Backend-as-a-Service
The biggest real distinction between ThingsBoard and Medplum is straightforward: ThingsBoard is aimed at Teams that need self-hosted IoT with device mgmt, telemetry and rule chains, whereas Medplum targets Healthcare startups building EHR or patient-facing apps on FHIR with modern tooling. ThingsBoard sits at freemium with paid upgrades and carries low lock-in, while Medplum sits at freemium with paid upgrades and carries low lock-in. ThingsBoard is a fit when you need teams that need self-hosted iot with device mgmt, telemetry and rule chains — typical scenarios include open-source iot platform with device management and dashboards. Medplum is aimed at healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling, with workloads like open-source fhir-native ehr backend for digital health teams as the common case. The honest trade-off: ThingsBoard is explicitly not for small teams wanting a polished managed iot saas with zero ops; Medplum is not intended for non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning fhir.
Quick take
ThingsBoard is for teams that need self-hosted iot with; Medplum is for healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing; decide based on which workload you actually run.
| | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backend-as-a-Service | Backend-as-a-Service |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Entry Price | — | — |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing Complexity | — | — |
| Developer Experience | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Pricing Transparency | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Lock-in Level | low | low |
| Migration Complexity | — | — |
| Data Portability | — | — |
| Enterprise | — | — |
| GitHub Stars | 21.6k | 2.3k |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
Choose ThingsBoard if your primary workload is teams that need self-hosted iot with device mgmt, telemetry and rule chains and low switching cost matters.
Not for: Small teams wanting a polished managed IoT SaaS with zero ops
Choose Medplum if your primary workload is healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling and low switching cost matters.
Not for: Non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning FHIR
Check each tool's dedicated page for deeper reviews, setup notes, and pros/cons.
Neither ThingsBoard nor Medplum publishes a straightforward entry price in our data, so a direct 'cheaper' call is not possible. Pricing models differ (freemium vs freemium), which usually means the answer depends on seat count and usage.
Migrating from ThingsBoard to Medplum is generally feasible because ThingsBoard has low lock-in, so data and configuration are usually portable. Since both tools sit in the same category (Backend-as-a-Service), the conceptual mapping is closer, but you still need to validate feature parity against your specific workload. Plan migration as a project, not a script: inventory integrations, test on non-production workloads, and keep ThingsBoard running in parallel until Medplum is verified.
Our data gives ThingsBoard and Medplum the same developer experience score (4/5), so neither has a clear edge on DX by that measure. The differentiator is usually how each tool fits your workflow — things like CLI quality, docs, local dev loop, and error messages. The safest call is to pilot both on a representative task and see which one gets out of your way.
Medplum is in the same category as ThingsBoard (Backend-as-a-Service), so it's a reasonable alternative to evaluate. Medplum is aimed at healthcare startups building ehr or patient-facing apps on fhir with modern tooling, while ThingsBoard targets teams that need self-hosted iot with device mgmt, telemetry and rule chains — that difference should drive the switch decision. Note that Medplum is explicitly not for non-healthcare projects or teams that can't invest in learning fhir — if that describes your workload, it's not a viable replacement.
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