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ThingsBoard is one of the most mature open-source IoT platforms on the market. But with two editions – Community Edition (CE) and Professional Edition (PE) – the question arises: which one fits your project? This article compares both editions in detail: features, pricing, deployment options and a concrete decision guide.
As of October 2026: With ThingsBoard 4.4 (29 September 2026) the vendor merged CE and PE into one product under the Business Source License 1.1. Commercial use is now free only up to 100 devices on one server, with a license key and visible branding. Versions up to 4.3 remain Apache 2.0 permanently, and the 4.3 LTS line receives security updates until 20 July 2027. The comparison below describes the editions up to 4.3; what the change means for operators is covered in ThingsBoard 4.4 under BUSL 1.1 (ThingsBoard, announcement).
Table of Contents
- What is ThingsBoard?
- Community Edition: Features in Detail
- Professional Edition: What's Added?
- Feature Comparison Table
- License Change with Version 4.4
- Deployment Options and Pricing
- LoRaWAN Integration: CE vs PE
- Add-ons in the ThingsBoard Ecosystem
- Migration CE to PE
- When Which Edition?
- Our Recommendation at WZ-IT
- Further Reading
What is ThingsBoard?
ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform for device management, data collection, data processing and visualisation. The platform supports protocols like MQTT, CoAP and HTTP, offers a powerful rule engine and scales in cluster mode to millions of devices.
Up to version 4.3 there were two editions:
- Community Edition (CE): Free, Apache 2.0 licence, fully open source
- Professional Edition (PE): Commercial, includes all CE features plus enterprise functionality
According to ThingsBoard, 80% of code changes flow directly back into the CE. The PE extends the CE with features like RBAC, white-labelling, SSO and native platform integrations.
Community Edition: Features in Detail
The CE is not a stripped-down trial version – it is a fully-fledged, scalable IoT platform:
Protocols and Connectivity
- MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, SNMP, LWM2M as transport protocols
- IoT Gateway with industrial protocol connectors: Modbus, OPC-UA, BACnet, BLE, CAN and more
Device Management
- Device & asset management with digital twins
- OTA firmware updates via the platform
- Device provisioning and grouping
Data Processing
- Rule engine for data processing, alarms and actions
- Calculated fields and AI rule nodes
- Data forwarding to external systems
Visualisation
- Real-time dashboards with 600+ IoT-specific widgets
- Mobile-responsive dashboard views
- Alarm management and notifications
Architecture
- Multi-tenancy out of the box
- Cluster-capable – scalable to millions of devices
- PostgreSQL as database (up to approx. 5,000 msg/sec), hybrid with Cassandra for higher loads
- Deployment: Self-managed only (Docker, Kubernetes, bare-metal)
Professional Edition: What's Added?
The PE includes all CE features plus these enterprise functions:
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| RBAC | Role-based access control with granular permissions |
| White-Labelling | Custom branding (logo, colours, email templates) without code changes |
| SSO / OAuth2 | Single sign-on integration with identity providers |
| Platform Integrations | AWS IoT, Azure IoT Hub, Google PubSub, Kafka, LoRaWAN, Sigfox |
| Device Library | 400+ pre-built payload decoders for LoRaWAN and other protocols |
| Automated Reporting | Scheduled report generation and distribution |
| Solution Templates | Pre-built IoT solution templates |
| Secrets Storage | Secure credential storage |
| Scheduler | Time-based actions |
| Dedicated Support | SLA-based support instead of community forum |
The PE is particularly relevant for organisations building multi-customer platforms with custom branding or requiring native LPWAN integration without external components.
