IT asset management
Stackroom vs ManageEngine AssetExplorer
ManageEngine AssetExplorer is enterprise IT asset management with scanning, a CMDB and software licence tracking, deployable on-premise or in the cloud. Stackroom is a mobile-first physical asset tracker built around custody rather than configuration.
Stackroom vs ManageEngine AssetExplorer: which should you choose?
ManageEngine AssetExplorer is the better choice for enterprise IT asset management with a CMDB, software licence tracking and on-premise deployment. Stackroom is the better choice for physically tracking equipment across sites and teams, where a phone, a QR label and a signature matter more than a configuration database.
Side by side
Stackroom vs ManageEngine AssetExplorer: pricing, limits and features
Grouped so you can jump to the part you care about. Our figures come from our billing API, so they match the invoice.
Pricing & plans
Free plan
- Stackroom
- Free forever — 250 assets, 500 people, unlimited users, no card
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- None — free trial only (Downloadable trial)
Paid plans start at
- Stackroom
- $35/mo for Starter — published, self-serve
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Bands run 250, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 IT assets, priced separately for annual and perpetual licensing.
How the bill scales
- Stackroom
- Capability and capacity — never headcount, never how much you track
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- IT asset count, in fixed bands, licensed annually or perpetually. Nothing scales on users.
Limits
Asset limits
- Stackroom
- 250 free, up to 10,000 on Premium, custom on Enterprise
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- 250 → 10,000 in published bands; beyond that, contact sales
Users & seats
- Stackroom
- Unlimited on every plan, including Free — seats are never the meter
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Not a licensing dimension
Locations & sites
- Stackroom
- 1 on Free, unlimited on every paid plan
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Not a licensing dimension
How each tool is set up
On-premise deployment
- Stackroom
- No
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Yes
Time to first real use
- Stackroom
- Same day
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Deployment project
What each tool covers
Beyond IT equipment
- Stackroom
- Any asset type
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- IT-oriented
Custody & accountability
Signed handover & return, with PDF
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Assignment
Asset clearance certificate for leavers
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- No
Signed webhooks with retries
- Stackroom
- 41 events, HMAC-signed, retried
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Not stated on their pricing page
Audits & compliance
Cycle-count audits with sign-off
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Scan-based
Maintenance & service
AMC / CMC service contracts
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Contracts
Finance & lifecycle
Depreciation (SLM / WDV) & book value
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Yes
Tracking & tagging
Network scanning & discovery
- Stackroom
- No
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Its strength
CMDB & relationship mapping
- Stackroom
- Hierarchy only
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Its strength
Bookings & reservations
- Stackroom
- Yes
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- No
Platform, API & AI
REST API
- Stackroom
- Pro and up — documented, published spec
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Not stated on their pricing page
Built-in AI assistant
- Stackroom
- Stackroom AI — Starter and up
- ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- Not stated on their pricing page
| Capability | Stackroom | ManageEngine AssetExplorer |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & plans | ||
| Free plan | Free forever — 250 assets, 500 people, unlimited users, no card | None — free trial only (Downloadable trial) |
| Paid plans start at | $35/mo for Starter — published, self-serve | Bands run 250, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 IT assets, priced separately for annual and perpetual licensing. |
| How the bill scales | Capability and capacity — never headcount, never how much you track | IT asset count, in fixed bands, licensed annually or perpetually. Nothing scales on users. |
| Limits | ||
| Asset limits | 250 free, up to 10,000 on Premium, custom on Enterprise | 250 → 10,000 in published bands; beyond that, contact sales |
| Users & seats | Unlimited on every plan, including Free — seats are never the meter | Not a licensing dimension |
| Locations & sites | 1 on Free, unlimited on every paid plan | Not a licensing dimension |
| How each tool is set up | ||
| On-premise deployment | No | Yes |
| Time to first real use | Same day | Deployment project |
| What each tool covers | ||
| Beyond IT equipment | Any asset type | IT-oriented |
| Custody & accountability | ||
| Signed handover & return, with PDF | Yes | Assignment |
| Asset clearance certificate for leavers | Yes | No |
| Signed webhooks with retries | 41 events, HMAC-signed, retried | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Audits & compliance | ||
| Cycle-count audits with sign-off | Yes | Scan-based |
| Maintenance & service | ||
| AMC / CMC service contracts | Yes | Contracts |
| Finance & lifecycle | ||
| Depreciation (SLM / WDV) & book value | Yes | Yes |
| Tracking & tagging | ||
| Network scanning & discovery | No | Its strength |
| CMDB & relationship mapping | Hierarchy only | Its strength |
| Bookings & reservations | Yes | No |
| Platform, API & AI | ||
| REST API | Pro and up — documented, published spec | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Built-in AI assistant | Stackroom AI — Starter and up | Not stated on their pricing page |
Honest take: AssetExplorer leads on enterprise ITAM depth, CMDB and deployment flexibility. Stackroom leads on mobile custody workflows and non-IT equipment.
ManageEngine AssetExplorer capabilities verified September 2026 · plan facts read from their pricing page , September 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Plan gating
Which tier unlocks what
What you have to be paying for before each capability is available.
