FUXA is an open‑source, web‑based platform that lets engineers and operators create interactive visualizations of industrial processes. It supports real‑time data acquisition, alarm handling, and custom widget design without requiring proprietary hardware. The system runs in any modern browser, can be self‑hosted on‑premise, and integrates with common PLCs, MQTT brokers, and OPC-UA servers, making it suitable for factories, utilities, and IoT deployments.
Grafana is a multi-platform open source analytics and interactive visualization web application. It provides charts, graphs, and alerts for the web when connected to supported data sources. A feature-rich platform for building dashboards and visualizing time-series data.
- Fully open‑source and free to use
- Runs in any modern web browser
- Extensible with custom widgets and scripts
- Supports multiple industrial protocols
- Highly customizable and extensible
- Supports multiple data sources and plugins
- Real-time data streaming and alerting capabilities
- Large community of developers and users
- Self‑hosting requires technical setup
- Limited out‑of‑the‑box mobile app support
- Community support may be slower than commercial vendors
- Steep learning curve for beginners
- Can be resource-intensive for large-scale deployments
- Limited support for certain data sources and plugins
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataFUXA is a free, open‑source SCADA/HMI focused on industrial PLC and OPC‑UA data, while Grafana is a free, open‑source observability platform geared toward DevOps with broad data‑source plugins.
Key differences
- •Target audience: FUXA for industrial engineers/automation; Grafana for DevOps/SRE teams.
- •Native protocol support: FUXA connects directly to PLCs, OPC‑UA, MQTT, Modbus TCP; Grafana relies on generic data‑source plugins.
- •Deployment model: FUXA requires self‑hosting; Grafana can be self‑hosted or used via managed services (not specified).
- •Alerting focus: FUXA offers configurable alarm thresholds with visual/audible alerts; Grafana provides generic alerting across many data sources.
- •Community vs commercial support: FUXA only community forum/GitHub; Grafana adds email support and richer documentation.
Pricing & value
Both are free open‑source; value depends on required integrations and ecosystem.
Ease of use / learning curve
Grafana has extensive docs and UI polish, though steep for beginners; FUXA requires technical setup for self‑hosting.
Features & depth
FUXA includes built‑in PLC/OPC‑UA/MQTT handling and HMI screen editor, which Grafana lacks natively.
Integrations & ecosystem
Grafana supports many data sources via plugins (Prometheus, Elasticsearch, etc.); FUXA limited to industrial protocols.
Collaboration
Grafana offers multi‑tenancy and role‑based access out of the box; FUXA provides basic authentication but fewer collaboration features.
Scalability
Grafana designed for large‑scale observability deployments; FUXA’s scalability not specified beyond self‑hosting.
Support
Grafana lists email support and extensive documentation; FUXA only community forum and GitHub issues.
Choose FUXA if…
Industrial teams needing native PLC/OPC‑UA connectivity and custom HMI screens.
Choose Grafana if…
DevOps/SRE teams requiring multi‑source monitoring, plugins, and richer collaboration tools.
Common questions
Can either tool run without installing client software?
Both run in a web browser; FUXA is entirely browser‑based, Grafana also serves dashboards via browser.
Which solution supports more data‑source types out of the box?
Grafana, with plugins for Prometheus, Graphite, Elasticsearch, Kubernetes, etc.; FUXA focuses on PLC, OPC‑UA, MQTT, Modbus.
What support options are available if I run into issues?
FUXA offers community forum and GitHub Issues; Grafana adds email support and comprehensive documentation.