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Field Service · head to head

BigChange vs Brightly Asset Essentials

BigChange logo

BigChange

Field Service

UK job management with vehicle tracking built in, acquired by Simpro Group in 2024

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Brightly Asset Essentials logo

Brightly Asset Essentials

Field Service

CMMS and asset management for schools, local government, healthcare estates and manufacturing, now part of Siemens

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: BigChange simpro Group bought BigChange in October 2024 and also owns Simpro, AroFlo and ClockShark, so a UK buyer comparing BigChange with Simpro is choosing between two products whose roadmaps are set by the same owner.; Brightly Asset Essentials nothing about the pricing is published, the official pricing page has been removed, and quotes are per organisation, so buyers cannot benchmark and negotiating leverage depends entirely on running a competitive process.
  • They diverge on capability: BigChange covers Built-in vehicle tracking, Brightly Asset Essentials covers Work orders and requests.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BigChange and Brightly Asset Essentials actually diverge.

Attributes where BigChange and Brightly Asset Essentials differ
AttributeBigChangeBrightly Asset Essentials

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Field Service).

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 BigChange

  • Built-in vehicle tracking
  • Job scheduling
  • Mobile worker app
  • Financial workflow
  • Customer portal
  • Digital forms builder
  • Stock and equipment
  • Driver compliance

Only in Brightly Asset Essentials

  • Work orders and requests
  • Preventive maintenance
  • Asset registers
  • Capital planning
  • Inventory
  • Mobile app
  • Energy and sustainability
  • Reporting

What people use each for

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

BigChange

  • A UK facilities maintenance contractor with sixty vans that wants engineer location and job progress on one screen instead of a tracking portal and a scheduling toolnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A plant hire business that needs delivery, collection and service jobs planned against actual vehicle positions and driver hoursnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A commercial HVAC firm producing statutory service certificates on site and invoicing the same day from the job recordnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A waste and drainage operator that must evidence daily vehicle checks and driver behaviour to satisfy an insurer or an operator licencenot Brightly Asset Essentials

Brightly Asset Essentials

  • A school district consolidating maintenance requests from fifty buildings into one queue with a portal teachers can usenot BigChange
  • A municipal public works department that must justify replacement capital to a council with condition-based evidencenot BigChange
  • A healthcare estate tracking statutory compliance tasks and producing audit evidence on demandnot BigChange
  • A senior living operator standardising preventive maintenance across sites with a mobile app technicians will actually opennot BigChange

Where each one falls short

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

BigChange

  • Simpro Group bought BigChange in October 2024 and also owns Simpro, AroFlo and ClockShark, so a UK buyer comparing BigChange with Simpro is choosing between two products whose roadmaps are set by the same owner.
  • The telematics is bundled rather than optional, so businesses that do not run a van fleet, or that are locked into an existing tracking contract, pay for capability they cannot use or duplicate.
  • Nothing is priced publicly and the vehicle hardware brings an equipment element into the contract, so total cost depends on van count as well as user count and cannot be estimated before a sales call.
  • Contracts have historically been multi-year with hardware attached, which makes leaving mid-term expensive and reduces your leverage at renewal.
  • The product is built around UK operating practice, accounting packages and compliance documents, so it is a weak fit for North America and needs configuration work in mainland Europe.

Brightly Asset Essentials

  • Nothing about the pricing is published, the official pricing page has been removed, and quotes are per organisation, so buyers cannot benchmark and negotiating leverage depends entirely on running a competitive process.
  • Implementation and data migration are quoted separately and commonly add five figures to a mid-size deployment, which is not visible when comparing headline subscription numbers.
  • Siemens ownership has pointed the roadmap at building and infrastructure integration, so industrial maintenance features compete for attention with Siemens Smart Infrastructure priorities.
  • Capability is split across separate Brightly products, so functionality shown in a demo may require an additional module and an additional line on the contract.
  • Reporting is fixed-template heavy and getting a non-standard report often means exporting to a spreadsheet, which undermines the case for consolidating on one system.

Pricing, plan by plan

BigChange

On request
  • BigChange JobWatch$undefined/month
    • CRM, quoting and invoicing
    • Scheduling and dispatch
    • Mobile worker app with custom forms

Brightly Asset Essentials

On request
  • Asset Essentials$undefined/year
    • Priced by named users and modules, quoted per organisation
    • Implementation, data migration and training quoted separately
    • Multi-year agreements are the norm for public-sector buyers

Which should you pick?

Choose BigChange if

  • You need built-in vehicle tracking.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want job scheduling.
BigChange review

Choose Brightly Asset Essentials if

  • You need work orders and requests.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want preventive maintenance.
Brightly Asset Essentials review

Questions people ask

Is BigChange or Brightly Asset Essentials better?
Neither clearly leads. BigChange starts at On request and Brightly Asset Essentials at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BigChange or Brightly Asset Essentials?
BigChange starts at On request and Brightly Asset Essentials at On request.
Does BigChange or Brightly Asset Essentials run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is BigChange best used for?
BigChange is most often used for a uk facilities maintenance contractor with sixty vans that wants engineer location and job progress on one screen instead of a tracking portal and a scheduling tool, a plant hire business that needs delivery, collection and service jobs planned against actual vehicle positions and driver hours, a commercial hvac firm producing statutory service certificates on site and invoicing the same day from the job record, a waste and drainage operator that must evidence daily vehicle checks and driver behaviour to satisfy an insurer or an operator licence. Of those, a uk facilities maintenance contractor with sixty vans that wants engineer location and job progress on one screen instead of a tracking portal and a scheduling tool and a plant hire business that needs delivery, collection and service jobs planned against actual vehicle positions and driver hours are not what Brightly Asset Essentials is typically brought in for.
What can BigChange do that Brightly Asset Essentials cannot?
BigChange covers Built-in vehicle tracking, Job scheduling, Mobile worker app, Financial workflow. Brightly Asset Essentials covers Work orders and requests, Preventive maintenance, Asset registers, Capital planning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

BigChange: Who owns BigChange?

Simpro Group, which acquired it from Great Hill Partners in October 2024. Simpro is backed by K1 Investment Management and also owns Simpro, AroFlo and ClockShark.

Brightly Asset Essentials: Who owns Brightly?

Siemens, which acquired it in 2022 for around 1.58 billion USD. It sits within Siemens Smart Infrastructure.

BigChange: Is the vehicle tracking a separate purchase?

No. Telematics hardware and data are part of the BigChange subscription, which is the main reason it is chosen over job management tools that integrate a third-party tracker.

Brightly Asset Essentials: What does Asset Essentials cost?

Not published. It is quoted by user count and modules, with implementation priced separately.

BigChange: Does BigChange publish pricing?

No. Pricing is quoted after a demo and depends on user numbers, vehicle numbers and contract length.

Brightly Asset Essentials: Is it suitable for manufacturing?

It can run a plant, but the product heritage and roadmap are estates and infrastructure, so plant-specific features lag purpose-built industrial CMMS.

BigChange: Is it usable outside the UK?

It is sold mainly in the UK and Ireland with some European deployment. Accounting integrations and compliance content assume UK practice.

Brightly Asset Essentials: Is there a free tier or trial?

No published free tier. Evaluation is through a sales-led demo.

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