Alternatives › Snipe-IT
Looking for a Snipe-IT alternative?
Snipe-IT is open source and genuinely free if you run it on your own server, with unlimited users. That is a real offer and we cannot match it. This page is for everyone who would rather not run a server — and it starts by saying plainly who should ignore us and use Snipe-IT instead.
Read this bit first
If you want to run your own copy, use Snipe-IT. It is open source, and self-hosted it is free forever — unlimited users, unlimited assets, the code yours to read and change, the whole thing on your own network. Asset Giant cannot be self-hosted. If that is the requirement, stop here: Snipe-IT is the answer and we are not going to pretend otherwise to win a click.
Most people who ask us about Snipe-IT have already been down that road. Somebody recommended it because it is free, they got as far as the words “SSH access to the server” on its own requirements page, and stopped. Self-hosting is not a small thing: it is your server, your updates, your backups and your security patching, forever. And being responsible for the laptops does not mean wanting to be responsible for a server as well.
Their hosted plans exist for exactly that reason, from US$39.99 a month. Worth reading their table closely if you are weighing that up: on 24 September 2026 the US$39.99 Basic tier was listed as excluding automatic backups, automated upgrades and server maintenance — those start on the US$99.99 tier. If you are comparing the two, the full feature-by-feature comparison sets it out line by line.
Snipe-IT, as we found it
Read from Snipe-IT’s own site.
Snipe-IT
Verified 24 September 2026
- Licence
- Open source — free forever if you host it yourself
- Self-hosted
- Your server, your updates, your backups, your security patching
- Hosted plans
- From US$39.99/month (US$399.99/year)
- Entry tier
- US$39.99 excludes automatic backups, automated upgrades and server maintenance — those start at US$99.99/month
- Limits
- Unlimited users and assets on every hosted tier
- Needs
- PHP 8.2+, MySQL or MariaDB, mod_rewrite and SSH access to the server
- Built for
- IT asset management — laptops, licences, serial numbers
- Currency
- US dollars
Asset Giant
Our plans, as on our pricing page on 27 October 2026
- Free Forever
- £0 — 100 assets, 1 user, no card, no time limit
- Crew
- £19 per month or £180 per year — 500 assets, 3 users
- Business
- £79 per month or £750 per year — 5,000 assets, 10 users
- Growth
- £149 per month or £1,410 per year — 20,000 assets, 25 users
- Enterprise
- Price on request — unlimited assets, unlimited users
- Currency
- Pounds sterling — UK company, UK support
- Commitment
- Monthly or yearly, cancel any time
Two currencies on this page. The dollar figures are the other company’s own published prices. Ours are in pounds sterling, and pounds are what we charge: on 25 September 2026, £1 was about US$1.32. A card issued in any country works at checkout and your own bank converts it.
Snipe-IT pricing and features summarised from publicly-available information published by Snipe-IT, verified 24 September 2026. Currencies, plans and features change — always check Snipe-IT’s own site for what is current. Names and trademarks belong to their respective owners; this comparison is offered in good faith to help you evaluate the options.
If you decide to move, here is the shape of it
Nothing here needs a server.
1. Export what you have
Whether you are on a self-hosted install or a hosted plan, get your asset list out as a CSV. If you have been keeping it in a spreadsheet instead because the install never happened, that works just as well.
2. Open a free account
Free Forever holds 100 assets, needs no card and has no trial clock. There is nothing to install and nothing to keep patched.
3. Bring the file in
Import it yourself — map your columns, preview everything before it saves — or send it to us and we will load it by hand, free, on any paid plan.
4. Label the kit
Design QR labels and batch-print them to standard label sheets, or assign stickers you already have. Then scan them with a phone; there is no app to install.
What is different
- Nothing to host. No server, no PHP version to keep current, no database backups to remember, no security patches that are your problem at 11pm.
- Built for a phone on a site. Everything works in a mobile browser, designed for one hand and a gloved thumb — the scanner, check-in and check-out included.
- The AI catalogues for you. Photograph a tool and it is identified, named and specced for you to confirm. On every plan, including the free one.
- Print your own labels. A visual QR designer and a print queue for batch-printing to standard sheets, with no proprietary tags to buy.
- Jobs, clients and locations. Assign kit to a project, see what is on which site, and share a client-facing page that shows only what you choose.
- Quotes and invoices in the same place. Hire priced by the hour, day, week or month, labour and delivery alongside it, and full UK VAT including the construction reverse charge.
- UK company, UK support, priced in pounds.
When you should stay with Snipe-IT
More often than with anything else on this site, honestly.
- You are tracking software licences and seats. Licences, accessories and components are records in their own right in Snipe-IT — who holds them, how many are left. Joiners and leavers against an IT estate is the job it was built for, and none of that is part of our product.
- You have the skills and the server. Self-hosted Snipe-IT costs nothing but your time, forever, on unlimited assets and users. We cannot beat free, and we are not going to claim we can.
- You want to own and change the code. It is open source. You can read it, modify it, and never depend on a vendor staying in business. That is a serious advantage and we do not offer it.
- You need unlimited assets on a small budget. Their hosted tiers are unlimited on assets and users. Ours are tiered, and past 5,000 assets you would be on an Enterprise plan.
Send us the export and we’ll do the rest
Getting the data out of your current system is rarely the hard part. Getting it in somewhere else is what stops people — so we made that bit easy, and we will also just do it for you.
Our importer takes the file you already have, lets you match your own columns, and shows you a full preview before anything is saved. Or send us your export and we will import it by hand, free, on any paid plan — assets, locations, categories and clients. You don’t retype a single row.
Start free to look around first. If you subscribe, get in touch and we’ll move everything across.
This page is about moving. If you want the feature-by-feature detail, read Asset Giant vs Snipe-IT, or see the full side-by-side comparison against six systems at once. Every plan and price is on our pricing page. Other systems we have written up are on the alternatives index.
Common questions
Is Snipe-IT really free?
Yes, if you host it yourself — it is open source and there is no licence fee. What it costs you is a server and the time to run it: installation, upgrades, backups and security patching. Their hosted plans, where they do that for you, start at US$39.99/month — and their own table lists that tier as excluding automatic backups, automated upgrades and server maintenance, which begin at US$99.99/month. Checked on 24 September 2026.
Can Asset Giant be self-hosted?
No. We are a hosted service and we run it for you. If self-hosting is a requirement — because of an internal policy, or because you want to own the code — Snipe-IT is the better answer and we would say so.
We are a construction firm. Which should we use?
We would say us, and here is the reasoning rather than the sales line: Snipe-IT is organised around an IT estate, not around jobs, sites and vans. We have projects, clients and locations, a phone-first scanner, printable QR labels and AI that catalogues a tool from a photograph. Start on the free plan and see whether it fits how you actually work.
Can you import a Snipe-IT export?
Yes. Export to CSV and import it yourself, mapping your own columns with a full preview before anything saves. Or send us the file and we will load it by hand at no charge on any paid plan.
Start free, and bring your data with you
No card, no trial countdown. Subscribe and we’ll import your existing data by hand, free.