What is GLPI? Definition + 2026 Use Cases

Citation Capsule

• "GLPI 11.0.7 and 10.0.25 are the stable versions maintained as of May 12, 2026, distributed under GPL v3 (Source: GLPI Project, 2026)"
• "GLPI Network (Teclib's paid edition with support) starts around €20/device/year for MSP contracts (Source: Teclib pricing, 2026)"
• "The GLPI project has 4,500+ GitHub stars and 100,000+ deployed instances worldwide, with a majority in France (Source: GitHub glpi-project/glpi, 2026)"

GLPI stands for Free IT and Asset Management Software — an acronym that reflects its mission. It's an open-source platform covering four domains: IT asset inventory, ITIL-compliant helpdesk, knowledge base, and financial asset management. The project has existed since 2003 — 23 years of history, rare in the ITAM ecosystem.

The question "what is GLPI" attracts 18,100 monthly searches in France according to DataForSEO May 2026 data. This demand reflects a simple truth: GLPI is the default ITAM for French IT departments, but technical complexity and the shift to version 11.x raise real questions about upgrade timing and opportunity cost.

This guide defines GLPI precisely, traces the project's history, details versions 10.x and 11.x, explains the Teclib + community governance model, quantifies real pricing, and compares GLPI to modern SaaS alternatives without bias or marketing spin.

For replacement options, see our complete guide to GLPI SaaS alternatives 2026.

What exactly is GLPI?

GLPI is free IT asset management and helpdesk software based on ITIL principles. The official project definition: "Free IT and Asset Management Software." Functionally, GLPI integrates four capabilities historically sold as separate products.

Hardware and software inventory. Via the GLPI Agent (Perl + Rust since 2024) or OCS Inventory NG, GLPI collects hardware (CPU, RAM, disks, displays, peripherals), installed software, licenses, and stores records in a MariaDB or PostgreSQL database. Data granularity depends on the operating system: Windows exposes more signals than macOS.

ITIL helpdesk. Incident tickets, requests, problems, changes. Categories, SLAs, escalations, satisfaction metrics. GLPI is one of the few open-source tools that seriously implements ITIL v3 processes — not just a basic ticket tracker.

Knowledge base. Articles, FAQs, procedures. Built-in versioning. Native integration with tickets for resolution workflows.

Simplified CMDB. Asset relationships (computers, switches, contracts, software). Not ServiceNow-grade CMDB, but a dependency model sufficient for most SMBs and mid-market organizations.

The entire platform runs as a PHP web application under GNU GPL v3 license (since version 9). Self-hosting is required or optional cloud access via Teclib's GLPI Network Cloud offering.

Who is GLPI for?

• French IT departments (50 to 5,000 devices) comfortable with PHP/MariaDB and wanting free ITAM
• French MSPs running multi-tenant GLPI instances for their customer base
• Public sector and government agencies requiring on-premise deployment (data sovereignty, GDPR)
• Universities and higher education — historical GLPI adoption in French academia

Who GLPI doesn't fit

• IT teams without PHP/MariaDB expertise seeking turnkey SaaS
• Organizations requiring direct CO₂ measurement per employee (Green IT native)
• IT departments needing 4-decision lifecycle management (upgrade / repair / reallocate / replace) with cost and CO₂ per option
• Fleets ≥ 5,000 devices — MariaDB requires serious tuning beyond this scale

GLPI history: 23 years of French community

GLPI started in 2003, a French project launched by Jean-Mathieu Doleans and the INDEPNET team. Initial goal: replace Excel-based inventories and manual helpdesk processes in the French IT community.

2003-2009 — The association phase. GLPI was maintained by the INDEPNET association. Code was PHP 4, then PHP 5. Coverage was limited to basic inventory and ticketing. Rapid adoption in French higher education and public sector.

2009-2015 — Technical refactor and growth. Migration to PHP 5.3+, inventory system overhaul (OCS Inventory NG as the preferred agent), plugin ecosystem launches. Version 9.x (released 2016) introduced strict GPL v3 licensing and modern architecture.

2015 — Teclib founded. The vendor Teclib (Roubaix-based, France) took over professional development. The project remained open source, but Teclib funded core engineers, offered paid support (GLPI Network), and hosts the SaaS offering (GLPI Network Cloud). Shared governance: Teclib for core, community for plugins.

