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Energy · head to head

Emerson Ovation vs Novity

Emerson Ovation logo

Emerson Ovation

Energy

Distributed control system for power generation and water treatment plants

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Novity logo

Novity

Energy

Hybrid physics and machine learning prognostics that estimate remaining useful life for process equipment

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Emerson Ovation nothing about the cost is published, and the licence is a minority of the total; engineering, I/O hardware and commissioning commonly exceed it, so a budget built from a software quote will be wrong by a large multiple.; Novity novity is a small venture-backed company with a strategic investor rather than a profitable business, so continuity risk is real and the Tokyo Gas investment signals a likely eventual acquisition that would reset the roadmap.
  • They diverge on capability: Emerson Ovation covers Power application libraries, Novity covers TruPrognostics engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Emerson Ovation and Novity actually diverge.

Attributes where Emerson Ovation and Novity differ
AttributeEmerson OvationNovity
PlatformsWindows, On-premiseWeb, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Energy).

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 Emerson Ovation

  • Power application libraries
  • Ovation SIS
  • Embedded historian
  • NERC CIP tooling
  • Virtualised controllers
  • Simulation

Only in Novity

  • TruPrognostics engine
  • Cold-start modelling
  • Fault mode diagnosis
  • Remaining useful life
  • Existing sensor reuse
  • Recommended actions
  • Historian connectors
  • Asset class libraries

What people use each for

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

Emerson Ovation

  • Replacing an end-of-life control system on a coal or gas unit during a planned outage, where the vendor must supply turbine control as well as plant controlnot Novity
  • A municipal water authority standardising treatment plant control across several sites under one NERC-adjacent security regimenot Novity
  • An IPP wanting the DCS and the safety instrumented system engineered in the same tool rather than integrated across two vendorsnot Novity
  • Hydro operators needing IEC 61850 and DNP3 into a control system that also runs the balance of plantnot Novity

Novity

  • A gas processing plant that needs a defensible time-to-failure number before deferring a turnaroundnot Emerson Ovation
  • An LNG terminal with critical compressors and no run-to-failure history to train a conventional modelnot Emerson Ovation
  • A wastewater operator whose existing vibration alarms are ignored because they carry no severity or horizonnot Emerson Ovation
  • A generator operator supplying data centre load where an unplanned trip carries contractual penaltiesnot Emerson Ovation

Where each one falls short

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

Emerson Ovation

  • Nothing about the cost is published, and the licence is a minority of the total; engineering, I/O hardware and commissioning commonly exceed it, so a budget built from a software quote will be wrong by a large multiple.
  • Ovation is power and water specific, so a group operating both power stations and chemical plants will end up running Ovation alongside DeltaV or a third-party DCS and paying for two engineering skill sets.
  • The annual support and subscription contract is effectively mandatory: without it you lose access to security patches, which for a NERC CIP regulated asset is not a decision you can defer.
  • Replacement is bounded by outage windows rather than by budget, so a decision to leave Ovation typically takes multiple years and cannot be reversed cheaply once started.
  • Third-party engineering capability is much thinner than for Rockwell or Siemens platforms, so you are largely dependent on Emerson or a small partner pool for changes, and their day rates set the cost of every future modification.

Novity

  • Novity is a small venture-backed company with a strategic investor rather than a profitable business, so continuity risk is real and the Tokyo Gas investment signals a likely eventual acquisition that would reset the roadmap.
  • Physics-based models must be configured per equipment class, so each new asset type is an engineering engagement rather than a configuration screen, and rollout speed is limited by Novitys own capacity.
  • Prognostics depend on the quality and sampling rate of your historian data; plants recording ten-minute averages will not get useful remaining-useful-life estimates without new instrumentation.
  • Nothing about pricing is published and there is no self-service entry point, so evaluation always starts with a sales-led pilot on a handful of assets.
  • The deployment footprint is concentrated in oil and gas, LNG and water, so reference customers and pre-built asset models outside those industries are limited.

Pricing, plan by plan

Emerson Ovation

On request
  • Ovation Automation Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced by controller count, I/O point count and operator workstation
    • Hardware, engineering and commissioning quoted with the software
    • Annual support and subscription contract sold separately

Novity

On request
  • TruPrognostics$undefined/year
    • Quoted per asset class and monitored equipment count
    • Model configuration and commissioning quoted as a project
    • Typically an annual subscription tied to a pilot then a rollout

Which should you pick?

Choose Emerson Ovation if

  • You need power application libraries.
  • You work on Windows, On-premise.
  • You also want ovation sis.
Emerson Ovation review

Choose Novity if

  • You need truprognostics engine.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want cold-start modelling.
Novity review

Questions people ask

Is Emerson Ovation or Novity better?
Neither clearly leads. Emerson Ovation starts at On request and Novity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Emerson Ovation or Novity?
Emerson Ovation starts at On request and Novity at On request.
Does Emerson Ovation or Novity run on more platforms?
Emerson Ovation runs on Windows, On-premise. Novity runs on Web, Cloud.
What is Emerson Ovation best used for?
Emerson Ovation is most often used for replacing an end-of-life control system on a coal or gas unit during a planned outage, where the vendor must supply turbine control as well as plant control, a municipal water authority standardising treatment plant control across several sites under one nerc-adjacent security regime, an ipp wanting the dcs and the safety instrumented system engineered in the same tool rather than integrated across two vendors, hydro operators needing iec 61850 and dnp3 into a control system that also runs the balance of plant. Of those, replacing an end-of-life control system on a coal or gas unit during a planned outage, where the vendor must supply turbine control as well as plant control and a municipal water authority standardising treatment plant control across several sites under one nerc-adjacent security regime are not what Novity is typically brought in for.
What can Emerson Ovation do that Novity cannot?
Emerson Ovation covers Power application libraries, Ovation SIS, Embedded historian, NERC CIP tooling. Novity covers TruPrognostics engine, Cold-start modelling, Fault mode diagnosis, Remaining useful life.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Emerson Ovation: Is Ovation the same as DeltaV?

No. Ovation targets power generation and water; DeltaV targets chemicals, life sciences and refining. They are separate products with separate engineering tools and separate support organisations.

Novity: What does Novity actually output?

A named failure mode and an estimated remaining useful life with a confidence band, not just an anomaly alert.

Emerson Ovation: Can I get a price without talking to Emerson?

No. There is no published price list, no trial and no self-service configurator. Every Ovation number comes through Emerson or a certified partner.

Novity: Do we need failure history to train it?

No. The physics component is what lets it produce useful prognostics on equipment with little or no run-to-failure data.

Emerson Ovation: Does Ovation 4.0 mean I can stop buying Emerson hardware?

No. The software-defined architecture virtualises controllers, but the I/O and field interfaces are still Emerson hardware and are still the bulk of the equipment cost.

Novity: Do we need new sensors?

Often not. It reads from your existing historian, but low sampling rates or missing measurements can require additional instrumentation.

Emerson Ovation: What decides the price?

Controller count, I/O point count and the number of operator workstations, plus the engineering hours to configure the control logic for your plant.

Novity: Who backs the company?

It was spun out of Xerox PARC and took a strategic investment from Acario Innovation, the venture arm of Tokyo Gas, in 2026.

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