Some of the best IoT platforms and tools for data collection, processing, visualization, and device management.
IoT platforms and tools are considered as the most significant component of the IoT ecosystem. Any IoT device permits to connect to other IoT devices and applications to pass on information using standard Internet protocols. IoT platforms fill the gap between the device sensors and data networks. It connects the data to the sensor system and gives insights using back-end applications to create a sense of the plenty of data developed by the many sensors.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the future of technology that helps Artificial intelligence (AI) to regulate and understand things in a considerably stronger way.
Best IoT Platforms for 2024
We have picked up a mix of best-known IoT platforms and tools that help you develop IoT projects in an organized way.
OpenRemote
OpenRemote is the only 100% open-source IoT device management platform for a wide range of applications, and professionally proven by large manufacturers and system integrators.
Summing up the most important features:
- Generic asset and attribute model for defining your own asset types
- Auto device provisioning (for equipment manufacturers) for large scale implementation
- Protocol agents like HTTP REST or MQTT to connect your IoT devices, gateways, data services, or build a missing vendor-specific API.
- Multi-realms multi-tenant solution, combined with account management and identity service.
- Flow editor for data processing, and a WHEN-THEN and a Groovy UI for event-based rules.
- Insight dashboard builder to create standalone apps for monitoring and control without coding.
- Web UI components to efficiently build customer-specific apps.
- Edge Gateway solution to connect multiple instances with a central management instance, through a secure tunnel.
- Alarm and task model with workflow options such as creating notifications or webhooks in maintenance systems.
- Android and iOS consoles allow you to connect to your phone services, e.g., geofences, and push notifications.
- Automated CI/CD pipeline for professional customers
Also Read: Webhooks Vs. API: Difference
Apart from all these excellent features, it has an easy-to-use interface that makes the job much easier, whether you’re an engineer or a project manager.
Node-RED
Node-RED is a visual tool for lining the Internet of Things, i.e., wiring together hardware devices, APIs, and online services in new ways. Built on Node.js, Node-RED describes itself as “a visual means for wiring the Internet of Things.”
It allows developers to connect devices, services, and APIs using a browser-based flow editor. It can run on Raspberry Pi, and a further 60,000 modules are accessible to increase its facilities.
Flutter
Flutter is a programmable processor core for electronics projects, designed for students and engineers. Flutter’s take to glory is it’s long-range. This Arduino-based board includes a wireless transmitter that can show up to more than a half-mile. Plus, you don’t require a router; flutter boards can interact with each other quickly.
Some of its features are below.
- Fast Performance
- Expressive and Flexible UI
- Native Performance
- Visual finish and functionality of existing widgets.
It consists of 256-bit AES encryption, and it’s simple to use.
Arduino
If you are seeking to make a computer that can perceive and exercise stronger control over the real world when related to your ordinary stand-alone computer, then Arduino can be your wise preference.
Offering an appropriate blend of IoT hardware and software, Arduino is a simple-to-use IoT platform. It operates through an array of hardware specifications that can be given to interactive electronics. The software of Arduino comes in the plan of the Arduino programming language and Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
M2MLabs Mainspring
M2MLabs Mainspring is an application framework for developing a machine to machines (M2M) applications such as remote control, fleet administration, or smart terminal. Its facilities include flexible design of devices, device structure, connection between machines and applications, validation and normalization of data, long-term data repository, and data retrieval functions.
It’s based on Java and the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database. M2M applications can be modeled in hours rather than weeks and subsequently passed on to a high-performance execution environment made on top of a standard J2EE server and the highly scalable Apache Cassandra database.
ThingsBoard
ThingsBoard is for data collection, processing, visualization, and device management. It upholds all standard IoT protocols like CoAP, MQTT, and HTTP as quickly as cloud and on-premise deployments.
Let’s take a look at the following ThigsBoard features.
- A stable platform that is combining scalability, production, and fault-tolerance.
- Easy control of all connected devices in an exceptionally secure system
- Transforms and normalizes device inputs and facilitates alarms for generating alerts on all telemetry events, restores, and inactivity.
- Enables use-state specific features using customizable rule groups.
- Handles millions of devices at the same time.
- No single moment of failure, as every node in the bundle is exact.
- Multi-tenant installations out-of-the-wrap.
- Thirty highly customized dashboard widgets for successful user access.
ThingsBoard builds workflows based on design life cycle events, REST API events, and RPC requests.
