Datacake vs OpenRemote

Datacake is an IoT platform that turns sensor data into live dashboards, alerts, and reports. Its monitoring use cases include cold chains, temperature and humidity, indoor air quality, soil moisture, and industrial noise. Users can build real-time dashboards without coding and set thresholds and rules that send alerts by email, SMS, or webhook. Datacake lists more than 400 LoRaWAN device templates across over 125 manufacturers, with payload decoders and dashboards. Every plan includes its managed LoRaWAN Network Server, with unlimited gateways and no per-gateway fees. Data can be streamed to other systems through MQTT, HTTPS webhooks, and a REST API. Native iOS and Android apps support dashboards, device onboarding, alert creation, and push notifications. Its OpenAI-powered assistant can analyze sensor data and help create dashboards, rules, and decoders; changes require confirmation. White-label branding and multi-tenancy are offered for system integrators, distributors, and OEMs. The free plan supports five devices. Hobby costs €25 a month and covers up to 25 devices, with one year of retention.

OpenRemote is an open-source IoT platform for bringing different protocols and data sources into one management system. Users define asset types and the attributes they want to track, then create automations with When-Then rules, a visual Flow Editor, or Groovy scripting. Its dashboard builder supports live monitoring, historical trend analysis, and alerts when attributes pass thresholds. Built-in protocol agents include HTTP, SNMP, ModBus, MQTT, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, Serial, TCP, UDP, KNX, Velbus, and openWeather. Assets and attributes are accessible through a unified REST API and WebSockets. Keycloak provides OAuth2/OpenID Connect and role-based access control; Realms logically isolate users and data. Through Hawkbit integration, the platform supports edge-device firmware updates and security patch rollouts. OpenRemote is designed for professional integrators, including manufacturers, system integrators, and governments. It uses a container-first approach and offers Docker Compose deployment for its manager, database, identity service, and map server. The code is licensed under AGPLv3, with commercial licenses available for organizations seeking an exemption from the stated source-sharing obligation. Community support is included with the free option.