Key points
- For hospitality, the shortlist is usually Access Maintain Evo, Expansive FM, Fixflo, Ostara, Trackplan and Fabric FM, with MaintainX and UpKeep as per-user alternatives and Mainlix as a quote-only option some coffee chains use.
- Access Maintain Evo (formerly ProNett) is the most widely used in UK hospitality and the benchmark everyone else is measured against.
- Per-user CMMS products look cheap but cost more once every site manager and contractor needs a licence.
- Decide on pricing model, contractor access and contract terms first; the feature lists are closer than the brochures suggest.
How we compared them
We looked at systems that UK restaurant groups, coffee shop and bakery chains, pub companies and contract caterers are known to use, and compared them on the things that decide whether a maintenance system works in hospitality: whether it is priced per site or per user, how contractors get access, how much of it is built for commercial kitchens rather than generic estates, and what the contract looks like. Prices and facts come from the vendors’ own pages and review-site listings in October 2026.
We make Fabric FM, which is on this list. We have tried to describe every product fairly and to say where it fits better than ours. Treat this as a starting shortlist and test the two or three that fit with your own sites.
The comparison at a glance
| System | Pricing model | Published price | Hospitality focus | Contractor access | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access Maintain Evo | Per site | Access Maintain from £65/site/month; Evo quoted | High: sold under Access Hospitality, formerly ProNett | Contractor portal | By quote; term varies with estate size |
| Expansive FM | Site-based licence, quoted | Not published | Medium: a hospitality page alongside retail, care, education, banking | Contractor and engineer management module | By quote; setup from a few hundred pounds |
| Fixflo | Quoted | Not published for hospitality | Medium: a hospitality product from a property-maintenance company | Contractor app | By quote |
| Ostara Systems | Quoted | Not published | High in pubs and hotels: Whitbread, Hawthorn Leisure | Supplier portal | Multi-year renewals are typical |
| Trackplan | Usage based | Listed from £3,500 | Medium: restaurant group case studies | Contractor portal | By quote |
| Tabs FM | Per user | From £10 or £20/user/month | Low: built for FM service providers and engineers | Engineer mobile licences | Setup and hosting extra |
| MaintainX | Per user | About $20–75/user/month | Low: generic CMMS, strong mobile app | Paid or limited external users | Monthly or annual |
| UpKeep | Per user | About $24–55/user/month | Low: generic CMMS | Paid external users | Annual; implementation packages $500–5,000 |
| Mainlix | Quoted | Not published | Used by some UK coffee chains | Contractor logins | By quote |
| Fabric FM | Per site, unlimited users | £79 Core, £129 Complete per site/month; 15% less annually | High: built for cafés, bakeries, restaurants and pubs | Free: secure job links or contractor portal | Monthly, 30 days’ notice; free setup up to 25 sites |
The systems, one by one
Access Maintain Evo
The incumbent. ProNett was the maintenance system of choice for UK pub and restaurant groups for years; The Access Group bought it in 2017 and now sells it as Access Maintain Evo within Access Hospitality, alongside its EPOS, rota and purchasing products. It covers reactive and planned maintenance, contractor management with certificate checks, compliance and site-level budgets, and has added AI troubleshooting and alerts. Its sister product, Access Maintain, is published from £65 per site per month; Evo is quoted. Best for: larger groups already in the Access ecosystem, or who want the most established hospitality CAFM. Watch for: modules and setup priced separately, and contract terms that scale with estate size.
Expansive FM
A UK CAFM with a clear module structure (reactive, PPM, assets, contractors, quoted works, parts, cost control, reporting) and a hospitality page alongside retail, care, education and banking. It argues publicly for site-based rather than per-user licensing, which is the right instinct for multi-site operators. Pricing is by quote; its own article puts setup between a few hundred pounds and tens of thousands depending on complexity. Best for: estates that want a configurable general-purpose CAFM with good contractor and cost control. Watch for: the setup and professional services line.
Fixflo
Fixflo comes from residential property maintenance (lettings and block management) and has a hospitality product pitched as “all the control, none of the CAFM weight”, with strong contractor compliance and a compliance matrix across venues. Best for: groups whose main pain is contractor compliance and repairs rather than planned maintenance of kitchen kit. Watch for: how deep the hospitality asset and PPM content goes compared with its property heritage.
