Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Particle.io VS Thingsboard

Compare Particle.io VS Thingsboard and see what are their differences

Particle.io logo Particle.io

Particle is an IoT platform enabling businesses to build, connect and manage their connected solutions.

Thingsboard logo Thingsboard

Thingsboard is an open-source IoT platform for data collection, processing, visualization, and device management.
  • Particle.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23
  • Thingsboard Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-04

Particle.io features and specs

  • Comprehensive IoT Ecosystem
    Particle.io offers a complete IoT ecosystem with hardware, software, and cloud integration, making it easier for developers to build, deploy, and manage IoT solutions.
  • Device Management
    It provides robust device management features, allowing users to monitor and control a large number of devices remotely, ensuring better scalability and maintenance.
  • Cloud Connectivity
    Particle’s devices come with built-in cloud connectivity, which saves time and effort in setting up secure and reliable communications for IoT devices.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Particle.io offers extensive and well-organized documentation, making it easier for both beginners and experienced developers to get started and troubleshoot issues.
  • Community Support
    Particle.io has a strong community of developers who contribute to forums and share knowledge, aiding in problem-solving and project development.
  • Security
    Particle prioritizes security, providing features like over-the-air updates, secure boot, and encrypted communications, ensuring that IoT deployments are secure.
  • Development Tools
    It offers powerful development tools, including a web IDE, local development environment, and mobile app, catering to different user preferences.

Possible disadvantages of Particle.io

  • Cost
    Particle’s comprehensive solution can be more expensive compared to other DIY or less integrated IoT solutions, potentially making it less appealing for hobbyists or budget-constrained projects.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite extensive documentation, the breadth of features and services may present a steeper learning curve for new users or those less familiar with IoT concepts.
  • Hardware Dependence
    Users may find themselves dependent on Particle’s specific hardware offerings, which could limit flexibility or increase costs if alternative hardware needs to be integrated.
  • Service Dependency
    Reliance on Particle’s cloud services implies that any service downtime or changes in service terms could impact one's IoT projects significantly.
  • Complexity
    For simple IoT applications, the extensive features of Particle.io might be overkill, adding unnecessary complexity to projects that do not require advanced capabilities.

Thingsboard features and specs

  • Open Source
    ThingsBoard is open-source, which means it's freely available for use and can be customized to meet specific needs. This makes it cost-effective for enterprises of all sizes.
  • Scalable
    It is designed to be scalable, supporting upwards of millions of devices. This makes it suitable for both small-scale projects and large-scale enterprise solutions.
  • Feature-Rich
    ThingsBoard offers a wide variety of features including data visualization, alarms, and rule chain processing. This comprehensive feature set can cover most IoT project requirements.
  • Community Support
    Being open-source, ThingsBoard benefits from an active community. Users can get support, share ideas, and contribute to the project's development.
  • Flexibility
    ThingsBoard provides a flexible data model and supports multiple IoT protocols (e.g., HTTP, MQTT, CoAP), allowing for a wide range of use cases.
  • Integration-ready
    It easily integrates with popular databases and third-party systems, streamlining the process of building IoT solutions.
  • Real-time Data Processing
    ThingsBoard supports real-time data processing and analytics which is crucial for timely decision-making in IoT applications.

Possible disadvantages of Thingsboard

  • Complexity
    The extensive features and capabilities can make ThingsBoard complex to set up and configure, requiring a steep learning curve for new users.
  • Performance
    In some cases, users have reported performance issues when handling very high loads, which may require additional infrastructure or optimization.
  • Documentation
    While ThingsBoard has substantial documentation, some users find it can be lacking in certain areas or not sufficiently detailed for complex configurations.
  • Maintenance
    Being open-source, maintenance and updates might require more hands-on involvement compared to commercial alternatives, including dealing with potential bugs and security vulnerabilities.
  • Integration Complexity
    While ThingsBoard is integration-ready, the actual process of integrating it with other systems or custom solutions can be complex and may require additional development resources.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running a fully-featured ThingsBoard instance can be resource-intensive, requiring significant hardware and potentially increasing operational costs.
  • UI/UX Limitations
    The user interface, though functional, may not be as polished or intuitive as some commercial alternatives, potentially affecting user experience.

Analysis of Particle.io

Overall verdict

  • Particle.io is generally considered a good platform, especially for those interested in building IoT (Internet of Things) projects and products.

Why this product is good

  • Security
    Security is a priority, with features like encrypted communications and customizable security policies.
  • Ease of use
    It offers an easy-to-use environment for both beginners and experienced developers, with robust documentation and a supportive community.
  • Scalability
    The platform supports scalability which can be important for both prototyping and production-level IoT applications.
  • Integrations
    Particle.io offers various integrations with other systems and platforms, making it flexible for different use cases.
  • Comprehensive platform
    Particle.io provides a comprehensive platform for IoT development, including hardware, software, and cloud services.

Recommended for

  • Developers building IoT prototypes
  • Engineers planning to scale IoT deployments
  • Companies looking for a reliable IoT platform
  • Educational purposes for teaching IoT concepts

Analysis of Thingsboard

Overall verdict

  • Overall, ThingsBoard is a reliable and feature-rich platform that is suitable for businesses of various sizes looking to implement IoT solutions. Its open-source framework allows for extensive customization and integration with existing systems.

Why this product is good

  • ThingsBoard is considered a good IoT platform due to its open-source nature, flexibility, and scalability. It provides a rich set of features such as customizable dashboards, data visualization, remote device management, and powerful rule engine capabilities. Additionally, it supports a wide range of protocols like MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP, making it versatile for different IoT applications.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for an open-source IoT platform.
  • Companies that need scalable and flexible IoT solutions.
  • Industries that require extensive data visualization and device management features.
  • Projects that require support for multiple communication protocols.

