8th September 2026By Neil Skoglund
Platform Comparison
If you're evaluating LoRaWAN IoT platforms, Datacake is one of the names that comes up alongside Trackpac. Both are built specifically for LoRaWAN, both aim to be simpler than a hyperscaler cloud, and both will get sensor data flowing quickly. But they're built for different jobs - and being honest about that upfront will save you a migration headache later.
We built Trackpac to be an opinionated, ready-made platform for asset tracking and sensor monitoring - not a toolkit for building your own IoT product. Datacake takes the opposite approach: a flexible, no-code platform you configure and brand yourself. Here's an honest look at where each one fits.
Datacake describes itself as an IoT platform for LoRaWAN monitoring at scale, combining a managed LoRaWAN network server with a no-code dashboard builder, alerting, reporting and white-label branding. It ships with a large library of pre-built device templates - Datacake has publicly cited figures in the hundreds of templates across well over a hundred manufacturers - so connecting a supported sensor and picking a starter dashboard can take minutes. Building out a fully custom, branded product on top of that is where the real time investment goes.
Trackpac starts from a narrower brief: track assets and monitor environments on LoRaWAN, with the dashboard already built for you. You connect a device and see maps, alerts and readings immediately, with nothing to design. For a closer look at that side of things, see our LoRaWAN asset tracking platform.
| Platform | Pricing Model | Best For | Setup Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trackpac | £15/device/year flat | Asset tracking & sensor monitoring, SMBs | Minutes |
| Datacake | Tiered by device count & retention (free tier available) | Custom dashboards, white-label products, integrators | Minutes-Hours |
Both platforms can technically do asset tracking and both connect LoRaWAN sensors. The difference is mostly in how much you build versus how much comes ready-made.
| Feature | Trackpac | Datacake |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-made asset tracking UI (maps, geofences) | Included | Build it yourself |
| Custom dashboard / widget builder | Not offered | Included |
| White-label / reseller branding | Not offered | Included |
| Managed LoRaWAN network server included | Via consultancy add-on | Included |
| Non-LoRaWAN protocols (MQTT, HTTP, Sigfox) | Not offered | Included |
| Free tier for testing | Not offered | Included (small device counts) |
| Flat annual per-device pricing | Included | Tiered instead |
Credit where it's due - if you need to build a genuinely custom IoT product, Datacake gives you more to work with than we do.
A drag-and-drop dashboard builder, Node-RED automation, and support for MQTT, HTTP and Sigfox alongside LoRaWAN. If your project spans multiple protocols or needs a bespoke layout, that flexibility matters.
System integrators can put their own branding and domain on the platform and sell it on as their own product - a use case Trackpac isn't built for.
A managed LoRaWAN network server ships with every plan, so you don't need to run or pay for ChirpStack, TTN or another LNS separately if you don't already have one.
We're not trying to out-build Datacake as a general-purpose IoT platform. Our bet is that most businesses tracking assets or monitoring sensors don't want to design a dashboard at all - they want it to already exist.
£15 per device per year, regardless of message volume or how many devices you add. No plan tiers to jump between as you scale. See our full pricing page for volume discounts on larger deployments.
Live maps, route history and geofence alerts are already there when you connect a tracker - nothing to configure or lay out first.
No infrastructure to provision and no dashboard to build. Sign up, add your device EUI, and start receiving data - most people are live in under 30 minutes.
Questions about your deployment go to a real support team, not a ticket queue. If you need private network design or gateway rollout on top, our LoRaWAN consultancy team handles that too.
Datacake's published pricing (correct at the time of writing - always confirm current plans directly on their site, as tiers change) starts with a free tier for a handful of devices, then steps up through paid plans as device counts, data retention and features increase, up to custom Enterprise pricing for large rollouts. It's a normal SaaS tiering model, but it means your bill can change as you add devices or need to keep data longer. Here's how that model compares to Trackpac's flat rate for a 50-device deployment:
* Datacake publishes specific monthly prices per tier on its own site; we've deliberately kept this qualitative since exact figures and limits are subject to change - check datacake.co/pricing for current numbers.
The right comparison depends entirely on your device count, message frequency and how long you need to retain data - so treat both sides of this as a starting point for your own quote, not a final number.
It depends what you need. Datacake is a flexible, no-code platform for teams who want to design their own dashboards, white-label a product, or connect multiple protocols beyond LoRaWAN. Trackpac is narrower and purpose-built - a pre-built asset tracking and sensor monitoring interface with flat annual pricing. Want to build a custom IoT product? Datacake gives you more to work with. Want asset tracking working out of the box? Trackpac is the more direct fit.
Datacake uses a tiered, device-count based subscription with a free tier for small deployments, scaling up through paid plans to custom Enterprise pricing. Trackpac charges a flat £15 per device per year, however often it reports. For very small deployments, Datacake's free tier can be cheaper. At larger device counts, Trackpac's flat rate is generally easier to predict. Always check current pricing on both sites before deciding.
Yes - Datacake has a map widget and a "Zones" feature for geofencing and dwell-time alerts, which you configure yourself in their dashboard builder. Trackpac's asset tracking interface is pre-built, with maps, routes and geofence alerts already in place. Datacake is more flexible if you want a custom layout; Trackpac is faster to get running if tracking is your main use case.
Yes, by design - that focus is what keeps setup simple and pricing flat. Datacake supports a broader mix of connectivity, including LoRaWAN, MQTT, HTTP and Sigfox integrations, which suits teams building across multiple protocols.
Not currently. Datacake offers a dedicated white-label package for integrators and resellers who want their own branding on the platform. If branded reselling is a core requirement, Datacake, or our full-stack LoRaWAN consultancy for a fully custom build, may be a better fit than Trackpac today.
Get a personalized walkthrough of our platform. We'll show you how Trackpac can solve your specific monitoring challenges.
30 minutesNo commitmentPick any time
