Lucity is built for big public works. Here is what a small water system can use instead.

Lucity is a serious work-order and asset system for cities and counties with a public works program and the staff to run it. Even the name takes some decoding now: CentralSquare acquired Lucity in 2019, and the product is sold today as CentralSquare Asset Management, powered by Lucity. As of 2026 you will see both names, sometimes in the same proposal. That is not a knock on the product. It is just one more thing a small buyer has to untangle before comparing anything.

If you run a small water or wastewater system where the crew wears every hat, you have probably already seen how this story goes. A system like this gets bought with good intentions, rolled out halfway, and the crew never really adopts it. The database can hold everything; the trouble is keeping it fed. Within a year the work orders live on a clipboard again and the expensive system drifts out of date. Ziptility is built against exactly that failure. Here is what small systems use instead, what it costs, and where Lucity is honestly the better call.

What is the real problem with running Lucity at a small water system?

Keeping the crew on it. A big system like Lucity can hold every valve, every main, every work order, and every inspection. The question nobody asks at the demo is who keeps all of that current once the kickoff meetings stop.

These systems are built to run on top of your GIS, and someone has to stand them up and keep both the map and the data current. In a mid-size city, that someone exists. In a small water system, nobody has those hours, so the field work stops making it into the database. (The day-to-day feeding burden is the argument we make on the Cityworks page. This page is about what comes after that burden wins.)

What comes after is quiet. The records go stale, trust in the records goes with them, and the crew drifts back to pen, paper, and Excel. Nobody announces it. The software just becomes a line item nobody opens. Operators who lived it tell the same story: bought big, half rolled out, never adopted. Most small utilities do not need a deeper database. They need the map, the work orders, and the asset history in one place the whole crew can pull up on a phone.

Where does Lucity actually fit, and where is it too much?

Give it its due. Lucity has done public-works asset management for a long time, and CentralSquare runs it for plenty of cities and counties. For a mid-size city with streets, fleet, and utilities under one roof, and staff to stand it up and feed it, it genuinely fits. A capable, GIS-powered system of record, built for that world. This is a fit question, not a quality question.

The trouble starts when a small water system tries to run it. Someone has to stand it up, wire it to the GIS, and keep both current. That is a heavy lift for a database your three-person crew may never open standing in front of a valve. The very depth that makes Lucity right for a staffed city shop is what makes it wrong for a small crew with nobody to feed it.

	Ziptility
Built for	ZiptilitySmall water & wastewater systems, 3 to 12 staff	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementCities, counties & public works departments with IT support
Who keeps it current?	ZiptilityThe crew, from the phone they already carry	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementUsually a GIS or IT person. It is GIS-powered, and someone has to keep the system and the map current.
Getting started	ZiptilityUp and running in under an hour. Start with the map you have.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementA project. Standing it up, wiring it to the GIS, and training.
Work orders in the field	ZiptilityBuilt in. Map and work orders in one app.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementYes, but built for a formal public works work-order program, not a small crew.
On a phone, in the field	ZiptilityYes. Field-first. Works with no signal.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementMobile apps exist, but the system is desktop and GIS first.
Pricing	ZiptilityOne yearly price per connection. Unlimited users.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementQuote-only. No public pricing.
The cost behind the cost	ZiptilityThe yearly price. That is it.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementSetup, GIS wiring, training, and the risk of paying for a system the crew stops using.
Keep your current map	ZiptilityYes. Works alongside it if you want to keep it.	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementBuilt to sit on top of your GIS, which someone has to maintain.
Who actually uses it	ZiptilityThe whole crew	Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementUsually IT and a few trained staff

Ziptility

Built for

ZiptilitySmall water & wastewater systems, 3 to 12 staff

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementCities, counties & public works departments with IT support

Who keeps it current?

ZiptilityThe crew, from the phone they already carry

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementUsually a GIS or IT person. It is GIS-powered, and someone has to keep the system and the map current.

