The best IT asset management software for a small team fits where your work already lives. If tickets run your day, pick a helpdesk with assets built in. If you need network discovery, pick Lansweeper or ManageEngine AssetExplorer. If the budget is zero, self-host Snipe-IT or GLPI.
If your asset register lives in a spreadsheet and your tickets live in a helpdesk, the register can drift when updates are missed. One r/sysadmin poster put it plainly: "we've had devices go missing for weeks because someone forgot to update the sheet".
If your team already works from tickets, you can keep the asset on the same ticket with SherpaDesk. It's a helpdesk and professional services automation (PSA) tool a small IT team can run alone. No contract. No implementation project. No dedicated admin.
Key takeaways
How we chose
We publish this guide, and SherpaDesk is our product.
Here are the ten ITAM tools side by side. Prices are each vendor's own, in its own unit; our row comes first.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Team of 3, per month | Free option | Discovery or sync | Tickets in the same tool | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SherpaDesk Ours | Small IT teams, MSPs, and schools that track assets on tickets | High Camp $55 per agent per month, billed monthly ($50 billed annually), Asset Manager included | $110 billed monthly; $100 billed annually | No free asset tier | Sync from NinjaOne and Google Device Manager | Yes, plus time and invoicing | 14 days, no card |
| Freshservice | Internal IT that wants ITSM and discovery together | Growth $49 per agent per month, billed annually ($59 billed monthly), with 100 asset units | $147 billed annually; $177 billed monthly | No | Windows, Mac, and Linux discovery | Yes | 14 days |
| Jira Service Management (Atlassian Service Collection) | Teams already on Atlassian | Service Collection Standard $21.50 per agent per month, billed monthly, at 75 agents | Set by Atlassian's calculator | 3 agents free, without Assets | Not stated on the pricing page | Yes | 14 days |
| GLPI | Self-hosters who want helpdesk and inventory free | Free to self-host; cloud €19 per user per month, excl. tax, from 1 user | €57 excl. tax, cloud; $0 self-hosted | Open source | Network scans and SNMP | Yes | 45 days, cloud |
| Lansweeper | Finding every device on the network | Starter $299 a month, billed annually ($3,595 a year), 2,000 assets | $299, billed annually, any team size | Up to 100 assets | Agentless and agent | Ticket enrichment integrations | 14 days |
| ManageEngine AssetExplorer | Discovery plus license compliance on a per-asset price | $115 a month for 250 IT assets, cloud, billed monthly; $1,245 billed yearly | $115 for 250 assets, billed monthly | 50 nodes, cloud | Agent and agentless | Not stated | 30 days, 250 assets |
| Asset Panda | Mixed IT and non-IT equipment across sites | Quote only | Quote only | No | Barcode scanning | Not stated | 7 days |
| Snipe-IT | Teams that can host a web app | Free self-hosted; Basic Hosting $39.99 per month, billed monthly, or $399.99 per year | $39.99 hosted, billed monthly; $0 self-hosted | Open source | CSV import, LDAP user sync, REST API | Not stated | Not stated |
| AssetTiger | A low flat monthly price for a hosted list | Basic $20 a month for 500 assets, billed monthly; $220 a year | $20 for 500 assets, billed monthly | No | Barcode and QR scanning | Not stated | 30 days, 250 assets, no card |
| Reftab | Teams on Intune or Jamf that want MDM sync | Hardware Asset Management $125 a month | From $125; billing term and asset allowance not stated | Up to 50 assets | Intune, Jamf, and 30+ integrations | Work orders; Jira integration | 14 days |
Prices as of October 2026.
For a team of 3 technicians, our High Camp plan costs $100 per month billed annually, or $110 billed monthly, because the first agent is free. Freshservice Growth costs the same team $147 billed annually, or $177 billed monthly, and Lansweeper Starter $299, billed annually.
Billed monthly, AssetTiger Basic costs $20 for 500 assets, Snipe-IT hosting $39.99, and AssetExplorer $115 for 250 assets, whatever your technician count. Reftab lists $125 a month without a billing term or asset count. GLPI cloud costs €57 excl. tax for 3 users. Atlassian prices 3 agents through its calculator, and Asset Panda quotes.
