Qualer, now MasterControl Asset Excellence: features, pricing and alternatives (2026 overview)

Qualer is cloud software for the maintenance and calibration of equipment in regulated industries, mainly life sciences. MasterControl (Salt Lake City, Utah), a quality and manufacturing software company, announced on March 3, 2025, that it had acquired Qualer, and its pages now say that Qualer is MasterControl Asset Excellence (Ax). The suite has two solutions: Regulated Asset Management for companies that own equipment and have it serviced in house or by vendors, and Commercial Calibration Management for calibration and maintenance providers, with an uncertainty engine and a client portal. It is vendor-hosted and priced by quote. It suits life sciences companies that outsource much of their calibration, the service providers that work for them, and MasterControl customers. We found no on-premises option, no published price and no gage R&R tools on the pages we read.

Qualer at a glance

Qualer and MasterControl: what changed

Most searches for Qualer today are about this. Here is what the primary sources show, in order.

• Before 2025. Qualer was the trade name of Qualer, Inc., a company in San Diego, California (terms of use, archived December 2023, and the address on its home page). Its site offered two products: Qualer Asset Control, a CMMS for labs that own equipment, and Qualer Service Assurance, for commercial calibration and service providers (archived home page, November 2024).
• March 3, 2025: the announcement. MasterControl announced that it had acquired Qualer, which it described as a cloud-native asset management company that simplifies tracking, calibration and maintenance of equipment in labs and manufacturing sites. The release named Ryan Arnold as Qualer’s CEO, said MasterControl customers would get new asset tracking capabilities in the first quarter of 2025 with deeper integrations of logbook data planned for later that year, and did not state the price (press release; GxP Lifeline).
• As of October 2026: the name. qualer.com redirects to MasterControl’s asset pages, where a banner and the two solution pages say “Qualer is now MasterControl Asset Excellence”. The suite’s two solutions, Regulated Asset Management and Commercial Calibration Management, address the same two audiences as Asset Control and Service Assurance did (Ax overview).
• Where the Qualer name remains. The service’s sign-in page is id.qualer.com (“Qualer Identity”), the API is published as Qualer.Integration.Api at api.qualer.com, the status page is titled “Ax Qualer”, and one MasterControl page still calls the product “Qualer – A MasterControl Product” (sign-in, API, status, MasterControl).

What we could not confirm. The press release does not use the name Asset Excellence, and MasterControl’s newsroom, which we read back to the acquisition, has no release about the change of name, so we can’t date it. We also found no public statement about whether Qualer, Inc. continues as a separate legal entity, or about what happened to the plans and prices of existing Qualer customers.

What it means if you use or evaluate it. You are now dealing with MasterControl, whose main business is quality and manufacturing software for life sciences. Ask in writing which entity signs your contract, whether existing terms carry over, what the roadmap is for the Qualer-named sign-in and API, and which integrations with MasterControl’s quality, manufacturing and logbook products exist today rather than on a roadmap.

Regulated Asset Management vs Commercial Calibration Management

We found no MasterControl feature table that compares the two solutions. The table below summarizes what each solution’s own page says, in words rather than check marks, because the vendor does not say which functions are missing from either one.

Sources: Regulated Asset Management and Commercial Calibration Management, checked October 29, 2026.

MasterControl’s suite-level pages, which don’t tie each function to one solution, add: a metrology engine with automatic calculation of measurement uncertainty and what MasterControl calls live ISO/IEC 17025 calibration and measurement capability (CMC) validation; an inventory manager for parts, liquids and reagents; interval analysis that applies “the A3 statistical method” to the calibration history of a group of assets and suggests interval changes; and maintenance plans triggered by time intervals, calendar dates or usage (calibration, maintenance, CMMS). The service’s status page also lists “Invoices and Collections” and “Client Portals” components under Client Management (status page).

Rule of thumb from these pages: if you own the equipment and send much of it to outside vendors, Regulated Asset Management is the solution aimed at you. If you sell calibration or maintenance services, Commercial Calibration Management is. An in-house metrology lab that calibrates its own equipment sits between the two: ask to see the uncertainty and reference-standard functions in the solution you would buy.

How Qualer is deployed

Unlike installed tools such as GAGEtrak, Asset Excellence is a hosted service: you, your vendors or your clients sign in on the web, and MasterControl runs the application and the database.

