school districts, higher education, state and local government, non-profit and faith-based organizations, property management, healthcare and manufacturing. Districts comparing their options often start with this guide to cmms for schools.
Key features
- Work Manager: staff and community members submit requests through configurable forms on any device, or by text message through a Twilio integration, and technicians resolve them in the FMX Work List app while logging labor time and scanning equipment QR codes.
- Preventive maintenance: time, usage or inspection triggers run PMs from a central calendar, each with its own checklist, so recurring work looks the same across every building; weigh it against the best preventive maintenance software if PM depth decides your shortlist.
- Event Manager: staff and community members request rooms, fields and equipment, with approval routing, conflict detection, rental invoicing, payments and insurance documents in the same system.
- Warehouse Manager: parts and supplies across one or more storerooms, with automatic deductions when technicians log parts, low-stock alerts, mobile QR scanning and FIFO, LIFO or weighted-average valuation.
- Capital Planner and condition assessments: replacement criteria such as maintenance cost against replacement asset value, funding sources like grants, bonds and levies, and inflation projections feed multi-year scenarios, and condition assessments are sold as an FMX service.
- Interactive Mapping: a paid add-on that places assets, work orders, inventory and spaces on floor plans or geo maps, with a public, map-based portal where community members report issues without an FMX account.
- Utility, Fleet and IT Asset Managers: utility bill extraction with energy and water use intensity benchmarks, vehicle PMs with Samsara telematics, and IT tickets, loaner devices and device-management sync all sit on the same platform as facilities work.
- Iris AI assistant: an assistant built on a large language model that answers plain-language questions and assigns, holds or resolves requests on command, switched on for every customer, still labeled early access, and focused on the work request module.
- One platform serves maintenance, custodial, events, transportation and IT teams, which education reviewers describe as value they did not have before.
- Event and room scheduling sits next to maintenance, so a setup crew sees the booking that created its work order, which is how many districts run campus facility management day to day.
- Support is the highest-scored line in this comparison, at 4.9 out of 5 on Software Advice, and every customer gets a dedicated account manager.
- Requesters, vendors and partners are not billable, so a district can open the request portal to every staff member without a seat count.
- Capital planning and condition data give a facilities director the replacement forecast that boards and councils ask for.
What reviewers say: satisfaction runs high on a smaller base. Software Advice reviewers recommend FMX at a 93 percent rate, and it averages 4.8 out of 5 from 46 reviews on G2.
Angela K., a technology support coordinator in education management, wrote on Software Advice in March 2026 that FMX "works for multiple departments within our organization." Teresa Yantone, office manager at Del-Mor Dwellings, told TrustRadius in June 2024 that "We use it every single day."
The complaints are specific rather than broad. Jesse Z., reviewing on Software Advice in July 2026, found that "The calendar is not easy to filter" when checking which events are reserved on which days. The fmx cmms review goes through the rest of the feedback.
- The FMX Work List app handles requests, work orders, QR scans and labor hours, but PM tasks and inventory records cannot be created in it, and it rates 3.6 from 22 App Store ratings, so FMX suits desk-based coordinators better than phone-only crews.
- Inventory is a weaker spot; an IT specialist in education titled a February 2026 Gartner Peer Insights review "Inventory Management Remains Challenging."
- Pricing is quote-only and built from users, enrollment and modules, with floor-plan mapping as a paid add-on, so the first quote rarely shows the full bill; the guide to fmx alternative options shows who prices differently.
UpKeep vs FMX pricing
UpKeep vs FMX pricing is a published per-user price against a quote built from users, enrollment and modules, and each grows with your team in a different way.
| Pricing item | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per user per month, four tiers | Custom quote per organization |
| Published price | Essential $24 and Premium $55 per user per month; Professional and Enterprise by quote | None published |
| What drives the price | Paid users (admin, technical and limited technical) and the tier | Users who manage or close tasks, plus the features you enable; public K-12 districts are priced on enrollment with unlimited users |
| Free seats | Requester, view-only and third-party users on every tier | Requesters, community members, vendors and partners |
| Billed separately | Training and implementation packages ($500, $1,500 Quickstart, $5,000); Edge sensors; Safety (EHS) and Learn modules; Enterprise implementation quoted | One-time implementation fee; each extra suite; Interactive Mapping; condition assessment services |
| Free trial | Yes, no credit card needed | 14 days, no credit card needed |
Sources: UpKeep pricing and FMX pricing.
