Since January 2021, The Things Network V2 software has been upgraded to The Things Stack Community Edition. This upgrade comes with a set of brand new features, out-of-the-box integrations, extended coverage and improved user experience.
The Things Stack Community Edition is one of the distributions of The Things Stack, a third version (V3) of the LoRaWAN Network Server that is developed and actively maintaned by The Things Industries.
The Things Stack Community Edition runs on open source code, so if you would like to explore or contribute, visit our open source LoRaWAN stack repository.
Click here to learn about other distributions of The Things Stack.
The Things Stack Community Edition offers a free and developer-friendly way to get familiar with LoRaWAN technology. It provides a public community LoRaWAN network, initiated by The Things Industries, and supported by 100k+ The Things Network community members from more than 100 countries around the world.
Join The Things Network Forum or Slack for community support.
For commercial solutions, we recommend using an SLA-backed network provided by The Things Industries. Visit The Things Industries website to learn more about it.
Note:
The Things Network V2 will no longer be actively maintained and all V2 machines are going to be shut down by the end of 2021. If you have been using The Things Network V2 previously, you will need to migrate your gateways and devices to The Things Stack Community Edition.Useful links: #
- The Things Stack Community Edition development environment
- The Things Stack Introduction video
- The Things Stack official documentation page
- What is The Things Industries, The Things Network and The Things Stack?
Learn more about LoRaWAN #
LoRaWAN is a radio frequency protocol that allows devices to connect to the Internet over a long range with incredibly low power consumption. Visit our documentation to learn more about LoRaWAN.
Watch the video below on Everything you need to know about LoRaWAN in 60 minutes by Johan Stokking (tech lead of The Things Network):
Read along to learn how you can implement your end-to-end IoT prototype within a day.
Start using The Things Stack Community Edition #
The Things Stack Community Edition can be accessed via the Console. You can access the Console by selecting a cluster that is closest to you geographically.
Set up your LoRaWAN network #
The main building blocks of the public community LoRaWAN network are gateways. Thousands of gateways across the globe are already connected to The Things Stack Community Edition, making the community LoRaWAN network available for free usage.
See the global coverage map
Although you might already have coverage in your area, we still recommend you get your hands on a gateway to ensure reliable coverage. There are a lot of gateways with extensive features on the market, so make sure you choose the one that fits your needs best. For example, here is a short list of some popular indoor gateways:
| Gateway | Link | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Mikrotik wAP LR8 | More info |
 |
Laird Sentrius RG1xx | More info |
 |
Tektelic Kona Micro Lite | More info |
 |
Multitech Conduit AP | More info |
Once you have your hands on a gateway, learn how to connect your gateway to The Things Stack Community Edition.
Important note: Different world regions use different frequency plans, e.g. 863-870 MHz for Europe, 902-928 MHz for North America, etc. Make sure you double-check that the hardware aligns with your region’s radio frequency before purchasing!
To learn more about gateways, have a look at the review video by Ben Olayinka:
Get your development board and activate it #
To build a prototype of your end-to-end IoT solution, you will need a development board. Here is a short list of popular development boards that can help you build your IoT app in no-time:
| Image | Development board | Webshop |
|---|---|---|
 |
The Things Uno | Buy |
 |
Arduino MKR WAN 1300 | Buy |
 |
Pycom LoPy4 | Buy |
 |
STM32L0 Discovery Kit | Buy |
 |
Adafruit Feather RFM95 LoRa Radio | Buy |
Did you set up your gateway and created a free account on The Things Stack Community Edition? Great, now it is time to activate your development board! Learn how to connect your device to The Things Stack Community Edition.
To learn more about getting started with The Things Stack (Community Edition), have a look at the video by Bogdans Afonins:
Build your end-to-end application #
Once you have your LoRaWAN network setup, you can use available integrations to build your end-to-end IoT solution. Integrations allow you to process data and act on it by triggering events. Learn how to create integrations on The Things Stack Community Edition.