These four keep the ticket and the IT asset in one tool, so you can link a repair to the device's record without copying it to a second system. Our ticketing system guide compares the helpdesk side in depth.
Best for small IT teams, MSPs, and schools that want the asset on the ticket and the time on the invoice
$55 per agent per month on High Camp, billed monthly · $50 per agent per month, billed annually · team of 3: $110 per month billed monthly, $100 per month billed annually
You get Asset Manager on High Camp, $55 per agent per month. You can bulk-import assets from an XLSX template, assign each one to an account, location, and user, and see its work history, service costs, and total cost of ownership. Link an asset to a ticket and log your time against it.
Recommendation
Choose SherpaDesk if your team already lives in tickets and you want the asset, the repair time, and the invoice in one place.
Pilot check: in your first paid month, import 50 devices from the XLSX template, check one out to a user, and log time on a ticket against it.
Best for internal IT teams that want ITSM and device discovery from one vendor
$49 per agent per month on Growth, billed annually · $59 billed monthly · team of 3: $147 billed annually, $177 billed monthly · SherpaDesk team of 3: $100 billed annually, $110 billed monthly
Freshservice prices ITAM in asset units: a desktop or mobile device uses 1 unit, and extra units come in packs of 500. Software asset management sits on the ITAM Pro package.
Recommendation
Choose Freshservice if you want discovery and ITSM on one bill and track about 100 devices or know your unit count.
Pilot check: run discovery for 14 days and count the asset units your real fleet consumes.
Best for IT teams already on Jira and Confluence; sold as Atlassian Service Collection
$21.50 per agent per month on Service Collection Standard, billed monthly, at 75 agents · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
Atlassian now prices Jira Service Management as the Service Collection, with asset and configuration management included from Standard up: 5,000 objects on Standard and 50,000 on Premium. Premium, at $55.28 per agent per month billed monthly at 75 agents, adds hardware asset management for the full device lifecycle.
Recommendation
Choose Jira Service Management if your developers already file work in Jira and you want IT requests there too.
Pilot check: enter your real agent count in Atlassian's calculator, then model laptops, users, and locations as objects.
Best for teams that self-host and want a free helpdesk and inventory
€19 per user per month on Public Cloud, excl. tax · from 1 user · free self-hosted · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
GLPI combines incident and request handling, SLAs, and an inventory that can scan networks and report over SNMP. Its developer, Teclib', sells the hosted version and support plans.
Recommendation
Choose GLPI if you have a server, the time to maintain it, and no budget for licenses.
Pilot check: run the 45-day cloud trial before you install anything, so you test the workflow, not the server.
These three are IT asset management software first. Tickets live elsewhere, so check the integration with your helpdesk before you buy.
Best for IT teams that need to find every device on the network, including ones nobody registered
$299 per month on Starter, billed annually ($3,595 per year) · 2,000 assets included · SherpaDesk team of 3: $100 per month, billed annually
Lansweeper scans without an agent, with an agent option for remote workers. It also imports data from SCCM, Intune, AirWatch, and Google MDM, and collects warranty status.
Recommendation
Choose Lansweeper if unknown devices on your network worry you more than who has which laptop.
Pilot check: scan one subnet during the trial and count devices that aren't on your current list.
Best for IT teams that need discovery, license compliance, and purchase orders on a per-asset price
$115 per month for 250 IT assets, cloud, billed monthly · $1,245 per year, billed yearly · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
AssetExplorer discovers devices with or without an agent and reads barcode, QR, and RFID scanners. It shows license compliance status and manages contracts and purchase orders.
Recommendation
Choose AssetExplorer if software license audits are your biggest risk and you want a price per asset.
Pilot check: discover 250 devices in the trial and reconcile one vendor's licenses against installs.
Best for organizations that track IT and non-IT equipment across many sites
Quote only · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
Asset Panda logs assignments, check-outs, transfers, returns, and chain-of-custody history, with barcode scanning in its mobile app. It runs a dedicated K-12 district offering.
