Photo: Kevin Ache / Unsplash
What to weigh before you shortlist:
- Migration path: can devices be re-pointed with a configuration change, or does firmware have to change?
- Coverage of what you use today: registry, twins or shadows, provisioning, rules, exports, dashboards
- Hosting: vendor SaaS, your own cloud account, on premises or air-gapped
- License terms for self-hosting and clustering, especially with source-available software
- Fit with the cloud data stack you keep: warehouses, data lakes, Kafka, Microsoft Fabric
- The vendor's ownership, size and track record in supporting migrations
At a glance
| Company | Good fit for | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| ClearBlade | Former Google Cloud IoT Core users who want to stay on Google Cloud | United States |
| Cumulocity | Industrial firms replacing IoT Central with a complete platform | Germany |
| EMQ | Teams replacing only the MQTT layer and keeping their own data stack | China |
| Golioth | Microcontroller fleets that need OTA, logs and routing to any cloud | United States |
| HiveMQ | Enterprises that need MQTT messaging in their own cloud or on site | Germany |
| OpenRemote | Public bodies and integrators who want an open-source, self-hosted stack | Netherlands |
| TagoIO | Integrators and OEMs reselling white-label monitoring | United States |
| ThingsBoard | Teams that want IoT Central-style dashboards they can self-host | United States |
Listed in alphabetical order, not ranked. Nobody pays to appear on a shortlist, and paid directory placements get no preference here (see the editorial policy).
Two of the three big clouds have stepped back from managed IoT applications. Google discontinued Cloud IoT Core in August 2023, as ClearBlade’s migration announcement recalls, and the old product address on Google’s site now redirects to an architecture guide that lists what an IoT platform should provide: software and configuration updates, credential management and a rules engine. Microsoft stopped creation of new Azure IoT Central applications on September 23, 2026; existing applications keep working through September 20, 2029 and are then no longer available, according to Microsoft’s IoT Central evolution page. AWS IoT Core remains a supported service.
This shortlist is for teams that are leaving one of those services, or that want to avoid building on a hyperscaler’s IoT layer at all. For the wider market, including the hyperscalers themselves, see our IoT platforms shortlist.
Should you stay with the same cloud?
Often, yes. Microsoft’s recommended path for IoT Central users is Azure IoT Hub with the Device Provisioning Service and Microsoft Fabric, with Azure Device Registry where it applies, and it publishes migration guides for devices and applications. If your data, identity and billing already live in Azure, rebuilding on Azure IoT Hub keeps the device SDKs and the rest of your Azure stack in place. The cost is that you now assemble rules, dashboards and user management that IoT Central gave you ready-made.
A third-party platform makes more sense when you want a ready application layer, need to run on premises or across clouds, or want the device endpoint under your own control so the next cloud decision does not touch firmware.
Which kind of replacement do you need?
The vendors below fall into four groups. Drop-in managed services, such as ClearBlade’s IoT Core, aim to mirror the retired service so devices need fewer changes. MQTT infrastructure, such as EMQX and HiveMQ, replaces only the broker and leaves storage, rules and apps to your own stack. Application platforms, such as Cumulocity, ThingsBoard, TagoIO and OpenRemote, bring device management, dashboards and multi-tenant apps. Device-first services, such as Golioth, focus on firmware updates, logs and data routing for microcontroller fleets.
Map what you use today against these groups before you talk to vendors. A team that only used IoT Central for connectivity and exports needs a broker and a provisioning story, not a dashboard tool.
How do licenses and hosting affect the exit?
Self-hosting does not mean free of vendor terms. The EMQX license FAQ states that from version 5.9.0 EMQX is distributed under the Business Source License 1.1: single-node production use is free, but clustering requires a commercial license. The ThingsBoard documentation states that version 4.4 is source-available. OpenRemote’s license file is the GNU Affero GPL, which requires you to offer your changes in source form to users if you modify it and run it as a network service.
Check also who issues device certificates. If your X.509 certificates chain to a CA you control, moving platforms is mostly a matter of registering the same identities elsewhere. If the old service issued them, plan for re-provisioning.
How do you plan the migration?
Inventory devices by firmware version and by how their endpoint and credentials are stored. Stand up the new platform in parallel, move a pilot group, and compare message counts and latency on both sides before moving the rest. Keep the old service running until the last device has reported in from its new home. Devices that cannot be updated over the air set the real deadline, and for Azure IoT Central users that deadline is fixed by Microsoft’s dates above.
Questions to ask the vendor
- Which device-side changes does a move require: hostname, credentials, topic structure or SDK?
- Do you support our current certificates and provisioning flow, or must devices be re-enrolled?
- Which license applies to self-hosted and clustered deployments, and what triggers a fee?
- How do we export data, registry and rules if we leave you in turn?
- How many customers have you migrated from the service we are leaving, and can we speak to one?
How we built this list
The picks come from the IoT platforms category of our directory, filtered for vendors that can take over device connectivity or the application layer from a hyperscaler service. We checked each description and the dates above against official pages on October 22, 2026. The list is alphabetical, not ranked, no vendor paid to appear, and we have not tested the products. For the broader trade-offs, see vendor lock-in and data sovereignty.
