Comparison

InvGate Asset Management vs Mojo Helpdesk

Two tools districts shortlist for device tracking and IT operations, compared the way a buying committee actually reads them: what each is, what each does well, and what to check before signing. We build Chalk, a third option in this space — that context is worth knowing as you read, and it is why every claim below carries its basis.

InvGate Asset Management

A serious corporate ITAM platform with real discovery, a CMDB, and an on-premises option — priced per networked device, which is the worst possible meter for a 1:1 district.

Pricing: Published per-IP-device, per-year pricing across a fixed-price Starter tier, a per-device Pro tier with a minimum annual commitment, and a quote-based Enterprise tier with its own floor. The counting rule is the important part for a district: an IP device is anything on the network with an IP address — computers, mobiles, network gear — and each one includes an allowance for a small number of non-IP assets such as monitors and furniture. Because the meter is devices rather than technicians, a 1:1 district's bill scales directly with student headcount. Full ticketing is a separate product, InvGate Service Management, licensed separately. Formerly named InvGate Insight; renamed in 2024. No education SKU or discount is published.

Where InvGate Asset Management is strong

  • Genuinely strong automated discovery — a lightweight agent, agentless network scanning, integrations, and bulk import covering hardware, servers, containers, databases, and cloud services.
  • A real CMDB with automatic relationship discovery and assisted dependency mapping.
  • A deep integration catalog: Intune, Jamf, SCCM, Active Directory, Entra ID, Okta, AWS, Azure, VMware, ServiceNow CMDB, Jira Service Management, Zendesk, Slack, Teams, and remote-access tools, plus a documented REST API.
  • A genuine on-premises option on Windows Server or RHEL with your choice of database, including support for air-gapped operation — unusual in this category.
  • Google Workspace integration that imports ChromeOS devices and users, so Chromebooks do land in the inventory automatically.
  • Software asset management with license optimization, metering, deployment, and compliance.

What to check before you buy

  • Pricing is per networked device per year, so cost scales directly with fleet size. A district with one Chromebook per student is quoted on the single number it has most of, which is the opposite of a per-technician model.

    Basis: InvGate's published pricing page prices Pro per IP device per year and defines an IP device as any asset connected to a network with an IP address.

  • Ticketing is a different product. InvGate Asset Management is ITAM only; a help desk means separately licensing InvGate Service Management, which is a second contract and a second bill.

    Basis: InvGate sells Asset Management and Service Management as two separately licensed products and describes the ITAM platform as functioning standalone.

  • No SIS or rostering integration — no OneRoster, Clever, ClassLink, or PowerSchool. The identity sources in the integration catalog are corporate directories only.

    Basis: InvGate's full published integration list names Active Directory, Entra ID, Okta, Google Workspace, and cloud platforms; no education system appears.

  • No student or guardian concepts. Asset owners are users and employees, with no enrollment, grade, guardian relationship, or reaction to a mid-year transfer.

    Basis: The product's lifecycle and ownership model is employee framed; the vendor's named customers are manufacturing, utilities, aerospace, retail, and insurance.

  • No 1:1 device circulation loop — no due dates on a student's device, no overdue workflow, no e-signed parent agreement, no loaner pool, and no lost or stolen lifecycle. The lifecycle modelled is procurement, assignment, and disposal.

    Basis: Absent from InvGate's asset lifecycle documentation, which is corporate IT framed.

  • No funding-source or grant tracking — no way to attribute devices to ESSER, Title, or E-Rate money for reporting.

    Basis: No grant or funding-source dimension appears in the product documentation.

  • ChromeOS support is import only. Chromebooks and users come in from Google Workspace; nothing writes back — no OU moves, no disable, no annotated fields.

    Basis: InvGate documents the Google Workspace integration as importing users, ChromeOS devices, and organizational data; no write-back is claimed.

  • It consumes SSO but is not an identity provider — Okta and Entra ID appear as identity sources it reads, not identity it issues.

    Basis: InvGate is configured as a service provider against an external IdP; it is not listed as issuing SAML or OIDC.

How Chalk compares with InvGate Asset Management →

Mojo Helpdesk

A simple, inexpensive per-agent help desk with a real K-12 following, a light asset module with check-in/check-out, and a deliberate pitch that you can go live in days because it does not depend on your SIS.

Pricing: Per-agent, per-month subscription with published figures: Team at $14 per agent (25-agent maximum), Business at $24 per agent (100-agent maximum), and Enterprise at $34 per agent with unlimited agents. There is no free plan — evaluation is a 21-day trial with no credit card. Yearly subscriptions carry a 10% discount, and educational and non-profit organizations are offered a total 25% discount, but only on the Business and Enterprise yearly subscriptions, and the vendor states discounts are not cumulative.

