Ubidots

Ubidots is a full-stack IoT service for collecting device data, turning it into calculated metrics, visualizing it, and triggering responses. It fits system integrators and enterprise teams that need those stages in one platform, while STEM targets educational and personal projects. Its broad workflow is a strong reason to choose it; mobile-user restrictions and device-based billing are important reservations.

Overview

Ubidots covers the path from incoming readings to operational action. Devices and machines send data through MQTT or HTTP, teams display it in dashboards, and event rules can notify people or call other systems. That integrated scope is more useful for application builders than for someone seeking only a basic device-management console or a simple hobby dashboard.

Key features

MQTT and HTTP ingestion give connected equipment two established ways to publish data. Widget-based dashboards present device readings, and custom dashboards support tailored views for different applications. Synthetic variables perform statistical and arithmetic operations over a selected time frame, turning raw readings into derived measures that can be displayed or used in conditions.

Events can react to variable values, device inactivity, or schedules. Actions include email, SMS, voice calls, Slack messages, and webhooks, covering both human escalation and system-to-system automation. Plugins connect with AWS IoT, OpenWeather, and LoRaWAN, while custom cron, webhook, and widget plugins extend the integration surface.

Real-time stream processing, anomaly detection, and machine-learning tools add analytical scope beyond straightforward visualization. Security capabilities include HTTPS with SSL, MQTT with TLS, token authentication, and token revocation. Infrastructure is hosted in AWS's us-east-2 Ohio data center; private deployment at another data center or cloud provider is offered on Enterprise tiers.

The iOS and Android apps show devices, historical variable data, web dashboards, event logs, and push notifications. They cannot create or edit dashboards, so the mobile apps are primarily for monitoring and response rather than administration. Standard mobile access is limited to account owners and admin users; end users need an on-demand white-labeled app, a significant consideration for customer-facing deployments.

Billing counts each device with up to 20 variables. Adding more variables can cause them to be billed as additional devices, so a deployment's variable design affects cost as well as its nominal device count.

Pricing

Ubidots uses a freemium model, with paid service from $99 per month and a typical 30-day free trial. The STEM plan costs nothing, is billed FREE, and covers three devices for non-commercial projects. It is appropriate for education and personal experimentation, but not for commercial work.

Professional costs $99 a month, billed at $99 / month. It includes 50 devices, 10M dots per month, six months of data retention, five organizations, up to five end users, and community support. This is the clearest fit for a small commercial deployment that can stay within those quotas. The five-user ceiling and community-only support may constrain a larger operational team.

Industrial has custom pricing and scales from one to thousands of devices with custom capacity, 24 months of retention, and standard support. Enterprise is also custom-priced, supports one to thousands of devices with custom capacity, retains more than 24 months of data, and adds private deployment, SSO, SLAs, and a technical account manager. These tiers make sense when retention, support, identity controls, or hosting requirements exceed Professional. Check the 20-variable device rule when estimating any plan.

Platforms

Ubidots is available on Android, iOS, the web, and through an API. The mobile applications are useful for viewing and receiving alerts, while dashboard construction and editing remain web tasks.

Who it's for

Choose Ubidots when a system-integrator or enterprise project needs ingestion, calculations, dashboards, alerts, and integrations in one service. Professional suits a commercial deployment of up to 50 devices and five end users; Industrial and Enterprise suit larger fleets or stricter support, retention, security, and hosting needs. STEM is for non-commercial educational or personal projects only. A customer-facing mobile experience requires budgeting for a white-labeled app.

Pros and cons

• Pros: MQTT and HTTP ingestion cover common device connections.
• Pros: Synthetic variables, real-time processing, anomaly detection, and machine-learning tools support analysis as well as collection.
• Pros: Event actions range from email and messaging to webhooks, and plugins include AWS IoT, OpenWeather, and LoRaWAN.
• Pros: Enterprise can provide private deployment, SSO, SLAs, and a technical account manager.
• Cons: The standard mobile app cannot create or edit dashboards.
• Cons: End users need an on-demand white-labeled app rather than standard mobile access.
• Cons: Professional's 50-device, 10M-dot, five-organization, and five-end-user limits require careful sizing.
• Cons: Variables beyond 20 per device may be billed as additional devices, complicating cost forecasts.

Alternatives

For a wider shortlist, see IoT Device Management Platforms and IoT Analytics Software.

ThingsBoard is a freemium option with Android, iOS, web, desktop, Linux, macOS, Windows, API, and self-hosted support; its free plan covers five devices and 1M data points per month, so it is worth choosing when a smaller free footprint or self-hosting matters.

Thinger.io is another freemium platform with cloud and self-hosted options; consider it when its cloud device and storage packages fit better.

Datacake offers a free five-device plan and a 25 EUR-per-month Hobby tier for up to 25 devices with one year of retention, making it an alternative for a smaller, lower-cost deployment.

OpenRemote is a free, self-hosted IoT platform for teams that prefer operating the platform themselves.

Arduino IDE is a free, open-source development environment rather than a hosted IoT application platform, so choose it for building Arduino software.

Kaa IoT Platform offers freemium cloud and self-hosted plans, including a 9.99 USD-per-month tier for up to five devices, for projects starting below Ubidots Professional's price.

Losant Enterprise IoT Platform is a freemium API and self-hosted alternative with paid plans beginning at $250 a month.

Mender focuses on Linux over-the-air device updates, so it is the relevant choice when fleet update management is the primary requirement.

Verdict

Ubidots is a strong choice for integrators and enterprise teams that want one service for IoT ingestion, derived data, dashboards, event automation, and integrations. Pick it for that end-to-end scope and its scalable custom tiers. Look elsewhere if standard mobile users must edit dashboards, if a project is strictly non-commercial and tiny, or if device-variable billing and Professional's quotas do not fit the deployment.