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Manufacturing · head to head

Flow Software vs TrendMiner

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
TrendMiner logo

TrendMiner

Manufacturing

Search-driven time series analytics for process engineers, now owned by Proemion rather than Software AG

From
On request
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.; TrendMiner ownership moved from Software AG to Proemion in a 47 million euro sale during the Silver Lake break-up, so the integration roadmap tied to webMethods and Cumulocity is gone and the new owner is far smaller.
  • They diverge on capability: Flow Software covers Calculation engine, TrendMiner covers Pattern search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Flow Software and TrendMiner actually diverge.

Attributes where Flow Software and TrendMiner differ
AttributeFlow SoftwareTrendMiner
Starting price$11390/one-timeOn request
Pricing modelOne-time purchasequote
PlatformsWindows, WebWeb, Windows, Linux

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 TrendMiner

  • Pattern search
  • Value-based search
  • Monitors
  • Soft sensors
  • Context items
  • Dashboards
  • Machine learning models
  • ContextHub

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 TrendMiner
  • Reporting specific energy consumption per tonne against an ISO 50001 audit where the calculation method must be documentednot TrendMiner
  • Feeding Power BI plant dashboards from a historian without giving analysts direct tag-level accessnot TrendMiner
  • A site that needs lab results typed in and combined with automated tag data in the same yield calculationnot TrendMiner

TrendMiner

  • Finding every prior occurrence of a heat exchanger fouling signature to estimate cleaning frequency from history rather than from a rule of thumbnot Flow Software
  • Comparing golden batches against off-spec ones in a pharmaceutical process without exporting to a data science teamnot Flow Software
  • Building a monitor that flags the early temperature signature that preceded the last three compressor tripsnot Flow Software
  • Giving a process engineer a way to answer a question in an afternoon that previously required a historian export and a spreadsheet weeknot 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.

TrendMiner

  • Ownership moved from Software AG to Proemion in a 47 million euro sale during the Silver Lake break-up, so the integration roadmap tied to webMethods and Cumulocity is gone and the new owner is far smaller.
  • It is built for continuous time series and handles discrete manufacturing, relational quality data and event-driven production poorly, so plants that are not continuous process get limited value.
  • Value depends entirely on historian data quality and tag naming; sites with inconsistent tag descriptions and missing asset context spend months on data preparation before the search features are usable.
  • Licensing is by named analyst user, and the population who genuinely use pattern search is small, so organisations that buy broadly pay for seats that log in occasionally.
  • It reads history but does not fix it: there is no data collection layer, so an existing historian is mandatory and TrendMiner is always an additional cost on top of it.

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

TrendMiner

On request
  • TrendMiner$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription sized by named users and connected historian tag volume
    • Separate licence tiers for full analyst users and view-only dashboard consumers
    • Historian connectors quoted per source system

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 TrendMiner if

  • You need pattern search.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want value-based search.
TrendMiner review

Questions people ask

Is Flow Software or TrendMiner better?
Neither clearly leads. Flow Software starts at $11390/one-time and TrendMiner at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Flow Software or TrendMiner?
Flow Software starts at $11390/one-time and TrendMiner at On request.
Does Flow Software or TrendMiner run on more platforms?
Flow Software runs on Windows, Web. TrendMiner runs on Web, Windows, Linux.
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 TrendMiner is typically brought in for.
What can Flow Software do that TrendMiner cannot?
Flow Software covers Calculation engine, Measure model, Historian connectors, Manual data entry. TrendMiner covers Pattern search, Value-based search, Monitors, Soft sensors.

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.

TrendMiner: Who owns TrendMiner now?

Proemion, a German industrial analytics company backed by Battery Ventures, which bought it from Software AG for 47 million euros in 2024.

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.

TrendMiner: Does it replace my historian?

No. It connects to PI, IP.21, PHD, Exaquantum and others and reads from them. The historian remains the system of record.

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.

TrendMiner: Do I need a data scientist to use it?

No, and that is the point. The pattern search and soft sensor tooling are aimed at process engineers with no coding background.

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.

TrendMiner: Is pricing per user?

Yes, largely, with tiers for analyst and view-only access plus charges for historian connectors and data volume.

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