Carbon vs Neuron
Carbon and Neuron are both manufacturing (mrp/mes) software. Carbon is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 2.8k GitHub stars. Neuron is open source under LGPL-3.0, with 1.4k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Carbon when
- You make complex assemblies or high-mix, low-volume parts and want ERP, MES and quality in one system you can self-host or buy as Carbon Cloud.
- Pick Neuron when
- You need a lightweight edge gateway to move PLC data into MQTT or EMQX.
Side by side
A manufacturing system that keeps quoting, orders, purchasing, inventory, MRP planning with finite-capacity scheduling, shop-floor travelers and labour capture, quality records and lot and serial traceability in one Postgres database.
An industrial connectivity server that reads dozens of protocols such as Modbus, OPC UA and Siemens S7 at the edge and publishes the data over MQTT.
It is open core: the enterprise files, API keys and the MCP server need a paid plan or, when self-hosted, a commercial licence.
Many protocol drivers are only in EMQ's commercial edition; the open version covers a subset.
Usable
Production-ready
Self-hosted server and cloud service
Self-hosted server
TypeScript, React, PostgreSQL and Rust
C and MQTT
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft)
Open source, LGPL-3.0 (weak copyleft)
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes.
You can use it inside a product you sell; changes you make to its own files must be shared.
2.8k GitHub stars
1.4k GitHub stars
Established: started 2 years ago, no tagged release yet.
Established: started 5 years ago, latest release 2.15.0.
Other comparisons
More manufacturing (MRP and MES) systems
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-06 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.