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Manufacturing · head to head

IBM Maximo Application Suite vs Prodsmart

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
-
Prodsmart logo

Prodsmart

Manufacturing

Mobile manufacturing execution for small plants, acquired by Autodesk and folded into Fusion Operations

From
On request
Rated
-

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.; Prodsmart the product has been absorbed into the Autodesk Fusion family, so the standalone brand, pricing page and channel that earlier reviews describe no longer reflect how it is bought, and buyers must evaluate the current Autodesk packaging instead.
  • They diverge on capability: IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Prodsmart covers Mobile shop floor declarations.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

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

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 Prodsmart

  • Mobile shop floor declarations
  • No controller integration required
  • Traceability
  • Live production status
  • Basic OEE
  • Maintenance records

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

Prodsmart

  • A small manufacturer with older machines that cannot be connected to any network without a costly retrofitnot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • A plant that needs lot traceability for a customer or regulatory audit and currently keeps it on papernot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • A shop wanting live work order status without installing terminals and cabling on the floornot IBM Maximo Application Suite
  • An Autodesk Fusion user looking for an operations layer from the same vendor as its CAD and CAMnot 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.

Prodsmart

  • The product has been absorbed into the Autodesk Fusion family, so the standalone brand, pricing page and channel that earlier reviews describe no longer reflect how it is bought, and buyers must evaluate the current Autodesk packaging instead.
  • All data originates from operator declarations, so accuracy depends entirely on shop floor discipline, and a plant that cannot enforce scanning gets confident charts built on incomplete input.
  • Because it reads nothing from machines, it cannot detect a stoppage the operator does not report, which means downtime analysis captures what people admit to rather than what happened.
  • Scheduling and planning are shallow compared with a full MES or ERP, so most customers still plan elsewhere and use Prodsmart for execution only.
  • Support and account management now run through a very large software vendor, and small manufacturers frequently report longer response paths than they had with the original company.

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

Prodsmart

On request
  • Prodsmart (Autodesk Fusion Operations)$undefined/year
    • Mobile shop floor execution
    • Traceability and production reporting
    • Sold within the Autodesk Fusion product family

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.

Choose Prodsmart if

  • You need mobile shop floor declarations.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want no controller integration required.

Questions people ask

Is IBM Maximo Application Suite or Prodsmart better?
Neither clearly leads. IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Prodsmart 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 Prodsmart?
IBM Maximo Application Suite starts at $3150/month and Prodsmart at On request.
Does IBM Maximo Application Suite or Prodsmart run on more platforms?
IBM Maximo Application Suite runs on Web, Cloud, On-premise, iOS, Android, Linux. Prodsmart runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Prodsmart is typically brought in for.
What can IBM Maximo Application Suite do that Prodsmart cannot?
IBM Maximo Application Suite covers AppPoint pooling, Maximo Manage, Maximo Health and Predict, Maximo Visual Inspection. Prodsmart covers Mobile shop floor declarations, No controller integration required, Traceability, Live production status.

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.

Prodsmart: Who owns Prodsmart?

Autodesk acquired it in 2022 and has integrated it into the Fusion product family as its operations offering.

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.

Prodsmart: Does it need my machines to be connected?

No. That is the central design decision. Operators declare production on mobile devices.

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.

Prodsmart: Is it a full MES?

It covers execution, traceability and basic OEE. Detailed scheduling, quality workflows and controller level data are not its scope.

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.

Prodsmart: Can I still buy it as a standalone product?

It is sold through Autodesk. Confirm the current packaging and pricing with Autodesk rather than relying on pre acquisition material.

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