2020-2023 — Version 10.x stabilization. GLPI 10.0 released in 2022, modernized the agent (gradual transition from legacy FusionInventory to native GLPI Agent), added PHP 8 support, PostgreSQL as database option alongside MariaDB, and native REST API.

2024-2026 — Version 11.x branch. GLPI 11.0 released late 2024 with UI redesign, new plugin model, "generic" assets beyond PCs (vehicles, buildings, furniture). Versions 11.0.7 and 10.0.25 are stable as of May 12, 2026 (Source: GLPI Project, 2026).

2003GLPI project founded by INDEPNET

GLPI 11 vs GLPI 10: Which to choose in 2026?

The choice between versions depends on risk tolerance, not marketing messaging.

Criterion	GLPI 10.0.25 (LTS)	GLPI 11.0.7 (current)
Initial release	2022	Q4 2024
Status	LTS, security support through 2027	Active branch, new features
PHP required	8.0 minimum	8.2 minimum
Database	MariaDB 10.5+ / PostgreSQL 13+	MariaDB 10.6+ / PostgreSQL 14+
Plugin compatibility	Mature ecosystem (200+ plugins)	Plugin API refactored — migration required
Production stability	Maximum (3 years deployed)	Good, some documented regressions
Generic assets	No	Yes (vehicles, buildings, furniture)
UI redesign	No	Yes (Vue.js theme, modern)
REST API	Native	Native, expanded

Verdict. On critical production systems, stay on 10.0.25 until 11.1 minimum. Version 11.0 had urgent security fixes in January and March 2026 — 11.0.7 stabilizes the core, but the plugin ecosystem isn't complete yet. For new ITAM projects without legacy plugin dependencies, start on 11.x directly.

GLPI vs OCS Inventory NG: What's the difference?

Frequent confusion point. OCS Inventory NG is a legacy inventory agent (French too, since 2001), often paired with GLPI in 2010s-era deployments. Today, GLPI has its own native agent (GLPI Agent) since version 10.x, written in Perl (transitioning to Rust), which replaces OCS in modern installations.

For GLPI Agent technical details, see our GLPI Agent guide.

OCS Inventory NG remains in two scenarios: (1) legacy installations not migrated, (2) deployments where you want to decouple collection from management (single OCS agent serving multiple targets).

Governance: Teclib + community

GLPI demonstrates a rare viable hybrid open-source model. Three actors coexist:

Teclib (French commercial entity, Roubaix). Finances core development, sells GLPI Network support contracts, hosts GLPI Network Cloud. Employs ~10 full-time engineers on GLPI. Controls primary roadmap.

GLPI Project community. 200+ active GitHub contributors. Maintains flagship plugins (FusionInventory, Behaviors, Formcreator, Generic Object). Organizes annual GLPI Days conference in Lille.

Enterprise and MSP users. Several major French organizations (government agencies, universities, system integrators) sponsor feature development through Teclib contracts.

This governance avoids two pitfalls:

• The "community-only source code, no clear roadmap" trap (case: Snipe-IT)
• The "vendor acquires and closes the project" trap (case: Spiceworks)

But it introduces dependency: Teclib is financially essential. If Teclib failed, version 11.x would potentially become orphaned in 12-18 months.

Real GLPI pricing: Free, really?

GLPI source code is free but has real total cost of ownership (TCO).

GLPI self-hosted (community)

• License: €0 (GPL v3)
• Hosting: VPS / dedicated server → €30 to 200/month depending on fleet size (500-device fleet runs on €60/month VPS)
• Skills: PHP/MariaDB admin → 0.2 to 0.5 FTE annual maintenance
• Updates: manual, 2-4 times/year, approximately 2 to 4 days work/year
• Support: community forums, GitHub issues, French and English documentation

Annual TCO for 200-device fleet: ≈ €1,200 hosting + 0.3 FTE admin (≈ €18,000) = €19,200/year, or €96/device/year when fully internalized.

