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Manufacturing · head to head

Kepware Server vs TrendMiner

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
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: 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.; 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: Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers, TrendMiner covers Pattern search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kepware Server and TrendMiner actually diverge.

Attributes where Kepware Server and TrendMiner differ
AttributeKepware ServerTrendMiner
PlatformsWindows, LinuxWeb, Windows, Linux

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 Kepware Server

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

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.

Kepware Server

  • Feeding a historian from a mixed plant of Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs without writing per-protocol driversnot TrendMiner
  • Publishing CNC machine state from FANUC and Haas controls to an OEE system over MQTTnot TrendMiner
  • Bridging legacy serial Modbus devices into an OPC UA architecture during a phased controller replacementnot TrendMiner
  • Running redundant collection servers so a cloud analytics pipeline does not lose data during Windows patchingnot 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 Kepware Server
  • Comparing golden batches against off-spec ones in a pharmaceutical process without exporting to a data science teamnot Kepware Server
  • Building a monitor that flags the early temperature signature that preceded the last three compressor tripsnot Kepware Server
  • Giving a process engineer a way to answer a question in an afternoon that previously required a historian export and a spreadsheet weeknot 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.

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

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

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 Kepware Server if

  • You need 150-plus device drivers.
  • You work on Windows, Linux.
  • You also want opc ua server.
Kepware Server 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 Kepware Server or TrendMiner better?
Neither clearly leads. Kepware Server 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, Kepware Server or TrendMiner?
Kepware Server starts at On request and TrendMiner at On request.
Does Kepware Server or TrendMiner run on more platforms?
Kepware Server runs on Windows, Linux. TrendMiner runs on Web, Windows, Linux.
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 TrendMiner is typically brought in for.
What can Kepware Server do that TrendMiner cannot?
Kepware Server covers 150-plus device drivers, OPC UA server, IoT Gateway, DataLogger. TrendMiner covers Pattern search, Value-based search, Monitors, Soft sensors.

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.

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.

Kepware Server: Is a perpetual licence still available?

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

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.

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.

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.

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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