Kinoma
Kinoma, a Marvell Semiconductor hardware prototyping platform, involves three different open source projects. Kimona Create is a DIY construction kit for prototyping electronic devices. Kimona Studio is the development environment that functions with Set up and the Kinoma Platform Runtime. Kimona Connect is a free iOS and Android app that links smartphones and stands with IoT devices.
Kaa IoT Platform
Kaa is a production-ready, flexible, multi-purpose middleware platform for establishing end-to-end IoT solutions, connected applications, and smart devices. It gives a comprehensive way of carrying out effective communication, and deals with interoperation capabilities in connected and intelligent devices.
It mounts from tiny startups to great enterprises and holds advanced deployment models for multi-cloud IoT solutions. Check out some of the features below.
- Facilitates cross-device interoperability.
- Performs real-time device control, remote device provisioning, and structure.
- Create cloud services for smart products
- Consists of topic-based warning systems to allow end-users to deliver messages of any predefined format to subscribed endpoints.
- Perform real-time device monitoring
- Manage an infinite quantity of connected devices
- Collect and analyze sensor data
It is primarily based on flexible microservices and readily conforms to virtually any need and application.
SiteWhere
SiteWhere platform offers the ingestion, repository, processing, and assimilation of device inputs. It runs on Apache Tomcat and provides highly-tuned MongoDB and HBase implementations.
The following are some of its features:
- Run any estimate of IoT applications on a single SiteWhere instance
- Spring brings the root configuration framework.
- Add widgets through self-registration, REST services, or in batches.
- InfluxDB for event data storage
- Connect devices with MQTT, Stomp, AMQP and other protocols
- Integrates third-party integration frameworks
- Eclipse Californium for CoAP messaging
- HBase for the non-relational datastore
- Grafana to visualize SiteWhere data
You can deploy SiteWhere to cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, or on-premises. It also supports Kubernetes cluster provisioning.
DSA
Distributed Services Architecture (DSA) is for implementing inter-device communication, logic, and efforts at every turn of the IoT infrastructure. It allows cooperation between devices in a distributed manner and sets up a network engineer to share functionality between discrete computing systems.
You can manage node attributes, permission, and links from DSLinks.
Thinger
Thinger.io provides a scalable cloud base for connecting devices. You can deal with them quickly by running the admin console or combining them into your project logic using their REST API. It supports all types of hackers’ boards, such as Raspberry Pi, Intel Edison, and ESP8266.
Thinger can be integrated with IFTT, and it provides real-time data on a beautiful dashboard.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure Internet of Things (IoT) is a collection of managed cloud services, edge components, and SDKs that allow you to connect, monitor, and control your IoT assets at scale. Scope out the perfect business fit for you with thousands of partners and hundreds of validated and repeatable solutions at your service.
Build flexible, scalable IoT solutions with end-to-end security possible from chip to cloud using Microsoft Defender for IoT.
Various tools are offered under the umbrella of Azure products and services towards accelerating solution creations, such as Microsoft Azure IoT solutions for businesses connecting and managing billions of IoT devices, Azure IoT Hub for device-monitoring, provisioning, and configuration platform, Azure IoT Central with handy API access for solution development, Azure Industrial IoT and IoT Solutions for Healthcare and Energy.
Connect and monitor billions of devices on an effective, fully managed system without the worry of managing infrastructures for faster innovation, thus unleashing limitless potentials using best-in-class tools.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| Scalability | Require expertise to manage solutions |
| Edge Computing Capabilities | Free plans have limitations |
| Ready-Made Solutions | Dependency on External Vendors |
| Industry-Specific Solutions |
Is Microsoft Azure IoT free?
As an Azure customer, enjoy unlimited access to select services for free and exclusive perks for new customers within their first 12 months. Its pricing structure is based on a pay-as-you-go model.
PTC ThingWorx
With more focus on an industrial perspective to IoT (Industrial IoT – IIoT) solutions, PTC has positioned itself as one of the leaders in this industry. Drawing from years of experience and research, identified key trends and usage patterns so as to come up with a defined, efficient, and thorough platform architecture, which PTC identifies as the ThingWorx framework.
PTC ThingWorx platform is the most advanced all-in-one IIoT solution. It provides all the tools and technologies to develop and deploy powerful applications and intuitive augmented reality experiences for businesses very rapidly.
