Two different philosophies
Siemens and Beckhoff are two of the most respected PLC manufacturers in European industry. Both offer very high-performance platforms, but with very different development philosophies, licensing models and application strengths. Choosing correctly between them can make a significant difference in cost, flexibility and future system capability.
Siemens SIMATIC S7: the de facto standard in Europe
The SIMATIC range, especially the S7-1200 and S7-1500 programmed with TIA Portal, is the European market reference. Its penetration is so high that in many industries, "the PLC" means Siemens.
Siemens strengths: very mature ecosystem, worldwide spare parts availability, Safety F-CPU for SIL 1-3, excellent integration with SINAMICS drives and Comfort HMI, native OPC-UA on S7-1500.
Siemens limitations: closed and costly licensing for some advanced features, more complex Motion Control than TwinCAT, proprietary hardware with manufacturer dependency.
Beckhoff TwinCAT: the power of PC-based control
Beckhoff is the pioneer and leader of industrial PC-based control. TwinCAT 3 turns an industrial PC into a very high-performance PLC running the real-time control runtime on Windows. Its EtherCAT fieldbus is the fastest on the market and has been adopted by dozens of manufacturers as the standard for Motion Control.
Beckhoff strengths: exceptional performance (microsecond cycle times), EtherCAT (fastest and most deterministic fieldbus), advanced integrated Motion Control, C/C++ programming directly in the PLC, huge function library (Vision, IoT, Analytics, ML).
Beckhoff limitations: steeper learning curve for engineers used to traditional PLCs, fewer trained integrators than Siemens, Windows dependency.
Comparison table: S7-1500 vs TwinCAT 3
| Feature | Siemens S7-1500 | Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum cycle time | ~0.1 ms | ~25 µs (down to 1 µs) |
| Fieldbus | Profinet IRT | EtherCAT (faster) |
| Motion Control | S7-1500T Technology CPU | TwinCAT NC PTP/I (superior) |
| Programming | TIA Portal (LAD, FBD, SCL) | TwinCAT XAE (IEC + C/C++) |
| Safety | F-CPU (SIL 1-3) | TwinCAT Safety (SIL 3) |
| Base hardware price | €800–2,000 CPU | Industrial PC + TwinCAT licence |
| Integrator base | Very high in Spain/Europe | Medium, growing |
When to choose Siemens?
- Client or maintenance team already trained in Siemens
- Sector or plant has a Siemens supplier standard
- Safety requirements SIL and preference for F-CPU
- Integration with SINAMICS drives or Comfort/Unified HMIs
- Fast local spare parts availability is critical
When to choose Beckhoff?
- Complex Motion Control: multi-axis interpolation, CAM, CNC
- High sampling frequency or extreme real-time control (microseconds)
- Special or innovative machines needing maximum flexibility
- Machine vision, ML or data analytics integrated into the PLC
- Installations with many EtherCAT servo axes
At Bluemation we programme both platforms. Contact us to discuss which is right for your project.