Friday, 18 September 2026, 11:30 AM
Created by: Ruvenss G. Wilches
If you are looking for a place to keep track of servers, services and what they cost, Cloud Infrastructure is one option among several. Here is an honest comparison so you can decide what fits.
The most recommended open-source IT asset management tool. Clean interface, sensible data model, quick to set up, with a check-in/check-out workflow built for hardware, accessories, consumables and licences. It is an inventory tool rather than a CMDB: there is no dependency mapping between assets, and reporting is basic.
The deepest infrastructure data model of the group — racks, devices, IP address management, circuits — with excellent REST and GraphQL APIs. It is built for network and datacenter engineers. Self-hosting is free of licence but carries real server and engineering cost; NetBox Cloud is quote-based. It does not do cost tracking or client billing.
IT documentation built for MSPs: client documentation, network details, encrypted passwords, IT assets and runbooks in one place, around 30 USD per user per month, with a self-hosted option at the same price. Strong documentation; costs and invoicing live elsewhere.
Free and open-source, self-hosted, covering client documentation, passwords, network information, basic ticketing and invoicing. A good fit for an early-stage MSP with somebody who enjoys running their own infrastructure; less so at scale.
Open-source ITSM with inventory, ticketing and a CMDB. Broad, mature and free, with a correspondingly larger footprint to learn and administer.
| Capability | NIZU Cloud Infrastructure | Snipe-IT | NetBox | Hudu | ITFlow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asset inventory | Yes | Yes (hardware focus) | Yes (network focus) | Yes | Yes |
| Relationships between assets and other records | Yes — credentials, SSH, monitors, domains, databases, clients, projects, files | No | Yes (physical/logical topology) | Partial (documents link to assets) | Partial |
| Cost per asset and monthly run-rate | Yes | Purchase cost only | No | No | Partial |
| Posts costs into accounting and invoices clients | Yes — through the workspace's Expenses and Invoices | No | No | No | Basic invoicing |
| Provider API sync | Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Infomaniak | Via integrations | Via plugins/scripts | Via integrations | No |
| Uptime monitoring | Through NizuUptime (linked) | No | No | No | No |
| Client portal | Yes, per-contact capabilities | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| IP address management (subnets) | Basic (IP assets) | No | Excellent | Basic | Basic |
| Change history per field | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Part of a wider business workspace (CRM, projects, invoicing, tickets) | Yes | No | No | No | Partial |
| Pricing | Included with the NIZU App | Free (self-hosted) / hosted plans | Free (self-hosted) / quote-based cloud | ~30 USD per user per month | Free (self-hosted) |
| Overall fit for a company that runs infrastructure for clients | 9/10 | 7/10 | 7/10 (network teams: 9/10) | 8/10 | 6/10 |
When the servers, the credentials, the monitors, the clients, the projects and the money already live in your NIZU workspace, and what you are missing is the one map that connects them — with the cost of each piece flowing straight into your expenses and your clients' invoices.
Sources consulted (2026): Virima's open-source ITAM overview, EZO AssetSonar and SaaSworthy on Snipe-IT alternatives, Flamingo and OpenMSP on MSP documentation tools (Hudu, ITFlow), Capterra on Hudu pricing, Obelinf on network documentation tools (NetBox).