TDengine vs ThingsBoard
TDengine
tdengine.comThingsBoard
thingsboard.ioSide by side
| Figure | TDengine | ThingsBoard |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $281.25/mo | $39/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 12 | 25 |
| Spec score · IoT Analytics Software | 8.9 (#2) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Deployment | Self-hosted deployments can run at the edge, in containers or virtual machines, on local servers, or in public, private, or hybrid clouds. | ThingsBoard offers cloud, dedicated Private Cloud, and on-premises deployments, including fully offline self-managed installations. |
| Integrations | The documented ecosystem includes Grafana integration, Kafka integration, MQTT, OPC, PI System and Excel connectivity. | Documented integrations include AWS IoT, Azure IoT Hub, Google Pub/Sub, MQTT brokers, Kafka, OPC-UA and LoRaWAN network servers. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.7 out of 5 from 15 reviews. | 4.5 out of 5 from 8 reviews |
| Security controls | TDengine Cloud encrypts data in transit and at rest; Enterprise supports configurable encryption, role-based permissions, IP whitelisting, scheduled backups and cross-region replication. | Security features include TLS or DTLS device protocols, token/basic/X.509 authentication, mutual TLS, two-factor authentication, OAuth2/SSO, audit logs and encrypted secrets. |
| Support | Annual licenses include business-hours standard support, while premium support offers 24×7 Severity 1 coverage; free-tier support is optional at $3,375 per year. | Paid subscriptions provide access to the ThingsBoard Support Portal, and Startup and Business plans include priority support. |
| System requirements | The open-source build supports Linux Ubuntu 18.04+ or CentOS 7+, macOS 10.15+, limited Windows, x86_64 or ARM64, with 4 GB RAM and 2 GB disk recommended. | The CE Ubuntu guide specifies 1 CPU/4 GB RAM/20 GB for development, 2 CPU/8 GB/50 GB SSD for small production, and 4+ CPU/16+ GB/100+ GB for recommended production. |
| What it does | TDengine is an AI-native industrial data platform combining a distributed time-series database with industrial data management, contextualization, analytics and AI capabilities. | ThingsBoard is an IoT platform for device management, data collection, processing and visualization. |
Plans
TDengine
- Free TierFree
- Self-hosted Free TierFree
- Starter$970 a month
- TDengine Cloud Starter$970 a month
- TDengine Cloud Small$1,740 a month
- TDengine Cloud Medium$2,570 a month
- Optional Annual Support$3,375 a year
- Starter$11,640 a year
- 7,500-tag Annual License$12,500 a year
- Self-hosted 7,500-tag annual license$12,500 a year
ThingsBoard
- FreeFree
- Prototype$49 a month
- Pilot$149 a month
- Startup$399 a month
- Business$749 a month
- Free (On-premises)Free
- Free (ThingsBoard Cloud)Free
- Free (ThingsBoard Cloud)Free
- Prototype (ThingsBoard Cloud)$39 a month
- Prototype (ThingsBoard Cloud)$49 a month
In their own words
TDengine
TDengine is an industrial data platform combining data ingestion, storage, analytics, modeling, visualization, and AI applications. Its two core components are TDengine TSDB and TDengine IDMP; TSDB is a distributed time-series database with built-in caching, stream processing, and data subscription. The platform connects to industrial sources including OPC, MQTT, and Kafka, and includes ETL for data cleaning and transformation. It offers a REST API described by OpenAPI, plus JDBC, ODBC, Kafka, MQTT, iframe embedding, and an Excel Add-In. Self-hosted deployments can run at the edge, in containers or virtual machines, on local servers, or in public, private, and hybrid clouds. Managed TDengine Cloud is offered on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. TDengine TSDB-OSS is open source under AGPL and includes clustering. The self-hosted Free Tier covers up to 5,000 tags. Listed plans include Starter at $970 a month, a 7,500-tag self-hosted annual license at $12,500 a year, and a 7,500-tag self-hosted perpetual license at $31,250 as a one-time purchase.
ThingsBoard
ThingsBoard is an IoT platform for managing devices and collecting, processing, and visualizing their data. Its real-time IoT and SCADA dashboards include more than 300 built-in widgets and support custom widgets. Native connectivity covers MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, LwM2M, and SNMP; an IoT Gateway adds protocols such as Modbus, BACnet, CAN bus, BLE, and OPC-UA. Rule Engine nodes support data processing and platform customization, while integrations connect external services and gateways including AWS IoT, Azure IoT Hub, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, LoRaWAN servers, MQTT brokers, and OPC-UA servers. Deployment options include cloud, dedicated Private Cloud, and on-premises installations, including fully offline self-managed setups. Security choices include two-factor authentication, OAuth 2.0/SSO, JWT tokens, API keys, and HTTPS/TLS configuration. ThingsBoard Cloud is hosted on infrastructure stated to comply with SOC II and ISO 27001, with North America and EU data regions. Cloud plans have device and data-point limits. Listed cloud plans include free and paid options, with Prototype at $39 a month.