Foxglove

Robotics data platform with a desktop and web app for visualizing and debugging robot recordings.

Free plan + paidRobotics visualization and data tools

Verified facts: 5 of 5
Alternatives ranked: 2
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Foxglove

Foxglove is a visualization and data platform for robotics teams. Its app opens ROS 1 and ROS 2 bags, MCAP files and other log formats, or connects live to a robot over WebSocket, and lays out 3D scenes, camera feeds, plots, maps and message panels side by side so engineers can replay and debug what a robot saw and did. Around that viewer sits a cloud platform for uploading recordings from a fleet, indexing them by device, time and topic, searching for events and curating datasets for training, plus an agent sidebar and MCP server for AI-assisted debugging. Foxglove is a commercial product: there is a free plan for individuals and small teams with a few developer seats, a paid Pro plan billed per seat, device and usage, enterprise options with self-hosted data, and free access for academic users. The desktop app runs on Windows, macOS and Linux (Debian-based distributions), and it also works in the browser. Unlike earlier versions, the current app is not open source.

Best for: Robotics teams who need log visualization plus fleet-wide data upload, search and sharing.

What works

Reads MCAP, ROS 1 and ROS 2 data and connects to live robots
Combines visualization with fleet data management and search
Free for small teams and for academic users

Why people leave

Larger teams pay per developer seat, device and usage
Desktop Linux build needs a Debian-based system
No longer open source, unlike Lichtblick or Rerun

Top Foxglove alternatives

See all 2

1
Rerun
Open-source SDK and viewer for multimodal robotics data, strong for logging straight from Python, C++ or Rust code.
62.6
2
PlotJuggler
Free, fast time-series plotting for ROS and log files when you mainly need signal graphs.
59.6

Why people left Foxglove

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Foxglove, review the app you switched to and tell us why.

Reviews

No approved reviews yet. How we verify reviewers

Write a review of Foxglove

Foxglove: common questions

Is Foxglove free?

Foxglove has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: Yes, up to 3 developer seats (checked on Foxglove's own site).

Is Foxglove open source?

No, Foxglove is not open source. Open-source alternatives include Rerun and PlotJuggler.

What platforms does Foxglove run on?

Foxglove is available for Web, Windows, macOS and Linux.

What are the best alternatives to Foxglove?

The highest-ranked Foxglove alternatives right now are Rerun and PlotJuggler. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 2 Foxglove alternatives

Foxglove facts

5 of 5 verified

Free plan: Yes, up to 3 developer seats; Checked Oct 29, 2026foxglove.dev(opens source in a new tab); “Not if your team has 3 or fewer developer seats.”
Pro plan: $20/month + usage; Checked Oct 29, 2026foxglove.dev(opens source in a new tab); “$20 /month + additional usage”
Data formats: MCAP, ROS 1, ROS 2, Protobuf, JSON; Checked Oct 29, 2026foxglove.dev(opens source in a new tab); “Foxglove natively supports MCAP, ROS 1, ROS 2, and custom formats like Protobuf, JSON”
Academic use: Free; Checked Oct 29, 2026foxglove.dev(opens source in a new tab); “Students, professors, and researchers alike—anyone using Foxglove for academic purposes—can access Foxglove free of charge.”
Desktop platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS; Checked Oct 29, 2026foxglove.dev(opens source in a new tab); “The desktop app runs locally for fast playback of MCAP and ROS bags, connects live to your robot, and syncs with your Foxglove account to organize and search data across your team. Linux Windows macOS”