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Manufacturing · head to head

LabVIEW vs SKF Enlight Centre

LabVIEW logo

LabVIEW

Manufacturing

Graphical dataflow programming for automated test, measurement and instrument control

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SKF Enlight Centre logo

SKF Enlight Centre

Manufacturing

Asset-based machine health monitoring platform from SKF, tying wireless sensors, route collection and remote diagnostics together

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: LabVIEW nI is now part of Emerson, completing in 2023, so LabVIEW sits inside an industrial automation conglomerate rather than being the flagship of a dedicated test company; roadmap priorities and support pricing follow the parent, not the user base.; SKF Enlight Centre no pricing is published for the software, the sensors, the gateways or the remote diagnostic services, so the total cost of a deployment only emerges after a site survey and a quotation.
  • They diverge on capability: LabVIEW covers Graphical dataflow programming, SKF Enlight Centre covers Asset-based interface.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LabVIEW and SKF Enlight Centre actually diverge.

Attributes where LabVIEW and SKF Enlight Centre differ
AttributeLabVIEWSKF Enlight Centre
PlatformsWindows, Linux, macOSWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 LabVIEW

  • Graphical dataflow programming
  • Front panels
  • Instrument driver library
  • Hardware integration
  • Real-time and FPGA targets
  • Analysis and signal processing
  • Application builder
  • Nigel AI assistant

Only in SKF Enlight Centre

  • Asset-based interface
  • Enlight Collect IMx-1
  • Enlight ProCollect
  • Remote diagnostic services
  • Marine deployment
  • Root cause tooling
  • Dashboards
  • Hazardous area sensing

What people use each for

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

LabVIEW

  • An automotive supplier building an end-of-line test rig that must drive a power supply, read a scope and log pass/fail against a serial numbernot SKF Enlight Centre
  • A semiconductor lab characterising devices across a PXI chassis where deterministic timing between instruments mattersnot SKF Enlight Centre
  • A medical device manufacturer needing a validated, documented test system with an operator front panel a technician can run unsupervisednot SKF Enlight Centre
  • A research group prototyping a control loop on CompactRIO where part of the logic must compile down to an FPGAnot SKF Enlight Centre

SKF Enlight Centre

  • A shipowner monitoring auxiliary engines, purifiers and pumps across a fleet without a vibration analyst on each vesselnot LabVIEW
  • A plant already standardised on SKF bearings that wants failure-mode diagnosis from the bearing manufacturernot LabVIEW
  • An operator replacing paper-based handheld routes with ProCollect while keeping the same measurement pointsnot LabVIEW
  • A site in a hazardous classified area needing certified wireless sensing rather than manual data collectionnot LabVIEW

Where each one falls short

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

LabVIEW

  • NI is now part of Emerson, completing in 2023, so LabVIEW sits inside an industrial automation conglomerate rather than being the flagship of a dedicated test company; roadmap priorities and support pricing follow the parent, not the user base.
  • No prices appear anywhere on the NI site for commercial editions; Base, Full, Professional and the LabVIEW+ suite are all quoted through NI or a reseller, so a buyer cannot compare cost against a Python-plus-PyVISA alternative without opening a sales conversation.
  • Graphical source code diffs badly. Merging two engineers’ changes to the same virtual instrument in git is impractical without NI’s own comparison tools, so team development on LabVIEW is slower and more serialised than on text-based languages.
  • The pool of engineers who write LabVIEW is small and ageing relative to the pool who write Python, so hiring a replacement for the person who built your test rig is materially harder and more expensive than replacing a general software engineer.
  • The environment pulls you toward NI hardware and NI add-on toolkits, and licences for real-time, FPGA and vision modules are sold separately on top of the base edition, so the quoted LabVIEW price is rarely the delivered cost of a working test system.

SKF Enlight Centre

  • No pricing is published for the software, the sensors, the gateways or the remote diagnostic services, so the total cost of a deployment only emerges after a site survey and a quotation.
  • The platform is built for SKF sensing hardware, so third-party sensors are poorly served and you are effectively committing to SKF for the life of the installation.
  • Remote diagnostic services are a separate ongoing contract, and without them the platform gives you data rather than verdicts, which most buyers of Enlight Centre do not have the staff to interpret.
  • SKF has run overlapping condition monitoring products including @ptitude Observer and Enlight AI, and the boundaries between them have shifted over time, which makes long-term product roadmap commitments hard to read.
  • Battery-powered wireless sensors on shipboard or high-vibration installations need periodic replacement, and that maintenance burden falls on crews who were the reason you automated collection in the first place.

