Snipe-IT is genuinely, actually free, and open source, which is rare and admirable in this category. If you're evaluating it, you're likely a technical evaluator or a budget-constrained IT manager, and that instinct to look at open source first is a reasonable one. But "free" is a little misleading: you pay in server hosting, sysadmin time, security patching, and backup responsibility instead of a subscription line. For an SME without a dedicated IT operations team, the total cost of ownership is often higher than a paid cloud tool, not lower.
Below is a plain comparison. Pricing, features, and where each product actually wins.
At a glance
| Dozz | Snipe-IT | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $149/mo (Essentials), all-inclusive | $0 software cost, self-hosted |
| User model | Up to 50 users included | Unlimited, self-managed |
| Trial | 30 days, no credit card | N/A. Free forever, but you build it yourself |
| Onboarding | 1-hour guided setup with a real person | Self-hosted deployment, Linux/LAMP knowledge required |
| Core strength | No server to run, official support included | Data ownership, open source, no lock-in |
| Best for | SMEs without a dedicated ops team, non-IT assets | Linux-comfortable IT teams tracking IT assets only |
| Where it struggles | Costs more than "free" software on paper | No official support, IT-assets-only scope, hosting is on you |
How pricing actually compares
Snipe-IT is fully free and open source in its self-hosted form. A hosted "Snipe-IT Cloud" option also exists. Check current pricing on their site, since it changes independently of this comparison. The self-hosted version requires a Linux server, LAMP stack knowledge, and ongoing maintenance, and there's no official vendor support on the free tier. You're on community forums when something breaks.
Here's the honest total-cost-of-ownership math for self-hosting: a small VPS to run it costs roughly $20/month, and a realistic 4 hours a month of sysadmin time at $30/hour adds another $120, for a real cost of around $140/month. Before counting any downtime, backup failure, or security incident. That's within a few dollars of Dozz's $149/month Essentials plan, which includes hosting, maintenance, and official support built into the price. This comparison is only fair if you actually value your time: if you're a hobbyist or a genuine sysadmin who enjoys running infrastructure, Snipe-IT wins on principle even at equal cost.
Dozz also applies a regional pricing multiplier in some markets and offers up to 30% off for verified schools and universities.
Feature-by-feature breakdown
| Dimension | Dozz | Snipe-IT |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price / model | $149/mo, all-inclusive | $0 software, real hosting + ops cost |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | N/A. Free permanently, self-hosted |
| Onboarding | Human-guided, 1 hour | Self-hosted deployment, technical setup |
| User model | Up to 50 users on entry tier | Unlimited, self-managed |
| Scope of assets | All asset types: IT, furniture, equipment, inventory | IT assets by design. Laptops, licenses, accessories |
| QR / barcode scanning | QR-first, built for mobile | Barcode and QR supported |
| Mobile app | Platform-free. Works in any phone/tablet browser, no install | Community and third-party apps |
| Depreciation & lifecycle | Built in, all tiers | Basic depreciation fields |
| Maintenance scheduling | Recurring profiles with reminders, PIC, vendor, and full history | One-off maintenance log entries only, no recurrence |
| Support model | Official support included | Community forums only on the free tier |
| Customization | Custom fields, workflows, approval chains | Custom fields, API-first extensibility |
| Data ownership | Full export any time | Full ownership, self-hosted, no lock-in |
| Hosting & data residency | UK-registered, Germany-hosted, done for you | Wherever you host it. Your responsibility |
Scope of assets. Snipe-IT is IT-only by design. If you're tracking office furniture, medical equipment, hospitality inventory, construction tools, or school lab equipment alongside laptops, Snipe-IT is the wrong shape for the job. Dozz covers all of it from one register.
Support model. There's no vendor support on Snipe-IT's free tier. When something breaks the night before an audit, you're posting on GitHub issues, not opening a support ticket with a response-time guarantee.
Time to value. A competent Linux admin can get Snipe-IT self-hosted in a weekend. Dozz is a 1-hour session with a real person, and you're scanning assets the same day.
Where Snipe-IT wins
Snipe-IT is genuinely free, and being open source means real data ownership, no vendor lock-in, and a codebase anyone can audit. Its MIT-adjacent license is about as generous as this category gets. For pure IT-asset tracking, its feature set is strong, its API is solid and API-first, and its community is active. If you have a Linux-comfortable team that values data sovereignty above convenience, and enjoys running infrastructure, this is a legitimately good choice on principle, not just on price.
Where Dozz wins
Dozz covers every asset type your organisation actually owns, not just IT equipment. Furniture, tools, medical equipment, hospitality stock, whatever it is. There's no server to patch, back up, or worry about at 2am. Official support is included, not a community forum. Onboarding is a real person getting your team live in about an hour, and mobile QR scanning is built into the core product rather than bolted on. Dozz is EU/UK-hosted with data residency guarantees for organisations that need that in writing.
Who should choose which
Choose Snipe-IT if: you have a Linux-comfortable IT team, you only need to track IT assets, and you value data sovereignty and self-hosting above convenience.
Choose Dozz if: you want asset tracking, not a hosting project, you track more than IT gear, or you're an SME without a dedicated ops team to run infrastructure.
FAQ
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The fastest way to know if Dozz fits your setup is to try it. 30 days free, no card, and a real person walks you through your first tags in an hour. If it's not the right fit, tell us and we'll point you at a better option. Even if that's Snipe-IT.