Getting started

ZiptilityUp and running in under an hour. Start with the map you have.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementA project. Standing it up, wiring it to the GIS, and training.

Work orders in the field

ZiptilityBuilt in. Map and work orders in one app.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementYes, but built for a formal public works work-order program, not a small crew.

On a phone, in the field

ZiptilityYes. Field-first. Works with no signal.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementMobile apps exist, but the system is desktop and GIS first.

Pricing

ZiptilityOne yearly price per connection. Unlimited users.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementQuote-only. No public pricing.

The cost behind the cost

ZiptilityThe yearly price. That is it.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementSetup, GIS wiring, training, and the risk of paying for a system the crew stops using.

Keep your current map

ZiptilityYes. Works alongside it if you want to keep it.

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementBuilt to sit on top of your GIS, which someone has to maintain.

Who actually uses it

ZiptilityThe whole crew

Lucity / CentralSquare Asset ManagementUsually IT and a few trained staff

What does it really cost to keep Lucity running?

The quote is only the start, and it is not even the risky part. The risky part is the version of this purchase that stalls: bought, half set up, fed for a season, then quietly abandoned while the renewal keeps coming due. That is how enterprise money ends up paying for a database nobody opens. For a city with staff to keep the system fed, the overhead is normal. For a small water system, it is the bill nobody put on the quote. CentralSquare publishes no price, and we are not going to invent one. Whatever your quote says, the number that matters is whether the crew is still using the system in year two.

Ziptility's answer is structural. One yearly price based on how many connections you have, with unlimited users and no per-user or per-asset licenses. The yearly price is the whole cost; nothing extra to keep it running. The whole crew gets it on a phone, because pricing is by service connections, not by seat. A system the crew actually carries is a system that stays current.

We already run CentralSquare. Do we have to rip it out?

No. If your city already runs CentralSquare for streets and fleet, Ziptility can sit alongside it. Your water crew gets a field app they will actually use. Keep your GIS. Use Ziptility for the field work orders and the asset history your operators touch every day.

Your data is yours. You can export it whenever you want, and you can import what you already have to get started. To be straight about the mechanics: this is data import and coexistence, not a live two-way sync. You are not wiring the two systems together. The field crew gets the simple app they will use, and the city keeps the bigger system for the work it was built for.

What does a utility actually say after living with it?

That the system could do plenty, but the part that mattered was the part the crew would use in the field. One utility we talked with, a 10,000-connection wastewater authority, ran a CentralSquare-Lucity setup for mapping and work orders. They told us it was not user friendly and the work orders were not great, and they found us while searching for a Lucity alternative. Worth being straight about the size: that is a bigger operation than most systems reading this page, and the field side still did not stick.

That is the gap. Not that the software is bad. The depth went unused while the daily work happened on paper. A small crew does not need every feature a city needs. It needs the map, the work order on the asset, and the history, in something a tech can run with a thumb, standing in front of the thing.

Questions operators ask

Is Lucity the same as CentralSquare now?

Yes. CentralSquare acquired Lucity in 2019, and the product is sold today as CentralSquare Asset Management, powered by Lucity. As of 2026 you will still hear both names.

Is Ziptility a replacement for Lucity?

For a small system, it can be. You get your map, your work orders, and your asset history in one app the crew will actually use, and the yearly price is the whole cost. If your city needs a full public works asset system across streets and fleet, Lucity may fit better.

Do I need a GIS or IT person to use Ziptility?

Operators set it up and run it themselves. Start with the map you have. It works out of the box, customize from there.

We already run CentralSquare. Can we keep it?

Yes. Keep your CentralSquare setup for public works and add Ziptility for the field work orders and asset history your water crew touches. Your data stays yours. This is import and coexistence, not a live two-way sync.

What does it cost compared to Lucity?

Ziptility is one yearly price based on your number of connections, with unlimited users. No per-user or per-asset licenses. Lucity is quote-only with no public pricing, so you will have to ask them.