Are there any SCADA software's that are better than Ignition in some aspects? I'm newer to SCADA in general, I've messed around with VTScada, FactoryTalk, AVEVA, and Ignition. Ignition seems to have the biggest learning curve for me, but as soon as I got over that it became relatively easier. There are things in Ignition that I still haven't figured out or that aren't possible. The question is, is Ignition the best overall?
Yes
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Price makes Ignition hard to beat.
Other SCADA systems work just fine, but I would say IA has done a great job making the platform cohesive and consistent. With other systems, you can tell different teams or companies developed a window there and a feature here. The look and feel is all over the place.
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Of course it is.
{Duh. You're asking on the forum full of Ignition fanatics. You might get more varied answers elsewhere.}
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Compared to the other platforms I've tried, it's impressive how many pain points Ignition eliminates.
I've wrestled with configuring multiple computers on a FactoryTalk setup, having to follow detailed tech notes and dive into all sorts of Windows settings just to get the computers talking in the first place and get past all the nondescript errors that pop up. In Ignition, I essentially just point the clients at the server, and if there's a good network connection it's good to go.
In other systems I have to jump through hoops to get the HMI to understand what color I want something to turn, in Ignition I have extremely flexible bindings available for just about any property. If that's not enough to do what I want, Python opens up the possibilities even more.
If you're the end user, you have straightforward licensing that can support unlimited users.
If you're an integrator who's new to it, you have tons of free resources to get started with it. You can even get started on your own without spending a cent on licenses, all you need is a modern computer and access to the internet.
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I figured you would say that Phil, but I feel as if the forums are also full of people still on the learning curve, hence why so many questions are asked in the forums. I like FactoryTalk, I use it sometimes, other times I use Ignition. I feel like it also boils down to do you understand jython and basic css.
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I have worked with a number of other SCADA software and VT SCADA is probably the next best one that I have used. Tulip has its space too but is more for the shop floor simple data entry/dashboarding (again in my opinion). I am VERY unimpressed with AB Optix which is a little late in the game and playing catchup to Ignition Perspective. Any SCADA I would consider today would have to be web-based.
Really depends on what you need of course. There are simpler options that are less flexible and for some use cases that is enough.
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I do agree, the more simple and less "fancy" projects I won't touch Ignition, I don't need to, Ignition has its pros and cons, and times where you don't absolutely need to us it, same with any other software.
I would disagree with that slightly. A web interface to view tag values/data/statistics etc - sure I think that is becoming more common place and expected more often than not now.
But just based on the number of questions on this forum about how to do things on the local client computer via perspective, which is impossible due to how web browser security is setup, makes me feel like Vision isn't, and shouldn't, be going anywhere anytime soon. Certain use cases where you need ability to directly do things on the client machine file system, or even just print to the local client printer instead of the printer connected to the gateway, make it preferable much to Perspective.
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When I find the forum I'll paste it but I recall loosely that that's the reason Perspective was created, to slowly drift away from Vision. Do I think that will happen anytime soon? No probably no but who knows what will happen 1,2,5,10 years down the road.
I personally hope not and I don't imagine they would just get rid of it but I am not an IA employee.
It certainly seems like perspective is being pushed more, but for many of the projects I work on where client computers must create files on their own computer or SFTP them from the client to elsewhere, or print locally, I would have a very hard time doing all this with perspective vs it being incredibly simple with Vision. Only someone from IA could talk more about what their roadmap for Vision is.
Not to even mention resource management. I have a gateway with 60+ Vision clients that runs smoothly because Vision uses the resources of the computer it's running on. If I had to convert this to a perspective project, I would really need to up the hardware on my gateway to keep up as Perspective, everything runs on the gateway, its a bit of a resource hog.
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This is why I doubt that they will get rid of vision completely, the worst they would potentially do is update it as frequent as they do.
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Don't worry guys, Vision isn't going anywhere 
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FWIW, I recommend both Vision and Perspective to my clients. If they have a site/use case heavy enough to justify a frontend/backend split, I recommend Vision-only on the backend for in-plant machine HMIs, and Perspective-only on the front end(s) for most everything else.
Even buying both, Ignition is way cheaper than all the major competitors.
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That is some amazing news.
You've not heard this before? IA has been saying this since Perspective was first introduced.
IA recommends Perspective for new applications. With a wink at the (few) applications where Perspective simply cannot perform. Like discussed here:
IA's documentation, like that mentioned here:
... has graphics that imply Perspective can do everything Vision can do, particularly everything under "HMI". It simply isn't true. Wasn't then, isn't now. Might be eventually.
I've heard a lot of things 
I still feel like at a certain point when does Vision get left in the dust, or when do they merge, obviously IA wants to push for Perspective but in my opinion it would be rough for some people, especially the people who have multiple Vision clients.
It probably feels like Vision is left in the dust because Perspective and Vision are so different.
To be honest, I wasn't a fan of Perspective in the beginning, but now I prefer Perspective over Vision.
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The question is, is Ignition the best overall?
Yes. I am biased a bit because it's the only one I've used heavily but I've certainly seen and messed with a few others. I had a week-long training on VTScada and thought it was okay, then saw Ignition and knew exactly that was the one I wanted to work with.
With VTScada in particular, the scripting language it used was nothing I've seen before, and come from a Computer Science background, Igntion using a language that is widely supported, it was a no-brainer to use Igntion since you can Google just about anything to get things working via scripting.
There are things in Ignition that I still haven't figured out or that aren't possible.
I have not found anything that's not possible with Ignition that I have needed to do and I have 5 years of continuous work with it.
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