What this means in practice:

• The vendor holds the data. Backups, security and availability are MasterControl’s job, which is why you need written answers on hosting region, backups, export and what happens at the end of the contract. Before the acquisition, Qualer described encryption at rest and in transit and several layers of backups on Microsoft Azure (Qualer Security, archived July 2024); the current pages do not repeat those details.
• Updates arrive on the vendor’s schedule. Qualer described its platform as multi-tenant cloud (validation overview, archived May 2024), which usually means every customer gets each release. In a validated environment that makes the vendor’s release notes and impact assessments part of your change control (see the compliance section).
• Vendors and clients log in too. The two-sided model means outside parties have accounts in your system or you in theirs. Check how roles, permissions and single sign-on work before you invite them.

What it does well, and its limits

These points come from the vendor’s pages, not from our use of the product. They describe fit, not quality.

Strengths stated in the documentation:

• Both sides of outsourced calibration in one system. An asset owner can send service requests to approved vendors, track their qualifications and accreditations, and receive reports and certificates in the same record, while a provider using the commercial solution manages work orders, technicians and a client portal (RAM, CCM). For a lab that sends most equipment out, that can replace exchanging emails and PDFs with each vendor.
• Metrology functions for providers. MasterControl lists automatic uncertainty calculation, live CMC validation, reference standard management and on-site certificates. Our measurement uncertainty guide and uncertainty calculator can help you check its results during a demo.
• Maintenance and calibration together. Maintenance plans can be triggered by time, calendar date or usage, and the CMMS core covers work orders, vendors and inventory, which suits labs where many assets need maintenance rather than calibration (maintenance).
• Interval analysis on group history. The calibration page describes a tool that analyzes historical results for a group of assets and suggests longer or shorter intervals. Ask which reference the “A3” method follows; our calibration intervals guide explains the families of methods, including the statistical ones.
• Visible for IT review. The API reference and the status page are public, so your IT team can check the integration scope and service history before a demo.
• One vendor for quality, manufacturing and assets if you already run MasterControl’s QMS or MES.

Limits stated or implied by the same pages:

• No published price, and the quality, manufacturing and logbook products it connects with are separate products.
• Cloud only. We found no on-premises or private-hosting option.
• Little public documentation. We found no user manual, release notes or system requirements; the data sheets and the demo video sit behind a form, and the support portal requires a customer login.
• No free trial described on the current pages.
• Life sciences focus. The pages speak to labs, pharma and medical device makers. We found no gage R&R or other measurement system analysis tools, which manufacturers with gage cribs often need (see gage management software).
• Two names in use. Product names differ between MasterControl’s pages, the sign-in, the API and the status page, and the integration with MasterControl’s other products is described in general terms only.

What the compliance claims mean

MasterControl’s pages mention 21 CFR Part 11, ISO/IEC 17025, FDA, GMP, EMA and ISO standards. These tell you which requirements the vendor designed for. They don’t make you compliant, and none of these regulations or standards certifies software.

FDA 21 CFR Part 11

Part 11 applies when records that FDA regulations require are kept electronically, for example the calibration records of a medical device or drug manufacturer (21 CFR 11.1(b)). For those records it requires, among other things, validation, limited access, and secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails that don’t obscure earlier entries and are kept as long as the records (11.10). Our FDA calibration requirements guide and the software comparison explain the rules and FDA’s 2003 enforcement policy.

What the vendor says:

• MasterControl’s Regulated Asset Management page states that “21 CFR Part 11 compliant audit trails” log every action, and that records sit in an encrypted database with role-based access and change controls (RAM). The current pages don’t describe electronic signatures or a validation package.
• Before the acquisition, Qualer offered a validation package for GxP use: a validation plan, user and functional requirements, a design specification, an installation and operational qualification protocol, a traceability matrix, a release risk assessment and a validation summary report (validation overview, archived May 2024; validation documents, archived June 2024).

ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 13485 and GMP

• ISO/IEC 17025 (named on the commercial solution’s page) requires a lab to validate its information management system before use, protect it from unauthorized access, tampering and loss, make sure an outside provider that hosts it meets the same requirements, and check calculations and data transfers (clause 7.11, as summarized by PJLA; EA FAQ 36.1). For a hosted service, that means evaluating MasterControl as the provider and checking the uncertainty engine’s results yourself. A CMC validation feature helps, but your scope of accreditation still governs what you report; see how to read a scope and CMC. The asset-owner solution also tracks vendors’ accreditations, which supports choosing accredited calibration suppliers.
• ISO 13485 and the FDA QMSR. Since February 2, 2026, FDA’s device quality rule incorporates ISO 13485:2016, whose clause 7.6 covers monitoring and measuring equipment and whose clause 4.1.6 requires quality-system software to be validated for its intended use. See our FDA guide.
• GMP, EMA and “ISO” in general. MasterControl says Asset Excellence helps assets meet GMP, ISO, FDA or EMA standards (Ax resources). That is a statement of intent; your inspector will look at your records, procedures and validation. Before the acquisition, Qualer also announced ISO 9001:2015 certification of its own organization (archived June 2024), which concerns the vendor’s processes, not your compliance.

What users report

Very little. We found no Reddit thread about Qualer in r/Metrology or elsewhere. The few mentions are:

• In 2023, one r/Metrology user suggested Qualer in a one-word reply to a request for calibration tracking software (r/Metrology), and in another thread a self-identified Qualer employee described the product; that is a vendor post, not a user review (r/Metrology).
• In 2026, two users in r/FacilityManagement threads about maintenance software referred to it as MasterControl Asset Excellence, formerly Qualer. One, who uses another CMMS, said they had tried it and saw it as more for lab work and metrology than for general maintenance (CMMS replacement, researching CMMS).

That is too little to say anything about reliability, support or ease of use. We found no independent videos either: the YouTube results are the vendor’s own demos. Ask MasterControl for references in your industry and of your size, and talk to them without the vendor present.

Alternatives, and how we chose them

We list alternatives by rule, not by preference, using the vendor data from our calibration management software comparison. A product can appear in more than one group.

Qualer vs IndySoft. Both cover asset owners and commercial labs, and both are quote only. IndySoft offers a hosted cloud or on-premises licenses and separate editions for each audience; Asset Excellence is cloud only, built around the owner–vendor relationship in life sciences, with a CMMS at its core. Our IndySoft overview covers it in detail.

Qualer vs a general CMMS. If most of your work is maintenance and calibration is a small part of it, a general CMMS may be enough; if calibration results, uncertainty and certificates matter, a dedicated tool fits better. Our comparison explains the trade-off and lists what eMaint, Fiix and MaintainX state about calibration (generic CMMS vs dedicated calibration software).

For an installed alternative you run yourself, see our GAGEtrak overview; for gage cribs and check-outs, gage management software; and if budget is the constraint, free calibration software.

How to evaluate Qualer (Asset Excellence)

There is no free trial described, so ask for a demo or sandbox with your own data, and get answers to these questions in writing. The Qualer-specific ones come from the sections above.

The calculation check matters because ISO/IEC 17025 expects calculations to be checked (clause 7.11). Our uncertainty calculator and TUR calculator give you independent results to compare.

How we compiled this overview

• Scope. MasterControl Asset Excellence (formerly Qualer): Regulated Asset Management and Commercial Calibration Management, as described in October 2026.
• Facts. Read on MasterControl’s website, its March 2025 press release and the Qualer service’s public sign-in, API and status pages on October 29, 2026, and paraphrased. Each fact links to its source. Descriptions of Qualer before the acquisition come from copies of qualer.com in the Internet Archive (2022 to 2024), labeled with their capture dates, and are used only for history, never for current features or prices. We did not use, test or receive a demo of the software.
• Corporate facts. Only from MasterControl’s press release and site, and Qualer’s archived pages. Where no primary source exists (date of the change of name, legal status of Qualer, Inc.), we say so.
• Prices. Only those the vendor publishes. MasterControl publishes none, so we say “quote only”. We don’t use prices from directories, competitor pages, forums or archived pages.
• No ratings. We don’t score products and don’t reproduce review-site ratings.
• User reports. We found almost none; the few forum mentions are paraphrased, without usernames.
• Alternatives. Chosen by the rules stated in each group, from vendor-stated data in our comparison (checked October 9, 2026, with IndySoft re-read on October 29).
• Independence. No affiliate links, payments or free licenses from any vendor, and no vendor reviewed this page (editorial policy, methodology).
• Updates. We plan to recheck this page every quarter, and when MasterControl changes the product’s name, packaging or documentation.

MasterControl and readers: if something here is wrong or out of date, write to hello@acribi.com with a link to the page that shows the correct information. We correct confirmed errors and log them in our corrections log.