Platform Comparison
SIMBIOSYS vs ThingsBoard: Managed infrastructure. No DevOps overhead. UK support.
Context
ThingsBoard is a popular open-source IoT platform with a strong community and broad protocol support. It is a genuinely capable tool — but deploying and maintaining it at enterprise scale is a significant engineering undertaking. Self-hosted ThingsBoard requires DevOps expertise, infrastructure management and ongoing version maintenance. ThingsBoard Cloud reduces some of that burden, but limits white-label options and introduces its own pricing complexity. SIMBIOSYS is the fully managed alternative: all of the data ingestion and visualisation capability, none of the infrastructure headache.
Side-by-Side
An honest comparison across the criteria that matter to operational IIoT deployments.
Criteria
SIMBIOSYS
ThingsBoard
Fully managed hosting — no DevOps required
ThingsBoard Community Edition is self-hosted; ThingsBoard Cloud is managed but with feature restrictions
White-label branding for resellers
White-labelling in ThingsBoard requires a Professional Edition licence and custom theme development
GDPR-compliant UK/EU data residency
ThingsBoard Cloud data residency options depend on cloud region selection; UK-specific SLAs are limited
No infrastructure maintenance burden
Self-hosted ThingsBoard requires version upgrades, security patching and infrastructure scaling
UK-based support and SLA
ThingsBoard support is community-based for CE; PE support is ticket-based from a non-UK team
Multi-tenancy with access control
Both support multi-tenancy; ThingsBoard's model requires more configuration to set up correctly
Drag-and-drop dashboard builder
ThingsBoard has a powerful dashboard builder; both platforms are strong here
Transparent, predictable pricing
ThingsBoard CE is free but costs appear in infrastructure and management; PE pricing is per-device
Onboarding handled by vendor team
ThingsBoard onboarding is self-directed; professional services are available at additional cost
99.9% uptime SLA
ThingsBoard Cloud offers SLA; self-hosted ThingsBoard uptime is your responsibility
The Real Difference
These are the three reasons organisations most frequently cite when moving from ThingsBoard to SIMBIOSYS.
SIMBIOSYS is fully managed. You do not provision servers, manage Kubernetes clusters, apply security patches or worry about database backups. Your team focuses on delivering value to clients — not keeping the platform running.
SIMBIOSYS provides 99.9% uptime SLA, GDPR-compliant data handling and UK/EU data residency by default. You get enterprise-grade security guarantees without the cost of running your own secure infrastructure.
Our solutions team handles sensor integration, protocol configuration and initial dashboard setup. Whether you are connecting MQTT devices, Modbus PLCs or LoRaWAN sensors, we get your data flowing and visualised in days.
If you have evaluated ThingsBoard and concluded the self-hosting overhead or white-label limitations are a blocker, SIMBIOSYS is a natural next step. Book a demo and see the platform configured for your specific use case — no commitment required.
Ready to Switch?
Book a 30-minute demo with our solutions team. We will show you the platform configured for your industry, answer your questions and give you a clear picture of what switching would involve.