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Manufacturing · head to head

IBM Maximo Application Suite vs Propel

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
Propel logo

Propel

Manufacturing

PLM, quality and product information management built on the Salesforce platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Propel your product data lives in a Salesforce org, so a future decision to leave Salesforce becomes a PLM migration as well as a CRM one, and the extraction is not trivial.
  • They diverge on capability: IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Propel covers Item and BOM management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where IBM Maximo Application Suite and Propel differ
AttributeIBM Maximo Application SuitePropel
Starting price$3150/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer year by AppPoint poolquote
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, LinuxWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud, API

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

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 IBM Maximo Application Suite

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

Only in Propel

  • Item and BOM management
  • Change management
  • Quality management
  • Product information management
  • Supplier collaboration
  • Native Salesforce
  • Licence types

What people use each for

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

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 Propel
  • An airline or rail operator needing configuration control and maintenance history depth that survives a regulator audit going back yearsnot Propel
  • A manufacturer wanting condition-based maintenance and work order execution in the same system rather than integrating a predictive tool to a separate CMMSnot Propel
  • A defence or nuclear estate where the industry solution and long-term vendor viability matter more than the licence costnot Propel

Propel

  • A medical device company needing linked design control and CAPA records for an ISO 13485 audit without an on-premise PLM programmenot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • A consumer products firm publishing the same product record to engineering, packaging and e-commerce teamsnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • A company already standardised on Salesforce that wants product data governed with the same admin skills as the CRMnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • A hardware manufacturer routing customer complaints straight to the part revision and supplier that caused themnot IBM Maximo Application Suite

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Propel

  • Your product data lives in a Salesforce org, so a future decision to leave Salesforce becomes a PLM migration as well as a CRM one, and the extraction is not trivial.
  • CAD data management is handled through connectors rather than natively; Propel manages metadata and files well but is not a substitute for a CAD vault on large assemblies.
  • The published cost bands are extremely wide, from 10,000 to 500,000 US dollars a year, and setup can approach the annual licence, so early budgeting without a scoped quote is close to meaningless.
  • Licence roles are split across Performance, Quality, Enrichment, Collaboration and Partner types, and buyers frequently discover mid-project that a user needs a more expensive role than budgeted.
  • Salesforce platform limits such as governor limits, API call ceilings and storage allowances apply, and organisations with very large BOMs or heavy integration traffic hit them in ways a purpose-built PLM would not surface.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Propel

On request
  • Propel$undefined/year
    • Annual user-based licensing in role types
    • Salesforce platform access included in each licence
    • Indicative small deployment band of 10,000 to 150,000 USD a year plus 10,000 to 25,000 setup

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Propel if

  • You need item and bom management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, API.
  • You also want change management.
Propel review

Questions people ask

Is IBM Maximo Application Suite or Propel better?
Neither clearly leads. IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Propel at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IBM Maximo Application Suite or Propel?
IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Propel at On request.
Does IBM Maximo Application Suite or Propel run on more platforms?
IBM Maximo Application Suite runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux. Propel runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, API.
What is IBM Maximo Application Suite best used for?
IBM Maximo Application Suite is most often used for a transmission utility managing hundreds of thousands of linear and point assets with regulatory reporting that a mid-market cmms cannot produce, an airline or rail operator needing configuration control and maintenance history depth that survives a regulator audit going back years, a manufacturer wanting condition-based maintenance and work order execution in the same system rather than integrating a predictive tool to a separate cmms, a defence or nuclear estate where the industry solution and long-term vendor viability matter more than the licence cost. Of those, a transmission utility managing hundreds of thousands of linear and point assets with regulatory reporting that a mid-market cmms cannot produce and an airline or rail operator needing configuration control and maintenance history depth that survives a regulator audit going back years are not what Propel is typically brought in for.
What can IBM Maximo Application Suite do that Propel cannot?
IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Maximo Manage, Maximo Health and Predict, Maximo Visual Inspection. Propel covers Item and BOM management, Change management, Quality management, Product information management.

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.

Propel: Do I need to buy Salesforce separately?

No. Each Propel licence includes Salesforce platform access, and end users do not need their own Salesforce licences or Salesforce expertise.

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.

Propel: Does being on Salesforce lock me in?

Practically, yes. The application, its configuration and your product data all sit in a Salesforce org, which is a real consideration at renewal.

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.

Propel: What does it cost?

Propel publishes indicative bands rather than list prices: roughly 10,000 to 150,000 US dollars a year for a small deployment and 250,000 to 500,000 for a large one, plus setup.

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.

Propel: Is it suitable for regulated medical devices?

Yes, that is a core segment; the quality module covers CAPA, non-conformance, audits and training records with electronic signatures.

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