When it comes to managing industrial time-series data, few platforms are as established as AVEVA PI System. It’s a proven solution used across industries for decades — but one that comes at a steep price. When organizations evaluate modern alternatives like TDengine, one question consistently arises: How do the pricing models compare?
The difference goes far beyond the numbers on a quote sheet. PI System relies on opaque pricing, legacy cost structures, and add-on fees that make total costs difficult to predict. TDengine, by contrast, delivers flexible deployment options and all-inclusive value, giving enterprises full control without hidden charges or forced subscriptions.
Transparency vs. Secrecy
AVEVA does not publish official pricing for PI System. Instead, its costs are tailored for each customer based on multiple factors, and customers must contact a sales representative to get a quote no matter the size of their deployments. This forces enterprises to engage in time-consuming sales negotiations for all projects and prevents them from easily comparing the value of different vendors’ solutions.
On the other hand, TDengine makes all prices public information — details here — so that potential customers can decide whether TDengine fits in their budget without wasting time talking to account managers.
Reasonable Pricing vs. High Costs
Although PI System’s prices are not public, it is common knowledge that the product is often a large financial burden on industrial enterprises. Typically, customers can expect pricing similar to the following:
| Tags | Annual PI System Cost (US$) | Annual TDengine Cost (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | over $25,000 | $9,000 |
| 10,000 | over $45,000 | $15,500 |
| 50,000 | over $90,000 | $31,000 |
Note that these PI System only offers yearly subscriptions with limited users — perpetual licenses are no longer available for the majority of customers. TDengine’s annual pricing plans come in 3x lower and include standard support and all capabilities at no additional charge.
Legacy industrial software vendors like AVEVA know that their products are essential parts of data infrastructure, and customers cannot migrate away easily. Once customers are locked in to the PI ecosystem, the difficulty of changing to another platform is so high that many feel forced to continue paying whatever prices are asked of them.
All-Inclusive Value vs. Piecemeal Pricing
In addition to the exorbitantly priced core component PI Server, PI System customers are forced to pay extra for add-ons that many consider essential, such as PI Interfaces and — without which customers cannot even ingest data using their preferred protocols. In addition, some PI System features such as Coresight and Datalink are charged per seat — meaning that your costs increase as your team grows.
TDengine includes all components within the base package instead of “nickel and diming” them like legacy industrial software vendors. With TDengine, simply purchasing a license is enough for you to use all TDengine features, and an unlimited number of team members can access TDengine at no extra charge.
Licensing Flexibility vs. Forced Subscription Model
In recent years, AVEVA has moved to a subscription model for its products, including PI System. Customers are now required to purchase “Flex credits” to pay for their software, making budgeting more difficult and disrupting long-term planning. Instead of predictable, straightforward licensing, organizations must navigate a complex credit system that obscures true costs and limits flexibility.
TDengine continues to offer perpetual licenses with an optional annual support plan for all enterprise customers. Annual plans are also available for enterprises that prefer structuring costs in this manner, as well as monthly or annual cloud service plans for our fully managed TDengine Cloud. With TDengine, enterprises can choose the pricing model best suited for them without being forced into a SaaS plan for their core infrastructure.
Choosing the Right Path Forward
TDengine takes a modern, transparent approach to pricing built for today’s data-driven operations. TDengine provides commercial support and advanced features at a clear, scalable rate, with perpetual and annual licenses both available, and without the hidden costs associated with users, connectors, or interfaces.
The result is a historian that offers 95% of the features of PI System at a third of the price, using a simpler, fairer pricing model that meets the needs of modern industrial enterprises.
If your organization values predictability, openness, and scalability, the pricing difference between PI System and TDengine is more than a matter of dollars — it reflects a shift toward modern, flexible infrastructure for industrial data. By combining enterprise-grade performance with a transparent cost structure, TDengine has become an ideal choice for teams looking to modernize their data architecture at an affordable price.
