Comparison
Raylux and Ignition, compared
Standard Ignition and Raylux are both perpetual licences with unlimited tags and published prices. The differences are in how operator access is counted and how functions are bought.
Licensing side by side
Ignition against Raylux, checked on 5 October 2026.
| Item | Ignition | Raylux |
|---|---|---|
| Licence model | Standard Ignition and Ignition Edge licences are perpetual, a one-time cost. Ignition Cloud Edition carries an ongoing fee. | Perpetual. You buy the version you install and keep running it. |
| What is metered | Sold with unlimited tags, users and devices. | Tags, devices and users are unlimited. Concurrent operator clients are counted. |
| How functions are bought | As modules or Solution Suites (Application Building, Industrial Historian, Alarm Management, DataOps and Enterprise Integration), each priced separately. | Drivers and OPC UA are in the gateway licence. Spectrum HMI, Historian, Reporting and Alarm notification are add-on modules, priced separately. |
| Prices published | Yes, with an online price calculator. | Yes, on the pricing page, with a configurator. |
| Support plan | Annual plans, priced as a percentage of the retail software price. | Support Plan at 20% a year, with generation upgrades. |
Where Ignition is the stronger choice
Operator access. Ignition is sold with unlimited users. Raylux counts concurrent operator clients: two come with Spectrum, each further client up to nine is $195, and past nine you buy a capacity tier. Raylux has an unlimited tier, $7,500, but it is a paid one.
Track record and community. Ignition has a long track record, a large integrator community and a large module ecosystem. Raylux is a new product with a short history and a small community.
MQTT and Sparkplug B. Raylux does not ship them yet. They are on the roadmap, not sold and not dated. If your design needs MQTT or Sparkplug B today, Raylux is not ready for it.
Where Raylux fits
The Raylux gateway licence, $995, includes all eight protocols and OPC UA as both client and server, with no per-driver charge. Tags, devices, users and Studio engineers are unlimited.
Screens, history, reports and notifications are modules, so your total depends on which you take. Raylux is not a single price for everything, and the configurator on the pricing page quotes your actual plant.
Licences are signed files, so a gateway on an isolated network activates with no route to the internet. Edge licences for a single machine or panel start at $495.
Looking for an Ignition alternative?
The simplest test is to try Raylux on your own devices. The free download is fully unlocked for two hours at a time, with every driver, every module and unlimited tags and clients, and you can restart it as often as you like. Then price your plant on the pricing page.
Sources
Checked on 5 October 2026 against Inductive Automation's own pages: inductiveautomation.com/pricing/ignition, inductiveautomation.com/pricing/edition. Terms change, so confirm current terms with the vendor before you decide.
Ignition and Inductive Automation are trademarks of their owners. Raylux is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.