How UpKeep bills: you pay per paid user per month, and each tier also carries Nova credits that scale from 250 a month on Essential to 1,000 on Enterprise. The jump that matters is from Premium to Professional, where offline mode, the external request portal and asset lifecycle tracking live. The upkeep pricing guide models the cost at different team sizes.
How FMX bills: FMX quotes each organization on the users who manage or close tasks and the features you switch on, while public K-12 districts pay on student enrollment with unlimited users. Requesters, community members, vendors and partners never count as billable, a one-time fee covers implementation, and contracts renew each year.
What to get in writing: for UpKeep, confirm which tier holds the offline, multi-site and API features you need, and what implementation costs at that tier. For FMX, confirm which suites are in the quote, how a billable user is defined, the implementation fee and the renewal terms. The fmx cmms pricing guide walks through what goes into a quote.
UpKeep vs FMX AI and add-ons
UpKeep vs FMX AI is a broad agent platform against a focused request assistant; here is what each one does today and what is still in beta or early access.
| AI capability | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Named assistant | Nova, plus the UpKeep Intelligence tools | Iris |
| Scope | Chat over your account data, data audits, scheduled tasks (Nova Pulse), Nova Workflows, apps in UpKeep Studio; Voice Fill on every plan, Smart Checklist Builder and Photo-to-Part from Premium, Smart Scheduler on higher tiers | Product-support answers, request search, building and equipment lookup, voice-to-text, and assign, hold, respond or resolve on one request or in bulk |
| Autonomy | Assist with scheduled runs (Pulse runs set prompts on a schedule; Nova acts only with your approval) | Assist and act on request (changes a request only when you ask) |
| Sensor-driven AI | AI Insights on Edge sensor data (beta) | None |
| Outside AI assistants | Public API (Enterprise) | MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants (early access) |
| Live in production | Nova, Pulse, Workflows and the Intelligence tools are live; AI Insights is in beta | Iris is on for every customer but labeled early access; the MCP server is early access |
UpKeep: UpKeep has the broader AI toolset. Nova works in the background as well as in chat, auditing data, running scheduled jobs and workflows and building small apps, while the Intelligence tools handle voice entry, scheduling suggestions, checklists and parts creation.
UpKeep's own pages disagree on gating. The Nova page includes Nova on every plan, the AI page puts Nova's autonomous actions and Studio at Professional and its Intelligence tools at Premium and above, and the pricing page lists Studio under Premium. Get the tier in writing, and see how agentic ai for upkeep users can extend it.
FMX: Iris is narrower and practical. It answers questions about requests, buildings and equipment and assigns or resolves requests in bulk, with limits FMX documents openly, such as no search by building group yet. FMX is also testing a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, not yet rolled out to every customer, that lets assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT work with your FMX data, and it states in its AI data policy that customer data never trains any AI model.
In practice, UpKeep's AI already runs checks on a schedule, while FMX's helps a coordinator find and sort work faster. For a wider view of what agents can add on top of FMX, see this guide to ai agents for fmx.
Difference between UpKeep and FMX on integrations and setup
The difference between UpKeep and FMX on setup is a self-serve start against guided onboarding, and their integration lists point at two distinct buyers.
| Setup and support item | UpKeep | FMX |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-built integrations | ERP and finance (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks Online), Samsara, Yardi Voyager, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Power BI, Zapier | School and campus systems (Arbiter, Blackbaud, Veracross, Eventlink), ArcGIS Online, Avigilon, Samsara, Stripe, Twilio, Jamf, Microsoft Intune |
| Single sign-on | Enterprise only | Yes (Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, ClassLink, SAML 2.0) |
| Time to go live | Self-serve on lower tiers; Quickstart package completes within 45 days | About 60 days by FMX's plan; G2 users report 2 months |
| Software Advice scores (deployment / support) | 4.4 / 4.7 | 4.6 / 4.9 |
The integration lists tell you who each product is built for. UpKeep connects to ERP and finance systems such as SAP, NetSuite and QuickBooks, plus operations tools such as Samsara and Yardi Voyager. FMX connects to school systems such as Arbiter for athletics scheduling and Blackbaud or Veracross for school administration, and it handles invoicing with its own accounting feature rather than an ERP link.
