When a plant evaluates moving from Wonderware (now AVEVA) to Ignition, the conversation almost always starts with screens or comms — but the decision usually turns on licensing. The two platforms price fundamentally differently, and that difference compounds every year as a system grows. Here's how the models actually compare and where the cost really lives.
Two different pricing philosophies
Wonderware / AVEVA traditionally scales with what you're using: tag count tiers, client/seat counts, and increasingly subscription terms across InTouch, System Platform and Historian. Add points, add terminals, add a historian, and the license grows with you.
Ignition is licensed per server, with unlimited tags, unlimited clients/sessions and unlimited screens. You buy the modules you need once; adding tags, terminals or dashboards later doesn't change the license.
Where the difference comes from
The gap isn't a discount — it's a different axis. On a per-tag/per-client model, the things you naturally do as a plant matures all cost more: instrument another line, add operator terminals, stand up a few management dashboards, give maintenance mobile access. On a per-server model, all of that is free after the initial purchase. The more a system grows, the wider the gap.
The hidden costs that bite as you scale
The sticker price is only part of it. On tag/seat-based licensing, watch for: client/seat counts (every new terminal or viewer), development seats, redundancy (a hot-standby often means a second license), and tag-tier jumps (crossing a threshold can be a step change). With Ignition, unlimited clients and tags mean those line items largely disappear; redundancy and additional gateways are still a cost, but you're not paying per point or per person.
The reflex it removes
The most expensive part of per-tag licensing is often invisible: teams don't instrument things because of what the extra tags will cost. They skip the downtime tags, the energy meters, the extra sensors — exactly the data that powers OEE and good analytics. With unlimited tags, the right instinct (measure it) stops fighting the budget.
Total cost of ownership over time
A fair comparison looks at three to five years, not the first invoice: initial license + modules, the cost of every expansion you're realistically going to make, support/upgrade terms, and the integration effort. For a static, small system the two can land close. For a plant that's growing — more lines, more terminals, more dashboards, mobile access — Ignition's flat model typically pulls ahead, and the migration pays for itself sooner than people expect.
It isn't only about price
Cost is what starts the conversation, but openness usually seals it: standard SQL databases, OPC UA, MQTT/Sparkplug, a web/mobile client, and no per-tag penalty for doing things right. That's why the licensing question so often turns into a full platform move — which we cover in our guide to replacing Wonderware with Ignition.
Where we come in
We help plants model the real total cost of an Ignition move and then execute it — phased, parallel, validated. For a grounded comparison against your actual tag and client counts, get in touch or see our Ignition integration services. We work on-site across California's Central Valley and remotely nationwide.
Note: licensing details and tiers change over time and by vendor program — confirm current specifics with Inductive Automation and AVEVA for your configuration.