Comparison

BarnManager vs Calf Keeper

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

BarnManager

Manage all aspects of equestrian life, from horse health records and scheduling to barn operations and communication. Digitize your notes, track appointments, and create custom lists to streamline your workflow and spend more time with your horses.

Highlights
  • Horse profiles and health records
  • Digital calendar for scheduling
  • Customizable checklists and lists
  • Digital whiteboard feature
  • Permission-based access controls
  • Syncs with web app
Features
Read full description

Horses are more than a pet and more than a hobby. Horses are a lifestyle. BarnManager supports trainers, students, parents, barn owners, horse owners, riders, grooms, vets, farriers and more to manage all of the moving pieces and people that are a critical part of keeping your horses happy and healthy and running your business efficiently and professionally. BarnManager is a tool that supports traditional horsemanship and enables you to spend more time doing what you love, working with horses. Convert your binders quickly and easily. Use your mobile device to snap pictures of your handwritten or printed notes, whiteboards, etc. Then upload these images, attach Horses, People and Keywords and easily search for these records using site wide search. Horse profiles provide a place to store all of the important information, documents, health and farrier records, and communications about your horses. Our Calendar can be viewed daily, weekly, monthly, or annually to enable short term planning, such as lesson scheduling, and long term schedules such as competition planning. Create table lists and check lists for everything and anything. Make feed lists, packing lists, temperature charts and anything else that you can imagine. Permission levels allow you to limit access to specific horses for owner or employee users. Use the digital whiteboard to take the barn aisle with you. How often are you actually standing in the barn aisle to read the information on the white board? The White Board feature enables you to check the board from the ring, the road or wherever else you may be. The Barn Manager Mobile App syncs to our web app, so that you can work from your computer as well. You can cancel your account at any time in the Account Menu. There are no refunds or credits for partial months. For more information, please visit https://www.barnmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BarnManagerTermsofService.pdf Stay tuned for Invoicing and Accounting coming soon!

About

Calf Keeper

This app helps livestock owners manage their herds by tracking calf births, linking animals, and calculating calving dates. Premium features allow for custom data fields, animal scoring, photo uploads, and collaborative herd management.

Highlights
  • Calf birth tracking
  • Herd linking (cows, bulls)
  • Gestation calculator
  • Customizable data fields
  • Animal scoring
  • Photo uploads
  • Collaborative herd management
Features
Read full description

Calf Keeper is a calving book designed to be simple, easy to use, and customizable. Users can track data about calves as they're born and also link the calves to cows and bulls in their cattle herd. A gestation calculator is also provided to calculate approximate calving dates. By upgrading to Calf Keeper PLUS, users can customize their data entry. New fields can be added to allow you to track the data that is important to your operation. Users can also track customizable scores to help build a better picture of the quality of an animal. PRO users can add up to 10 photos per animal and also invite other users to manage their herd. When changes are made by other users, you can receive a notification to stay up to date with the latest status of your herd. Before purchasing a subscription, try a free 30-day trial to see if Calf Keeper is right for your operation. Calf Keeper is powered by Cattle Market Mobile. Terms of Service: https://www.calfkeeper.com/legal/terms

Screenshots

BarnManager4 screens
Calf Keeper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Calf Keeper at 4.2 against BarnManager's 3.6. Calf Keeper also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). BarnManager's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and review sentiment (50% vs 33%). On price, monetization model and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calf Keeper sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. BarnManager asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Calf Keeper holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of BarnManager's written reviews are positive against 33% of Calf Keeper's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BarnManager ships an update monthly, Calf Keeper every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
BarnManager versus Calf Keeper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBarnManagerCalf Keeper
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (24 ratings)4.2 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings24 — better5
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB56 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDigital Crumbs LLCCattleSync, LLC

Customer experience

BarnManager

All ratings24 ratings
Positive62.5%
Neutral4.2%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral5.6%
Negative44.4%

Calf Keeper

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

None

BarnManager

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Calf Keeper

Subscriptions4
  • Calf Keeper Plus (Monthly)1 Month trial$5.991 Month
  • Calf Keeper Pro (Monthly)1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Calf Keeper Plus (Yearly)1 Month trial$59.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Calf Keeper Pro (Yearly)1 Month trial$99.991 Year

Questions

Is BarnManager free?
BarnManager is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Calf Keeper free?
Calf Keeper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BarnManager or Calf Keeper?
Calf Keeper is rated higher. BarnManager averages 3.6 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Calf Keeper averages 4.2 from 5 ratings.
Do BarnManager or Calf Keeper have ads?
BarnManager shows ads; Calf Keeper does not.
Which is updated more often, BarnManager or Calf Keeper?
BarnManager ships an update monthly, and Calf Keeper every 2 weeks. Most recently, BarnManager was updated on September 18, 2026 and Calf Keeper on September 23, 2026.

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