GLPI Network (Teclib paid)

• Entry pricing for MSPs: starting around €20/device/year for small contracts (confirm with Teclib — public pricing is sparse)
• Includes: N1-N3 support, certified plugin access, assisted updates, Service Catalog and Cartography plugins
• Variants: GLPI Network Cloud (Teclib-hosted SaaS) — custom pricing

Source: Teclib pricing (verified May 12, 2026)

The honest calculation

True-cost GLPI: you pay either Teclib or your internal time. For a 200-device fleet:

• GLPI community: ≈ €19,000/year internalized
• GLPI Network: ≈ €4,000 Teclib support + €6,000 admin = ≈ €10,000/year
• Modern SaaS (sobrii): ≈ €4,000/year (200 × €20/device/year) all-inclusive

The gap shrinks when you factor internal labor.

GLPI's 2026 limitations

GLPI is solid for what it does — but several gaps are now critical for modern IT departments.

1. No native CO₂ measurement per employee

GLPI inventories hardware but doesn't measure actual electricity consumption. For IT carbon accounting (CSRD ESRS E1 obligation since 2024 for mid-market), you must couple GLPI with a third-party tool or estimate via ADEME averages — approximate at best.

2. No native DEX (Digital Employee Experience)

Application crash rates, zombie apps, boot times, focus time — GLPI doesn't capture these natively. You need to stack ControlUp or Nexthink on top, multiply agents, and correlate databases.

3. Lifecycle has 3 decisions, not 4

GLPI offers keep / repair / replace. The reallocate decision (pass the device to the next employee after RAM/SSD upgrade) isn't modeled — yet it extends device life 12-18 months and cuts per-unit CO₂ by half.

4. PHP/MariaDB tuning mandatory beyond 1,000 devices

At 2,000 devices, the UI slows, reports timeout, CSV exports crash. Solutions: index tuning, partitioning, Redis caching, memory upgrades. All specialized knowledge.

5. Rigid ITIL UI

GLPI reflects ITIL structure: technician-first, end-user second. Self-service portals feel dated. Most modern SaaS competitors (Freshservice, ServiceNow) have far better end-user portal design.

How sobrii adds a 4th decision: reallocate

sobrii adds a 4th lifecycle decision: reallocate. While GLPI, Lansweeper, and Snipe-IT offer 3 choices (keep / repair / replace), sobrii calculates all 4 options per device — upgrade, repair, reallocate (to next employee), replace — with cost and CO₂ for each. The reallocate branch extends device life 12-18 months and cuts per-unit CO₂ by half.

Concretely: when a developer gets a new MacBook and their 3-year-old M1 still works, GLPI suggests retire or repair. sobrii suggests a 4th option: SSD + RAM upgrade (€200 parts), reassign to a marketing employee, add 18 months of useful life. Direct calculation: €1,200 purchase avoided, 180 kg-CO₂ avoided on scope 3.

See how sobrii's Financial Pilotage exposes the 4th decision.

1 Rust agent, <1% CPU vs GLPI's Perl agent

1 Rust agent, <1% CPU. GLPI deploys a Perl agent (GLPI Agent, heir to FusionInventory) that runs via cron or scheduled task and consumes 50-200 MB RAM per execution — sobrii provides a single native Rust binary, signed, with measured footprint of <1% CPU and <30 MB RAM continuously. Fewer agents = smaller attack surface, less battery drain, less L1 support.

GLPI Agent requires Perl 5.16+ installed on every device (problematic on Windows in 2026, where Perl isn't standard). sobrii Agent is a signed native Windows/macOS binary, no runtime dependency.

See our GLPI Agent guide for technical details.

sobrii is 100% bilingual FR/EN at product core

sobrii is 100% bilingual FR/EN at product core. Every label, every CSRD/ISO 27001 report, every export is generated in the employee's language — not a 70%-translated glossary. Customer reference: Montpellier Metropolis (7,000+ monitored PCs, -10% emissions, ~€1.5M purchases avoided). sobrii is one of the rare ITAM SaaS platforms designed in France with FR/EN parity from v1.

GLPI is natively bilingual too (French heritage), but FR/EN translation covers the UI — not advanced reports or third-party APIs. sobrii extends parity to CSRD ESRS E1 exports, ISO 27001 audit-ready reports, and end-user notifications.

When to keep GLPI vs migrate to SaaS

Keep GLPI if:

• You have 3+ years of GLPI history with configured ITIL workflows (migration is costly)
• Your team has confirmed PHP/MariaDB admin expertise in-house
• You need strict on-premise (data sovereignty, defense classification)
• Your fleet is ≤ 1,000 devices (tuning is manageable)
• Your Green IT / CSRD obligations are handled by third-party tools (ADEME, etc.)

