OV2 Alarm vs MQTT Commander
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OV2 Alarm
Manage your OV2 security system directly from your smartphone. Arm, disarm, and control users, accessories, and sensors without monthly fees. Offers cloud-based recording plans for enhanced security.
- Remote system management
- Arm and disarm functionality
- User, accessory, and sensor control
- Cloud-based recording plans
- No monthly fees for core management
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With this free app securely linked to your OV2 unit, you get to manage the entire system with ease, and change system states or settings such as arm, disarm, and add/remove users, accessories and sensors directly on your smartphone, without any headaches or monthly fees. Statement for the Auto-Renewable Cloud-Based Recording Plans 1. Payment: Auto-renewable subscriptions include “Basic Monthly / Basic Annually / Premium Monthly / Premium Annually”. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. 2. Auto-renewal: Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. 3. Cancel subscription: The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. 4. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your App Store account settings after purchase. 5. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use: http://www.chuango.com/privacypolicy/Terms_and_Conditions.html Privacy policy: http://www.chuango.com/privacypolicy/Privacy.html
MQTT Commander
Monitor your MQTT broker's activity in real-time with live topic updates and detailed payload inspection. Visualize data trends, manage messages, and publish new ones with advanced options. Troubleshoot connection issues with a guided diagnostic tool.
- Live topic tree with values
- Detailed payload inspection with sparklines
- Pinned topics as live tiles
- Message logging and filtering
- Publishing messages with QoS and retain
- 13-stage connection diagnostic tool
- Privacy-focused data handling
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Connect to your broker and the topic tree fills in within seconds, with the latest value next to each topic. Tap one to see the value in large type, a sparkline of how it moved, and the JSON split field by field. FOUR SCREENS, ONE JOB EACH • Topics: the tree of what your broker publishes, with filters for what changes, what is retained, what you pinned • Board: pinned topics as live tiles, so one look tells you the greenhouse sits at 21.4 °C and the pump went quiet 6 minutes ago • Log: messages in order, with presets for errors, your own publishes and retained values • Publish: a topic, a payload, Send. QoS, retain, content type and expiry sit one tap away USE IT TO • Watch Home Assistant, Zigbee2MQTT, Mosquitto and ESPHome without opening a laptop • Find the topic a new device announced itself on • Read a JSON payload by field and compare it with the message before • Send a test message and see what the broker answers, including a refusal • Clear a retained payload that keeps coming back WHEN IT WON'T CONNECT Connection Doctor walks the connection in 14 stages and names the one that failed: DNS, TCP, TLS handshake, certificate chain, expiry, hostname, ALPN and SNI, CONNACK, authentication, protocol version, and a write test against the broker ACL. You get the stage, the reason and what to change, instead of a red banner. PRIVACY Values that look like tokens, passwords or keys stay behind a tap. Exported logs carry hashed topics and metadata, no payloads. Anonymous crash and usage diagnostics are on by default and switch off in Settings. No ad tracking, no data sold. PRO The app is free: watch topics, read payloads, publish with QoS and retain, run the Connection Doctor, pin five topics to the Board and keep the first one on your Home Screen as a widget. Pro is a one-time unlock with no subscription, and it covers the part that runs while you look elsewhere: Lock Screen widgets and the other Home Screen widgets, pins without a limit, history that survives a restart, whole-broker discovery, more broker profiles, one certificate reused across every broker, saved commands with Siri and Shortcuts, log export as CSV or JSON, and the full Doctor report to share. Bought the paid app before it went free? You keep Pro at no cost. WORKS WITH Home Assistant, Mosquitto, Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome, Node-RED, ESP32 and ESP8266, and any broker speaking MQTT 3.1.1 or 5.0 over TCP, TLS, mTLS or WebSocket. REQUIREMENTS • iOS 17 or later, iPhone and iPad • Local Network access for brokers on your LAN Demo mode lets you look around before you connect anything.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: MQTT Commander at every 5 days against OV2 Alarm's every 4 months. OV2 Alarm's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. OV2 Alarm sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and MQTT Commander sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
OV2 Alarm ships an update every 4 months, MQTT Commander every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | OV2 Alarm | MQTT Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 151 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chuango Security Technology Corporation | Vladimir Chemeris |
Customer experience
OV2 Alarm
MQTT Commander
In-app purchases
OV2 Alarm
- Basic Monthly$2.991 Month
- Premium Monthly$6.991 Month
- Basic Annually$29.991 Year
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- Premium Annually$69.991 Year
MQTT Commander
- MQTT Commander Pro$4.99
Questions
Is OV2 Alarm free?
Is MQTT Commander free?
Do OV2 Alarm or MQTT Commander have ads?
Which is updated more often, OV2 Alarm or MQTT Commander?
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