Free preventive maintenance software
Set a recurring PM schedule once and it flags the day each task comes due, no spreadsheet reminders, no paid plan.
The short answer
- The OEE Lab free tracker includes a preventive maintenance schedule alongside your asset register and work orders board, at no cost.
- Set recurring intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, or by run hours) and the tool flags a task the day it comes due, no separate reminder app needed.
- Data stays in your browser, no account required to start, and you can install it as a PWA for one-tap access on the shop floor.
- When PMs are catching real problems and you want automatic capture, computer-vision root cause, and auto-routed work orders, that is where Fabrico takes over.
Most "free" preventive maintenance tools are really free trials that expire, or mobile work-order apps that treat PM scheduling as an afterthought. The OEE Lab tracker builds the PM schedule in as a first-class piece next to your shift logging and work orders board, so a recurring task (grease the bearing every 30 days, change the filter every 500 hours) shows up the day it is due without you tracking dates by hand.
It pairs naturally with the free CMMS ROI calculator if you are trying to justify a maintenance program to your plant manager, and with the downtime cost calculator to show what a missed PM actually costs when the asset fails instead.
The honest limit: this is manual and single-device, you still walk the floor and check things off, and it lives on one browser. That is normal for genuinely free tools. See how to choose OEE and CMMS software for how to think about when to graduate.
What you get, free
Recurring PM schedule
Set intervals by calendar time (daily, weekly, monthly) or by run hours, and the schedule flags each task the day it comes due.
Asset register built in
Attach every PM task to a specific machine or line in your free asset register, so the history lives with the equipment.
Work orders board
A due PM converts into a work order on the board with one click, so nothing falls through between scheduling and doing the job.
No account to start
Open the tool and start scheduling PMs immediately, no signup, no credit card, no trial clock.
Data stays in your browser
Your schedules, assets, and history are stored locally on the device you use, not on a vendor's server.
Installable PWA
Install it to a shop-floor tablet or phone home screen for one-tap access when you're standing at the machine.
Log one shift and the free tracker shows your OEE, your loss Pareto and how you compare to world-class. Add work orders and preventive-maintenance reminders in the same place.
Where free stops, and Fabrico begins
The free tracker is built for getting started fast and for one plant on one device. When a site gets serious about its losses, the manual steps start to cost more than they save. This is exactly where Fabrico takes over.
| Capability | Free OEE Lab tracker | Fabrico |
|---|---|---|
| PM scheduling | Set recurring intervals yourself and the tool flags the task the day it comes due. | PM schedules run alongside automatic OEE capture off your PLCs, so due dates sit next to real machine condition data. |
| Data capture | Log each shift by hand in about 2 minutes, data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your PLCs, no manual entry. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate sub-5-minute stops yourself and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop, with video evidence. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot the loss, then raise the work order yourself on the board. | A detected loss becomes an auto-routed work order, assigned automatically. |
| Scope and multi-site | One plant on one device and browser, best for a single line or shift. | Plant-wide and multi-site from one central cloud view. |
| Integrations | Standalone, run it on its own, export data when you need it elsewhere. | Integrates with PLCs, MES, and ERP so OEE flows with your stack. |
| Access and roles | Local device sign-in with people and roles on that one device. | Org SSO with roles across the plant and a full audit trail. |
| Data residency | Your data lives in your own browser storage on your device. | EU-built with EU data residency, outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act. |
| Support and scale | Self-serve, the best genuinely free way to start on one line today. | Guided onboarding and support, the platform you graduate to as the plant gets serious. |
Frequently asked questions
Is this preventive maintenance software actually free, or a trial?
It is genuinely free, not a time-limited trial. There is no account required to start and no expiring clock. The honest tradeoff is that it runs on one device in your browser rather than syncing across a plant.
Can I set PM schedules by run hours instead of calendar time?
Yes. You can set a recurring PM by calendar interval (daily, weekly, monthly) or track it against run hours logged from your shifts, whichever fits the asset.
What happens when a PM task comes due?
It flags on the day it comes due inside the tool, and you can convert it directly into a work order on the built-in work orders board so it gets assigned and tracked to completion.
Does it push reminders automatically?
No. It flags due tasks inside the tool itself, so you check them when you open it. If you need live dashboards and scheduled reports delivered automatically across a plant, that is a Fabrico capability.
Will this work across multiple machines and a full asset register?
Yes, within one plant on one device. You can build out a full asset register and attach PM schedules and work order history to each machine, but it does not sync across multiple sites or devices.
When should we move past a free PM tool to something like Fabrico?
When manual shift entry and manual PM walk-throughs become the bottleneck, or when you need automatic OEE capture, computer-vision root cause on micro-stops, and work orders that auto-route without someone raising them by hand. That is when a Fabrico demo makes sense.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
The free PM schedule is built for one plant on one device, you set the intervals and the tool reminds you the day they are due. Once preventive maintenance is catching real problems and the plant is ready for automatic OEE capture straight off the PLCs, computer-vision root cause on micro-stops, and work orders that auto-route instead of waiting for someone to raise them, that is what Fabrico is built for, EU-built with EU data residency and support to help your team scale it plant-wide.
Book a Fabrico demoMore free software: All free software · Free CMMS App You Install Right On the Shop Floor · Free CMMS + OEE Software: the Loss and the Work Order in One Tool · Free downtime tracking software: log stops by reason, get a downtime Pareto instantly · Free maintenance management software: work orders, PM, and assets, no cost
Free OEE tracker and light CMMS · Free CMMS software · CMMS ROI calculator · Maintenance KPIs and metrics guide · Free maintenance management software · How to choose OEE and CMMS software