Particle.io videos

Particle All In One Face Cream For Men Review | thatsNathan

More videos:

  • Review - MEN'S SKIN CARE ROUTINE ! ( PARTICLE CREAM REVIEW )
  • Tutorial - THE BEST MEN'S SKIN CARE ROUTINE! ( PARTICLE FOR MEN FACE WASH REVIEW ) How To Have Great Skin!

Thingsboard videos

Getting started with ThingsBoard v2.0+

More videos:

  • Review - What's new in ThingsBoard v3.1.x?
  • Review - ThingsBoard Community Edition: Introduction

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Particle.io and Thingsboard)
IoT Platform
52 52%
48% 48
Data Dashboard
36 36%
64% 64
IoT
44 44%
56% 56
Analytics
48 48%
52% 52

User comments

Share your experience with using Particle.io and Thingsboard. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Particle.io and Thingsboard

Particle.io Reviews

Best IoT Platforms in 2022 for Small Business
The IoT solutions offered by Particle are fully integrated and it is an easy to use IoT platform with built-in infrastructure. The particle’s operating system and the Device OS are the differentiators as it expedites the complex integration between firmware, hardware, and network connectivity on all Particle devices.
Source: www.fogwing.io
Open Source Internet of Things (IoT) Platforms
Self-describing as a “complete edge-to-cloud platform”, Particle.io also contains all the building blocks for developing an IoT product. This includes connectivity, device management, and even the hardware required to prototype IoT solutions and scale quickly thanks to the robust infrastructure. The platform supports IoT data collection and over-the-air development in a...

Thingsboard Reviews

Best IoT Platforms in 2022 for Small Business
The platform raises alarms on incoming telemetry events, device inactivity, attribute updates, and user actions with the ThingsBoard Rules Engine. ThingsBoard helps connect the IoT devices through standard IoT protocols namely MQTT, HTTP and CoAP and supports both cloud and on-premises deployments. It allows you to construct your ThingsBoard cluster to get maximum...
Source: www.fogwing.io
Open Source Internet of Things (IoT) Platforms
ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform for data collection, processing, data visualization, and device management. ThingsBoard enables device connectivity via industry standard IoT protocols — MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP and supports cloud and on-premises deployments. ThingsBoard combines scalability, fault tolerance and performance so you never lose data.
14 of the Best IoT Platforms to Watch in 2021
ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform which is often used on an industrial scale for complex applications such as smart farming, telemetry, fleet management, smart meters, smart energy, and building automation. Its features include granular data visualization across widgets and dashboards, API and widgets to push commands between devices and apps, and support for...

Social recommendations and mentions

Thingsboard might be a bit more popular than Particle.io. We know about 10 links to it since March 2021 and only 9 links to Particle.io. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Particle.io mentions (9)

  • What hardware do I need for a robot to upload information to the cloud?
    Look into AWS Greengrass, Robomaker, etc. If you're looking for more customization. Or you could use an all-in-one product like from particle.io if you'd more of an out-of-the-box solution. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Web developer becoming embedded engineer?
    5) look at using a GPRS or LTE (look at particle.io) cell monitor a fridge or freezer. Source: over 3 years ago
  • KnowYourCrypto #51: BitTorrent Token (BTT)
    I really dig your KYC reports. Please do Particl particle.io next :). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Cloud solution for ESP8266
    That's not how I read the OP's proposal. It sounds more like they want to build something like the service that http://particle.io/ appears to provide. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Ray Ozzie's latest venture is a cheap IoT board with flat rate connectivity
    Looks cool! How does this differ from http://particle.io ? - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago
View more

Thingsboard mentions (10)

  • Real-Time IoT Visualization Essentials
    2. ThingsBoard: An open-source IoT platform that supports data visualization, remote control, and device management. Its real-time data widgets allow users to track device metrics dynamically. Https://thingsboard.io/. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Looking to implement a real time tracking feature in my Django project and I dunno where to begin
    You might find something more attuned to that use case to be more helpful out of the box (like thingsboard.io) but if you're committed to django, set up an API endpoint to receive json updates ('events') sent from the arduino. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Best Four IoT Platforms
    Introduction:As a 100% open source IoT platform that can be hosted as a SaaS or PaaS solution, Thingsboard can provide device management, data collection, processing and visualization for your IoT project. The standard protocols that provide device connectivity such as MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP are all available on ThingsBoard. In addition, it supports cloud and local deployment and provides more than 30 customizable... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Newbie: how important is aeration for small NAS / server room?
    Then host a ThingsBoard server and use the HTTP API to push data from the device. You can send alerts with Pushover. Source: over 2 years ago
  • React component library Concis | Components break through 50+, mobile concis starts, new English documentation, continuous update...
    **Source** [thingsboard (a foreign iot platform)](https://thingsboard.io/). Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Particle.io and Thingsboard, you can also consider the following products

AWS IoT - Easily and securely connect devices to the cloud.

ioBroker - flexible and modular application for the IoT and Smarthome

AWS Greengrass - Local compute, messaging, data caching, and synch capabilities for connected devices

ThingSpeak - Open source data platform for the Internet of Things. ThingSpeak Features

Home - Securely control all your HomeKit accessories from your favorite iOS device.

Azure IoT Hub - Manage billions of IoT devices with Azure IoT Hub, a cloud platform that lets you easily connect, monitor, provision, and configure IoT devices.