Secomea puts a gateway at each site and brokers secure access to the equipment behind it, the proven way to reach third-party PLCs, HMIs and drives that can't run software of their own. ThinRemote puts one small outbound agent in each Linux device and turns the same connection into monitoring, automation and access. Different jobs: reach the machine, or operate the device.
One ThinRemote agentThis isn't a feature war, and it isn't a criticism of Secomea. They're built around different assumptions about what you're connecting to, so the real question is what your fleet actually looks like.
A mature OT remote-access suite: a SiteManager gateway (DIN-rail hardware or a software SiteManager Embedded) sits at the site, dials out to the GateManager server, and engineers reach the equipment through the LinkManager client. Its strength is reaching machines that can't run an agent: any brand of PLC, HMI, drive or camera on the local network, with a self-hosted server option that regulated OT teams value.
A remote management platform delivered as one outbound software agent that runs on the Linux device itself. From a single connection you get live telemetry, alarms, shell, file transfer, remote desktop, device APIs, fleet automation and an MCP server for AI agents, reached from any browser, the CLI or a pipeline, with no client to install and no gateway box per site.
Secomea is a three-part system. A SiteManager gateway sits between your equipment and the outside world, dials out to the GateManager broker, and technicians connect through the LinkManager client. The equipment itself stays untouched, which is exactly why it works for PLCs and HMIs that could never host software.
ThinRemote collapses that into one moving part. The agent lives in the device, makes a single outbound connection to your ThinRemote cloud, and you reach it straight from a browser, the CLI or an MCP client. There's no separate gateway to buy and rack, and no client to roll out to every engineer's laptop.
Both models are outbound-only: nothing at the site has to accept an inbound connection. The difference is how many pieces you deploy to get there.
Secomea's model shines when the thing you need to reach can't host anything: a Siemens or Allen-Bradley PLC, an HMI panel, a camera. The SiteManager sits alongside them and brokers the connection, and a single gateway can front up to around a hundred devices on its network. That agentless reach is a genuine advantage we're not going to talk down.
ThinRemote targets the other half of the plant: the Linux compute you actually own, from edge gateways and IPCs to routers, kiosks and servers. The agent is a single static binary under 10 MB that runs on 16 architectures, kernel 2.6 and up, and in containers, with no TUN device and no open ports. When the device runs Linux, you drop the agent straight onto it and skip the separate gateway entirely.
For an agentless third-party PLC, a site gateway (Secomea, or ThinRemote tunnels from a nearby Linux host) still makes sense; for the Linux box itself, the agent is enough.
Secomea's server tells you whether a SiteManager is connected, and its gateways can collect OT data from the equipment behind them. That's the right lens for remote service: is the site reachable, and what is the machine reporting.
ThinRemote adds the lens for operating the compute itself. Every agent reports a structured monitoring resource: CPU and load, memory and swap, per-filesystem usage, network throughput, temperature and uptime, continuously, on per-device and per-fleet dashboards, and wired straight into threshold alarms over email or webhook. Expose any value from a script on the device and it becomes a first-class metric you can chart, roll up across a product, and alarm on like any built-in one.
Secomea is focused on secure access and service: an engineer connects to a machine and works on it. Pushing a change to hundreds of Linux devices, in controlled waves, is a different problem, and one it doesn't set out to solve.
ThinRemote makes the whole fleet programmable. It brings playbooks: describe a change once, try it on a single device first, then roll it out across the product in controlled batches that stop on their own if too many devices fail. The same flow runs from your terminal, a CI/CD pipeline, a cron job or an AI agent over the built-in MCP server, so operating the fleet looks like operating any modern software system.
With Secomea, an engineer typically works through the LinkManager client on Windows (with a mobile app and, on the newer Prime platform, browser access), which brokers a tunnel to the target so their local tools can reach it. It's a well-worn workflow for field service.
ThinRemote gives you three working surfaces over the same agent and the same account. A web console with live dashboards, an in-browser terminal, a file explorer, remote desktop and alarms. A scriptable CLI with JSON output for pipelines. And a built-in MCP server so AI agents drive the fleet in natural language. Same auth and RBAC across all three, and nothing for a teammate or customer to install to get started.
Both platforms get the fundamentals right: the device dials out, so nothing at the site listens for an inbound connection, and traffic is encrypted end to end through the broker. Secomea backs this with an IEC 62443-4-1 secure-development process, third-party audits and a self-hosted GateManager option that regulated and air-gapped OT teams rely on, real strengths for that world.
ThinRemote's agent makes a single outbound connection over TLS 1.3, with no inbound port and no listening socket to attack. Access is governed by scoped tokens and role-based access control, every action is audit-logged, and you can run your own single-tenant instance in the region of your choice, or on-premise. The agent and protocol are open source, and ThinRemote is ISO 27001 certified.
Side by side, once you're deciding for a real fleet. Where a cell reads "different," it means both can do it, but by design, not by shortcoming.
product execA fair reading: Secomea and ThinRemote overlap on secure access, but they optimise for different targets. Secomea is purpose-built to reach equipment that can't run software; ThinRemote is built to observe and automate the Linux devices you own. Many teams have room for both.
Reach for Secomea when the job is getting a technician safely to industrial equipment, especially equipment that can't host an agent.
PLCs, HMIs, drives, robots and cameras from any vendor, reached over the SiteManager's LAN with nothing installed on the device. This is Secomea's home turf.
A self-hosted GateManager, an IEC 62443-4-1 development process and a long OT track record suit regulated, sovereignty-sensitive or air-gapped environments.
OEMs servicing deployed machines across many customer sites get a mature, granular access model and a workflow their technicians already know.
Plenty of plants run both: Secomea to reach the machine, ThinRemote to operate the Linux devices around it.
Pick by the question you're actually trying to answer.
"I need to operate, observe and automate a fleet of Linux devices."
"I need to reach industrial equipment that can't run an agent."
Straight answers for teams weighing ThinRemote against Secomea.
No. Where Secomea places a SiteManager gateway at each site, ThinRemote runs a single outbound software agent directly on the Linux device: a static binary under 10 MB, on 16 architectures and kernel 2.6 and up. There's no appliance to source, rack and maintain, and no per-engineer client to roll out. For a genuinely agentless target, a site gateway still makes sense; for Linux compute, the agent is all you deploy.
Yes. Secomea's self-hosted GateManager is a real advantage for regulated and air-gapped OT, and ThinRemote offers a comparable path: a single-tenant private instance in the region of your choice, with an on-premise option, plus an open-source agent and protocol. Connections are outbound-only over TLS 1.3, governed by scoped tokens and RBAC, and fully audit-logged. ThinRemote is also ISO 27001 certified.
Secomea focuses on secure access and OT data collection: GateManager shows whether a gateway is connected and can raise alarms, and SiteManagers can collect data from the equipment behind them. What it doesn't set out to be is a fleet operations platform. ThinRemote adds continuous host telemetry (CPU, memory, disk, network, temperature), custom metrics you define, threshold alarms, and fleet-wide automation with playbooks, batched rollouts and CI/CD, all from the same agent.
Often that's the pragmatic answer. Because both are outbound-only and don't require inbound ports, they coexist cleanly on the same site network. Teams keep Secomea for brokered access to third-party machines and let ThinRemote observe, automate and provide developer-style access to the Linux gateways, IPCs and servers around them. You don't have to rip one out to gain what the other does well.
Install one outbound agent and get telemetry, alarms, remote access and automation from a single connection, no gateway box and no client to roll out.