Recommendation
Choose Asset Panda if furniture, vehicles, or lab gear share the register with your laptops.
Pilot check: ask for the quote in writing per asset count, then run one field audit on a phone during the 7 days.
If you need a list of who has what and your helpdesk lives elsewhere, these three ITAM options start free or at a flat monthly price.
Best for teams that can host a web app and want a free IT asset register
$39.99 per month on Basic Hosting, billed monthly · $399.99 per year, billed annually · free self-hosted · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
Snipe-IT tracks assets, accessories, components, and consumables, and its check-out marks who has an item so it can't be double-booked. You can import assets, users, licenses, and more from CSV in the web importer or a command-line tool, and sync users from LDAP.
Recommendation
Choose Snipe-IT if you want a free register and someone on the team can script the MDM import.
Pilot check: import one department's laptops and time how long a week of check-ins and check-outs takes.
Best for small teams and schools that want a low flat monthly price for a hosted list
$20 per month for 500 assets on Basic, billed monthly · $220 per year, billed yearly · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
AssetTiger includes barcode and QR scanning, check-in and check-out, a REST API, and 80+ report types on every paid plan. Yearly billing gives 1 month free.
Recommendation
Choose AssetTiger if you want a hosted IT asset register for under $50 a month with barcode and QR tags.
Pilot check: tag 20 devices in the trial and run a check-out report.
Best for teams on Intune or Jamf that want devices to sync in
$125 a month for Hardware Asset Management · SherpaDesk $55 per agent per month, billed monthly
Reftab's hardware plan integrates with Intune, Jamf, Iru, Jira, and 30+ more tools, with audits, maintenance and work orders, and reservations. Software asset management costs $9 per tracked software user per year.
Recommendation
Choose Reftab if your devices already live in Intune or Jamf and you want them in an IT asset register without typing.
Pilot check: connect your MDM in the trial and compare the synced count with your spreadsheet.
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Definition
IT asset management (ITAM) is the practice of tracking every piece of IT hardware and software you own, from purchase to disposal, together with its cost, contract, and owner. It combines inventory, financial, and contract work so you spend less and plan replacements on time.
In daily terms, IT asset management is knowing which laptop Sarah has, when its warranty ends, and what it cost you to keep it running. IT asset management software holds that record. It finds or receives the hardware, software, and network assets in your organization, records them, and makes the data available to the people who need it.
An IT asset is anything in that inventory. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) lists end-user devices, network devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and servers. That holds whether they sit in the office, connect remotely, or run in the cloud. Software counts too: operating systems and applications on the network.
When you compare ITAM tools, you'll see hardware and software split. CIS treats them the same way: enterprise assets and software assets are two separate controls. Check which of the two an ITAM plan covers before you compare prices.
The benefits of IT asset management come down to three things you can measure: security, license compliance, and money.
Security. You can't patch or protect a device you don't know about. CIS Control 1 asks you to actively manage every enterprise asset so you know "the totality of assets that need to be monitored and protected". Its first safeguard lists the fields to record: network address, hardware address, machine name, owner, and department. It asks you to review and update the inventory bi-annually or more often. Tracking every asset is also how you confirm updates and patches were applied.
License compliance. An ITAM system helps you prove you own the licenses you run, which prevents surprises at audit time. CIS Control 2 goes further: only authorized software should install and run.
Money. One central IT asset record shows what you own, so you stop buying what's already in a closet.
For schools, the stakes rise with the fleet. In CoSN's 2026 survey of district technology leaders, with 607 responses, 90% report 1:1 device availability in middle school and 88% in high school. More than a third (38%) expect reduced funding for devices, so a lost Chromebook comes out of a tighter budget.
The IT asset management process follows the asset's life. TechTarget describes five phases; here is what your ITAM software should record at each one.
Decide what you need, how you'll buy or license it, and how you'll pay for it. The tool's job here is a report: what's aging out, and what's sitting unused.