On setup, the slowest step is the same on both: loading assets, locations and parts. UpKeep lets you start alone and buy training when you need it. FMX runs four onboarding meetings, from kickoff to user training, which takes longer but suits a district that wants a guided rollout across many buildings.
Run maintenance and building operations on one platform
Facilio unifies work orders, assets, vendors and building systems with native IoT, deployed on top of the tools you already run.
When to choose UpKeep over FMX
Choose UpKeep over FMX when the work lives on the shop floor or in the field, and parts, sensors and a phone app matter more than calendars and bookings.
UpKeep is the better fit when:
- Your technicians work on the floor or on the road and need a phone app that handles photos, voice notes, barcode scans and offline work.
- Parts drive your maintenance, and you want stock, costing and reorder points tied to every work order and every asset.
- You want a price you can model before a sales call, starting from published per-user tiers.
- You run equipment that benefits from condition sensors, and a pilot of Edge monitoring with AI Insights is worth your time.
When to choose FMX over UpKeep
FMX over UpKeep makes sense when your buildings are booked as often as they are repaired, and many people request work but only a small team carries it out.
Pick FMX if you run a district, a college or a set of municipal buildings where gyms, fields and auditoriums need a calendar as much as a technician. It also fits when every staff member, vendor and community member should reach the request portal without a per-seat charge.
FMX is equally strong when capital planning, utility tracking and fleet maintenance should come from the same vendor as your work orders, backed by the support scores that lead this comparison.
UpKeep vs FMX vs Facilio: the connected option
UpKeep vs FMX vs Facilio, side by side, for the team whose estate has outgrown one plant or one campus and now runs on building systems, vendors and tenants.
UpKeep and FMX both treat a building as the place where work happens. Once you manage dozens of buildings, more of that work starts from a BMS alarm, a tenant request or a vendor visit, which is the point where a connected platform enters the conversation. Teams already weighing UpKeep against Facilio can go deeper in the upkeep vs facilio comparison.
| Capability | UpKeep | FMX | Facilio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Maintenance teams and technicians | Schools, campuses and public facilities | Multi-building property and campus portfolios |
| Mobile | Native app, offline from Professional | FMX Work List app for requests and work orders | Technician app with offline mode, plus apps for tenants, vendors, clients and requesters |
| Room and space booking | No | Yes (with event logistics and payments) | Partial (rooms, desks and parking for workplaces; no public event rentals) |
| BMS and building IoT | Partial (own Edge sensors on equipment) | Partial (sensor integrations; event schedules passed to building automation) | Yes (hardware-agnostic IoT agent that unifies BMS, utility and sensor data) |
| Energy and fault detection | Partial (equipment health scores from Edge sensors, in beta; no energy tracking) | Partial (utility bills and energy use intensity benchmarks) | Yes (fault detection and diagnostics on live equipment data) |
| AI | Nova and UpKeep Intelligence | Iris | Atom AI agents, plus Mira for service request intake and dispatch |
| Pricing | Published per user, upper tiers by quote | Quote | Quote, annual subscription |
| Light enough for a single site | Yes | Yes | No (more platform than one site needs) |
If FMX is the one you are weighing against Facilio, the fmx vs facilio comparison covers that pairing in full.
Choose Facilio when
Facilio is worth a look when maintenance across many buildings depends on live building data, tenants and vendors rather than on one crew and one calendar.
Choose Facilio when:
- You manage a multi-building or multi-campus portfolio, and most maintenance starts from BMS alarms, tenant requests or vendor visits rather than a technician's rounds.
- You want one cmms software layer that connects your existing BMS, IoT and ERP systems rather than replacing them.
- Vendor and contractor compliance across many sites is a daily problem.
- Energy anomalies and equipment faults should raise work orders on their own, which is the job of Facilio's connected buildings software and its fault detection.
