The Things Network is a global, community-driven ecosystem for building LoRaWAN networks, devices and solutions for low-power IoT applications. Members run gateways that others can use as well. The network is built on The Things Stack, a LoRaWAN network server that handles data routing, security, message deduplication and data rate optimisation. Developers and organisations use it for sensor projects, prototypes and small-scale deployments. For production use, organisations can set up a private network server with an SLA or use The Things Stack Cloud.
The Things Stack is developed and maintained by The Things Industries, the initiator of The Things Network, which has its office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The core features of The Things Stack are open source. The Things Industries runs the free Sandbox for the community, which comes without guarantees or an SLA and is intended for non-commercial, small-scale testing. Its managed cloud clusters include Dublin, Ireland, and London, UK. Organisations that need production guarantees or a fixed data region are better served by a managed or self-run network server.