Memfault, Golioth, nRF Cloud and Pinscope compared
Four ways to see and update devices in the field. They overlap, but each is built around something different. A short guide to which one fits, with the details on a page each.
| Built around | Price | Platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memfault | Fleet observability: coredumps, issues, metrics, OTA | Free developer tier; from $3,495/month | MCUs, Linux, Android |
| Golioth | IoT cloud: OTA, logs, settings, RPC, data routing | $0.25 per connected device per month, plus usage | Zephyr, nRF Connect SDK, ESP-IDF, ModusToolbox |
| nRF Cloud | Nordic's cloud: FOTA, location, device management | Lifetime FOTA from $1 per device | Nordic chips |
| Pinscope | The device itself: its web UI from anywhere, logs, crashes, OTA in waves | Free for 3 devices; from €29/month | ESP32; in beta Zephyr, Pico 2 W, Linux, ESP8266 |
A quick way to choose
- Deep crash analysis across a big fleet, budget for it: Memfault.
- Device data into your own cloud, usage pricing: Golioth.
- All Nordic, cellular, location: nRF Cloud.
- Open the device's own page from anywhere, logs and crashes, fixed price, any chip: Pinscope.
Checked in November 2026 against the sources linked on this page; prices and features change, so check them before you decide. Memfault, Golioth, nRF Cloud and Nordic Semiconductor are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Found something out of date? Write to hello@pinscope.dev and we fix it.
Try Pinscope
Three devices are free, no card needed. Create an account, or open the live demo without one.
More
- Remote access to an ESP32 without TLS: what it measured and what it costs
- Reaching an ESP32 web server from outside its network
- Updating ESP32 firmware over the internet, with rollback
- Guru Meditation Error: decoding the backtrace, and crashes from the field
- Remote logging: ESP_LOG without a serial cable
- Heap and stack monitoring in the field
- An ESP32 behind CGNAT, 4G or Starlink
- TLS memory usage on the ESP32, and how to reduce it
- Sharing an ESP32 sensor page with anyone, without port forwarding
- ArduinoOTA over the internet, with a rollback
- ESP32 remote access compared: port forwarding, ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale
- esp_http_server slow? The 250 ms delay and the fix
- Before the first ESP32 ships: a field support checklist
- ESP32 exception decoder: a Guru Meditation backtrace to lines, in the browser