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Cybersecurity · head to head

Milestone XProtect vs Trimble Unity Maintain

Milestone XProtect logo

Milestone XProtect

Cybersecurity

Open platform video management software with perpetual per-device licences

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Trimble Unity Maintain logo

Trimble Unity Maintain

Government

GIS-centric public asset and work management, the product formerly sold as Cityworks

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Milestone XProtect has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Milestone XProtect care Plus is presented as optional but is not in practice: without it, perpetual licences stop receiving version upgrades and eventually you cannot add a current camera because your frozen version does not support it.; Trimble Unity Maintain esri ArcGIS is a hard prerequisite, so an organisation without it faces a second substantial licence and a GIS programme before the maintenance system can be used at all.
  • They diverge on capability: Milestone XProtect covers Open device support, Trimble Unity Maintain covers Built on ArcGIS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Milestone XProtect and Trimble Unity Maintain actually diverge.

Attributes where Milestone XProtect and Trimble Unity Maintain differ
AttributeMilestone XProtectTrimble Unity Maintain
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOne-time purchase per device licence, plus annual Care Plusquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, Web, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityGovernment

Identical on both: 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 Milestone XProtect

  • Open device support
  • Perpetual device licences
  • Federated architecture
  • Failover recording
  • Evidence export
  • Smart Map
  • Integration platform
  • Video summarisation

Only in Trimble Unity Maintain

  • Built on ArcGIS
  • Service requests
  • Work order management
  • Permits and licensing
  • Mobile field access
  • Storeroom and inventory
  • Operational Insights
  • AgileAssets convergence

What people use each for

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

Milestone XProtect

  • A city or transport operator running tens of thousands of cameras across federated sitesnot Trimble Unity Maintain
  • An enterprise with mixed legacy camera brands that refuses to standardise on one manufacturernot Trimble Unity Maintain
  • A critical infrastructure site needing failover recording servers and tamper-evident evidence exportnot Trimble Unity Maintain
  • An integrator building a bespoke security application on top of an open VMS platformnot Trimble Unity Maintain

Trimble Unity Maintain

  • A water utility wanting valve exercising and hydrant flushing recorded against the same GIS features the engineering team maintainsnot Milestone XProtect
  • A city consolidating a citizen service request line, work orders and inspections into one location-based systemnot Milestone XProtect
  • A state transportation department managing pavement and bridge assets with linear referencing rather than point assetsnot Milestone XProtect
  • A public works department that has already licensed ArcGIS Enterprise and wants to avoid rekeying its asset inventorynot Milestone XProtect

Where each one falls short

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

Milestone XProtect

  • Care Plus is presented as optional but is not in practice: without it, perpetual licences stop receiving version upgrades and eventually you cannot add a current camera because your frozen version does not support it.
  • Per-device licensing means multi-sensor and multi-imager cameras consume several licences each, so a headline camera count badly understates the true licence cost of a modern design.
  • It is Windows only for servers and needs a properly designed server and storage architecture, so the software price is a fraction of a project that also needs recording servers, storage and an integrator.
  • Complexity requires trained staff or a certified integrator; organisations that install it without either end up running a large deployment on default settings and never using the features they paid for.
  • Milestone retired Kite from its portfolio in favour of Arcules from January 2025, which stranded buyers who had standardised on Kite and is a reminder that the cloud side of the portfolio has changed direction more than once.

Trimble Unity Maintain

  • Esri ArcGIS is a hard prerequisite, so an organisation without it faces a second substantial licence and a GIS programme before the maintenance system can be used at all.
  • The product is mid-rename from Cityworks to Trimble Unity Maintain with transition timelines Trimble has not committed to publicly, leaving contracts, documentation and integrator experience split between two names.
  • CVE-2025-0994, a deserialisation flaw in Cityworks, was exploited in the wild and listed by CISA in February 2025, which makes on-premise deployments a patching obligation rather than a set-and-forget install.
  • Because assets live in the GIS, changing the asset model is a GIS division change, so maintenance teams cannot restructure their own hierarchy without another department in the loop.
  • It is built for North American public sector practice, and the permitting, funding source and reporting models do not map cleanly onto other countries or onto private industrial estates.