Pricing, plan by plan

LabVIEW

On request
  • LabVIEW Community EditionFree
    • Free for personal, non-commercial use only
    • Full LabVIEW feature set for hobbyists
    • No commercial deployment rights
  • LabVIEW Base$undefined/year
    • Core acquisition, control and user interface capability
    • Suited to simple test and measurement applications
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence
  • LabVIEW Full$undefined/year
    • Adds advanced analysis and signal processing
    • Recommended where mathematics and filtering are required
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence
  • LabVIEW Professional$undefined/year
    • Adds application builder, source control and deployment tooling
    • Includes the Nigel AI assistant
    • Available as subscription or perpetual licence

SKF Enlight Centre

On request
  • SKF Enlight Centre$undefined/year
    • Software subscription quoted per site or per vessel
    • Enlight Collect IMx-1 sensors and gateways purchased separately
    • SKF remote diagnostic services contracted per asset or per fleet

Which should you pick?

Choose LabVIEW if

  • You need graphical dataflow programming.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, macOS.
  • You also want front panels.
LabVIEW review

Choose SKF Enlight Centre if

  • You need asset-based interface.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want enlight collect imx-1.
SKF Enlight Centre review

Questions people ask

Is LabVIEW or SKF Enlight Centre better?
Neither clearly leads. LabVIEW starts at On request and SKF Enlight Centre at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LabVIEW or SKF Enlight Centre?
LabVIEW starts at On request and SKF Enlight Centre at On request.
Does LabVIEW or SKF Enlight Centre run on more platforms?
LabVIEW runs on Windows, Linux, macOS. SKF Enlight Centre runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is LabVIEW best used for?
LabVIEW is most often used for an automotive supplier building an end-of-line test rig that must drive a power supply, read a scope and log pass/fail against a serial number, a semiconductor lab characterising devices across a pxi chassis where deterministic timing between instruments matters, a medical device manufacturer needing a validated, documented test system with an operator front panel a technician can run unsupervised, a research group prototyping a control loop on compactrio where part of the logic must compile down to an fpga. Of those, an automotive supplier building an end-of-line test rig that must drive a power supply, read a scope and log pass/fail against a serial number and a semiconductor lab characterising devices across a pxi chassis where deterministic timing between instruments matters are not what SKF Enlight Centre is typically brought in for.
What can LabVIEW do that SKF Enlight Centre cannot?
LabVIEW covers Graphical dataflow programming, Front panels, Instrument driver library, Hardware integration. SKF Enlight Centre covers Asset-based interface, Enlight Collect IMx-1, Enlight ProCollect, Remote diagnostic services.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LabVIEW: Who owns LabVIEW now?

NI, formerly National Instruments, was acquired by Emerson in an acquisition that completed in 2023. LabVIEW is now an Emerson product.

SKF Enlight Centre: Is Enlight Centre a single product or a family?

SKF Enlight is a family. Enlight Centre is the web software; Enlight Collect IMx-1 is the wireless sensing hardware and Enlight AI is a separate analytics product.

LabVIEW: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

Yes. NI offers both subscription and perpetual licences and states there are no functional or feature-level differences between them.

SKF Enlight Centre: Can I use non-SKF sensors?

Not meaningfully. The platform is designed around SKF sensing hardware and SKF service delivery.

LabVIEW: Is there a free version?

LabVIEW Community Edition is free for personal, non-commercial use. It carries no commercial deployment rights.

SKF Enlight Centre: Does SKF analyse the data for me?

Only under a remote diagnostic services contract with an SKF Rotating Equipment Performance Centre, priced separately.

LabVIEW: How much does it cost?

NI does not publish commercial edition prices. Base, Full, Professional and LabVIEW+ are all quoted through NI or a reseller.

SKF Enlight Centre: Is it suitable for ships?

Yes, marine is one of its primary segments and it is designed for intermittent satellite connectivity.

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