Mainflux
Mainflux Labs provides an open-source, Apache 2.0 IoT platform with microservices architecture, edge gateway hardware, and consulting services for enterprises, system integrators, EU research consortia, and governments across 14+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersBelgrade
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Mainflux does
Mainflux Labs is a Belgrade, Serbia-based technology company founded in 2015 that provides an end-to-end, open-source Internet of Things (IoT) platform under the Apache 2.0 license. The platform is built as a set of microservices in Golang, containerized with Docker and orchestrated with Kubernetes, and uses a NATS-powered PUB/SUB messaging bridge to support HTTP, MQTT, WebSocket, and CoAP protocols across cloud, edge, and on-premises deployments. Its product portfolio spans the Mainflux IoT Platform (core middleware), the MFX-1 industrial-grade Edge Computing Gateway (hardware), Edgeflux (remote device and fleet management), Dashflux (UI and dashboards), a LoRaWAN adapter, and a Bootstrap service for automated device provisioning. Mainflux serves large enterprises (Vodafone, Target, Xerox PARC), system integrators, EU-funded R&D consortia, government entities (Indian Coast Guard, Mauritius Telecom Towers), and educational institutions across more than 14 countries.
The company monetizes through a hybrid model anchored by professional services — consulting, deployment, custom development, integration, PoC, audit support, and training — augmented by tiered enterprise subscriptions. Managed cloud deployments start at $500/month, support plans range from Starter ($2,000/month) and Business ($5,000/month) to Custom enterprise agreements with 24/7 SLAs, and MFX-1 hardware units are sold separately. Go-to-market blends a community-led open-source motion (GitHub, Medium, YouTube, conferences including FOSDEM, KubeCon, and O'Reilly SA) with direct enterprise field sales and EU research consortium participation. Mainflux holds a leadership position in the Linux Foundation EdgeX Foundry project (chairing the Application Workgroup) alongside Dell, AMD, Samsung, Toshiba, and Intel, and participates in the EU H2020-funded Ashvin project targeting construction-industry digital twins. Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed; the only known external funding is a 2019 grant from the Serbian Innovation Fund supported by the EU and World Bank.
Mainflux firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Mainflux
- Legal name
- Mainflux Labs
- Website
- https://mainflux.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Mainflux Labs provides an open-source, Apache 2.0 IoT platform with microservices architecture, edge gateway hardware, and consulting services for enterprises, system integrators, EU research consortia, and governments across 14+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Mainflux industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Industrial IoT Platform
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cloud-Native Development (Containers, Kubernetes, Microservices) (BPAEACAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Container Platforms & Orchestration (Kubernetes) (HDABADAF), Kubernetes & Container Platform Management (Private Cloud) (HDABABAC), Hybrid Cloud Platforms & Orchestration (HDABAMAA)
Keywords
Where Mainflux is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Belgrade
Offices1 record
Markets served
Mainflux business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Professional Services: Mainflux Labs' primary revenue driver. Provides deployment, configuration, maintenance, custom development, integrations, PoC, audit support, and training services around the Mainflux open-source IoT Platform for IoT projects, solutions, or products.
- Enterprise Platform Subscription: Enterprise version of Mainflux open-source IoT Platform with advanced features, offered as managed cloud edition from $500/mo or custom enterprise agreements with dedicated private cloud, multi-AZ deployment, autoscaling, and cloudwatch.
- Support Plans: Tiered support plans: Starter ($2,000/mo) with Slack support and working hours coverage, Business ($5,000/mo) with Slack and webconferences plus developer/ops support, and Custom plans with 24/7 SLA.
- MFX-1 Edge Computing Gateway Hardware: Sale of MFX-1 IoT Edge Computing Gateway hardware units with installed Linux Foundation EdgeX Foundry framework or Mainflux IoT platform software, with optional professional services around the product.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | On-premises open source platform - Free deployment |
| Subscription | Monthly | Managed Cloud Edition - Full deployment and hosting |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Community Support - Free community support |
| Subscription | Monthly | Starter Support Plan - Basic professional support |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business Support Plan - Enhanced support with developer coverage |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Custom Support Plan - Tailored enterprise support |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels7 records
Mainflux product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Mainflux Labs provides an end-to-end, open-source IoT platform released under Apache 2.0 license, built as containerized microservices in Golang and orchestrated with Kubernetes. The company also sells the MFX-1 industrial-grade edge computing gateway hardware and offers Edgeflux device management software, complemented by professional consulting, deployment, integration, and training services across the software and hardware layers of IoT technology.
