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Databases · head to head

Canary Labs vs Kepware Server

Canary Labs logo

Canary Labs

Databases

Industrial process historian with published per-tag pricing and no client licence fees

From
$3000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kepware Server logo

Kepware Server

Manufacturing

Industrial connectivity server translating 150-plus PLC protocols into OPC UA, formerly KEPServerEX

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Canary Labs pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.; Kepware Server the base server is the small part of the bill; driver suites are priced by protocol family, and a mixed-vendor plant buys several, which is how a connectivity layer alone reaches tens of thousands of dollars.
  • They diverge on capability: Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Canary Labs and Kepware Server actually diverge.

Attributes where Canary Labs and Kepware Server differ
AttributeCanary LabsKepware Server
Starting price$3000/yearOn request
Pricing modelPer tag band per yearquote
PlatformsWindows, WebWindows, Linux
CategoryDatabasesManufacturing

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Canary Labs

  • Loss-less compression
  • Unlimited clients
  • Store and forward
  • Views service
  • Sparkplug B
  • Calculation engine
  • Axiom
  • ODBC and REST

Only in Kepware Server

  • 150-plus device drivers
  • OPC UA server
  • IoT Gateway
  • DataLogger
  • Redundancy Master
  • Security Policies
  • Configuration API
  • Kepware Edge

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Canary Labs

  • A manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a PI System enterprise agreementnot Kepware Server
  • A water utility replacing SCADA-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next SCADA replacementnot Kepware Server
  • An Ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboardsnot Kepware Server
  • A plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an auditnot Kepware Server

Kepware Server

  • Feeding a historian from a mixed plant of Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs without writing per-protocol driversnot Canary Labs
  • Publishing CNC machine state from FANUC and Haas controls to an OEE system over MQTTnot Canary Labs
  • Bridging legacy serial Modbus devices into an OPC UA architecture during a phased controller replacementnot Canary Labs
  • Running redundant collection servers so a cloud analytics pipeline does not lose data during Windows patchingnot Canary Labs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Canary Labs

  • Pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.
  • CustomerCare at 18 percent of licence cost is effectively mandatory on perpetual licences because lapsing it removes upgrades, so the perpetual option is not really a one-time cost.
  • The storage format is proprietary; getting data out at volume means the ODBC connector, an additional 2,500 USD one-time or 1,000 USD a year, or writing against the REST API.
  • Canary is a small vendor with a limited partner network outside North America, so support coverage and integrator availability in Europe and Asia are thinner than for AVEVA or Ignition.
  • It is a Windows-only server product with no Linux or container deployment, which complicates placing collectors in modern edge estates.

Kepware Server

  • The base server is the small part of the bill; driver suites are priced by protocol family, and a mixed-vendor plant buys several, which is how a connectivity layer alone reaches tens of thousands of dollars.
  • KEPServerEX to Kepware Server 7 is a migration rather than an in-place upgrade, and driver entitlements do not always transfer cleanly, so budget for revalidating every channel.
  • The full driver portfolio is Windows-only; the Linux product, Kepware Edge, supports a subset of drivers and is subscription-licensed by tag count, so an edge-first architecture cannot simply reuse the Windows configuration.
  • Three names have been in circulation for the same lineage, and quotes, forum answers and integrator experience still mix KEPServerEX, ThingWorx Kepware Server and Kepware Server, which produces mismatched proposals.
  • It is a translation layer with no storage, contextualisation or visualisation of its own, so it is always an addition to a historian or platform purchase rather than a substitute for one.

Pricing, plan by plan

Canary Labs

$3000/year
  • Subscription, 3,500 tags$3000/year
    • Unlimited Axiom clients
    • Unlimited Excel clients
    • Support and upgrades included
  • Perpetual, 3,500 tags$8730/one-time
    • 7,400 USD licence plus 1,330 USD first-year CustomerCare
    • CustomerCare renews at 18 percent of licence cost per year
    • Unlimited clients
  • Private cloud, 3,500 tags$12320/year
    • Hosted by Canary
    • 1,500 USD one-time setup fee per system
    • Scales to around 58,684 USD per year at 60,000 tags
  • Enterprise unlimited$undefined/year
    • Unlimited tags
    • Negotiated licensing terms
    • Quoted pricing

Kepware Server

On request
  • Kepware Server$undefined/year
    • Base server as a perpetual licence with annual maintenance, or subscription
    • Driver suites priced by protocol family and bought separately from the server
    • Advanced plug-ins such as IoT Gateway, DataLogger and Redundancy Master licensed individually

Which should you pick?

Choose Canary Labs if

  • You need loss-less compression.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want unlimited clients.
Canary Labs review

Choose Kepware Server if

  • You need 150-plus device drivers.
  • You work on Windows, Linux.
  • You also want opc ua server.
Kepware Server review

Questions people ask

Is Canary Labs or Kepware Server better?
Neither clearly leads. Canary Labs starts at $3000/year and Kepware Server at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Canary Labs or Kepware Server?
Canary Labs starts at $3000/year and Kepware Server at On request.
Does Canary Labs or Kepware Server run on more platforms?
Canary Labs runs on Windows, Web. Kepware Server runs on Windows, Linux.
What is Canary Labs best used for?
Canary Labs is most often used for a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement, a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement, an ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboards, a plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an audit. Of those, a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement and a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement are not what Kepware Server is typically brought in for.
What can Canary Labs do that Kepware Server cannot?
Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, Unlimited clients, Store and forward, Views service. Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers, OPC UA server, IoT Gateway, DataLogger.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Canary Labs: What does Canary cost?

8,730 USD for a 3,500 tag perpetual system including first-year CustomerCare, or 3,000 USD a year on subscription.

Kepware Server: Is KEPServerEX discontinued?

The name is. KEPServerEX and ThingWorx Kepware Server have been unified into Kepware Server, currently version 7, and the older names are being retired.

Canary Labs: Are client licences extra?

No. Unlimited Axiom browser clients and unlimited Excel clients are included on every tier.

Kepware Server: Is a perpetual licence still available?

Yes for the Windows server, with annual maintenance. Kepware Edge on Linux is subscription-only.

Canary Labs: Is perpetual cheaper than subscription?

Canary states perpetual pays off after roughly three years, and after that you still pay 18 percent CustomerCare annually.

Kepware Server: What drives the price?

The number and type of driver suites, not the number of tags on the Windows product. Kepware Edge is priced by tag count.

Canary Labs: Does it use lossy compression?

No. Canary stores every collected value rather than approximating the trend, which matters for regulated data retention.

Kepware Server: Can I evaluate it before buying?

Yes. The runtime works for two hours at a time without a licence, indefinitely, which is enough to prove connectivity but not to run production.

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