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Government · head to head

NEXGEN Asset Management vs WireGuard

NEXGEN Asset Management logo

NEXGEN Asset Management

Government

Combined EAM and CMMS for utilities and municipalities with Esri GIS at the centre of the asset register

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
WireGuard logo

WireGuard

Cybersecurity

Modern, minimal-complexity VPN protocol with state-of-the-art cryptography

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only WireGuard has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: NEXGEN Asset Management pricing keys off asset count, so a routine GIS resegmentation that splits mains into more records can raise your subscription without adding a single user or work order.; WireGuard manual key management required; WireGuard does not provide automated peer discovery or key distribution mechanisms
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which NEXGEN Asset Management and WireGuard actually diverge.

Attributes where NEXGEN Asset Management and WireGuard differ
AttributeNEXGEN Asset ManagementWireGuard
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

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 NEXGEN Asset Management

  • Esri GIS integration
  • Risk and criticality
  • Condition assessment
  • Capital planning
  • Work orders
  • Mobile field app
  • Service requests
  • Inventory and purchasing

Only in WireGuard

Nothing recorded that NEXGEN Asset Management does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

NEXGEN Asset Management

  • A water utility that must show a board why a specific main is being replaced this year rather than nextnot WireGuard
  • A city public works department consolidating a GIS asset inventory and a paper work order process into one systemnot WireGuard
  • An airport authority tracking condition assessments across airside and landside assets with capital forecastingnot WireGuard
  • A district that needs citizen service requests to become tracked work orders with an auditable historynot WireGuard

WireGuard

  • Site-to-site VPN connectivity for datacentres and branch officesnot NEXGEN Asset Management
  • High-performance VPN applications requiring minimal latency and CPU overheadnot NEXGEN Asset Management
  • Embedded systems and IoT devices with strict memory and storage constraintsnot NEXGEN Asset Management
  • WireGuard-based managed services (Tailscale, Mullvad VPN) providing abstraction over raw protocolnot NEXGEN Asset Management
  • Kernel module for Linux-based VPN appliances and firewallsnot NEXGEN Asset Management
  • Research and development in cryptographic protocol designnot NEXGEN Asset Management

Where each one falls short

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

NEXGEN Asset Management

  • Pricing keys off asset count, so a routine GIS resegmentation that splits mains into more records can raise your subscription without adding a single user or work order.
  • Nothing is published and the vendor is small, so the reference set you can call is limited and mostly Californian and North American public agencies.
  • The interface is dated compared with modern CMMS products, which hurts adoption among field crews who compare it to consumer apps on their own phones.
  • GIS integration is the product strength and also its dependency; agencies without a maintained ArcGIS asset layer face a data preparation project before NEXGEN is useful.
  • As a small vendor it carries acquisition risk, and in this segment acquisitions have repeatedly meant a product frozen while it is folded into a larger portfolio.

WireGuard

  • Manual key management required; WireGuard does not provide automated peer discovery or key distribution mechanisms
  • No built-in support for address allocation or DHCP; all IP assignments must be manually configured
  • Limited to UDP; TCP encapsulation requires wrapper tools, making it unsuitable for environments blocking UDP
  • Stateless protocol design means lost packets trigger peer disconnection rather than transparent reconnection
  • Requires operational expertise to securely configure and deploy; not suitable for non-technical users without wrapper tools (Tailscale, Mullvad)

Pricing, plan by plan

NEXGEN Asset Management

On request
  • NEXGEN Asset Management$undefined/year
    • Tiered pricing based on the number of assets under management
    • Implementation, GIS integration and data migration quoted separately
    • Mobile module licensed alongside the core platform

WireGuard

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the WireGuard review.

Which should you pick?

Choose NEXGEN Asset Management if

  • You need esri gis integration.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want risk and criticality.
NEXGEN Asset Management review

Choose WireGuard if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD.
WireGuard review

Questions people ask

Is NEXGEN Asset Management or WireGuard better?
Neither clearly leads. NEXGEN Asset Management starts at On request and WireGuard at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, NEXGEN Asset Management or WireGuard?
WireGuard has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for NEXGEN Asset Management and Free for WireGuard.
Does NEXGEN Asset Management or WireGuard run on more platforms?
NEXGEN Asset Management runs on Web, iOS, Android. WireGuard runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD.
Can I use WireGuard for free?
Yes. WireGuard has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. NEXGEN Asset Management starts at On request.
What is NEXGEN Asset Management best used for?
NEXGEN Asset Management is most often used for a water utility that must show a board why a specific main is being replaced this year rather than next, a city public works department consolidating a gis asset inventory and a paper work order process into one system, an airport authority tracking condition assessments across airside and landside assets with capital forecasting, a district that needs citizen service requests to become tracked work orders with an auditable history. Of those, a water utility that must show a board why a specific main is being replaced this year rather than next and a city public works department consolidating a gis asset inventory and a paper work order process into one system are not what WireGuard is typically brought in for.
What can NEXGEN Asset Management do that WireGuard cannot?
NEXGEN Asset Management covers Esri GIS integration, Risk and criticality, Condition assessment, Capital planning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

NEXGEN Asset Management: How is NEXGEN priced?

On a tiered model based on the number of assets under management, quoted per agency. Nothing is published.

WireGuard: Is WireGuard free?

Yes, WireGuard is free and open-source software. The Linux kernel module is licensed under GPLv2; implementations for other platforms use MIT or Apache 2.0 licences. There are no licensing fees.

Source
NEXGEN Asset Management: Do we need Esri ArcGIS?

Not strictly, but the product is designed around it and most of the value assumes a maintained GIS asset layer.

WireGuard: How does WireGuard differ from IPsec and OpenVPN?

WireGuard replaces complex negotiation protocols and state machines with simple public-key cryptography. Its code is roughly 100 times smaller than IPsec, making it faster to audit, deploy, and maintain. It uses modern cryptographic primitives rather than legacy algorithms.

Source
NEXGEN Asset Management: Does it handle capital planning?

Yes. Risk, criticality and condition scores feed multi-year renewal forecasts intended for board and council submissions.

WireGuard: Can I use WireGuard for a commercial VPN service?

Yes. Several commercial VPN services (Mullvad, IVPN, ProtonVPN) use WireGuard as their underlying protocol. You must implement peer management, key distribution, and endpoint selection on top of the WireGuard protocol.

Source
NEXGEN Asset Management: Is there a mobile app?

Yes, a map-based field application with offline capability, licensed alongside the core platform.

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