Product overview
Mainflux Labs offers an end-to-end, open-source IoT ecosystem consisting of three primary components: the Mainflux IoT Platform (the cloud-native core software), the MFX-1 IoT Edge Computing Gateway (industrial-grade hardware), and Edgeflux (IoT Device Management). The ecosystem is complemented by supporting modules including Dashflux (management UI), the Bootstrap Service (device auto-configuration), and the LoRaWAN Adapter (LoRa integration). Mainflux Consulting Services provides professional support across all IoT technology layers. All software is released under Apache 2.0.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Edgeflux: IoT device management solution for remote onboarding, monitoring, and management of IoT gateways and devices at scale
- Dashflux
- MFX-1
Products and services
- Mainflux IoT Platform Open-source, patent-free IoT platform under Apache 2.0 license, built as microservices containerized with Docker and orchestrated with Kubernetes. Provides device management, data aggregation, multi-protocol connectivity (HTTP, MQTT, WebSocket, CoAP via NATS broker), event management, core analytics, user interface, and application enablement. Designed for enterprises, system integrators, and IoT product companies.
- MFX-1 IoT Edge Computing Gateway
- Edgeflux - IoT Device Management Remote device management solution for onboarding, monitoring, and managing IoT gateways and devices at scale. Provides device discovery, bulk provisioning, remote monitoring, OTA software/firmware updates, secure remote terminal and browser via MQTT, data buffering during disconnections, and dashboards via Dashflux. Targeted at enterprises managing large fleets of IoT devices.
- Mainflux Consulting Services Cross-functional professional services covering all technology layers of IoT, including consultancy for product design and architecture, proof-of-concept projects, integration and pilots, auditing, technical support, training, and workshops. Includes on-premises deployment and SaaS platform managed services. Targeted at enterprises, system integrators, and government institutions.
Quantifiable outcome
- Deployable from multi-datacenter scale down to Raspberry Pi-class devices with same codebase
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Mainflux
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Mainflux technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature12 records
Mainflux partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor, major and core.
- Open Retail InitiativeminorCollaborative effort founded by Intel and top technology companies (Dell, HP Inc, Canonical, VMware, JD.com, Toshiba) partnering with Linux Foundation EdgeX Foundry and Open Stack to address retailers' market challenges through open access solutions.
- EU H2020 Ashvin ProjectmajorConsortium member of Ashvin: EU H2020 funded international R&D project addressing long-lasting challenges of the construction industry using digital twins and IoT as assistants for design, construction and maintenance of civil engineering infrastructures.
- SmartCity SEEminorParticipation in SmartCity SEE Conference panel on Smart City Connectivity together with representatives from Telecom Serbia, Huawei, and Deutsche Telecom.
- Linux Foundation EdgeX FoundrycoreMainflux is a member and holds leadership position in Linux Foundation's EdgeX Foundry project, chairing the Application Workgroup in Technical Steering Committee. EdgeX Foundry is a vendor-neutral, flexible, highly-scalable industrial-grade open source edge software platform with over 80 member companies including Dell, AMD, Toshiba, Samsung.
- LF EdgecoreMember of Linux Foundation's LF Edge organization alongside AT&T, Dell, Baidu, HP, Ericsson, Huawei, NOKIA, Red Hat, Samsung, Intel and IBM for edge computing standardization and ecosystem development.
- Science Technology Park BelgradecoreMember of Belgrade Science Park and Tech Business Incubator, providing access to startup ecosystem resources and collaboration opportunities.
- O'Reilly MediaminorO'Reilly Media published the book 'Scalable Architecture for the Internet of Things' authored by Mainflux team members, recognizing technical expertise in IoT platform evaluation.