If you run one school, one plant or one property team, FMX or UpKeep will serve you well with a smaller footprint and a faster start. Facilio is built for portfolios, and a single site rarely needs that much platform.
What industry leaders say about their transition to Facilio
Three education and property operators moved their facilities work onto Facilio, and each published case study below carries figures you can check yourself.
- Breck School (K-12, Golden Valley, Minnesota): a 500,000 square foot campus that ran on hallway and email requests moved onto one platform and put more than 150 fire extinguishers and safety assets on a digital inspection schedule. Director of Facilities Mike Thorson says it "offers a level of customization and flexibility" the team needed.
- Purdue University Fort Wayne (higher education, Indiana): replaced a 16-year-old system across 55 buildings and 3 million square feet, digitizing 1,100-plus assets and 400-plus PPM schedules in a 10-week implementation.
- Investa Property Group (commercial office, Australia): moved 150-plus vendors that had sat in three separate databases, for payments, on-site safety and work orders, onto one platform, with integrated operations running within five months of its MVP.
Verdict: UpKeep or FMX for your team
UpKeep or FMX is not a question of which product is better overall; it comes down to what you run, who does the work and how your buildings get used each day.
Choose UpKeep if your maintenance happens on a shop floor, in a fleet yard or across a property portfolio, and your technicians need a strong phone app, parts control and condition sensors. Its published entry price makes it easy to start small, as long as you budget for the tier that holds the features you will grow into.
Choose FMX if you look after schools, a university or civic buildings, where the calendar and the work order share a screen. Its users rate it higher on satisfaction and support, and its suites cover events, capital planning and utilities that UpKeep does not attempt. Expect the quote to grow with each suite you add, and a lighter phone app than UpKeep's.
If your estate has grown into dozens of buildings with BMS, energy and vendor data to join up, neither is the natural fit, which is the gap Facilio is built to close. If you want to see how we connect building systems, work orders and vendors across a portfolio, request a demo.
Frequently asked questions about UpKeep vs FMX
What is the difference between UpKeep and FMX?
UpKeep is a mobile-first CMMS built around technicians, assets and parts inventory, with published per-user pricing. FMX is a facilities platform that pairs work orders with room and event scheduling, sold by quote and most popular with K-12 schools, campuses and public buildings.
Is UpKeep or FMX cheaper?
UpKeep publishes its first two tiers at $24 and $55 per user per month, with Professional and Enterprise by quote. FMX publishes no prices; it quotes on billable users, or student enrollment for public K-12 districts, plus the suites you add, with free requesters and vendors and a one-time implementation fee.
Which is better for K-12 schools, UpKeep or FMX?
FMX, for most districts. It combines work orders with facility reservations, event calendars, capital planning and a public request portal, and education is its largest reviewer group. UpKeep fits a school mainly when the team needs technician-led maintenance and parts control.
Does FMX have a mobile app?
Yes. The FMX Work List app runs on iOS and Android, so technicians can resolve and submit work orders, scan equipment QR codes and log labor hours. It is lighter than the desktop: PM tasks and inventory records cannot be created in the app.
Which is easier to implement, UpKeep or FMX?
UpKeep is quicker to start on its lower tiers, with a self-serve trial and optional paid training. FMX runs four guided onboarding meetings and aims to have you live in about 60 days. On both, loading assets, locations and parts is the slowest step.
Is UpKeep or FMX better for a small team?
UpKeep, in most cases. Software Advice lists it as popular among small businesses, the entry price is published, and the phone app suits a crew of a few technicians. FMX suits small non-profits and faith-based organizations that also need room and event booking.
What does FMX stand for?
FMX stands for Facilities Management eXpress, the company behind the gofmx.com platform. It traces its start to 2012, is based in Columbus, Ohio, and builds facilities and maintenance software for education, government and other organizations.
What is a modern alternative to UpKeep and FMX for multi-site portfolios?
If you run many buildings and need BMS, energy, tenant and vendor data next to maintenance, look at Facilio, a connected CMMS built for portfolios. It plugs into existing building systems rather than replacing them and runs work orders across every site.