Free IT inventory software — what works for nothing

The key facts

• IT inventory spans three jobs: the register (what exists), discovery (what is on the network), and custody history (who has what now).
• Free covers the register well and discovery capably (open source, self-hosted); custody churn and audit history are where systems earn their cost.
• BSimple's partial fit: assets as records with locations and movements — no network discovery, no licence metering, stated plainly.
• No free BSimple tier: $180/month AUD upward, full-product trial; the free routes here are listed without pretending we are one.

The three jobs of IT inventory

The register. Every device: model, serial, purchase date, warranty end, assigned user, cost. A spreadsheet genuinely covers this at small scale — and the register is the layer everything else builds on.

Discovery. What is actually on the network, as opposed to what the register claims: scanning tools reconcile the two automatically. Manual registers rot within a month; discovery is the antidote, and capable open-source tools exist for it — the IT-asset open-source route and the network-discovery tools cover that layer.

Custody history. Who has which device now, who had it before, what was installed when. This is a movements-and-history job: check-out, check-in, reassignment — each an attributed event. Spreadsheets list; they do not record custody over time, and this is the layer where paid systems genuinely earn their cost.

The free routes, and their honest edges

The spreadsheet register — free, fast, fine for a few dozen stable devices. Edges: custody churn outruns manual updates, warranty dates never get entered, and there is no audit trail when an audit actually arrives.

Open source, self-hosted — free software for discovery and asset management, with the server, updates and backups as your cost (the self-hosting trade). Excellent for teams with the skills; a hidden salary for teams without.

Freemium tiers — legitimate starting points whose walls predictably sit at agent counts and audit history. The free-ledger pattern prices all three routes honestly, and the IT-flavoured boundary page adds the discovery specifics.

BSimple's partial fit, stated plainly

We build BSimple, so weigh that: it is not IT-discovery software — no network scanning, no licence metering, no agents. Its fit is the custody-and-history half: hardware as non-depleting asset records on the operations record, assignments as recorded movements with full attribution, barcode scanning for check-out/check-in, and the same record running the business's flowing stock beside it. That suits organisations whose IT assets ride along with a broader operation rather than IT departments needing discovery at scale. Plans run $180/$250/$399 per month AUD with the trial as the full product — the hardware-inventory boundary covers the neighbouring cases.