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Golioth vs Memfault

How Golioth and Memfault differ on target hardware, rollback, deployment and cost.

GoliothMemfault
TypeMCU cloudMCU observability + OTA
TargetsMCU (Zephyr-first)MCU + embedded Linux
DeploymentSaaSSaaS
RollbackManual release targeting; rollback by publishing a prior artifactCohort-based staged rollout; halt on crash-rate regression
How it worksOne consumption meter instead of plans: $0.25 per connected device per month, $0.0095 per megabyte of OTA traffic, and separate rates for logs and streaming data. Every account gets the same features, which makes small fleets cheap and makes cost forecasting arithmetic rather than negotiation.Devices upload coredumps, metrics and reboot reasons. Releases go to cohorts, and the crash signal tells you whether to continue or stop — which is the part every other platform leaves to you. OTA is one feature of an observability product, not the whole product.
Pricing*$50 free credits; $0.25/device/mo + $0.0095/MBFree to 10 dev devices; from $3,495/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceDevice SDK (Apache-2.0)Firmware SDK (Apache-2.0)
Best forZephyr projects that want predictable unit costTeams who need to know why devices fail

Golioth

  • Cheapest credible option at small and mid scale
  • Cost is calculable before you commit
  • Deep Zephyr integration
  • Zephyr-centric — other RTOSes are less travelled
  • Metered bytes need watching on chatty fleets

Memfault

  • Coredump analysis on constrained MCUs is genuinely hard and they do it well
  • Rollouts driven by real crash data, not hope
  • Strong chip-vendor integrations
  • Paid tiers start far above hobby or small-fleet budgets
  • Observability is the product; OTA alone is an expensive way to buy it

Bottom line

Choose Golioth for zephyr projects that want predictable unit cost. Choose Memfault for teams who need to know why devices fail.

* Published list pricing (vendor pricing pages, August 2026).