- EU Research Consortium PartnersmajorCollaboration with TU Berlin, TU Delft, UPC Barcelona, Fraunhofer Institute, NEC, Telefonica, NCC Sverige, La Farge, schlaich bergermann partner on EU-funded R&D projects including viaducts, bridges, office buildings, Port of Rotterdam, stadium structures, and social housing projects.
- Academic Research PartnersminorEricsson Spain S.A., Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, MDEA Networks Institute, University of the Basque Country, and Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya have used Mainflux for research and projects published in Sensors MPDI and IEEE Access scientific journals.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Mainflux competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ThingsBoard: Open-source IoT platform offering device management, data collection, processing, and visualization under Apache 2.0. Closely comparable feature set (device management, dashboards, multi-protocol) and open-source/community-led GTM.
- Kaa IoT: Open-source IoT middleware platform for connected device management, data analytics, and smart-product enablement. Comparable open-source IoT platform targeting enterprise and smart-product use cases.
- EMQX: Open-source MQTT messaging platform for IoT, also built around NATS-style high-performance messaging. Most directly comparable to Mainflux's MQTT/HTTP/WebSocket/CoAP multi-protocol broker layer and open-core commercial model.
- Balena: IoT platform for deploying and managing fleets of edge devices, pairing cloud software with edge device tooling. Comparable cloud-to-edge continuity and developer-led adoption model.
- Particle: IoT platform combining edge hardware modules with a managed cloud for connectivity, OTA updates, and device management. Comparable hardware-plus-software stack and managed cloud subscription model.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Azure IoT Hub: Hyperscaler IoT service providing device-to-cloud telemetry, device management, and integration with Azure analytics. A key broad incumbent in the same enterprise IoT platform category.
- AWS IoT Core: Hyperscaler IoT platform offering device connectivity, messaging, shadow, and analytics integrated with the broader AWS stack. Sets the incumbent benchmark for managed IoT platforms Mainflux competes against.
- Siemens Insights Hub (MindSphere): Industrial IoT platform from Siemens with strong position in manufacturing and OT environments. Comparable industrial IoT platform that competes for large enterprise industrial deployments.
Emerging players
- ClearBlade: Edge computing platform for IoT and digital twins with focus on industrial deployments. Comparable edge-orchestration capabilities and emphasis on secure remote device management.
- Eclipse Kura (Kura/OM2M): Open-source IoT gateway framework under the Eclipse Foundation, focused on edge gateways and M2M. Comparable open-source positioning for industrial IoT and gateway management.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Mainflux social profiles
Digital presenceMainflux financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Mainflux leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Mainflux funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Mainflux M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Mainflux
What does Mainflux do?
Mainflux Labs provides an end-to-end, open-source IoT platform released under Apache 2.0 license, built as containerized microservices in Golang and orchestrated with Kubernetes. The company also sells the MFX-1 industrial-grade edge computing gateway hardware and offers Edgeflux device management software, complemented by professional consulting, deployment, integration, and training services across the software and hardware layers of IoT technology.
Is Mainflux a public or private company?
Mainflux is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Mainflux founded?
Mainflux was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Mainflux based?
Mainflux is headquartered in Belgrade.
How does Mainflux make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Professional Services are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Platform Subscription, support Plans and MFX-1 Edge Computing Gateway Hardware.
Who are Mainflux's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ThingsBoard, Kaa IoT, EMQX, Balena and Particle. Broad incumbents are Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, AWS IoT Core and Siemens Insights Hub (MindSphere). Emerging players are ClearBlade and Eclipse Kura (Kura/OM2M).
Does Mainflux have an API?
Yes. Mainflux provides an HTTP API for things provisioning and management. For messaging and data exchange, it supports multiple protocols: HTTP, WebSocket (WS), MQTT, and CoAP. SDKs and pre-built client libraries are available for C/C++, JavaScript, and Python across various hardware platforms. The platform also features an Identity Provider for OpenID Connect (OAuth 2.0). Developer documentation is at mainflux.readthedocs.io/en/latest.
What industry is Mainflux in?
Mainflux's product category is Industrial IoT Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEACAD, Cloud-Native Development (Containers, Kubernetes, Microservices), with a secondary code of HDABADAF, Container Platforms & Orchestration (Kubernetes). Its NAICS code is 518 and its SIC code is 7372.