In this article, we have provided a detailed comparison of the best commercial and open source IoT platforms that every business-minded individual should watch out for in 2021.
The world is in a digital age now, and more things are being moved online. The Internet of Things is one remarkable advancement in technology that is greatly changing the scope of many contemporary enterprises. IoT may be just what you’ve been missing in your struggle to achieve a competitive edge in your industry.
What is an IoT Platform?
An IoT platform is a multi-layer software that is used for managing and automating the connected devices. Simply put, it refers to the technology which assists you in moving the physical objects online. This service will provide you with the necessary functionalities to connect the devices for a successful machine to machine interaction.
Examples of IoT:
- Fitbit is a good example of IoT applications
- Smartwatches which can send text messages and make phone calls are equally an example of IoT devices
- Smart home systems are more advanced examples of an IoT application. The most popular one is Amazon Echo.
12 Best IoT Platforms to Watch Out In 2021
Below, we have discussed a list of the top open source IoT platforms to check out in 2021.
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Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform is a trending IoT platform that offers a multi-layer security infrastructure. It is useful for getting real-time asset tracking, solutions for smart buildings and cities, and predictive maintenance for machines.
Features
- AI functionalities
- ML capabilities for all IoT purposes
- Location intelligence
- Offers support for a vast range of integrated operating systems
- Cost: Pricing is from $1,758/month
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OpenRemote
This is a fully open-source IoT platform used to build a wide range of applications. They are used in higher professional IoT applications for crowd management and energy management among other things.
Features
- IoT-based protocols such as MQTT, UDP, TCP, HTTP, or Websocket to connect your IoT data services, gateways, or devices or create a missing API that is vendor-specific.
- Other protocols including Modbus or KNX.
- Mobile application for iOS and Android, including push notifications and gofencing options.
- Cost: Free of charge under open source license.
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Microsoft Azure IoT Suite
This IoT platform is suitable to meet several industry needs. It can be utilized in retail, transportation, and manufacturing. It offers solutions for smart spaces, predictive maintenance, connected products, and remote monitoring.
Features
- Beginners, as well as professionals can use this solution.
- It offers an open platform for building a great application.
- Cost: Contact the vendor for pricing information.
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Altair SmartWorks
Altair SmartWorks offers an end-to-end IoT solution. It serves as a platform as a service. It allows its users to connect devices, manage devices, collect, and manage data, and create and launch the app.
Features
- Device management
- Custom alarms
- Data export
- Connection with any Devi m devices including machines, gateways, and sensors.
- Cost: No cost for 2 devices. Contact them for additional information on pricing.
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IRI Voracity
IRI Voracity is a swift and affordable IoT platform for data analytics, discovery, governance, migration, and integration that can change, anonymize, and report device data that streams via MQTT or Kafka.
Features
- Consolidated data masking, cleansing, transformation, reporting, and filtering.
- Operates on a vast range of Windows, Unix, and Linux platforms.
- Cost: 3-5 figures/hostname/year; determined by the volumes and components needed.
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Particle
Particle is one of the best internet of things companies. It is a platform that offers the IoT solutions for apps, device cloud, connectivity, and hardware. In terms of connectivity, it offers 3 products: Mesh, Wi-Fi, and Cellular. As an IoT platform, it offers developer tools, IoT Rules Engine, Deduce Cloud, and Device OS.
Features
- For data, there’s easy integration with anything utilizing REST API.
- It offers a vast and reliable infrastructure.
- It offers the firewall-secured cloud.
Cost:
For Mesh: Pricing begins at $15 per device
For Cellular: Pricing begins at $49 per device
For Wi-Fi: Pricing begins at $25/device
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Oracle IoT
With Oracle IoT cloud, you are able to carry out real-time data analysis from your devices, connect your devices to the cloud, and execute data integration with business web services or applications.
Features
- It assists in extending the supply chain, HR, ERP, and customer experience apps.
- It improves employee productivity and operational productivity.
- It offers features such as high-speed messaging and device virtualization.
- Cost: Pricing begins at $2.2513 OCPU per hour based on a monthly interval. This price is for Universal Credit services. The prices for non-metered services begin at $2,500.
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ThingWorx
ThingWorx is an IoT service platform that manages the development life cycle for IoT apps. It offers flexibility to access IoT and data from off-premises, on-premises, and from the hybrid infrastructure. Using this IoT platform will provide you with enhanced compliance, role-based control and visibility, decreased costs, and higher uptime.
Features
- Create and launch solutions
- Data analysis
- Connection of devices
- Cost: Contact the company for details on pricing.
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IBM Watson IoT
This software will assist in capturing and investigating the data for equipment, machines, and devices. It will also help you to optimize your resource and operations, consequently leading to a significant increase in revenue.
Features
- Artificial intelligence and Analytics
- Captures real-time data
- Offers security
- Offers flexible solutions
- Domain expertise
- Cost: Begins at $500 per instance per month.
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Salesforce IoT Cloud
Salesforce IoT cloud platform is one of the best IoT platform. It will assist you in transforming all data which is generated by the sensors, devices, partners, and customers into useful insights. It features partner connectors including Cisco Systems and AWS.
Features
- View traffic in real time
- Ability to import data from any source, using RESTful API.
- Cost: Contact the company for details on pricing.
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Amazon AWS IoT Core
AWS IoT Core is a managed cloud service that allows its users to connect devices with the cloud. It offers support for MQTT, lightweight communication protocol, and HTTP.
Features
- It provides secure access to user devices
- You are enabled to use other AWS services such as Amazon QuickSight, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda.
- User applications will monitor and communicate even when there’s no connection.
- Ability to process massive volume of messages.
- Cost: While there’s a free trial offer, you have to contact them for precise pricing options.
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Cisco IoT Cloud Connect
This is a mobility IoT software suite that offers cloud-based solution for mobile operators. It gives full optimization and utilization of the network. Cisco IoT Cloud Connect offers IoT solutions for data management, security, and networking
Features
- It gives updates for every tier of the network
- It offers better visibility and control
- It has centralized security controls
- Cost: Contact vendor for pricing details
Final Thoughts
Rounding off this article on the top IoT platforms to watch out for in 2021, it is safe to say that the Salesforce IoT cloud, Particle, and Google Cloud platform are easy to use.
Particle definitely has impressive community support. ThingWorx is a remarkable IoT solution. AWS IoT offers good integration features but is quite the pricey option.
In all, it is crucial to understand that all of these wonderful IoT platforms mentioned above have their respective shortcomings. Hence, ensure that whichever platform you eventually choose for your business is the one that best suits the specific needs of your business. We hope you found this article very useful and insightful.
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