Softwr

Government · head to head

CentralSquare Asset Management vs IFS Ultimo EAM

CentralSquare Asset Management logo

CentralSquare Asset Management

Government

Public sector enterprise asset management, sold for years as Lucity

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
IFS Ultimo EAM logo

IFS Ultimo EAM

Field Service

Dutch enterprise asset management with role-based user tiers, now sold inside the IFS portfolio

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CentralSquare Asset Management the Lucity name is now only a suffix on a CentralSquare product, so long-standing customers should confirm which capabilities carry forward under the current release rather than assuming continuity from the Lucity they know.; IFS Ultimo EAM iFS sells two overlapping EAM products, Ultimo and IFS Cloud EAM, and a buyer signing a multi-year term is depending on the vendor funding both roadmaps at current levels.
  • They diverge on capability: CentralSquare Asset Management covers Esri ArcGIS integration, IFS Ultimo EAM covers Three user licence types.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CentralSquare Asset Management and IFS Ultimo EAM actually diverge.

Attributes where CentralSquare Asset Management and IFS Ultimo EAM differ
AttributeCentralSquare Asset ManagementIFS Ultimo EAM
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premiseWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryGovernmentField Service

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 CentralSquare Asset Management

  • Esri ArcGIS integration
  • Public works asset breadth
  • Citizen request intake
  • Condition assessment
  • Inspections
  • Suite integration

Only in IFS Ultimo EAM

  • Three user licence types
  • Industry solutions
  • Safety and compliance
  • Mobile maintenance
  • Spare parts management
  • Contractor management
  • Fleet management module
  • Condition-based triggers

What people use each for

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

CentralSquare Asset Management

  • A city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheetsnot IFS Ultimo EAM
  • A county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programmenot IFS Ultimo EAM
  • A public works department wanting citizen-reported potholes and blocked drains to become work orders without manual re-keyingnot IFS Ultimo EAM
  • A municipality already running CentralSquare finance that wants asset and work costs to land in the general ledger without an integration projectnot IFS Ultimo EAM

IFS Ultimo EAM

  • A hospital where hundreds of ward staff must report faults but only the estates planners need full maintenance functionalitynot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • A manufacturer needing permits to work and lockout-tagout tied to the same work order as the maintenance tasknot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • A public transport operator managing vehicle maintenance and depot facilities in one system rather than twonot CentralSquare Asset Management
  • A mid-sized European site that wants an EAM configured for its industry in weeks rather than a blank platform implementationnot CentralSquare Asset Management

Where each one falls short

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

CentralSquare Asset Management

  • The Lucity name is now only a suffix on a CentralSquare product, so long-standing customers should confirm which capabilities carry forward under the current release rather than assuming continuity from the Lucity they know.
  • CentralSquare is private-equity owned and grew by acquisition, so asset management competes for development attention against public safety and finance products with larger revenue, and its roadmap is not independently controlled.
  • Pricing is unpublished and quoted per municipality, and asset management is often presented alongside other suite modules, so a department must work to get a clean, unbundled number it can defend at council.
  • Esri ArcGIS is effectively a prerequisite for the spatial capability that makes the product worth buying, and that licence is a separate cost the software quote will not include.
  • It is North America focused, aligned to United States municipal practice, funding structures and regulatory programmes, which limits its fit for local authorities elsewhere.

IFS Ultimo EAM

  • IFS sells two overlapping EAM products, Ultimo and IFS Cloud EAM, and a buyer signing a multi-year term is depending on the vendor funding both roadmaps at current levels.
  • IFS does not publish list pricing for Ultimo, so the widely quoted entry figures come from third-party review sites rather than the vendor and should not be used to build a budget.
  • Strength is concentrated in Europe, and organisations needing local-language support, partners and implementation resource in North America or Asia will find the channel much thinner.
  • The industry solution templates that accelerate go-live also encode assumptions, and organisations whose processes differ from the template spend the saved time on reconfiguration instead.
  • Reporting and analytics beyond the standard set generally push customers to Power BI, so plan for a separate business intelligence licence and the modelling work behind it.

Pricing, plan by plan

CentralSquare Asset Management

On request
  • CentralSquare Asset Management$undefined/year
    • Subscription or on-premise licensing, quoted per municipality
    • Priced on population, module selection and user counts
    • Esri ArcGIS licensing purchased separately

IFS Ultimo EAM

On request
  • IFS Ultimo EAM$undefined/month
    • Priced per user with Self-Service, Light and Full tiers at different rates
    • Price per user does not change with the number of industry solutions enabled
    • Cloud subscription is the standard route; on-premise is legacy

Which should you pick?

Choose CentralSquare Asset Management if

  • You need esri arcgis integration.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want public works asset breadth.
CentralSquare Asset Management review

Choose IFS Ultimo EAM if

  • You need three user licence types.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want industry solutions.
IFS Ultimo EAM review

Questions people ask

Is CentralSquare Asset Management or IFS Ultimo EAM better?
Neither clearly leads. CentralSquare Asset Management starts at On request and IFS Ultimo EAM at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CentralSquare Asset Management or IFS Ultimo EAM?
CentralSquare Asset Management starts at On request and IFS Ultimo EAM at On request.
Does CentralSquare Asset Management or IFS Ultimo EAM run on more platforms?
CentralSquare Asset Management runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, On-premise. IFS Ultimo EAM runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is CentralSquare Asset Management best used for?
CentralSquare Asset Management is most often used for a city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheets, a county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programme, a public works department wanting citizen-reported potholes and blocked drains to become work orders without manual re-keying, a municipality already running centralsquare finance that wants asset and work costs to land in the general ledger without an integration project. Of those, a city consolidating streets, water, parks and facilities maintenance into one asset register instead of four departmental spreadsheets and a county needing auditable stormwater and backflow inspection records for a regulatory programme are not what IFS Ultimo EAM is typically brought in for.
What can CentralSquare Asset Management do that IFS Ultimo EAM cannot?
CentralSquare Asset Management covers Esri ArcGIS integration, Public works asset breadth, Citizen request intake, Condition assessment. IFS Ultimo EAM covers Three user licence types, Industry solutions, Safety and compliance, Mobile maintenance.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CentralSquare Asset Management: Can I still buy Lucity?

Not under that name alone. It is sold as CentralSquare Asset Management powered by Lucity, and quotes and contracts will use the CentralSquare name.

IFS Ultimo EAM: Is Ultimo still sold separately from IFS Cloud EAM?

Yes. IFS positions Ultimo at the mid-market and IFS Cloud EAM at large enterprises, and sells both.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Do I need Esri?

In practice yes. The spatial asset handling that distinguishes the product depends on ArcGIS, licensed separately from Esri.

IFS Ultimo EAM: How does the user licensing work?

Three tiers: Self-Service for request and view, Light for occasional use, Full for planners and managers. Rates differ per tier.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Is it cloud only?

No. Both hosted subscription and on-premise deployment are available, which matters for municipalities with data residency or network policy constraints.

IFS Ultimo EAM: Does enabling more industry solutions cost more per user?

No. The per-user price stays the same regardless of how many industry solutions you select.

CentralSquare Asset Management: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted per municipality based on population, modules and users, usually through a public procurement process.

IFS Ultimo EAM: Is on-premise still available?

Cloud subscription is the route IFS sells. On-premise exists in the installed base but is not the direction of travel.

Share

Related pages

More on CentralSquare Asset Management

More on IFS Ultimo EAM

Keep looking

Other head to heads