What Lansweeper is
Their own documentation says it directly: agentless, scanning the entire network from one computer, with active scanning, passive network sensors, cloud API connections and an optional agent among its discovery methods. It inventories what it finds, machines, software and IP ranges, and it is thorough and mature. It is a Windows product: the scanning server needs Windows 10 or 11, or Windows Server 2016 through 2025, with a SQL Server or LocalDB database behind it. If the question is “what is actually on this network right now?”, that is Lansweeper’s product and this page will not argue it down.
Where each one stops
A scan finds a machine. It does not hold the story: the lease it is on and when the rent lapses, the warranty and its expiry, the repair history, the sanitization certificate at disposal, the evidence pack an auditor asks for. Discovery answers what is there; the register answers what is true about it.
Manifest is the register, and it is honest about the same boundary in the other direction. Nothing in Manifest scans a machine or a network. An asset enters the register because a person recorded it, usually with the iPhone standing in front of it, reading the label. If you need the network to inventory itself, that is Lansweeper’s product and Manifest does not do it.
Side by side
| Lansweeper | Manifest | |
|---|---|---|
| The core question | What is on this network? | Where is every device, and what is true about it? |
| Discovery | Automatic: agentless scanning, passive sensors, cloud APIs, optional agent | None. Assets are recorded deliberately, barcode to label |
| What it runs on | Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016 to 2025, with SQL Server or LocalDB | A native Mac and iPhone app, one App Store purchase |
| Where the register lives | In Lansweeper’s database on your server | “This Mac and my devices”, or Starkive Cloud, chosen at setup |
| Pricing | Quoted by site and device count | From $19/mo, seven tiers, priced by assets, five admins in every tier |
| Compliance | Reporting on the inventory | 12 standards, 72 controls, 16 evidence reports in every tier |
What Lansweeper does that Manifest does not
Stated in the same size type as everything else on this page, because a comparison that only runs one way is an advertisement.
- It finds what nobody told it about. Point it at a client’s network and the machines announce themselves. Manifest will never do that; recording an asset is a decision somebody makes.
- It inventories software as installed. Manifest tracks licences as records, with seats purchased set against seats assigned and over-allocation flagged, but nothing scans a machine, so reconciling entitlements against real installs is manual. That limit is stated on our pricing page in the same size type as the capability, and it is the same here.
- It serves Windows-only shops end to end. Manifest is Mac and iPhone. If your estate is Windows end to end, that is a real objection, not a small one.
What Manifest does that Lansweeper does not
- No deployment project. Manifest installs from the App Store in the time this page takes to read. A Lansweeper rollout is a project with a scope.
- The whole lifecycle in one record. Purchase, warranty, lease and its monthly cost, licences, repairs, disposal certificates. Not just the inventory slice.
- A compliance evidence pack, not a report. 72 controls across 12 standards, in every tier. Discovery tools report on what they found; they do not produce your audit evidence.
- A phone app that is the product, not a companion. The iPhone build is the same register, smaller, made for stockrooms and racks.
- A floor a consultant can afford. $19 a month for 500 assets. No quote, no site licence, no seat count.
The honest close
If you already run Lansweeper, Manifest is not its replacement. It is where the found machines’ stories live, if you want them somewhere you control. If you never needed the scan because the estate is small enough to count by hand, the scan is a cost you are paying for nothing. Download Manifest free and open the demo (three days, no card) and it answers the question faster than any comparison page can.
Sources
- lansweeper.com/product/asset-discovery: Lansweeper’s own description of its discovery methods, including active scanning, passive discovery, credential-free device recognition, cloud API integration and an optional agent.
- Lansweeper installation requirements: Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016 through 2025; SQL Server or LocalDB; “agentless, scans the entire network from one computer”.
- What is network discovery, Lansweeper docs: scanning engines, passive traffic sensors, the hub and site architecture.
- Checked 2026-09-28. Every figure quoted from Lansweeper’s own site; if one moves, we move it here.