Three ways to watch a greenhouse. One honest comparison.
Climate computers, spot monitors, and PhyriaPulse each solve a different problem. We tested our node beside both kinds at Lepaa, so we can tell you plainly where each one wins.
| Climate computers | Spot monitors | PhyriaPulse | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priva, Ridder, Hoogendoorn class | Aranet, single-purpose sensors | One node, six signals | |
| Signals per device | Dozens, via wired sensor network | Usually 1–4 | 6 |
| Controls heating and venting | Yes | No | No — monitoring and alerts only |
| Installation | Professional project, cabling, weeks | Place and pair, minutes | Place and power, minutes |
| Typical cost to start | Tens of thousands of euros | Hundreds of euros per signal set | €699 + €25/node/month, first month free |
| Soil moisture included | As an add-on sensor | Separate device | Included |
| Disease risk scored from the climate | Add-on module or a separate service | No | Guard node, €899 + €50/node/month |
| Reaches far corners without WiFi | Wired, so yes | Depends on base station | Yes — LoRa 868 MHz or cellular, on demand |
| Data on your phone | Via operator terminal or portal | Yes | Yes |
| Local support in Finland | Through dealers | Email, international | Direct, in Finnish and English |
Categories describe typical products in each class, not any single vendor's offer. Our pilot node ran beside Priva Connext and Aranet Pro at HAMK Lepaa in April 2026 — see the validation results for the data.
If you are being quoted a climate computer.
A climate computer is a control system. It opens vents, runs heating and holds a setpoint, and the price reflects the wiring, the cabinet and the commissioning project that comes with it. If you need automated control, that is what you should buy, and we will say so.
What growers often discover is that the quote answers a different question from the one they asked. They wanted to know what the air is doing in the far corner, at three in the morning, in the section the computer does not reach. A control system priced in tens of thousands is an expensive way to answer that, and it usually answers it only where the sensors were installed.
A node costs €699, goes up in minutes without a cable, and reports six signals from wherever you hang it. Put one in the corner you are unsure about and you will know inside a week whether the corner is the problem. That is a cheaper way to find out than commissioning a control system to tell you.
If you already own a spot monitor.
Spot monitors do one job well. They read a signal or two, they are easy to place, and for a single question in a single room they are often enough. The trouble starts when the questions multiply: temperature here, humidity there, CO2 somewhere else, each in its own app, none of them lined up on the same clock.
Six signals from one node means one timestamp, one battery, one thing to mount. When the humidity climbed on Tuesday night you can see what the CO2 and the temperature were doing in the same minute, in the same place, instead of comparing three exports by hand.
That alignment is also what makes disease risk computable at all. A Guard node reads the four channels that matter for grey mould and four other greenhouse diseases and turns the night into a risk score, so you walk the rows that need walking. No spot monitor does that, because no spot monitor sees the signals together.
When you should not choose us.
A tool is only right when it fits the job. Sometimes the job calls for something else.
You need automated control
If your greenhouse must open vents, drive heating, and mix irrigation automatically, you need a climate computer. PhyriaPulse watches and warns; it does not actuate.
You need one reading in one room
If all you want is a CO₂ number on a shelf, a simple consumer monitor is cheaper. PhyriaPulse earns its keep when you care about the whole climate picture.
You already run a climate computer
Keep it. Growers add PhyriaPulse beside big systems for the rooms the wired network does not reach, and as an independent second opinion on the numbers.
Sound like your greenhouse?
Start with one node in one room and see the whole climate picture for yourself.