Migrate to SaaS if:

• Starting a new ITAM project with no legacy
• CSRD ESRS E1 requirements demand per-device/employee CO₂ measurement
• Your IT team lacks PHP skills and doesn't want to hire them
• Your fleet grows beyond 1,500 devices and GLPI tuning costs 1 FTE
• You want 4-decision lifecycle (reallocate) and application-level energy measurement

See our GLPI SaaS alternatives 2026 comparison for Lansweeper, Atera, Snipe-IT, and sobrii.

Key takeaways on GLPI

GLPI is France's reference open-source ITAM, supported by Teclib and an active community for 23 years. It's defensible if you accept self-hosting, PHP tuning, and internal management. It's outdated if you need direct CO₂ measurement, native DEX, 4-decision lifecycle, and serverless SaaS.

The 2026 ITAM market is polarizing: GLPI retains the installed base, modern SaaS capture new projects. The deciding factor is rarely price — it's the opportunity cost of IT staff time spent on maintenance versus business value.

FAQ

What is GLPI exactly?

GLPI (Free IT and Asset Management Software) is a French open-source ITAM and ITIL helpdesk platform. It covers hardware inventory, ticketing, knowledge base, and a simplified CMDB. Distributed under GNU GPL v3 since 2003, developed by the GLPI Project community and Teclib (Roubaix). Stable versions as of May 12, 2026: 11.0.7 (current branch) and 10.0.25 (LTS).

Is GLPI really free?

Source code is free (GPL v3, zero license cost). Real TCO includes VPS hosting (€30-200/month), PHP/MariaDB admin time (0.2-0.5 FTE), manual updates (2-4 days/year). For a 200-device fleet fully internalized, TCO reaches approximately €19,000/year. Teclib's paid GLPI Network starts around €20/device/year for support and certified plugins.

GLPI or Lansweeper: which should you pick?

GLPI wins if you want open source, on-premise, and zero license cost. Lansweeper wins if you want turnkey SaaS, broader network discovery (servers, switches), and modern UI — at €199/month minimum (Starter, 2,000 assets). See our GLPI SaaS alternatives 2026 comparison for full details.

What's the difference between GLPI 10 and GLPI 11?

GLPI 10 (2022 release, LTS until 2027) is the stable mature branch with 200+ plugins. GLPI 11 (late 2024 release) adds UI redesign (Vue.js theme), generic assets beyond PCs (vehicles, buildings), new plugin model requiring migration, and PHP 8.2+ requirement. For critical production, stay on 10.0.25 until 11.1 minimum. For new projects without legacy plugins, start on 11.0.7.

Is GLPI maintained and reliable in 2026?

Yes. The project is active on GitHub (4,500+ stars, 200+ contributors), funded by Teclib (~10 core engineers), with regular releases (4-6 per year across branches). CVEs are published and patched within a week. Primary risk: financial — if Teclib failed, version 11.x could be orphaned in 12-18 months.

What are the main SaaS alternatives to GLPI in 2026?

Main SaaS alternatives: Lansweeper (Starter €199/month / 2,000 assets), Atera (RMM-ITAM, €129-209/tech/month MSP annual), Snipe-IT Cloud (from €39.99/month for 5 users, 100 assets), Action1 (free ≤ 200 endpoints, then €4/endpoint/month), sobrii (€12-20/device/year all-in, bilingual FR/EN, 4-decision lifecycle). See our detailed comparison.

Sources

• GLPI Project — New versions 11.0.7 and 10.0.25. https://glpi-project.org/en/glpi-new-versions-11-0-7-and-10-0-25/ (accessed May 12, 2026)
• Teclib — GLPI Network pricing. https://glpi-network.cloud/en/pricing/ (accessed May 12, 2026)
• GitHub — glpi-project/glpi. https://github.com/glpi-project/glpi (accessed May 12, 2026)
• Lansweeper — Pricing. https://www.lansweeper.com/pricing/ (accessed May 12, 2026)
• Action1 — Pricing. https://www.action1.com/pricing/ (accessed May 12, 2026)
• Atera — Pricing. https://atera.com/pricing (accessed May 12, 2026)
• Wikipedia — GLPI (software). https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLPI_(logiciel) (accessed May 12, 2026)