Service Insight vs Qualer
Qualer, now MasterControl Asset Excellence, runs calibration and maintenance on schedules. Service Insight connects your critical assets over LoRaWAN, puts live condition data on the work order record, and Cortex health scores move you to predictive maintenance.
A calibration schedule cannot tell you how an asset is doing. Live sensor data can.
Qualer manages calibration and maintenance records well, but its public materials do not document native sensor connectivity or AI asset health scores. Service Insight streams real-time condition and utilization data onto the same asset record as the work orders, so teams can maintain by condition instead of by calendar.
The Service Insight approach
- Cortex turns live sensor data into asset health and utilization reports, so teams can move from calendar-based to condition-based maintenance.
- Long-range LoRaWAN sensors with multi-year battery life cover -80 freezers, LN2 tanks, CO2 incubators, cold rooms and rooms, and you can bring your own LoRaWAN devices.
- Monitoring, work orders, calibration and validation share one asset record, so alarms, condition data and maintenance history sit together on each asset.
- Published pricing: asset management is free up to 200 assets with unlimited users, and Monitor is $395 per monitored asset per year.
The point-solution problem
- Service events are triggered by time intervals, calendar dates or usage metrics, so maintenance follows the schedule rather than the measured condition of the asset.
- Native environmental and equipment sensor monitoring is not documented in MasterControl's public materials, so freezer, incubator and room data would typically come from a separate monitoring system.
- AI health scores built from live equipment data are not documented; the dashboard shows asset status and maintenance demands.
- Pricing is quote-based through MasterControl sales (Capterra lists a starting price of $499 per month), and reviewers note a separate login from other MasterControl modules.
Service Insight vs Qualer, capability by capability
A check means the capability is included. A blank means it is not documented in Qualer's or MasterControl's public materials as of October 2026 (see Sources). Spot something out of date? Tell us.
About Service Insight
Service Insight is the lab and facility operations platform for biotech and pharma. Asset management, CMMS, calibration management, validation and environmental, performance and utilization monitoring all share one asset record. It was founded by Anthony Uzzo and James Gregory, who previously founded Core Informatics (LIMS and ELN), acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2017.
The difference starts with connectivity. Monitor uses an open LoRaWAN architecture with long-range, multi-year battery sensors for cold storage, CO2 incubators, rooms, leaks, doors and power, and customers can bring their own LoRaWAN devices. Power, door and occupancy sensors measure active versus idle time, and the Digital Twin shows live conditions as a heat map on your floorplan.
Because that data sits on the same record as the work orders, Cortex can turn it into asset health and utilization reports and add incident context to alarms, giving teams what they need to maintain by condition instead of by calendar (AI maintenance recommendations are coming soon). Maintain adds preventive and corrective work orders, structured as-found / as-left calibration with automatic pass/fail and OOT flags, and IQ/OQ/PQ validation with e-signed records built for 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11. Manage is free up to 200 assets with unlimited users. See pricing.
About Qualer
Qualer is a cloud CMMS and calibration management product that was founded by a calibration service provider. Analyst firm Axendia reports that its customers are roughly 70% asset owners and 30% service providers, and the product is organized around that relationship: owners and vendors share schedules, asset documents, service histories and asset states through vendor portals, and calibration labs get their own scheduling, technician and on-site certificate tools.
MasterControl announced its acquisition of Qualer on March 3, 2025, and now sells it as MasterControl Asset Excellence, one module alongside its quality (QMS) and manufacturing (MES) software. Pricing is quote-based through MasterControl sales. Reviewers on G2 and Capterra rate it 4.6 out of 5, and common complaints include limited customization, occasional slow loading and a separate login from other MasterControl modules.
Its maintenance model is the traditional one: service events are triggered by time intervals, calendar dates or usage metrics, and a dashboard shows asset status and maintenance demands. Native sensor connectivity, live environmental monitoring and AI health scores built from equipment data are not documented in its public materials, so condition data has to come from another system.
Switching from Qualer to Service Insight
- Load your asset registry. Bring your asset list into Manage, free up to 200 assets, with locations from site down to bench.
- Move calibration and maintenance schedules. Set up preventive maintenance, calibration tolerances and validation in Maintain so each asset keeps one complete task history.
- Bring your vendors along. Record service contracts, coverage and SLA expectations so vendor performance is tracked next to the work.
- Connect your critical assets. Add LoRaWAN sensors to freezers, incubators and cold rooms first, then extend to utilization tracking so Cortex health scores can guide maintenance. Plan your move with our team.
Questions
Something else? Talk to our team.
What is the best alternative to Qualer (MasterControl Asset Excellence)?
Service Insight is the best alternative to Qualer for lab and facility teams that want to move beyond calendar-based maintenance. It combines asset management, CMMS, calibration, validation and vendor management with native LoRaWAN sensor monitoring on one asset record, and Cortex turns live condition and utilization data into asset health reports. Native sensor monitoring and AI health scores are not documented in Qualer's public materials.
Is Service Insight less expensive than Qualer?
Service Insight publishes its pricing: Manage is free up to 200 assets with unlimited users and no per-seat fees, and Monitor is $395 per monitored asset per year, with Maintain (CMMS, calibration and validation) priced through sales. MasterControl does not publish Asset Excellence pricing and quotes it through sales; Capterra lists a starting price of $499 per month on a usage-based model. Native environmental monitoring is not documented in Qualer's public materials, so check how monitoring data would be handled.
Can Service Insight replace Qualer?
Yes, for teams that own and operate lab equipment. Service Insight Maintain covers preventive and corrective work orders, a complete asset task history, vendor contracts, coverage and SLA tracking, and calibration with structured as-found and as-left readings, tolerance checks, automatic pass/fail, out-of-tolerance flags, e-certificates and NIST-traceable evidence on the asset record. It also adds the real-time monitoring and utilization data that Qualer's public materials do not document.
How does Service Insight enable predictive maintenance?
Service Insight connects assets over long-range LoRaWAN and streams real-time temperature, CO2, power, door and occupancy data onto the same asset record as the work orders. Cortex turns that data into asset health and utilization reports and adds incident context to alarms, so teams can maintain equipment by its measured condition and use instead of only by calendar dates. AI maintenance recommendations are coming soon.
Does Service Insight support 21 CFR Part 11?
Yes. Service Insight validation workflows are built for 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11, with IQ/OQ/PQ e-signed records, ALCOA+ audit trails and printable validation certificates. Validation and calibration management are included with Maintain.
How long does switching from Qualer take?
You can start right away by loading your asset list into Service Insight Manage, which is free up to 200 assets. Calibration and maintenance schedules then move into Maintain, vendors and contracts follow, and sensors go on your most critical equipment first. The overall timeline depends on your asset count and sites, so our team plans the move around your next calibration cycle.
Sources
- MasterControl Acquires Qualer (press release, March 3, 2025), MasterControl
- Asset Excellence product page, MasterControl
- Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), MasterControl
- Equipment Calibration Software, MasterControl
- CMMS Software, MasterControl
- Commercial Calibration Management, MasterControl
- Regulated Asset Management Software, MasterControl
- Pricing, MasterControl
- Asset Excellence as a Force Multiplier, Axendia (June 2025)
- Solving Needs through our Bi-Directional Ecosystem, Qualer blog
- Introducing Qualer 2.8, Qualer blog
- Welcome to Qualer, CPS (Qualer reseller)
- MasterControl Asset Excellence, Capterra
- MasterControl Asset Excellence, Software Advice
- MasterControl Asset Excellence (formerly Qualer) reviews, G2
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