Feature Comparison Table
| Area | CE | PE |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Tenancy & Clustering | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rule Engine & AI Models | ✅ | ✅ |
| MQTT / CoAP / HTTP | ✅ | ✅ |
| IoT Gateway (Modbus, OPC-UA, BACnet) | ✅ | ✅ |
| OTA Firmware Updates | ✅ | ✅ |
| Real-time Dashboards (600+ Widgets) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Digital Twins | ✅ | ✅ |
| Calculated Fields & AI Rule Nodes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile App | ✅ | ✅ (+ PE Mobile App) |
| LPWAN (LoRaWAN, Sigfox) native | ❌ | ✅ |
| System Integrations (AWS/Azure/Kafka) | ❌ | ✅ |
| RBAC | ❌ | ✅ |
| SSO / OAuth2 | ❌ | ✅ |
| White-Labelling | ❌ | ✅ |
| Reporting & Scheduling | ❌ | ✅ |
| Device Payload Library (400+) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Solution Templates | ❌ | ✅ |
| Managed Cloud | ❌ | ✅ |
| Support Model | Community | Advanced + SLA |
License Change with Version 4.4
Since 29 September 2026 the following applies (as of October 2026):
| Item | Versions up to 4.3 (CE) | Version 4.4 and later |
|---|---|---|
| License | Apache 2.0, permanently | BUSL 1.1, each version becomes Apache 2.0 after four years |
| Free production use | no device limit | commercial up to 100 devices on one server, non-commercial up to 1,000 devices |
| License key | not required | required for every production deployment, online validation about hourly |
| Branding | freely customizable | "Powered by ThingsBoard" must stay visible, white-labelling is paid |
| Security updates | 4.3 until 2027-07-20, 4.2 until 2027-02-15 | ongoing |
Existing CE installations that were in production before 29 September 2026 can take their size plus 10 percent headroom (at most 1,000 extra devices) to 4.4 free of charge permanently through the Community Grant Program, with registration open until 20 July 2027. The latest 4.3 LTS patch is required. Integrations, scheduler, reporting and white-labelling features are not part of the grant; as the Professional Pack they cost USD 2,999 once per installation. Sources: license text, release policy. The options for operators are assessed in ThingsBoard 4.4 under BUSL 1.1.
Deployment Options and Pricing
Community Edition
Free up to version 4.3. Apache 2.0 licence, commercial use permitted. Deployment on your own infrastructure (Docker, Kubernetes, bare-metal). No device or user limits in the software. From 4.4, the Free License under BUSL 1.1 replaces the CE (see above).
PE Public Cloud (ThingsBoard Cloud)
Hosted by ThingsBoard in North America or Europe:
| Plan | Price/Month (EUR) | Devices | Assets | Data Points/Month | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | 5 | 5 | 1M | Community |
| Prototype | €45 | 50 | 50 | 10M | Community |
| Pilot | €145 | 100 | 100 | 100M | Help Desk + White-Label |
| Startup | €385 | 500 | 500 | 500M | Priority Help Desk |
| Business | €725 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1B | Priority Help Desk |
From Business: €0.30/additional device. Top-ups for devices, integrations, traffic and storage available.
Self-managed (commercial license, formerly PE)
Licence for your own infrastructure, hosting costs are separate. As of October 2026 according to the pricing page; the former Maker and Prototype plans are no longer offered:
| Plan | Price/Month | Devices | Assets | Instances |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 | 100 | 1 Prod |
| Pilot | $99 | 100 | 100 | 1 Prod |
| Startup | $299 | 500 | 500 | 2 Prod |
| Business | $499 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 3 Prod |
White-labelling included from Pilot plan. USD 0.10 per additional device on the Business plan. Trendz Analytics and Edge Computing as add-ons.
PE Private Cloud (Managed)
Fully managed infrastructure by ThingsBoard:
| Plan | Price/Month | Devices | Uptime | Msg/Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | $1,499 | 5,000 | 99.9% | 50,000 |
| Growth | $2,199 | 25,000 | 99.9% | 100,000 |
| Scale | $3,999 | 50,000 | 99.95% | 500,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom | 100,000+ | Custom | Unlimited |
Includes automatic backups, 24/7 monitoring, production support and multi-AZ database replication.
A European, GDPR-compliant alternative to this managed option is ThingsBoard managed hosting from merkaio.
PE Perpetual Licence
One-time licence fee (CAPEX instead of OPEX) for air-gapped and offline scenarios, from USD 4,999 (as of October 2026). From 4.4, an offline key without online license validation is only available for a Perpetual License with authorized offline deployment.
LoRaWAN Integration: CE vs PE
The LoRaWAN question is one of the most common decision factors:
PE: Native Integration
The Professional Edition includes built-in LoRaWAN integration with 400+ pre-built payload decoders. Devices are registered and managed directly in ThingsBoard.
