Kanoa Blog

Kanoa MES Licensing Updates + New Pricing Tools

Written by Sam Russem | Jan 9, 2026 3:07:02 PM

Introducing a Simpler, Clearer Way to License Kanoa MES — Plus New Self-Serve Pricing Tools

At Kanoa, we’ve always believed that the best manufacturing software should be modular and easy to adopt in phases — not locked behind complex commercial structures or unclear starting points.

Over the last year, we’ve had a consistent lesson reinforced across every MES deployment: when customers adopt advanced MES capabilities like Quality or Traceability, they inevitably rely on the operational context provided by Kanoa’s core execution and data model.

That’s why we’re announcing two major updates:

  1. A simplified licensing model for Kanoa MES
  2. A new pricing estimator tool to make self-serve pricing and quoting dramatically easier

These changes are grounded in real-world implementation experience and are designed to make it easier for customers and integrators to understand, scope, and adopt Kanoa MES with confidence.

Quick Links: Check out our new content on

A Clearer Starting Point: Kanoa Ops is Now the Required Foundation

Starting immediately, Kanoa Ops becomes the required entry point for any Kanoa MES deployment.

This is not a commercial constraint we invented — it reflects how the platform already works in practice.

Whether you’re implementing Kanoa Quality workflows or deploying Kanoa Trace and genealogy, those capabilities depend on foundational data and execution context, such as:

  • Asset and equipment hierarchy
  • Material and item definitions
  • Scheduling context and execution state
  • Security, navigation, and shared platform features
  • Core operational data structures that MES solutions rely on

In other words: if you’re building or deploying MES functionality, you need Ops-level context — and customers already expect advanced capabilities to be grounded in that reality.

Now, our licensing model reflects it directly:
If you’re starting with Kanoa, you start with Kanoa Ops.

Kanoa Core Has Been Fully Absorbed Into Kanoa Ops

Historically, Kanoa Core existed as a separate concept intended to represent foundational platform functionality.

But over time, we found that keeping Core separate created unnecessary friction:

  • It blurred what counted as a “real” Kanoa deployment
  • It introduced confusion during early scoping
  • And in practice, it was required for nearly every implementation anyway

So we made the straightforward decision:

Kanoa Core is no longer a standalone product — its functionality is now fully wrapped into Kanoa Ops.

This gives every customer a single, clear platform entry point that better matches how the software is used and deployed in production environments.

Add-On Modules Now Have Explicit Dependencies

Along with this change, Kanoa Quality and Kanoa Trace now explicitly depend on Kanoa Ops.

Again: this isn’t a new technical dependency — it’s how the product works architecturally today.

  • Quality workflows require asset structure, material definitions, and execution context
  • Traceability requires consistent production and material tracking through operations
  • Future solutions will follow the same model: Ops is the foundation, and additional modules are additive operational capabilities

Making these dependencies explicit improves implementation outcomes, reduces under-scoped deployments, and creates a clearer expansion path for customers adopting Kanoa in phases.

Updated Pricing

Because Quality is no longer offered as a standalone entry point — and because Ops is now the required foundation — we also took the opportunity to rebalance pricing in a way that better reflects how customers expand.

Here is the updated list pricing structure:

Kanoa MES 2026 List Pricing

  • Kanoa Ops — $20,000
  • Kanoa Quality — $10,000 (previously $25,000)
  • Kanoa Trace — $10,000

Ops pricing is not changing. Trace pricing is not changing.
The key adjustment is Quality, which is now aligned with Trace as an incremental add-on module.

This change positions Quality as what it truly is in practice:

A high-value operational capability that becomes increasingly powerful once you have an operational foundation in place — rather than a standalone starting point.

Introducing the New Kanoa MES Pricing Estimator

Alongside these licensing and pricing updates, we’ve launched a major upgrade to our pricing page: a new pricing estimator tool designed to make it dramatically easier to build and price your Kanoa MES package.

The goal is simple:

You should be able to get a credible estimate in minutes — without a back-and-forth sales cycle just to understand the pricing model.

With the new estimator, you can:

  • Start with Kanoa Ops (required foundation)
  • Select optional add-ons like:
    • Kanoa Quality
    • Kanoa Trace
  • Add supporting environments:
    • Dev Server License
    • Test/Staging Server License
  • See maintenance included automatically (20% annually)
  • Optionally include Kanoa Implementation Assurance
  • View a live estimate of:
    • One-time license fees
    • Recurring annual maintenance
    • Estimated first-year total
  • Submit your configuration to request a formal quote

This is intended for customers and integrators who want:

  • Fast budget estimates
  • A clear baseline package
  • A self-service way to understand expansion options

(For multi-site, enterprise, or complex multi-server deployments, our sales team will still work with you to create a tailored quote — but this tool should cover the majority of early-stage and standard deployments.)

Explore the Updated Pricing Page

The best way to see the new licensing model, updated pricing, and estimator tool in action is to visit the updated pricing page:

https://kanoa.ai/pricing

We built this for transparency, speed, and clarity — and we hope it makes evaluating Kanoa MES easier than ever.

Why This Matters

At the end of the day, these changes are about aligning our commercial model with real-world MES adoption:

  • Ops is the foundation because operational context is required for everything else
  • Core is included because separating it added confusion without adding value
  • Add-ons are additive and predictable to encourage phased adoption
  • Pricing and packaging now reflect reality, not theory
  • And the new estimator helps customers and partners move faster, with fewer unknowns

If you’re evaluating Kanoa MES for the first time, or expanding an existing deployment, we’d love to hear what you think — and we’re always happy to review your estimate and help you plan the right adoption path.