Kepware Servervs
Ignition
Ignition: If you want connectivity, historian and HMI in one server licence rather than buying protocol translation separately
Kepware Server
Industrial connectivity server translating 150-plus PLC protocols into OPC UA, formerly KEPServerEX
As of 1 September 2026, Kepware Server's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. PTC’s protocol translation layer, now consolidated under one name after years of KEPServerEX and ThingWorx Kepware Server existing as separate SKUs. Softwr lists it under Manufacturing. Kepware Server is made by PTC, available on Windows, Linux.
Overview
What Kepware Server does
Kepware Server sits between industrial equipment and the software that wants its data. It speaks the native protocols of Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Omron, Modicon, FANUC and Haas CNCs, several hundred device families in total, and publishes them as OPC UA, OPC DA, MQTT, ODBC or a REST interface. It runs as a Windows service, and a separate Linux-based product, Kepware Edge, covers a subset of drivers for gateway deployment. The naming has been unstable and buyers get caught by it. The product was KEPServerEX for two decades; PTC then sold ThingWorx Kepware Server as a variant aligned to its IoT platform; both have been consolidated into Kepware Server, currently at version 7. Existing KEPServerEX installations require a migration, not just an upgrade, and support forums, integrator quotes and internal documentation still overwhelmingly use the old name. When comparing vendor proposals, confirm which product and which release a quote refers to, because driver entitlements do not always carry across. Buyers are manufacturers and system integrators who need one machine to talk to a historian, MES or cloud pipeline without writing protocol code. The commercial reality is that the base server is modest and the drivers are not. Suite pricing is by protocol family, and a plant with mixed Allen-Bradley, Siemens and CNC equipment buys several suites; published integrator estimates put a fifty-machine connectivity project in the tens of thousands of dollars for the connectivity layer alone, before any historian or analytics. The base server is still available as a perpetual licence with annual maintenance, which usually beats subscription past about three years, but Kepware Edge is subscription-only and licensed by tag count, so the Linux route has a different cost shape entirely.
What people use it 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
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Kepware Server
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- Kepware ServervsThingWorx
ThingWorx: If the endpoint is PTC’s own IoT platform and you want the application layer from the same vendor
- Kepware ServervsAVEVA PI System
AVEVA PI System: If the actual requirement is long-term historisation and Kepware would only be the collection layer feeding it
Pricing
What Kepware Server costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Kepware Server
On request
- 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
- Kepware Edge for Linux is subscription-only and licensed by tag count
- Two-hour time-limited free runtime for evaluation and demonstration
Capabilities
Features
150-plus device drivers
Native protocol support for Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Omron, Modicon, FANUC and CNC families
OPC UA server
Standards-based publication of device tags with certificate-based security
IoT Gateway
MQTT and REST publication of tag data to cloud and broker endpoints
DataLogger
Direct logging of tag values to ODBC databases without a separate historian
Redundancy Master
Automatic failover between two Kepware servers for continuous data collection
Security Policies
Per-user and per-tag access control on browse, read and write
Configuration API
Scripted creation and modification of channels, devices and tags
Kepware Edge
Linux build for gateway hardware, licensed by tag count on subscription
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
Is a perpetual licence still available?
Yes for the Windows server, with annual maintenance. Kepware Edge on Linux is subscription-only.
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.
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.
Keep looking
Where to go from Kepware Server
- Kepware Server alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Kepware Server pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Kepware Server badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Manufacturing softwareThe full category
- Best Manufacturing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Manufacturing software for
Compare Kepware Server with
- Ignition
- Litmus Edge
- Augury
- Guidewheel
- Sensemore
- Waites Sensor Technologies
- KCF Technologies
- Oden Technologies
- ABB 800xA
- Aras Innovator
- GENESIS Version 11
- AVEVA System Platform
- Markforged Eiger
- Materialise Magics
- MOVUS
- OpenBOM
- Oqton
- Oden Technologies
Other Manufacturing software
Industrial edge platform that collects, normalises and forwards OT data to cloud and enterprise systems
From $1,500/mo12 researched notesMachine health monitoring sold as a per-machine annual service including sensors, installation and analyst diagnostics
Pricing on request12 researched notesMachine monitoring from a clamp on the power cord, so equipment age and protocol stop mattering
Pricing on request12 researched notesLow-cost wireless vibration and temperature monitoring with cloud analytics from a Turkish sensor manufacturer
Pricing on request12 researched notesWireless multi-point vibration and temperature monitoring sold as a monitored service, not software
Pricing on request12 researched notesWireless vibration monitoring and machine health analytics with owned sensor hardware and analyst services
From $199/one-time12 researched notesProcess analytics for continuous production, strongest in plastics extrusion and moulding
Pricing on request12 researched notesDistributed control system and process automation platform for continuous and hybrid process plants
Pricing on request12 researched notesSubscription PLM platform where every module is included in the seat price
Free plan12 researched notesIconics SCADA and visualisation under Mitsubishi Electric, now sold with unlimited tag licensing
Pricing on request12 researched notesSupervisory HMI and SCADA platform, formerly sold as Wonderware System Platform
Pricing on request12 researched notesFree cloud print preparation for Markforged printers, because the money is in the hardware
Free plan12 researched notesIndustrial build preparation and data repair for metal and polymer additive manufacturing
Pricing on request12 researched notesAustralian condition monitoring combining a magnetic sensor with a monitored alerting service
Pricing on request12 researched notesCloud bill of materials and part catalogue management priced per seat, with free read-only users
Free, then $30/mo12 researched notes3D Systems manufacturing operating system for additive, narrowed after Geomagic was sold to Hexagon
Pricing on request12 researched notesProcess analytics for continuous production, strongest in plastics extrusion and moulding
Pricing on request12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Kepware Server, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Kepware Server
Kepware Server alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Kepware Server pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Kepware Server
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Kepware Server badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Manufacturing software alternatives
Vibration analysis, dynamic balancing and wireless monitoring sold from a public online store
One-time purchase
Manufacturing KPI and OEE calculation engine with published list prices, licensed by measure count
One-time purchase
Enterprise asset management suite licensed by a shared pool of AppPoints rather than by named user
Per year by AppPoint poolMachine health monitoring sold as a per-machine annual service including sensors, installation and analyst diagnostics
quoteIconics SCADA and visualisation under Mitsubishi Electric, now sold with unlimited tag licensing
quoteSupervisory HMI and SCADA platform, formerly sold as Wonderware System Platform
quoteDistributed control system and process automation platform for continuous and hybrid process plants
quote