Where Mojo Helpdesk is strong

  • The lowest published per-agent entry price on most K-12 help-desk shortlists, with the numbers on the page rather than behind a demo request.
  • An explicit 25% education and non-profit discount, published as a percentage you can actually compute against.
  • A genuine asset module included with the help desk rather than sold as a separate product: laptops, tablets, servers, and software licenses, with repairs and incidents logged against each item.
  • Check-in and check-out with return due dates and automated reminders, plus a live view of what is out and what is overdue — closer to a circulation desk than most generic ticketing tools get.
  • Warranty and license contract expiry tracking with renewal reminders ahead of the date.
  • Broad sign-in support for districts: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, ClassLink, Active Directory, LDAP, and other SAML providers, with staff and department import from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.

What to check before you buy

  • Hosted SaaS only — no self-hosted or on-premises edition, so the software cannot be run on district infrastructure or inspected independently.

    Basis: Only cloud plans appear on the vendor's pricing page; no self-host or source distribution is published.

  • Per-agent pricing with hard agent caps per plan. A district with a handful of technicians and tens of thousands of devices pays on the axis it has least of, and growing past 25 agents forces a tier change.

    Basis: Vendor pricing page states $14/$24/$34 per agent per month with 25-agent and 100-agent maximums on the lower two plans.

  • The education discount is narrower than it first reads: 25% applies only to Business and Enterprise yearly subscriptions, not to the entry Team plan, and the vendor states discounts do not stack.

    Basis: Stated in those terms on Mojo Helpdesk's pricing page.

  • No SIS or rostering connector. Mojo markets 'no SIS dependency' as a launch advantage, which is honest positioning but means students, enrollments, and mid-year transfers are not sourced from the system of record.

    Basis: Mojo's education page names Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, ClassLink, AD, LDAP, and SAML for sign-in and user import, and no SIS vendor connector; the K-12 pages present rapid launch without SIS as a benefit.

  • The asset module is a light inventory with custody attached, not a 1:1 program: no parent-signed device agreement, no loaner pool as a managed concept, no lost or stolen lifecycle with police report, and no attestation campaign.

    Basis: Absent from Mojo's published asset management page, which covers tracking, check-out with due dates, and renewal reminders.

  • No MDM ingest and no documented barcode or QR scanning. Device records are maintained inside Mojo rather than reconciled against Google Admin, Intune, or Jamf, and an August rollout or spring audit measured in thousands of devices has to be typed rather than scanned.

    Basis: No Google Admin, Intune, or Jamf device-sync connector is published on the vendor site, and no scanning capability appears on the asset management page.

  • No student fee assessment, no family balances, no purchase orders, no parts stock consumed by repairs, and no funding-source tracking for ESSER, Title, or E-Rate money.

    Basis: None of these concepts appear in Mojo's published product documentation.

  • It consumes SSO but is not an identity provider — it signs users in from Google, Microsoft, ClassLink, or a SAML source rather than issuing SAML or OIDC to your other vendors.

    Basis: SSO is described throughout as sign-in into Mojo from a district's existing provider.

How Chalk compares with Mojo Helpdesk →

The third option: Chalk

If you are weighing InvGate Asset Management against Mojo Helpdesk, Chalk belongs on the same shortlist. It is the open-source K-12 IT stack: device inventory that fills itself in from Google Admin, Intune, and Jamf against a roster synced from your SIS, a 1:1 circulation desk with agreements and fees, repairs with parts and costs, a help desk that already knows who is asking, and a built-in SAML/OIDC identity provider.

  • Self-host it free forever under AGPL-3.0 — the entire feature set, one binary, your infrastructure — or use the hosted version, priced by fleet size with no per-seat or per-student fees and the price ladder published.
  • Built only for K-12: students, buildings, custody, funding sources, and ChromeOS auto-update expiration are native concepts, not custom fields.
  • Writes back to Google Admin as a reviewed diff — every OU move, disable, and deprovision previewed before it executes — and serves a OneRoster 1.1 API so other district systems can pull the roster from Chalk.
  • Fees are assessed and tracked without touching payment cards, keeping the asset system out of your PCI scope.

See all three on your own roster.

Chalk installs to a populated inventory in about 30 minutes. Self-host free under AGPL-3.0, or let us run it — priced by fleet size, never per seat.