Mender
IoT platforms
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$34 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Information technology and software
- Professional services (engineering, legal, consulting, etc.)
What is Mender
Mender is an over-the-air (OTA) software update and device lifecycle management platform for connected Linux-based and embedded devices. It is used by product and IoT engineering teams to deploy application and operating system updates, manage device inventory, and monitor update rollouts across fleets. The platform supports both open-source and commercial editions and commonly integrates with existing CI/CD pipelines and device manufacturing/provisioning processes.
Robust OTA update workflows
Mender focuses on reliable OTA updates, including staged rollouts and rollback support to reduce the impact of failed deployments. It supports updating both applications and full system images depending on device architecture and configuration. These capabilities align well with teams that need controlled fleet-wide software distribution rather than a broader, general-purpose IoT application platform.
Open-source core available
Mender provides an open-source edition that can be self-hosted, which can help teams validate fit and run pilots without committing to a proprietary cloud service. The open-source approach also supports code review and customization for specific device constraints. This is useful for organizations with strict deployment, sovereignty, or offline/edge requirements.
Device inventory and targeting
Mender includes device inventory and grouping concepts that support targeting updates to specific device cohorts (for example by model, hardware revision, or software version). This helps teams manage heterogeneous fleets and reduce operational risk during rollouts. It also supports integration patterns commonly used in IoT operations, such as tying deployments to CI/CD release artifacts.
Narrower than full IoT suite
Mender is primarily centered on device software updates and lifecycle operations rather than end-to-end IoT application enablement. Organizations may still need separate components for connectivity management, data ingestion, rules/stream processing, and analytics dashboards. For buyers expecting a single platform covering device connectivity through business applications, additional products and integration work are typically required.
Linux/embedded focus constraints
Mender’s strongest fit is Linux-based and embedded Linux devices, and some capabilities depend on how the client is integrated into the device OS and partitioning scheme. Devices with constrained RTOS environments or highly customized boot/update mechanisms may require additional engineering effort. Hardware-specific update strategies can increase implementation time compared with more abstracted device management services.
Operational overhead when self-hosted
Running the open-source or self-hosted deployment shifts responsibility for scaling, security hardening, backups, and uptime to the customer. Teams may need to operate supporting infrastructure such as databases, storage, and message/queue components depending on deployment architecture. This can be a barrier for organizations without dedicated platform operations resources.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source (Free) | Free | Permanently free and open-source; core Mender OTA features; self-hosted/DIY; community support. |
| Basic | $34/month (for up to 50 devices) | Hosted secure server, full-disk image updates, application updates, update extensibility, community/best-effort support. Minimum 50 devices for Basic (in increments of 50). |
| Professional | $291/month (for up to 250 devices) | Everything in Basic + robust delta updates, scheduled deployments, automatic retry of deployments, device filtering/sorting, automation; best-effort support. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Contact sales for tailored quote; includes Mender Gateway, phased rollouts, auto-delta updates, dynamic deployments, RBAC, mutual TLS, audit logs, hosted or on-premise, SLA-backed support, roadmap access. |
Add-ons (optional, billed additionally):
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Configure | $11/month for up to 50 devices; $70/month for up to 250 devices; custom pricing for Enterprise |
| Troubleshoot | $28/month for up to 50 devices; $79/month for up to 250 devices; custom pricing for Enterprise |
| Monitor | $93/month for up to 250 devices; custom pricing for Enterprise |
Seller details
Northern.tech AS
Oslo, Norway
2015
Private
https://northern.tech/
https://x.com/mender_io
https://www.linkedin.com/company/northern-tech/
