Plug in your cohort size and number of years to compare a per-seat browser lab against desktop PLC software licences and hardware trainer rigs — with transparent, editable assumptions and an honest note on what each one really buys you.
Compare a per-seat browser lab against desktop software licences and hardware trainer rigs. Competitor figures are typical/published estimates — edit them to match your own quotes. All maths runs client-side.
Desktop PLC software (competitor)
Hardware trainer rig lab (competitor)
Our browser lab
$199/seat/yr · any device · no install
$17,910
total over the period
$199
per student, per year
30 seats × $199/seat/yr × 3 yr (list rate — bulk/academic pricing is lower)
Desktop PLC software
Per-seat one-time licence
$4,770
total over the period
$53
per student, per year
30 seats × $159/seat one-time (typical published estimate)
Hardware rig lab
Trainer benches + maintenance
$260,000
total over the period
$2,889
per student, per year
8 rigs (1 per 4 students) × $25,000 + 10%/yr maintenance × 3 yr
Browser lab savings
$242,090(93% less)
For 30 students over 3 years, the browser lab costs $242,090 less than the most expensive option above — before any bulk or academic discount on our seats. Request a quote for your real number.
Three ways institutions build a PLC lab
These are the three real ways a college, university or training centre stands up a PLC lab. They are not interchangeable — each has a different cost shape and teaches a slightly different thing. The calculator above models the money; the diagrams below show what each actually delivers.
Honest framing
Every competitor figure in this calculator is a typical / published estimate, not a quote, and every one is editable. The defaults are deliberately generous to the competition: desktop software is modelled as a single one-time cost with no version-upgrade or per-machine admin overhead added, and the hardware rig only carries its capital price plus maintenance. Real prices vary widely by vendor, region, education discount and configuration — replace the defaults with your own vendor quotes for a decision-grade comparison.
A browser lab is the most cost-effective way to give every student unlimited programming, simulation, HMI and auto-graded practice on any device — including Chromebooks. But a physical trainer rig also teaches real wiring, terminations, electrical safety and the behaviour of actual sensors and actuators, which pure software does not fully replace. The most cost-effective programmes we see pair a small bank of shared hardware rigs for hands-on wiring with a per-seat browser lab, so nobody queues for a bench just to write ladder logic. See the honest for-teams comparison for how we frame the trade-off.
Tell us your seat count and the programme you run. We’ll come back with bulk/academic pricing for the browser lab — and be straight about where a few hardware rigs still earn their place.
Numbers in a calculator are one thing. Run a real auto-graded scenario in the browser — on whatever device you’re reading this on — and see exactly what your students would get per seat.