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Manufacturing · head to head

Flow Software vs Litmus Edge

Flow Software logo

Flow Software

Manufacturing

Manufacturing KPI and OEE calculation engine with published list prices, licensed by measure count

From
$11390/one-time
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Litmus Edge logo

Litmus Edge

Manufacturing

Industrial edge platform that collects, normalises and forwards OT data to cloud and enterprise systems

From
$1500/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Flow Software the 11,390 dollar Starter licence caps at 250 measures and events, which a multi-line plant exhausts quickly once each line contributes a dozen calculations, forcing a jump to the 62,230 dollar tier.; Litmus Edge pricing is by site and data point, so a large tag count at one plant can cost more than a modest tag count spread over several, which is the opposite of how most manufacturers plan a rollout.
  • They diverge on capability: Flow Software covers Calculation engine, Litmus Edge covers Prebuilt driver library.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Flow Software and Litmus Edge actually diverge.

Attributes where Flow Software and Litmus Edge differ
AttributeFlow SoftwareLitmus Edge
Starting price$11390/one-time$1500/month
Pricing modelOne-time purchasePer site by data point count
PlatformsWindows, WebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise

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

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 Flow Software

  • Calculation engine
  • Measure model
  • Historian connectors
  • Manual data entry
  • Event framing
  • Excel and Power BI output
  • Flow dashboards
  • AI Gateway

Only in Litmus Edge

  • Prebuilt driver library
  • Unified data model
  • Litmus Edge Manager
  • Edge applications
  • Store and forward
  • Cloud and broker outputs

What people use each for

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

Flow Software

  • A brewery replacing a fragile network of OEE spreadsheets with governed calculations from the same historian datanot Litmus Edge
  • Reporting specific energy consumption per tonne against an ISO 50001 audit where the calculation method must be documentednot Litmus Edge
  • Feeding Power BI plant dashboards from a historian without giving analysts direct tag-level accessnot Litmus Edge
  • A site that needs lab results typed in and combined with automated tag data in the same yield calculationnot Litmus Edge

Litmus Edge

  • A manufacturer with twenty plants and five PLC brands that needs one data acquisition standard rather than twenty bespoke integrationsnot Flow Software
  • Feeding a cloud data warehouse or lakehouse with normalised production data without asking the controls team to write cloud connectorsnot Flow Software
  • Retrofitting data collection onto old CNC machines and robots where the protocol support is the hard part, not the analyticsnot Flow Software
  • Adding local buffering and computation at sites with unreliable WAN links so cloud outages do not create gaps in production historynot Flow Software

Where each one falls short

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

Flow Software

  • The 11,390 dollar Starter licence caps at 250 measures and events, which a multi-line plant exhausts quickly once each line contributes a dozen calculations, forcing a jump to the 62,230 dollar tier.
  • The Unlimited licence requires every engine on a single server or VM, so any multi-server or multi-site topology goes straight to Distributed at roughly double the price with no intermediate option.
  • Maintenance renews at about fifteen percent of the installed base annually, so a large perpetual estate carries a five-figure recurring cost that the headline perpetual price hides.
  • It is a Windows product with a Microsoft data stack, so Linux or container-native deployment strategies do not apply and the server has to be managed on the plant Windows estate.
  • It calculates and reports but does not collect from equipment itself, so an existing historian or OPC layer is a prerequisite and Flow adds cost on top of that rather than replacing it.

Litmus Edge

  • Pricing is by site and data point, so a large tag count at one plant can cost more than a modest tag count spread over several, which is the opposite of how most manufacturers plan a rollout.
  • The entry package sits around $1,500 per month, an awkward number for a single-site pilot given that the product is infrastructure with no visible output of its own until something downstream consumes it.
  • Litmus does no analytics, so the business case always depends on a second purchase; the platform on its own produces no result a plant manager can see.
  • Full pricing beyond the entry tier is not published and the Growth and Scale packages are quoted, so scaling costs are unknown at the point you commit to the architecture.
  • A capable controls team can approximate a single-site deployment with an open-source broker and a driver gateway for a fraction of the cost, so the value case depends entirely on how many sites you are managing centrally.