The platform offers an extended range of capabilities that will revolutionize your design, manufacturing, service, and operations. Simple creation processes and easy implementation methods enable innovative solutions to be scalable to meet your future needs while accelerating time to value.
ThingWorx IoT platform allows users to connect, create, analyze, manage, and experience the smarter industrial ecosystem. The platform helps users increase their revenue as well as maximize and increase the rate of innovation, minimize costs, and finally improve quality while raising flexibility.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| Pre-built connectors and integrations | Dependency on the PTC Ecosystem |
| Rich development environment | complex to set up and manage |
| Analytics and Reporting | Have limitations for a fully cloud-based solution |
| Drag-and-drop interface | Steeper learning curve |
Is Pricing PTC ThingWorx free of cost?
PTC ThingWorx is not free of cost. PTC offers 30-day trial versions of ThingWorx to try the platform before moving to a paid plan. You need to contact its sales department to know its pricing structure.
Amazon AWS IoT Core
With Amazon AWS IoT Core, a person can connect billions and billions of IoT devices to various Amazon Web Services with no need to manage complicated infrastructure and route trillions of messages.
This is fully managed, comprehensive capabilities for MQTT messaging, enabling the building of elastic, efficient, and cost-effective IoT architectures that are reliable and scalable.
Amazon AWS IoT Core enables comprehensive and reliable connectivity for connecting, managing as well as scaling fleets of devices.
Supporting multiple communication protocols such as MQTT and HTTPS, as well as security mechanisms of mutual authentication and end-to-end encryption, organizations can easily filter, transform, and act upon real-time data that satisfies their specific business rules.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| Managed Cloud Platform | Complexity for Beginners |
| LoRaWAN Integration | Limited Protocol Support |
| Mutual Authentication | Unpredictable cost due to the pay-as-you-go model |
| Device Testing |
Is Amazon AWS IoT Core free?
Experience the benefits of AWS Free Tier for your IoT Core needs with a 12-month free trial upon creating an account. If free usage surpasses the allotted tier, then you need to pay as per their pricing structure.
Telit
Telit offers a suite of IoT platforms, such as deviceWISE cloud and OneEdge, designed for seamless deployment and management of IoT solutions. With the cloud-based subscription service known as deviceWISE, industrial IoT deployments are accelerated with ease.
The secure software stack integrated with Telit’s OneEdge solution streamlines edge device connection and management by seamlessly integrating it with cloud services. Meanwhile, without any custom code required, industrial IoT solutions can be effectively managed through the integration platform deviceWISE EDGE.
As a leading enabler in the field of IoT technology, Telit’s extensive range includes modules, connectivity plans, embedded software, and PaaS solutions -known as Telit Cinterion- to empower businesses.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive data analysis | Hardware products do not provide on-site support |
| Robust application enablement and device management | Integration challenges |
| Connectivity Management Solutions | |
| Edge Device Management |
Is Telit free of cost?
No, the software is not free of cost. You can use the software for a 10-day free of cost. For pricing information, you need to contact the sales team.
Telegraf
Telegraf is a robust server-based agent specifically engineered to streamline the collection and transmission of data to/from databases, systems, and IoT sensors. It has been built in Go, which compiles it into a single binary with no external dependencies at all and with the lowest memory footprint ever.
Telegraf simplifies data gathering from various sources like cloud services, your application, and IoT sensors. It parses and serializes the best of the current popular formats such as JSON, CSV, and even Graphite effortlessly into preferably flexible protocols such as InfluxDB line protocol and Prometheus.
Telegraf plays a crucial role in the InfluxData Platform, enabling efficient data collection for time series metrics.
| ✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
|---|---|
| Pluggable architecture | Plugin Dependencies |
| Wide range of outputs | Limited data visualization capabilities |
| Integration with InfluxDB Cloud | Lacks features of established time series tools |
| Minimal memory footprint | Limited compatibility with other databases |
Is Telegraf free?
Yes, Telgraf is an open-source server agent.
Conclusion
We are living in a world where everything is connected to the Internet, which generates data and information that can be used, analyzed, and of course, exploited to make more use of resources of the competitiveness of companies and cities. So, if you want your business to take advantage of this impact and how everyone experiences the world around them, then you should focus your developments on the creation of “connected applications”.
If you are a developer and interested in building IoT from scratch, then check out this brilliant course by Junaid Ahmed.
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