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ERP · head to head

ADempiere vs Maintenance Connection

ADempiere logo

ADempiere

ERP

Community-run open source ERP forked from Compiere, with no vendor behind it

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Maintenance Connection logo

Maintenance Connection

Manufacturing

Enterprise CMMS from Accruent for multi-site asset management

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ADempiere has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: ADempiere there is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.; Maintenance Connection implementation is a project measured in months, and the cost of that work frequently exceeds the first year of licensing
  • They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Maintenance Connection covers Deep asset hierarchies.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ADempiere and Maintenance Connection actually diverge.

Attributes where ADempiere and Maintenance Connection differ
AttributeADempiereMaintenance Connection
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hostedWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryERPManufacturing

Identical on both: 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 ADempiere

  • Application dictionary
  • Financial accounting
  • Order to cash and procure to pay
  • Inventory and warehouse
  • Manufacturing
  • Point of sale
  • Workflow engine
  • Java and PostgreSQL stack

Only in Maintenance Connection

  • Deep asset hierarchies
  • Labour and cost tracking
  • Multi-storeroom inventory
  • Preventive and predictive
  • Compliance reporting
  • Enterprise integration

What people use each for

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

ADempiere

  • A manufacturer in Latin America with an existing ADempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not buildnot Maintenance Connection
  • A company that wants to modify ERP screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than codenot Maintenance Connection
  • An organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependencynot Maintenance Connection
  • A systems integrator building a vertical ERP product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence feenot Maintenance Connection

Maintenance Connection

  • Multi-site manufacturing or healthcare estates with large asset registersnot ADempiere
  • Organisations that must evidence a maintenance regime to a regulatornot ADempiere
  • Operations replacing an ageing enterprise CMMS rather than papernot ADempiere
  • Estates needing maintenance integrated with ERP and financenot ADempiere

Where each one falls short

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

ADempiere

  • There is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.
  • The official website adempiere.net does not resolve, which strands most of the historic documentation and tutorials that search engines still point at and makes onboarding a new developer considerably harder.
  • The last conventional stable release, 3.9.4, is from January 2023, so despite ongoing GitHub activity a buyer evaluating on release cadence sees a project moving slowly.
  • iDempiere, a later fork of the same codebase, absorbed much of the developer community, so ADempiere competes for contributors with its own descendant and is the smaller of the two ecosystems.
  • The interface and the Java Swing heritage feel dated, and staff coming from a modern cloud ERP will need training and will complain; expect resistance from finance and warehouse users during rollout.

Maintenance Connection

  • Implementation is a project measured in months, and the cost of that work frequently exceeds the first year of licensing
  • Pricing is entirely quote-based with no published entry point, so early comparison is impossible
  • The interface reflects its age and is a common objection from technicians used to consumer-grade mobile apps
  • Overpowered for single-site operations, where the configuration burden buys capability that will not be used
  • Accruent sells a broad portfolio, so the buying process involves more product than a maintenance team asked for

Pricing, plan by plan

ADempiere

Free
  • Community editionFree
    • GPL v2 licensed, no licence fee
    • Full ERP, CRM, supply chain and POS modules
    • Self-hosted on your own infrastructure

Maintenance Connection

On request
  • Maintenance Connection$undefined/year
    • Work and asset management
    • Multi-site
    • Inventory

Which should you pick?

Choose ADempiere if

  • You need application dictionary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want financial accounting.
ADempiere review

Choose Maintenance Connection if

  • You need deep asset hierarchies.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want labour and cost tracking.
Maintenance Connection review

Questions people ask

Is ADempiere or Maintenance Connection better?
Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and Maintenance Connection at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ADempiere or Maintenance Connection?
ADempiere has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for ADempiere and On request for Maintenance Connection.
Does ADempiere or Maintenance Connection run on more platforms?
ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. Maintenance Connection runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use ADempiere for free?
Yes. ADempiere has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Maintenance Connection starts at On request.
What is ADempiere best used for?
ADempiere is most often used for a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build, a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code, an organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependency, a systems integrator building a vertical erp product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence fee. Of those, a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build and a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code are not what Maintenance Connection is typically brought in for.
What can ADempiere do that Maintenance Connection cannot?
ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. Maintenance Connection covers Deep asset hierarchies, Labour and cost tracking, Multi-storeroom inventory, Preventive and predictive.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ADempiere: Should I choose ADempiere or iDempiere?

Look at iDempiere first. It is a later fork of the same codebase with a more active community and a modular OSGi architecture. Choose ADempiere if a specific partner or localisation you need only exists there.

Maintenance Connection: Who is Maintenance Connection for?

Multi-site organisations with large asset registers and formal maintenance governance. Below that scale, the configuration effort is not repaid.

ADempiere: Is ADempiere free?

The software is GPL licensed with no licence fee. The cost is implementation, customisation and permanent in-house maintenance, which for a real deployment is substantial.

Maintenance Connection: What does it cost?

Not published. It is quoted, and implementation is a separate line that often exceeds first-year licensing.

ADempiere: Is the project still alive?

Development continues on GitHub with commits into 2026, but the official website is down and the last stable release is from January 2023. Treat it as maintained rather than actively advancing.

Maintenance Connection: How does it differ from MaintainX?

Almost entirely. This is an enterprise system configured to enforce an existing process; MaintainX is a mobile app a team adopts in a day. They rarely appear on the same shortlist honestly.

ADempiere: What is the application dictionary?

It is the metadata layer inherited from Compiere that stores the definition of every window, field and validation rule as data, so you can change the application without touching source code.

Maintenance Connection: Is it good for regulated industries?

That is its strongest case. Audit trails, evidence of preventive regimes and multi-site consistency are what it is built to produce.

Maintenance Connection: What is the biggest risk in adopting it?

Under-resourcing implementation. A partially configured enterprise CMMS is worse than a well-run simple one, and this is the most common way these projects disappoint.

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