Pricing, plan by plan

Milestone XProtect

Free
  • XProtect Essential+Free
    • Free for up to 8 cameras
    • No recording time limit
    • No vendor support included
  • XProtect Express+$109/one-time
    • Perpetual device licence, distributor list price
    • Single site, single server
    • Care Plus purchased separately per device per year
  • XProtect Professional+$177/one-time
    • Perpetual device licence, distributor list price
    • Multiple recording servers
    • Edge storage retrieval
  • XProtect Expert$282/one-time
    • Perpetual device licence, distributor list price
    • Failover recording servers
    • Advanced video wall and evidence handling

Trimble Unity Maintain

On request
  • Trimble Unity Maintain$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription sized by population served, asset volume and user count
    • Esri ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Online licensing required separately
    • Hosted and on-premise deployment priced differently

Which should you pick?

Choose Milestone XProtect if

  • You need open device support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want perpetual device licences.
Milestone XProtect review

Choose Trimble Unity Maintain if

  • You need built on arcgis.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want service requests.
Trimble Unity Maintain review

Questions people ask

Is Milestone XProtect or Trimble Unity Maintain better?
Neither clearly leads. Milestone XProtect starts at Free and Trimble Unity Maintain at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Milestone XProtect or Trimble Unity Maintain?
Milestone XProtect has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Milestone XProtect and On request for Trimble Unity Maintain.
Does Milestone XProtect or Trimble Unity Maintain run on more platforms?
Milestone XProtect runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Trimble Unity Maintain runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
Can I use Milestone XProtect for free?
Yes. Milestone XProtect has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Trimble Unity Maintain starts at On request.
What is Milestone XProtect best used for?
Milestone XProtect is most often used for a city or transport operator running tens of thousands of cameras across federated sites, an enterprise with mixed legacy camera brands that refuses to standardise on one manufacturer, a critical infrastructure site needing failover recording servers and tamper-evident evidence export, an integrator building a bespoke security application on top of an open vms platform. Of those, a city or transport operator running tens of thousands of cameras across federated sites and an enterprise with mixed legacy camera brands that refuses to standardise on one manufacturer are not what Trimble Unity Maintain is typically brought in for.
What can Milestone XProtect do that Trimble Unity Maintain cannot?
Milestone XProtect covers Open device support, Perpetual device licences, Federated architecture, Failover recording. Trimble Unity Maintain covers Built on ArcGIS, Service requests, Work order management, Permits and licensing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Milestone XProtect: Is XProtect really free for small sites?

Essential+ is free for up to eight cameras with no recording time limit, but it comes with no vendor support and no multi-server capability.

Trimble Unity Maintain: Is Cityworks discontinued?

Not discontinued, renamed. It is becoming Trimble Unity Maintain, converging with AgileAssets, and Trimble has not published a final transition date.

Milestone XProtect: Are licences perpetual or annual?

Device licences are perpetual. The annual cost is Care Plus, the support and software update contract, which you need to stay on current versions.

Trimble Unity Maintain: Do I need Esri ArcGIS?

Yes. The product is built on ArcGIS and cannot be deployed without an Esri licence.

Milestone XProtect: What happens if I do not renew Care Plus?

The system keeps recording, but you stop getting version upgrades, and over a few years that blocks you from adding newer cameras.

Trimble Unity Maintain: Was there a security incident?

Yes. CVE-2025-0994 in Cityworks was exploited in the wild and added to the CISA known exploited vulnerabilities catalogue in February 2025.

Milestone XProtect: Who owns Milestone?

Canon. The portfolio also includes BriefCam analytics and Arcules cloud video, with Arcules replacing Milestone Kite from January 2025.

Trimble Unity Maintain: Can it handle roads and pavement as well as pipes?

Yes, through the AgileAssets lineage now inside the Unity Maintain family, which adds linear referencing for transportation assets.

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