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Field Service · head to head

Brightly Asset Essentials vs Percepto

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
Percepto logo

Percepto

Field Service

Drone-in-a-box inspection with the AIM software that runs the missions and reads the results

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Percepto aIM is built for Percepto aircraft and base stations, so buying the software is buying the fleet, and a site that already owns DJI or other drones cannot bring them into it.
  • They diverge on capability: Brightly Asset Essentials covers Work orders and requests, Percepto covers Drone-in-a-box base station.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Brightly Asset Essentials and Percepto differ
AttributeBrightly Asset EssentialsPercepto
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Brightly Asset Essentials

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

Only in Percepto

  • Drone-in-a-box base station
  • Autonomous scheduled missions
  • AIM mission management
  • Optical gas imaging payload
  • Thermal and visual inspection
  • Change detection
  • Alarm-triggered response
  • Georeferenced asset history

What people use each for

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

Brightly Asset Essentials

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

Percepto

  • A refinery replacing manual methane leak detection rounds with scheduled optical gas imaging flightsnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A remote mine site that cannot economically station inspection crews and needs weekly stockpile and infrastructure surveysnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A utility substation network needing thermal inspection of switchgear on a fixed cycle with an auditable recordnot Brightly Asset Essentials
  • A port or tailings facility that wants an automatic aerial response when an alarm fires at three in the morningnot Brightly Asset Essentials

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Percepto

  • AIM is built for Percepto aircraft and base stations, so buying the software is buying the fleet, and a site that already owns DJI or other drones cannot bring them into it.
  • Everything depends on beyond-visual-line-of-sight regulatory approval, which is strong in the United States and patchy elsewhere, so a European or Asian site may face a materially different operating envelope for the same money.
  • Pricing is a per-site annual programme covering hardware, software and support, with no published rates, so comparing it against hiring an inspection contractor requires a full proposal.
  • The base station is fixed infrastructure requiring power, connectivity and a site survey, which means a linear asset such as a pipeline needs several installations rather than one system.
  • Weather, wind limits and airspace restrictions still ground flights, so the inspection schedule an operator plans around is a best case, and manual fallback procedures still have to exist.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Percepto

On request
  • Percepto AIM programme$undefined/year
    • Base station and aircraft
    • AIM software subscription
    • Site survey, installation and regulatory support

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Percepto if

  • You need drone-in-a-box base station.
  • You also want autonomous scheduled missions.
Percepto review

Questions people ask

Is Brightly Asset Essentials or Percepto better?
Neither clearly leads. Brightly Asset Essentials starts at On request and Percepto at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Brightly Asset Essentials or Percepto?
Brightly Asset Essentials starts at On request and Percepto at On request.
Does Brightly Asset Essentials or Percepto run on more platforms?
Brightly Asset Essentials runs on Web, iOS, Android. Percepto runs on Web.
What is Brightly Asset Essentials best used for?
Brightly Asset Essentials is most often used for a school district consolidating maintenance requests from fifty buildings into one queue with a portal teachers can use, a municipal public works department that must justify replacement capital to a council with condition-based evidence, a healthcare estate tracking statutory compliance tasks and producing audit evidence on demand, a senior living operator standardising preventive maintenance across sites with a mobile app technicians will actually open. Of those, a school district consolidating maintenance requests from fifty buildings into one queue with a portal teachers can use and a municipal public works department that must justify replacement capital to a council with condition-based evidence are not what Percepto is typically brought in for.
What can Brightly Asset Essentials do that Percepto cannot?
Brightly Asset Essentials covers Work orders and requests, Preventive maintenance, Asset registers, Capital planning. Percepto covers Drone-in-a-box base station, Autonomous scheduled missions, AIM mission management, Optical gas imaging payload.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Brightly Asset Essentials: Who owns Brightly?

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

Percepto: Can I use Percepto AIM with drones I already own?

No. The system is designed around Percepto's own aircraft and base station.

Brightly Asset Essentials: What does Asset Essentials cost?

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

Percepto: Do I need a pilot on site?

Not in jurisdictions where beyond-visual-line-of-sight operation is approved. Confirm the approval position for your country before committing.

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.

Percepto: What does it cost?

Percepto does not publish pricing. Expect an annual per-site programme covering hardware, the AIM subscription and support.

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

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

Percepto: Can it detect gas leaks?

Yes, with an optical gas imaging payload, which is one of the main reasons oil and gas operators buy it.

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