Softwr

Manufacturing · head to head

Ignition vs TrendMiner

Ignition logo

Ignition

Manufacturing

Industrial automation platform for SCADA, HMI and MES

From
On request
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: Ignition requires real engineering to implement; it is a platform rather than a finished application; 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: Ignition covers Unlimited-client licensing, TrendMiner covers Pattern search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ignition and TrendMiner actually diverge.

Attributes where Ignition and TrendMiner differ
AttributeIgnitionTrendMiner
Pricing modelPer-server licensing with published module pricing; unlimited clients and tagsquote
PlatformsWindows, Linux, macOS, WebWeb, Windows, Linux

Identical on both: starting price (On request), 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 Ignition

  • Unlimited-client licensing
  • SCADA and HMI
  • Historian
  • MES modules
  • Web-based clients
  • Wide PLC support

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.

Ignition

  • Plants where per-tag licensing has made expansion a budget conversationnot TrendMiner
  • Replacing installed operator terminals with browser-based clientsnot TrendMiner
  • Connecting plant floor data to SQL and business systemsnot 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 Ignition
  • Comparing golden batches against off-spec ones in a pharmaceutical process without exporting to a data science teamnot Ignition
  • Building a monitor that flags the early temperature signature that preceded the last three compressor tripsnot Ignition
  • Giving a process engineer a way to answer a question in an afternoon that previously required a historian export and a spreadsheet weeknot Ignition

Where each one falls short

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

Ignition

  • Requires real engineering to implement; it is a platform rather than a finished application
  • Steep learning curve, and Inductive Automation runs its own training programme because of it
  • Self-hosted and self-supported by default, so plant IT carries the availability burden
  • Module-based pricing means the entry figure is rarely the final one

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

Ignition

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Ignition review.

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 Ignition if

  • You need unlimited-client licensing.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want scada and hmi.
Ignition 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 Ignition or TrendMiner better?
Neither clearly leads. Ignition starts at On request and TrendMiner at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ignition or TrendMiner?
Ignition starts at On request and TrendMiner at On request.
Does Ignition or TrendMiner run on more platforms?
Ignition runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Web. TrendMiner runs on Web, Windows, Linux.
What is Ignition best used for?
Ignition is most often used for plants where per-tag licensing has made expansion a budget conversation, replacing installed operator terminals with browser-based clients, connecting plant floor data to sql and business systems. Of those, plants where per-tag licensing has made expansion a budget conversation and replacing installed operator terminals with browser-based clients are not what TrendMiner is typically brought in for.
What can Ignition do that TrendMiner cannot?
Ignition covers Unlimited-client licensing, SCADA and HMI, Historian, MES modules. TrendMiner covers Pattern search, Value-based search, Monitors, Soft sensors.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ignition: What does Ignition cost?

It publishes per-server module pricing with unlimited clients, tags and connections, so cost does not scale with how many people use it.

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.

Ignition: Why does unlimited-client licensing matter?

Traditional SCADA is licensed per tag or per screen, which turns adding an operator terminal into a purchase. Ignition removes that ceiling.

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.

Ignition: Is it a finished application?

No, it is a platform. Screens, tags and logic are built for the specific plant, which is real engineering work.

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.

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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