CE: ChirpStack as External Solution
The Community Edition has no native LoRaWAN support. The proven alternative: ChirpStack as an external LoRaWAN network server. ChirpStack decodes payloads and sends data via MQTT to ThingsBoard CE.
Our assessment: CE + ChirpStack offers more flexibility than PE's built-in integration. ChirpStack is open source, vendor-independent and supports all LoRaWAN gateways. The additional setup effort is minimal – and you avoid licence costs and vendor lock-in. We describe the interplay in detail in ThingsBoard, Grafana & ChirpStack in the IoT Stack.
Add-ons in the ThingsBoard Ecosystem
| Product | Description | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Trendz Analytics | AI-powered analysis, anomaly detection, forecasting | Add-on for CE & PE |
| ThingsBoard Edge | Edge computing – local data processing at the source | CE Edge (with CE server), PE Edge (with PE server) |
| TBMQ | Standalone MQTT broker (CE free, PE with licence) | Standalone |
| PE Mobile App | White-label mobile app (iOS + Android) | $99/month + $1,000 setup |
| IoT Gateway | Industrial protocols (Modbus, OPC-UA, BACnet) | Free with CE & PE |
Migration CE to PE
ThingsBoard enables seamless migration from CE to PE:
- Telemetry data and configurations are fully preserved
- Dashboards, devices and rules are carried over
- Note: Custom source code modifications to the CE are lost during the upgrade
Migration is possible in both directions – from CE to PE and back. This reduces risk when evaluating the PE.
When Which Edition?
| Scenario | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| PoC / prototyping / evaluation | 4.4 in development mode or CE 4.3 – free, full feature set |
| Existing CE in production | 4.3.1.6 + Community Grant – register by 2027-07-20 |
| New commercial projects up to 100 devices, one server | 4.4 Free License – license key, visible branding |
| New projects above 100 devices | commercial license or an open stack with ChirpStack, Node-RED and Grafana |
| LoRaWAN projects | CE + ChirpStack – more flexible than PE's built-in integration |
| Multi-customer platform with custom branding | PE – white-labelling without code changes |
| Enterprise with SSO, RBAC and SLA support | PE – granular access control and guaranteed support |
| Managed hosting without own infrastructure | PE Cloud or WZ-IT Managed CE |
| Offline / air-gapped deployment | Perpetual with offline authorization – one-time purchase, no internet required |
Still unsure which edition fits? The IoT architecture check assesses data path and platform and delivers a documented target architecture, from €1,490 excl. VAT.
Our Recommendation at WZ-IT
This recommendation predates the license change. As of October 2026: we update existing CE installations to the current 4.3 LTS patch and register the Community Grant before 20 July 2027. For new projects above 100 devices we compare the commercial license with an open stack, see ThingsBoard 4.4 under BUSL 1.1. Functionally, ThingsBoard offers device management, rule engine, dashboards and multi-tenancy, which covers the requirements of most IoT projects.
Our Stack
We rely on a proven open-source stack:
- ThingsBoard CE for device management and dashboards
- ChirpStack for LoRaWAN connectivity
- Grafana for deep data analysis and monitoring
- Node-RED for data pipelines and automation
The entire stack runs on German Hetzner servers. ChirpStack (MIT), Node-RED (Apache 2.0) and Grafana (AGPL-3.0) have no device limits; for ThingsBoard from 4.4, license costs depend on devices, servers and branding.
When Do We Recommend the PE?
The PE is worthwhile for:
- White-label requirements (custom branding for end customers)
- Enterprise SSO (integration with Azure AD, Okta etc.)
- Granular RBAC (when multi-tenancy alone is not sufficient)
From 4.4, projects with more than 100 devices or a cluster in commercial production are added to this list, unless a Community Grant covers the existing size.
→ Discuss Your IoT Project → ThingsBoard Managed Hosting
Further Reading
- ThingsBoard 4.4 under BUSL 1.1: What the License Change Means for Operators
- ThingsBoard pricing
- ThingsBoard, Grafana & ChirpStack in the IoT Stack
- IoT App & Platform Development Costs
- ThingsBoard Managed Hosting
- IoT Platform Development
- IoT ThingsBoard Service
- ChirpStack Managed Hosting
- Grafana Managed Hosting
- → All IoT Services
