Softwr

Energy · head to head

ABB Ability vs IBM Maximo Application Suite

ABB Ability logo

ABB Ability

Energy

Digital solutions for energy and automation

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
IBM Maximo Application Suite logo

IBM Maximo Application Suite

Manufacturing

Enterprise asset management suite licensed by a shared pool of AppPoints rather than by named user

From
$3150/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ABB Ability the Internet Archive's capture of ABB Ability's page on 19 December 2021 showed it is sold only through a 'Find Your Sales Partner' channel across industry verticals (Automotive, Buildings, Data Centers, EV Charging, Manufacturing, Mining, Oil & Gas, Power, and others), with no price list published.; IBM Maximo Application Suite appPoints are consumed by users, applications and environments at once, so a routine decision like adding a test environment or enabling Health quietly eats pool capacity and can trigger a true-up nobody budgeted for.
  • They diverge on capability: ABB Ability covers Asset health monitoring, IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ABB Ability and IBM Maximo Application Suite actually diverge.

Attributes where ABB Ability and IBM Maximo Application Suite differ
AttributeABB AbilityIBM Maximo Application Suite
Starting priceOn request$3150/month
Pricing modelquotePer year by AppPoint pool
PlatformsWeb, Mobile, ApiWeb, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux
CategoryEnergyManufacturing
Founded1988Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ABB Ability

  • Asset health monitoring
  • Predictive maintenance
  • Performance optimization
  • Energy management
  • Grid automation
  • Remote diagnostics
  • Advanced analytics
  • Digital twin technology

Only in IBM Maximo Application Suite

  • AppPoint pooling
  • Maximo Manage
  • Maximo Health and Predict
  • Maximo Visual Inspection
  • Industry solutions
  • OpenShift deployment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ABB Ability

  • Asset performance managementnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Predictive maintenancenot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Grid optimizationnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Energy efficiencynot IBM Maximo Application Suite

IBM Maximo Application Suite

  • A transmission utility managing hundreds of thousands of linear and point assets with regulatory reporting that a mid-market CMMS cannot producenot ABB Ability
  • An airline or rail operator needing configuration control and maintenance history depth that survives a regulator audit going back yearsnot ABB Ability
  • A manufacturer wanting condition-based maintenance and work order execution in the same system rather than integrating a predictive tool to a separate CMMSnot ABB Ability
  • A defence or nuclear estate where the industry solution and long-term vendor viability matter more than the licence costnot ABB Ability

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ABB Ability

  • The Internet Archive's capture of ABB Ability's page on 19 December 2021 showed it is sold only through a 'Find Your Sales Partner' channel across industry verticals (Automotive, Buildings, Data Centers, EV Charging, Manufacturing, Mining, Oil & Gas, Power, and others), with no price list published.

IBM Maximo Application Suite

  • AppPoints are consumed by users, applications and environments at once, so a routine decision like adding a test environment or enabling Health quietly eats pool capacity and can trigger a true-up nobody budgeted for.
  • Pools are commonly sized from headcount rather than concurrency and application mix, and licence reviews frequently find them over-provisioned by a large margin, meaning organisations pay for entitlement they never consume.
  • Implementation, data migration, customisation and integrator fees routinely cost two to three times the first-year licence, so a business case built on the subscription figure will be materially wrong.
  • MAS requires Red Hat OpenShift, which for a customer-hosted deployment adds a container platform, its licensing and the specialist administration skills to run it, none of which the previous standalone Maximo needed.
  • Maximo is deep and slow to change; configuration is a specialist skill, upgrades are projects rather than updates, and organisations without a dedicated Maximo team end up permanently dependent on an implementation partner.

Pricing, plan by plan

ABB Ability

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the ABB Ability review.

IBM Maximo Application Suite

$3150/month
  • Essentials (SaaS)$3150/month
    • Entry SaaS tier for a small user population
    • One production environment
    • Core Manage functionality
  • Standard (SaaS)$undefined/month
    • Larger AppPoint pool
    • Additional applications and environments
    • Priced on application
  • Premium (SaaS)$undefined/month
    • Full application set including Predict and Visual Inspection
    • Multiple environments
    • Priced on application
  • Customer hosted$undefined/year
    • AppPoint entitlement bought outright and run on your own OpenShift cluster
    • Infrastructure, OpenShift and administration costs are yours
    • Annual support and subscription contract required

Which should you pick?

Choose ABB Ability if

  • You need asset health monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Mobile, Api.
  • You also want predictive maintenance.
ABB Ability review

Choose IBM Maximo Application Suite if

  • You need apppoint pooling.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux.
  • You also want maximo manage.
IBM Maximo Application Suite review

Questions people ask

Is ABB Ability or IBM Maximo Application Suite better?
Neither clearly leads. ABB Ability starts at On request and IBM Maximo Application Suite at $3150/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ABB Ability or IBM Maximo Application Suite?
ABB Ability starts at On request and IBM Maximo Application Suite at $3150/month.
Does ABB Ability or IBM Maximo Application Suite run on more platforms?
ABB Ability runs on Web, Mobile, Api. IBM Maximo Application Suite runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux.
What is ABB Ability best used for?
ABB Ability is most often used for asset performance management, predictive maintenance, grid optimization, energy efficiency. Of those, asset performance management and predictive maintenance are not what IBM Maximo Application Suite is typically brought in for.
What can ABB Ability do that IBM Maximo Application Suite cannot?
ABB Ability covers Asset health monitoring, Predictive maintenance, Performance optimization, Energy management. IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Maximo Manage, Maximo Health and Predict, Maximo Visual Inspection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

IBM Maximo Application Suite: Is Maximo still sold per user?

No. The Maximo Application Suite licenses a shared AppPoint pool consumed by users, applications and environments. Per-seat Maximo is the old model.

IBM Maximo Application Suite: What does the entry SaaS tier cost?

The Essentials package starts around $3,150 per month for a small user population and one production environment. Larger tiers are quoted.

IBM Maximo Application Suite: Do non-production environments cost AppPoints?

Yes. Development, test and training environments draw from the same pool, which is the most common sizing surprise.

IBM Maximo Application Suite: Can I run MAS without OpenShift?

No. OpenShift is the deployment platform whether you host it yourself or consume MAS as a service from IBM.

Share

Related pages

More on ABB Ability

More on IBM Maximo Application Suite

Keep looking

Other head to heads