Tagaris vs Snipe-IT
Two self-hosted asset registers that solve the same problem in different ways. Where they differ, where each is stronger, and which one fits your setup.
Snipe-IT is the established name in self-hosted asset management: open source, free for any number of users, and in production use for over a decade. Tagaris is newer and commercial, with a free tier for a single administrator and paid Team licences. Both track hardware, software licences, warranties, stock and assignments, and both keep your data on your own server. If you already run one of them and it works, there is no urgent reason to move; a register you keep current beats either product's feature list.
This page is written by the Tagaris team, so read it with that in mind. We have kept it factual, and where Snipe-IT is the better choice we say so. Comparison last reviewed in August 2026; if something is out of date, email contact@goodhallsolutions.co.uk and we will correct it.
Side by side
The short version of each product, feature by feature.
| Snipe-IT | Tagaris | |
|---|---|---|
| Source model | Open source. Inspect it, patch it, fork it. | Proprietary. The deployment files are public; the source is not. |
| Cost | Free self-hosted with every feature. Paid cloud hosting from the vendor. | Free tier with no asset limit. Team licences by seat count (5 to 50); multi-organisation is an add-on. Self-hosted, with a managed hosted instance available on request. |
| Users on the free version | Unlimited, with roles and permissions. | One administrator. Multiple users with roles need a Team licence. |
| Runs on | A PHP application backed by MySQL or MariaDB, installed directly or with Docker. | Two Docker containers (app and PostgreSQL), or one self-contained container. Migrations run automatically at start. |
| Directory sign-in | LDAP and Active Directory sync, plus SAML single sign-on. | OpenID Connect single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID, on the Team licence. No LDAP. |
| Two-factor authentication | Included. | Included, on the free tier. |
| Stock | Accessories, components and consumables. | The same three, with low-stock alerts in the daily email digest. |
| Locations and labels | Locations with printable asset labels (barcode and QR). | Multi-level locations (site, floor, room, rack) with QR labels for rooms and locations as well as assets: scan a door, audit a room. |
| Device sync | None built in. The community and the REST API cover it. | Microsoft Intune and Jamf Pro sync into a review queue, and people import from Microsoft Entra ID. Free beta. |
| Backups | Command-line backup tooling. | Scheduled encrypted backups with in-app restore and optional S3-compatible offsite copies. |
| Reports | Built-in reports and custom exports. | Eight built-in reports plus a custom report builder, all with CSV export, including depreciation, value by location and disposals. Free tier. |
| Audit log | Activity history included. | Org-wide audit log with CSV export, on the Team licence. |
| API | REST API. | REST API (v1) with personal and organisation keys. Free tier. |
| Track record | In production since 2013, with a large community. | First released in 2026. Support comes from the developer. |
Which one fits
Most teams can decide from four or five questions.
Pick Snipe-IT if
- Your policy requires open-source software you can audit or fork.
- You need several users without paying, since its free version has no seat limit.
- You need LDAP or Active Directory sync.
- You want a decade of community answers to any question you might hit.
Pick Tagaris if
- You want a small install that backs itself up: two containers, automatic migrations, encrypted backups with restore built in.
- Your estate lives in Microsoft Intune or Jamf and you want devices to flow into the register for review rather than typing them in.
- Locations matter as much as assets: buildings, floors and rooms with their own QR labels and room-by-room audits.
- You want accountant-friendly output on the free tier: depreciation, value and disposal reports with CSV export.
- One administrator is enough, or a flat Team licence with Microsoft single sign-on and an audit log suits how you buy software.
On open source and lock-in
The clearest difference between the two is the source model, and it deserves a straight answer. Snipe-IT is open source; Tagaris is not. If open source is a hard requirement for you, pick Snipe-IT.
What Tagaris commits to instead is that your data is never held hostage. The register lives in your own PostgreSQL database on your own server. Full CSV and JSON export is on every tier, free included, with no asset limit and no export limit. Licence keys are verified offline, the app makes no third-party calls by default, and if you stop paying, the free tier keeps working with your data intact. The deployment files are public on GitHub, and Licensing and security covers how the keys work.
Moving between them
Moving is a CSV export and import in either direction, deliberately. Tagaris ships a Snipe-IT import preset that recognises its column names and translates its status values, with a dry-run preview before anything is written. Switching from Snipe-IT walks through the whole move, including what maps to what and what does not carry over.
See it rather than read about it
The live demo runs the current Tagaris release in your browser with demo data loaded. No sign-up, and the dataset resets nightly.