Example: a district plans next summer's Chromebook refresh from the list of devices past their warranty date.
Buy, lease, or license the asset. Record the purchase date, cost, vendor, and warranty the day it arrives, not the day it breaks.
Install the asset and bring it into your environment. Put an IT asset tag on it, assign it to a user and a location, and check it out to them.
Common mistake: imaging the laptop before it has an asset tag, so the first record is created from memory a week later.
Repair, patch, and upgrade. Every ticket about the device should land on its IT asset record, so the repair history and its cost add up in one place.
When the asset reaches the end of its useful life, retire and dispose of it. Mark the IT asset record retired, note how the data was wiped, and stop paying for its licenses.
Between those phases, IT asset management means keeping the record true. CIS asks you to review and update the inventory bi-annually or more often. A physical check, tag by tag and room by room, is one way to do that review; how often you walk the rooms is your call.
IT asset management (ITAM) tracks what you own and what it costs. IT service management (ITSM) is how you design, deliver, and improve IT services, from incidents and problems to changes, with asset management as one of its processes. A configuration management database (CMDB) maps how assets depend on each other. TechTarget puts it simply: asset management is the "what", and configuration management is "how" the assets operate.
The record of each device and license over its life.
The work your team does for users.
If you're a small team, you may not need ITAM, ITSM, and a CMDB as three separate products. What helps most is the asset on the ticket, so a technician opening "laptop won't boot" sees the model, the warranty, and the last three repairs. That's the case for a helpdesk with assets built in. A CMDB earns its place when you need to see how assets work together, the "how" that configuration management covers.
Start with the type. Asset management tools fall into three groups, and each answers a different question.
| Type | Answers | Examples here | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery-led | What is on my network right now? | Lansweeper, AssetExplorer | Asset-count tiers; annual billing on some plans |
| Tracking-led | Who has which device, and where is it? | Snipe-IT, AssetTiger, Reftab, Asset Panda | Manual entry or CSV import unless you connect an MDM or API |
| Helpdesk-linked | What did this device cost us in repairs? | SherpaDesk, Freshservice, Jira Service Management, GLPI | Which plan carries the asset module |
Then check the features you'll use weekly. A good ITAM tool for a small team covers most of this list:
Price is the last filter in IT asset management, and the unit matters more than the number. Per-asset pricing can suit a small fleet; per-agent pricing can suit a large fleet run by a few people. AssetExplorer's 250-asset cloud tier costs $115 a month, billed monthly, while a 3-person team on our High Camp plan pays $110 a month, billed monthly.
School IT asset management is a different job. Among the districts CoSN surveyed in 2026, 1:1 device availability reached 84% in grades 3–5, 90% in middle school, and 88% in high school. Devices move between carts, classrooms, and homes, and loaners go out daily.
That breaks the usual advice. "Many/most of those systems break down when you're talking about shared laptops or laptops that students use," a district sysadmin managing about 10,000 student laptops and tablets wrote. Without an MDM link, another replied, "you will have to do it manually either via CSV imports or adding them manually".
For school IT asset management, look for four things:
Per-asset tiers climb with every cart you add, and per-agent plans carry their own asset allowances: Freshservice counts asset units, and Jira counts objects. Check the asset allowance on any ITAM plan, ours included. AssetTiger's 2,500-asset Core plan is $440 a year; our High Camp plan is $55 per agent per month ($50 billed annually), and schools are priced by enrollment.
Choose by where your work happens, then by count. These three questions narrow the ITAM list to two or three tools.
If you're an MSP, start here. One small MSP on ConnectWise PSA and Ninja RMM wanted asset data "into one platform, so we can better manage our customers assets". Put each IT asset under the client's account, and link the ticket and time entry to that client, so the repair time reaches the right invoice. Our best MSP software guide covers the billing side, and best RMM tools covers the device-monitoring side that feeds it.
Before you buy IT asset management software, size the audit. Enter your device count and the minutes one asset takes to find and scan:
Hours one physical audit takes
assets × minutes per asset ÷ 60. Twice a year doubles it.
