ChirpStack is open source under the MIT license and therefore completely free - there is no license fee, no per-device cost and no cap on gateways, tenants or messages. What a ChirpStack setup actually costs comes down to three things: the server or hosting (from around 6 EUR per month, or marginal on existing infrastructure), the gateway and sensor hardware (one-time, depending on the model), and ongoing operations (updates, monitoring, backups, security). For what ChirpStack is and where it sits in the stack, see our article What is ChirpStack.
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ChirpStack is open source with no license fees
ChirpStack is an open-source LoRaWAN Network Server (LNS) developed by Orne Brocaar. All components - the ChirpStack Network Server, Gateway Bridge, the REST and gRPC API and the ChirpStack Gateway OS - are released under the MIT license (chirpstack.io/project). That is one of the most permissive open-source licenses there is.
In practice this means:
- The software is free forever and fully featured, from test environment to production.
- There is no license fee per device, gateway or message and no feature gating.
- There is no vendor lock-in: you run the server on your own infrastructure and your data stays with you.
The current generation is ChirpStack v4 (version 4.19.2, released September 2026, GitHub releases). It consolidates the previously separate services into one lean application and uses PostgreSQL 13 or newer for storage plus Redis 6.2 or newer for sessions and cache (requirements).
What ChirpStack really costs: the cost blocks
Because the software is free, the total cost of ownership (TCO) shifts to hardware and operations. These blocks determine the price:
| Cost block | Type | Order of magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| ChirpStack license | - | 0 EUR (MIT) |
| Server / hosting | recurring | from approx. 6 EUR/month (small VPS) or marginal on an existing Proxmox VM |
| Gateway hardware | one-time | approx. 150-400 EUR (indoor), 500-900 EUR (outdoor) per gateway |
| Sensors / end devices | one-time | depends on use case, often 20-150 EUR per sensor |
| Operations & maintenance | recurring | internal time or MSP retainer |
| Support / SLA | optional | via integrator/MSP, no vendor subscription |
Server and hosting
ChirpStack is written in Rust and is very resource-efficient. A typical network with a few thousand devices runs on a small VM with 2 to 4 vCPUs and 4 to 8 GB of RAM including PostgreSQL and Redis. Only very large fleets or high message rates need more.
That leads to two realistic scenarios:
- Your own cloud VM: a small server such as a Hetzner Cloud CX23 instance (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM) costs 5.49 EUR net per month in Germany since the price adjustment of 15 June 2026, plus an IPv4 address (Hetzner, price adjustment). That already covers a complete LNS for an SME network.
- On existing infrastructure: if you already run a Proxmox or Hetzner setup, the extra cost for a ChirpStack VM is practically marginal. This is exactly where the sovereignty advantage lies: everything stays EU-hosted and in your hands.
When self-hosted makes sense versus a cloud platform, and where the limits are, is covered in our article IoT self-hosted vs. cloud.
Gateways and sensors: the one-time hardware costs
The biggest line item in many projects is not the software but the radio hardware. Important: these costs arise with any LoRaWAN setup, regardless of whether you use ChirpStack, a cloud platform or a managed service. They are not a ChirpStack surcharge.
- Indoor gateways: a RAK WisGate Edge Lite 2 (RAK7268) starts at around 150 US dollars, a Milesight UG65 is roughly 325 EUR net (about 384 EUR incl. VAT, as of June 2026). That covers many building and campus scenarios.
- Outdoor gateways: rugged IP67 models such as the Milesight UG67 or RAK7289 usually range from 500 to 900 EUR, but cover large areas.
- Sensors: LoRaWAN end devices (temperature, level, energy, metering) often cost 20 to 150 EUR each, one-time.
ChirpStack is vendor-neutral: any LoRaWAN-certified gateway that speaks Semtech UDP, MQTT or Basics Station can be connected. For an overview of suitable hardware, see our Milesight expertise.
Operations, maintenance and support: the recurring costs
This is the honest main cost driver - and it is often underestimated. Running ChirpStack in production requires:
- Updates and patches for ChirpStack, PostgreSQL, Redis and the operating system.
- Monitoring and alerting, so a failed gateway or a full disk is noticed before data is lost.
- Backups of the PostgreSQL database and the configuration.
- Security: TLS, hardened API access, network segmentation for the gateways.
These tasks cost either internal working time or an MSP retainer. There is no official vendor support subscription for ChirpStack; the project offers free help via the community forum and the documentation. Professional support, an SLA and full operations are handled by service providers - at WZ-IT as part of our ChirpStack expertise.
TCO example: ChirpStack for a mid-sized LoRaWAN network
A realistic example for an SME with 3 indoor gateways and 200 sensors:
| Item | Assumption | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| ChirpStack license | MIT, free | 0 EUR |
| 3 indoor gateways | approx. 325 EUR net each | approx. 975 EUR (one-time) |
| 200 sensors | approx. 60 EUR each | approx. 12,000 EUR (one-time) |
| Server | small VM or Proxmox VM | approx. 5-10 EUR/month |
| Operations/maintenance | internal or MSP | recurring, depending on model |
The key point: the recurring platform cost is limited to server and operations. There is no line item that gets more expensive with every additional device. If the network grows from 200 to 2,000 devices, the license cost does not change - at most a slightly larger VM may be needed.
ChirpStack vs. commercial LNS and TTN
The cost advantage of ChirpStack is clearest in comparison:
| Solution | Model | Cost logic |
|---|---|---|
| ChirpStack (self-hosted) | open source, MIT | server + hardware + operations, no per-device cost |
| The Things Network (Community) | public free network | free, but fair-use limit: 30 s uplink airtime and 10 downlinks per device/day, no SLA |
| The Things Stack Cloud | managed LNS | free tier (Discovery) up to 10 devices/10 gateways; Standard incl. 1,000 devices, then per device |
| AWS IoT Core / Azure / Actility | managed/cloud | billed per device and/or per message |
The public The Things Network is ideal for testing but heavily limited for production by its fair use policy. Commercial managed LNS take operations off your hands but tie the price to the device count - for growing fleets this leads to the classic per-device license explosion. ChirpStack inverts that logic: you pay for infrastructure and operations, not for each individual device.
Conclusion
ChirpStack itself costs nothing - it is open source under MIT with no license fee. The real costs sit in the server, gateway hardware and operations, where the hardware applies to any LoRaWAN project and operations is the actual lever. For organisations that want data sovereignty and predictable costs, the self-hosted route is the more honest answer than a per-device cloud service.
Want to know what ChirpStack would cost for your specific network? WZ-IT calculates the TCO transparently and operates your LoRaWAN network on sovereign, EU-hosted infrastructure. Free initial consultation · To the IoT platform · ChirpStack expertise