Pricing, plan by plan

Flow Software

$11390/one-time
  • Starter$11390/one-time
    • 250 KPI measures and events
    • Single server deployment
    • First year of software maintenance included
  • Unlimited$62230/one-time
    • Unlimited KPI measures and events
    • All engines must run on one server or dedicated VM
    • First year of maintenance included
  • Distributed$128450/one-time
    • Unlimited measures with engines distributed across multiple servers
    • Required for multi-server and multi-site deployments
    • Available as an annual subscription at 34,250 USD instead

Litmus Edge

$1500/month
  • Foundation$1500/month
    • Entry package sized by site count and data points
    • Core driver library and edge runtime
    • Store and forward to cloud and brokers
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Larger site and data point allowance
    • Litmus Edge Manager fleet management
    • Priced on application
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • Enterprise multi-site deployment
    • Higher data point ceilings and support tier
    • Priced on application

Which should you pick?

Choose Flow Software if

  • You need calculation engine.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want measure model.
Flow Software review

Choose Litmus Edge if

  • You need prebuilt driver library.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want unified data model.
Litmus Edge review

Questions people ask

Is Flow Software or Litmus Edge better?
Neither clearly leads. Flow Software starts at $11390/one-time and Litmus Edge at $1500/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Flow Software or Litmus Edge?
Flow Software starts at $11390/one-time and Litmus Edge at $1500/month.
Does Flow Software or Litmus Edge run on more platforms?
Flow Software runs on Windows, Web. Litmus Edge runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise.
What is Flow Software best used for?
Flow Software is most often used for a brewery replacing a fragile network of oee spreadsheets with governed calculations from the same historian data, reporting specific energy consumption per tonne against an iso 50001 audit where the calculation method must be documented, feeding power bi plant dashboards from a historian without giving analysts direct tag-level access, a site that needs lab results typed in and combined with automated tag data in the same yield calculation. Of those, a brewery replacing a fragile network of oee spreadsheets with governed calculations from the same historian data and reporting specific energy consumption per tonne against an iso 50001 audit where the calculation method must be documented are not what Litmus Edge is typically brought in for.
What can Flow Software do that Litmus Edge cannot?
Flow Software covers Calculation engine, Measure model, Historian connectors, Manual data entry. Litmus Edge covers Prebuilt driver library, Unified data model, Litmus Edge Manager, Edge applications.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Flow Software: Does Flow publish real prices?

Yes. Starter is 11,390 USD perpetual for 250 measures, Unlimited is 62,230 USD perpetual or 16,595 USD a year, and Distributed is 128,450 USD perpetual or 34,250 USD a year.

Litmus Edge: Does Litmus Edge do analytics or dashboards?

Only lightweight edge computation and basic visualisation. It is a data acquisition and normalisation layer; the analysis happens in whatever you send the data to.

Flow Software: Is perpetual licensing still offered?

Yes, at every tier, with the first year of maintenance included and renewal at roughly fifteen percent per year. Subscription is available on Unlimited and Distributed only.

Litmus Edge: How is it priced?

By number of sites and number of data points, in packages. The entry package starts around $1,500 per month; larger tiers are quoted.

Flow Software: Do I need a historian as well?

Effectively yes. Flow reads from historians, databases and OPC sources; it is a calculation layer, not a data collector.

Litmus Edge: Can it replace my historian?

No. It buffers and forwards but is not a long-term historian. Most deployments send data into a historian, warehouse or lakehouse.

Flow Software: What counts as a measure?

Each configured KPI or event definition. A single line typically consumes ten to thirty, which is what makes the 250 Starter cap tighter than it looks.

Litmus Edge: Does it need Litmus hardware?

No. It runs on standard industrial PCs, virtual machines or containers; there is no proprietary appliance requirement.

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