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Manufacturing · head to head

Kepware Server vs Litmus Edge

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
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: 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.; 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: Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers, 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 Kepware Server and Litmus Edge actually diverge.

Attributes where Kepware Server and Litmus Edge differ
AttributeKepware ServerLitmus Edge
Starting priceOn request$1500/month
Pricing modelquotePer site by data point count
PlatformsWindows, LinuxLinux, 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 Kepware Server

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

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.

Kepware Server

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

Litmus Edge

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

Where each one falls short

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

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.

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

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

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 Kepware Server if

  • You need 150-plus device drivers.
  • You work on Windows, Linux.
  • You also want opc ua server.
Kepware Server 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 Kepware Server or Litmus Edge better?
Neither clearly leads. Kepware Server starts at On request and Litmus Edge at $1500/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kepware Server or Litmus Edge?
Kepware Server starts at On request and Litmus Edge at $1500/month.
Does Kepware Server or Litmus Edge run on more platforms?
Kepware Server runs on Windows, Linux. Litmus Edge runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, On-premise.
What is Kepware Server best used for?
Kepware Server is most often used for feeding a historian from a mixed plant of allen-bradley and siemens plcs without writing per-protocol drivers, publishing cnc machine state from fanuc and haas controls to an oee system over mqtt, bridging legacy serial modbus devices into an opc ua architecture during a phased controller replacement, running redundant collection servers so a cloud analytics pipeline does not lose data during windows patching. Of those, feeding a historian from a mixed plant of allen-bradley and siemens plcs without writing per-protocol drivers and publishing cnc machine state from fanuc and haas controls to an oee system over mqtt are not what Litmus Edge is typically brought in for.
What can Kepware Server do that Litmus Edge cannot?
Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers, OPC UA server, IoT Gateway, DataLogger. Litmus Edge covers Prebuilt driver library, Unified data model, Litmus Edge Manager, Edge applications.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

Kepware Server: Is a perpetual licence still available?

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

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.

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.

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.

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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