Ostara Systems
A UK CAFM with a long record in pubs and hotels: Whitbread renewed with it in 2022 and Hawthorn Leisure has been a customer for over a decade. It is built for large estates with helpdesk, contractor and compliance management and is sold on multi-year agreements. Best for: large pub and hotel estates with an FM function. Watch for: fit for smaller groups without a facilities team.
Trackplan
A cloud CAFM with published restaurant group case studies and a listed starting price of £3,500, priced by organisation size and usage. It covers the standard CAFM scope with a contractor portal. Best for: mid-sized groups wanting a general CAFM at a known starting price. Watch for: what the usage-based price covers at your size.
Tabs FM
Published per-user pricing from £10 (Introductory) or £20 (Advanced) per user per month, excluding setup and hosting, with engineer mobile licences and SFG20 at the Advanced tier. It is built for FM service providers and engineering firms rather than for operators. Best for: a contractor or FM provider running its own engineers. Watch for: per-user costs and the capped Introductory tier if you are an operator.
MaintainX and UpKeep
Two US mobile-first CMMS products with polished apps, free or cheap entry tiers and per-user pricing of roughly $20–75 and $24–55 a month respectively. They are excellent at work orders and checklists and weak on UK statutory compliance, contractor management and multi-site cost control. Best for: a single site or small group with in-house maintenance staff. Watch for: the per-user bill once every site manager and contractor is on it, and UpKeep’s implementation packages at $500–5,000.
Mainlix
A quote-only system used by some UK coffee chains to manage assets and maintenance. There is no public marketing site, feature list, pricing or reviews, so the only way to evaluate it is through a customer or a sales conversation. Best for: groups who already know it through a peer. Watch for: the lack of public information on terms and roadmap.
Fabric FM
Ours. Fabric is CAFM software built specifically for cafés, bakeries, restaurant groups, pubs and contract caterers, by a company that services coffee machines and kitchen equipment for a living. It covers sites and assets, reactive maintenance and a helpdesk, planned maintenance with hospitality intervals, compliance certificates with expiry tracking, contractor management and invoices matched to jobs. It is priced per site with unlimited users (£79 Core, £129 Complete, 15% less paid annually), contractors use it free by secure link or portal, setup is free for groups up to 25 sites, and the contract is monthly with 30 days’ notice. Best for: groups of roughly 3 to 100 sites who want the CAFM core without an enterprise implementation. Watch for: it is the newest system on this list; the trade-off for a modern product is a shorter track record.
Which to shortlist, by size of group
| Your group | Shortlist | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1–5 sites, in-house maintenance | MaintainX, UpKeep, Fabric Core | Per-user tools are affordable at this size; Fabric Core if contractors and compliance matter |
| 5–50 sites, external contractors | Fabric FM, Expansive FM, Fixflo, Trackplan | Per-site pricing, contractor access and compliance tracking without an enterprise implementation |
| 50–300 sites, with an ops or FM team | Access Maintain Evo, Expansive FM, Fabric FM | Established hospitality CAFM; Fabric with a guided rollout |
| 300+ sites, dedicated FM function | Access Maintain Evo, Ostara | Enterprise scale, integrations and account management |
| FM service provider or contractor | Tabs FM, Fabric (FM provider plan), field service tools | Engineer licences and client portals |
What actually matters in hospitality
- Can a site manager raise a fault in thirty seconds on a phone? If not, faults will go back to WhatsApp.
- Do contractors pay or struggle to log in? If so, updates will come by phone and the data will be wrong.
- Does it know what an espresso machine, a combi oven and a kitchen extract are, and the UK checks that apply to them? Or will you be building the asset library and PPM intervals yourself?
- Is it priced per site? Per-user pricing punishes the people you most want on the system.
- What is the contract? Term, notice, renewal, uplift, data export.
- Who answers the phone? Ask existing customers about support, not the vendor.
Next steps
Write down your requirements first using how to choose CAFM software, budget with how much CAFM software costs in the UK, and check the small print with our CAFM contract questions. Then trial two or three systems with your own sites. Fabric’s trial is free for 30 days with no card, and you can see what it covers on the CAFM software page.
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Prices and product details are taken from vendors’ published pages in October 2026 and change over time; check with each supplier before you decide.
