CALCULATOR · YOUR INPUTS, OUR SCORES
CMDB drift cost calculator: what does keeping the record current by hand cost?
SHORT ANSWER
By The Record Desk · CMDB Alternatives Compare · Published 2026-10-11
How do I use it?
- Replace the four upkeep inputs with your own numbers.
- Move the priority sliders to match what matters to you, and tick any must-haves.
- Read the re-ranked table, then open the profiles of the options that stay near the top.
Your manual upkeep
Every laptop, server, cloud instance, device or app the CMDB tracks.
Records whose owner, location, status or configuration stop matching reality.
Finding the truth, then updating the record.
Per hour, in your currency.
These defaults are placeholders for you to replace, not survey data or vendor figures.
This is what keeping the record current by hand costs at your inputs. The options below are scored on how much of that work they document taking over; we do not estimate how much each one would save.
Your priorities
| Rank | Option | Re-weighted score | Change from default rank | Upkeep score | Record card lines | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axonius | same | 68 | 4.5 of 5 | Device-based: the meter is the number of unique, correlated, deduplicated devices, with tiers from under 500 to 10M+ devices and volume discounts. The pricing page shows a starting figure of $8.55 per asset for 15,000-24,999 assets; other tier figures are not shown. AWS Marketplace price: 500 assets for $90,625 on a 12-month contract, with private offers available. | |
| 2 | Lansweeper | same | 82 | 4.5 of 5 | Free up to 100 assets after a 14-day full trial. Starter from €270 a month (2,000 assets, 1 installation, service desk ticket-enrichment integrations only) and Pro from €474 a month (2,000 assets expandable to 9,000, up to 3 installations, all integrations), both billed annually. Prices were displayed in euros to our browser and may vary by region. Enterprise custom from 10,000 assets, with full API access. | |
| 3 | runZero | same | 86 | 4 of 5 | Community Edition free for 100 or fewer assets (30-day retention). runZero Platform starts at $5,000. Free, full-featured 21-day trial. | |
| 4 | Oomnitza | same | 66 | 4.5 of 5 | Not published | |
| 5 | Armis | same | 80 | 4 of 5 | No list price on armis.com. AWS Marketplace price: Centrix Standard minimum $3,250 a month on a one-month contract; private offers through Armis. | |
| 6 | JupiterOne | same | 64 | 3 of 5 | Small-Market $25,000 a year; Mid-Market $50,000 per 12 months up to 200,000 data points; Enterprise $100,000 per 12 months up to 400,000 data points; custom above 1M data points. No free tier or trial mentioned. | |
| 7 | ServiceNow CMDB | same | 40 | 4 of 5 | Not published | |
| 8 | Freshservice | same | 62 | 2.5 of 5 | Service desk: Starter $19, Growth $49, Pro $99 per agent per month, billed annually; Enterprise custom; 14-day free trial. The CMDB and asset discovery come with separately licensed IT asset management plans (Growth and above), priced in Asset Units bought in packs of 500: 1 desktop or mobile device = 1 unit, 1 server, VM or network device = 4 units, 1 SaaS user = 1 unit. The Asset Unit price is not shown. | |
| 9 | Device42 | same | 58 | 3.5 of 5 | Annual subscription based on the number of devices; amounts not published. |
Rules used
- Stale records per month = assets × drift rate ÷ 100.
- Manual hours per month = stale records × minutes per fix ÷ 60.
- Manual upkeep cost per month = manual hours × hourly cost; per year = monthly cost × 12.
- Re-weighted score per option = sum of (criterion score × slider) ÷ sum of sliders, shown to one decimal. If every slider is 0, the default ranking is kept.
- Options failing a must-have are listed under Filtered out with the reason, not hidden.
Scores are editorial assessments; prices are as published on the read dates shown, 27 September or 11 October 2026; marketplace prices are labelled as such.
What does drift mean?
Drift is the gap between what the CMDB says and what is true: a laptop reassigned without an update, a server retired but still listed, a cloud instance nobody recorded. Every stale record is either corrected by someone or left wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the default numbers come from?
They are round placeholders so the calculator shows a result on load. Replace them with your own counts and times; nothing on this page is a measured industry rate.
Does the calculator show what each product costs?
No. Several options here do not publish prices, and those that do price by different units: devices, assets, data points, Asset Units or service desk agents, some only on AWS Marketplace. Published prices are listed in the table as text.
Why does changing priorities change the order?
The ranking is a weighted sum. Raising a criterion where an option is strong lifts it.
Is my input saved?
No. Inputs stay in your browser tab and are not stored or sent anywhere.