Watch for these five mistakes when you set up IT asset management.
Make an IT asset record for what has a serial number, an owner, and a warranty. Log cables and adapters as stock counts, if at all.
If updates get missed when technicians switch tools, the record goes stale. That's how devices go "missing for weeks".
"You start off thinking you just need to track who has what, then suddenly you're looking at dashboards with ten tabs," one r/sysadmin member wrote. Pay for the five features you'll use weekly.
An IT asset inventory nobody updates drifts. CIS asks for a review and update bi-annually or more often.
Retirement means updating the asset record, canceling support agreements, and handling the licenses. Mark disposed devices retired and record the data wipe.
How this works in SherpaDesk
A helpdesk and PSA a small IT team can run alone. You keep every device in Asset Manager by category, type, make, and model, assigned to an account, a location, and a user. Import the list from an XLSX template, or sync Chromebooks from Google Device Manager and devices from NinjaOne.
Link the asset to a ticket, and its record keeps the work history, log history, and service costs. For audits, assign an Asset Auditor to a location to verify assets or mark them missing. Loaners get their own Loaner and Daily Loaner statuses.
Asset Manager is on High Camp, $55 per agent per month, billed monthly ($50 billed annually). There is no contract, and schools pay by enrollment.
Who this isn't for
If you need to sweep every subnet for devices nobody registered, or reconcile software licenses against installs, a discovery-led tool such as Lansweeper or AssetExplorer fits better. Our assets come in by import, entry, or sync from NinjaOne and Google Device Manager. And if you have no helpdesk and only want a list of who has what, start with Snipe-IT or AssetTiger.
IT asset management software records every device and license your team owns: who has it, where it is, what it cost, and when its warranty ends. Some tools find devices on the network; others take an import or a sync from your MDM. The best ITAM software for a small team also links each asset to its tickets. See what is IT asset management.
Yes. Snipe-IT and GLPI are open source and free to self-host. Lansweeper is free for up to 100 assets, Reftab for up to 50, and AssetExplorer's free cloud edition covers 50 nodes. Self-hosted asset management tools cost you time instead: someone runs the server, the upgrades, and the imports. Hosted free tiers skip the server but cap the asset count. See free and low-cost options.
For a small business whose IT team works from tickets, a helpdesk with assets built in saves a second ITAM product. On SherpaDesk High Camp you pay $55 per agent per month, billed monthly ($50 billed annually). If you only need a hosted list, AssetTiger starts at $20 a month for 500 assets.
You can start in Excel. Check that you can trace who changed what in your current workbook, name one owner for updates after each check-out, and watch for devices that move faster than the sheet. Keep the spreadsheet's IT asset columns: asset tag, serial, model, user, location, status, purchase date, warranty. You can import into SherpaDesk from an XLSX template; Snipe-IT's importer takes CSV.
ITAM tracks what you own: each device and license, its owner, cost, and lifecycle. ITSM runs the work your team does for users: tickets, requests, and changes. In a helpdesk with asset tracking, the two meet on the ticket, so a technician sees the device's warranty and repair history before starting. See ITAM vs ITSM vs CMDB.
It depends on the pricing unit. Snipe-IT and GLPI are free to self-host. Billed monthly: AssetTiger $20 for 500 assets, Snipe-IT hosting $39.99, and AssetExplorer $115 for 250 assets. Reftab lists $125 a month. Lansweeper Starter is $299 a month, billed annually. Per agent: Freshservice Growth $49 per agent per month and SherpaDesk High Camp $50 per agent per month, both billed annually. See the comparison table.
For each device, record the asset tag, serial number, model, owner, department, location, status, purchase date, cost, and warranty end. CIS Safeguard 1.1 also asks for the network address if static, the hardware address, the machine name, and whether the device is approved to connect. CIS asks you to review and update the IT asset inventory bi-annually or more often.
Patrick co-founded SherpaDesk and has led it as CEO since 2013. He has worked with IT service providers since 1998, first on network projects for schools and government offices, then on the helpdesk software their technicians use every day.