- CSV / XLSX importStarter and up
- Barcode & QR scanningStarter and up
- Bookings & reservationsStarter and up
- Maintenance & serviceStarter and up
- Cycle-count auditsGrowth and up
- Report libraryGrowth and up
- Custom fieldsGrowth and up
- Stackroom AIFree and up
- REST APIGrowth and up
- Signed webhooksGrowth and up
- Custom rolesGrowth and up
- Google / Microsoft SSOFree and up
- Remote control is a paid add-on, charged per concurrent session per year
- It is on-premise software — you provide and maintain the server
AssetExplorer's on-premise option is a genuine differentiator that a SaaS cannot match. If deployment location is a requirement, that ends the comparison.
The difference
What Stackroom and ManageEngine AssetExplorer are each built to do
Enterprise ITAM and physical tracking are different disciplines
AssetExplorer is built for an IT department that must account for a large, networked estate: what is deployed, how it is configured, what software is licensed against it, and how the pieces relate. It scans, it maintains a CMDB, and it integrates with the rest of the ManageEngine suite.
That is a substantial capability and Stackroom offers none of it. Our asset record is a physical object with a holder, a location, a condition and a history of who had it.
The distinction matters most for the equipment that has no configuration to manage. A torque wrench, a thermal camera, a set of radios and a flight case have no software, no IP address and no relationships to map — but they are expensive, they move, and they go missing.
The on-premise question
AssetExplorer can be deployed on your own infrastructure. For organisations with a policy or regulatory requirement that asset data does not leave their network, this is decisive, and Stackroom cannot meet it — we are a managed service.
If that constraint is real, stop here and choose AssetExplorer. If it is an assumption that has never been tested, it is worth testing: the requirement is often narrower than the folklore around it.
Adoption outside IT
Enterprise ITAM platforms are designed for IT professionals and the interface reflects that, reasonably. The difficulty arises when the register needs to be maintained by people who are not IT professionals — a stores clerk, a office manager, a technician between jobs.
Stackroom's mobile app is designed for exactly that person: scan a code, see the item, hand it over, capture a signature, done. Whether that matters depends on who has to keep your register accurate.
Why teams switch
What we hear from teams leaving ManageEngine AssetExplorer
The people with the equipment could not use the system
A register maintained by people who were not present when equipment moved is a register that is always slightly wrong.
Non-IT equipment had no home
A CMDB has nowhere sensible to put a set of ladders. That equipment ends up in a spreadsheet, which is where the original problem started.
Deployment outlasted the need
Enterprise deployments take months. Teams with a problem this quarter often need something working this month.
The other side
When ManageEngine AssetExplorer is the better choice
We would rather you picked the right tool than picked ours.
- On-premise deployment is a hard requirement.
- You need a genuine CMDB with relationship mapping and configuration management.
- Software licence compliance is part of the requirement.
- You already run the ManageEngine suite and want assets in the same stack.
Switching
Moving from ManageEngine AssetExplorer
- 1
Export from ManageEngine AssetExplorer
Take a full CSV or XLSX export of your asset list, including serial numbers, categories, locations and any custom fields you rely on. Export your people list separately if ManageEngine AssetExplorer keeps one.
- 2
Map the columns once
The importer previews your file and lets you map each column to a Stackroom field. Categories, locations and departments are created from the values in your file, so you do not build the hierarchy by hand first.
- 3
Import people, then assets
Loading people first means custody assignments resolve to a real person on the asset import rather than needing a second pass.
- 4
Check a sample, then go
Spot-check twenty records against the old system before you invite the team. Re-importing is safe — matching on an existing code updates rather than duplicates.
Nothing is deleted from ManageEngine AssetExplorer by importing into Stackroom, so you can run both in parallel for a week while people get used to the change.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can Stackroom be deployed on-premise?
No. Stackroom is a managed service with per-organisation data isolation. If on-premise deployment is a requirement, AssetExplorer covers it and we do not.
Does Stackroom scan the network?
No. Assets are registered by import, by REST API, or by scanning a QR label with a phone.
We use ServiceDesk Plus. Does that change the answer?
It strengthens the case for staying within ManageEngine for IT assets. Stackroom is worth looking at for the physical equipment outside IT's remit, where the two do not compete.
Is Stackroom suitable for a large organisation?
Yes — hierarchical locations, departments and configurable roles are built for multi-site organisations. The caution is scope, not scale: if you need CMDB and software licensing, we are not the right tool at any size.
Can we import our data from ManageEngine AssetExplorer?
Yes. Export your inventory to CSV and import it into Stackroom. Categories, locations and custom fields map across, and our team will help with the awkward parts of a larger migration.
How long does switching actually take?
Most teams import in the morning and run a real checkout the same afternoon. There is no implementation project and no professional services fee. The longest part is usually relabelling, and that can be done gradually.
Do we have to relabel everything?
No. If your existing labels carry a code you already track, import that code and keep using them. New QR labels can be printed on standard address stock as and when you need them.
Is ManageEngine AssetExplorer free?
No. ManageEngine AssetExplorer has no free plan, only a free trial — downloadable trial. Stackroom has a permanent free plan with unlimited users and no card required.
How is ManageEngine AssetExplorer priced compared with Stackroom?
IT asset count, in fixed bands, licensed annually or perpetually. Nothing scales on users. Stackroom prices on capability and capacity instead: users are unlimited on every plan, and tracking more equipment never moves the bill on its own.
What are the ManageEngine AssetExplorer asset and user limits?
Assets: 250 → 10,000 in published bands; beyond that, contact sales. Users: Not a licensing dimension. Locations: Not a licensing dimension. Every Stackroom limit is published on our pricing page and served from our billing API, so it matches your invoice.
Other comparisons
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See all comparisons · ManageEngine AssetExplorer alternatives
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