ThingsBoard
ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform that enables device management, data collection, processing, and visualization. It helps IoT developers and businesses build scalable, secure solutions for monitoring and controlling connected devices.
What problem does ThingsBoard solve?
ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform for data collection, processing, visualization, and device management. It enables device connectivity via MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP; supports cloud and on-prem deployments; provisions and manages devices/assets; collects telemetry data; and provides real-time dashboards with 600+ widgets and a drag-and-drop rule engine for custom workflows.
How easy is it to learn and use ThingsBoard?
ThingsBoard is designed with no-code users in mind: visual dashboards with built-in widgets, a drag-and-drop IoT Rule Engine, and server-side APIs for device management. You can start with the Community Edition (open-source) and scale to monolithic or microservices deployments as needed.
What are the pricing plans for ThingsBoard?
ThingsBoard offers:
- Community Edition: open-source and free to use under Apache 2.0.
- Cloud: Platform-as-a-Service offering.
- Professional Edition: advanced IoT platform capabilities.
Pricing details are available on ThingsBoard’s pricing pages.
Is ThingsBoard available as cloud, on-premises, or both?
Both. ThingsBoard supports cloud (PaaS) deployments and on-premises deployments, with options for monolithic or microservices architectures.
Is ThingsBoard suitable for no-code users (designers, marketers, operators)?
Yes. Non-developers can design end-user dashboards with 600+ widgets, and build automated device workflows using the drag-and-drop Rule Engine, without writing custom code.
What integrations and protocols does ThingsBoard support?
- Protocols: MQTT, CoAP, HTTP; NB IoT, LoRaWAN, SigFox, LwM2M.
- APIs for server-side applications and device commands (RPC).
- Flexible data storage options (SQL, NoSQL, or hybrid), and extensibility through custom transports and widgets.
What are common use cases for ThingsBoard?
- Environment monitoring (indoor/outdoor environmental data)
- Smart office (occupant comfort and resource optimization)
- Water metering (consumption analytics and fraud detection)
- Smart retail (inventory and safety monitoring)
- Smart energy (real-time and historical energy data)
- Smart farming (soil conditions, facility state)
- Fleet tracking (real-time vehicle routes and sensor data)
- Smart metering (meter data collection and analysis)
Is ThingsBoard open-source?
Yes. ThingsBoard is 100% open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing free use and the option to host as SaaS or PaaS.