Amazon FreeRTOS vs Mongoose: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Amazon FreeRTOS and Mongoose. Both Amazon FreeRTOS and Mongoose are widely used open-source IoT operating systems that provide support for developing connected devices. However, they have distinct features and capabilities that set them apart from each other.

1. Memory Footprint:

Amazon FreeRTOS is designed to be extremely lightweight, with a minimal memory footprint. It provides a flexible kernel and a small set of libraries that allow developers to optimize memory usage based on their specific requirements. On the other hand, Mongoose is a more comprehensive IoT operating system that includes a larger set of features and libraries, leading to a slightly larger memory footprint compared to Amazon FreeRTOS.

2. Supported Platforms:

Amazon FreeRTOS supports a wide range of microcontrollers and microprocessors, including popular platforms like ARM Cortex-M, Renesas RX, and Texas Instruments MSP430. It also provides a vendor-specific SDK integration, allowing developers to leverage existing hardware features and optimizations. In contrast, Mongoose primarily focuses on providing compatibility with microcontrollers and microprocessors that are based on the ESP32 or ESP8266 chipsets.

3. Connectivity Protocols:

While both Amazon FreeRTOS and Mongoose support a variety of connectivity options, they differ in the protocols they emphasize. Amazon FreeRTOS places a strong emphasis on supporting cloud-based IoT solutions and provides native integration with the AWS IoT platform. It offers built-in support for AWS IoT SDKs, MQTT, and AWS Greengrass. On the other hand, Mongoose provides broader support for connectivity protocols such as MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, and WebSocket, making it suitable for a wider range of IoT applications.

4. Community Support and Ecosystem:

Amazon FreeRTOS benefits from the extensive support and ecosystem provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It has a large and active community of developers with access to a wide range of resources, documentation, and examples. Additionally, integration with AWS services such as AWS IoT Core and AWS Greengrass offers seamless scalability and interoperability. Mongoose, while also having a supportive community, may not have the same level of resources or integration with cloud services, but it benefits from the popularity of the ESP32 and ESP8266 chipsets.

5. Development Environment and Tools:

Amazon FreeRTOS provides an integrated development environment (IDE) called AWS Cloud9, which offers a cloud-based development environment that can be accessed from any web browser. It also supports popular IDEs such as Eclipse and IAR Embedded Workbench, providing developers with flexibility in their choice of tools. Mongoose, on the other hand, does not provide a specific IDE but can be integrated with various development tools such as Visual Studio Code or platform-specific IDEs for ESP32 and ESP8266.

6. Licensing:

Amazon FreeRTOS is released under the MIT open-source license, allowing developers to use, modify, and distribute it with minimal restrictions. Mongoose, on the other hand, is released under the Apache 2.0 license, which also provides similar open-source benefits but may have some differences in terms of intellectual property protection and patent grants.

In Summary, Amazon FreeRTOS and Mongoose differ in terms of memory footprint, supported platforms, connectivity protocols, community support and ecosystem, development environment and tools, as well as licensing. While Amazon FreeRTOS is focused on lightweight IoT solutions with integration to AWS services, Mongoose provides broader protocol support and is especially popular for ESP32 and ESP8266-based devices.