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Manufacturing · head to head

IBM Maximo Application Suite vs Tulip

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
Tulip logo

Tulip

Manufacturing

Frontline operations platform for manufacturing

From
$100/month
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.; Tulip minimum 10 interface commitment increases entry cost
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where IBM Maximo Application Suite and Tulip differ
AttributeIBM Maximo Application SuiteTulip
Starting price$3150/month$100/month
Pricing modelPer year by AppPoint poolsubscription
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, LinuxWeb

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 Tulip

Nothing recorded that IBM Maximo Application Suite does not also cover.

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

Tulip

  • Production floor apps and dashboardsnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Quality and assembly workflowsnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Sensor data integrationnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Regulated industry manufacturingnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • Multi-site operational dashboardsnot 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.

Tulip

  • Minimum 10 interface commitment increases entry cost
  • Enterprise and Regulated pricing not transparent
  • Complex per-interface billing model

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

Tulip

$100/month
  • Essentials$100/month
    • Apps, Tulip AI, Tables, Analytics
    • Mobile/desktop/touchscreen access
    • USB device integrations
  • Professional$250/month
    • All Essentials features
    • Advanced edge connectivity
    • SSO/SAML/LDAP
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • All Professional features
    • Workspaces, app approval workflows
    • Custom roles, multilingual apps
  • Regulated Industries$null/month
    • eSignatures (21 CFR Part 11)
    • Auditable record history
    • Zero data loss protection

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 Tulip if

Nothing in the data separates Tulip from IBM Maximo Application Suite on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Tulip review

Questions people ask

Is IBM Maximo Application Suite or Tulip better?
Neither clearly leads. IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Tulip at $100/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IBM Maximo Application Suite or Tulip?
IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Tulip at $100/month.
Does IBM Maximo Application Suite or Tulip run on more platforms?
IBM Maximo Application Suite runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux. Tulip runs on Web.
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 Tulip is typically brought in for.
What can IBM Maximo Application Suite do that Tulip cannot?
IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Maximo Manage, Maximo Health and Predict, Maximo Visual Inspection.

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.

Tulip: How is Tulip pricing calculated?

Tulip pricing is based on 'Monthly Active Interfaces (MAI)', the number of devices running Tulip Player applications with activity during at least one day per month. Minimum commitment is 10 interfaces.

Source
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.

Tulip: Does Tulip offer a free tier or trial?

No free plan is mentioned on the Tulip pricing page. All pricing tiers require direct contact with sales for quotes and requires a minimum 10 interface commitment.

Source
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.

Tulip: What is the difference between Essentials and Professional tiers?

Professional ($250/MAI/month) adds advanced edge connectivity, SSO/SAML/LDAP, 3rd-party HTTP/SQL integrations, custom widgets, and higher AI Action/automation task limits compared to Essentials ($100/MAI/month).

Source
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.

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