The shortlist
ClearBlade
Edge and cloud IoT platform with Intelligent Assets application for rail, energy and facilities · Austin, United States · founded 2007
Good fit for: Former Google Cloud IoT Core users who want to stay on Google Cloud.
Sells IoT Core, a managed device connectivity service, plus IoT Core+, Intelligent Assets (no-code digital twins and workflows) and edge software that keeps working offline. A Google Cloud partner, it launched its IoT Core as a replacement for Google's retired service and offered free migration. A natural fit for teams staying on Google Cloud; its applications lean toward energy, transport, facilities and the public sector.
Cumulocity
Independent IoT platform spun out of Software AG for device management, streaming analytics and apps · Düsseldorf, Germany · founded 2012
Good fit for: Industrial firms replacing IoT Central with a complete platform.
Device management from onboarding to decommissioning, streaming analytics, dashboards, a digital twin manager and DataHub exports to data lakes, with the same solution deployable in the cloud, at the edge, on premises or air-gapped. Devices connect through thin-edge.io, protocol adapters or SDKs. Suits firms that want a complete platform instead of assembling cloud services; expect to adopt its data model and application framework.
EMQ
Maker of the open-source EMQX MQTT broker and NanoMQ and Neuron edge software · Hangzhou, China · founded 2017
Good fit for: Teams replacing only the MQTT layer and keeping their own data stack.
Maker of the EMQX MQTT platform, offered as a fully managed cloud (serverless or dedicated), bring-your-own-cloud for isolation and data residency, or self-managed, plus EMQX Edge and the Neuron industrial connectivity server. Good when you want to keep your own cloud data stack and replace only device messaging. Since version 5.9.0 EMQX ships under the Business Source License, and clustering needs a commercial license.
Golioth
A device-to-cloud platform for Zephyr-based IoT products: OTA updates, logging, settings and data pipelines. · San Francisco, United States (remote-first) · founded 2020
Good fit for: Microcontroller fleets that need OTA, logs and routing to any cloud.
A device-first service: a firmware SDK, fleet control with cohorts for targeted updates, remote logs, device settings and YAML pipelines that forward data to cloud services, AI models or data lakes without firmware changes. Hardware partners include Nordic, NXP, ST, Espressif and Infineon. Fits embedded teams that want OTA and observability without running servers; it does not provide end-user apps. Now part of Canonical.
Products: Golioth Firmware SDK, Connect, Fleet Control, Pipelines, LightDB Stream, Logs, Location, Device Settings.
HiveMQ
Enterprise MQTT platform for connected vehicles, industrial data and large-scale device messaging · Landshut, Germany · founded 2012
Good fit for: Enterprises that need MQTT messaging in their own cloud or on site.
The HiveMQ broker comes as self-managed plans or fully managed, with HiveMQ Edge for factory protocols and an extension framework, and a focus on MQTT 5 and Sparkplug. Running the same broker in your own cloud account and on site keeps the device endpoint under your control. Like EMQX, it replaces the messaging layer, not device management, dashboards or OTA.
Products: HiveMQ Platform, HiveMQ Broker, HiveMQ Cloud, HiveMQ Edge, HiveMQ Data Hub, HiveMQ Extensions, HiveMQ Community Edition.
OpenRemote
Dutch open-source IoT platform for asset management, dashboards and automation rules · Eindhoven, Netherlands
Good fit for: Public bodies and integrators who want an open-source, self-hosted stack.
An open-source platform under the GNU Affero GPL: asset modeling, rules and flows, real-time dashboards and maps, and automatic data recognition for Teltonika hardware. Self-host it with no license fee, or pay the Eindhoven team to configure, develop and host a solution. A practical fit for cities, energy and asset projects that need data under their own control; the AGPL matters if you modify it and offer it as a service.
TagoIO
IoT platform with analysis scripts, dashboards and multi-tenant applications for sensor products · Raleigh, United States
Good fit for: Integrators and OEMs reselling white-label monitoring.
A cloud platform with hundreds of device connectors across LoRaWAN, Sigfox, MQTT and HTTP, analysis scripts in Node.js, Deno or Python, no-code dashboards and TagoRUN, a white-label customer portal with access policies for multi-tenant use. Runs as a shared cloud, as a dedicated regional deployment or as TagoCore at the edge. Aimed at integrators and hardware makers who put the platform under their own product.
ThingsBoard
Source-available IoT platform (Apache 2.0 up to 4.3, BSL 1.1 from 4.4) for device management, rule chains and dashboards · United States · founded 2016
Good fit for: Teams that want IoT Central-style dashboards they can self-host.
Device management, rule chains, alarms and more than 600 dashboard widgets, with MQTT, HTTP, CoAP, LoRaWAN and, through its IoT Gateway, industrial protocols. Runs self-hosted (including air-gapped), as ThingsBoard Cloud, or with an Edge add-on that keeps working through outages. A common landing spot for teams that want ready-made dashboards; check the source-available license that applies from version 4.4 before a commercial deployment.
Products: ThingsBoard Community Edition, ThingsBoard Professional Edition, ThingsBoard Cloud, ThingsBoard Edge, ThingsBoard IoT Gateway, Trendz Analytics.
Picks, products and the notes above were checked on the vendors' official sites on October 22, 2026. Plans and prices change; the official page is the reference. A vendor missing or described wrongly? Tell us.