Comparison

vTree vs TheTreeApp SA

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

Head to head
About

vTree

Identify woody plants across North America with detailed fact sheets, thousands of images, and location-based filtering. Get expert help from "Dr. Dendro" for tricky identifications.

Highlights
  • 969 North American woody plants
  • Thousands of color images
  • Location-based species filtering
  • Search by keyword
  • Identify via attribute questions
  • Expert identification help
Features
Read full description

Virginia Tech Tree Identification brings the award winning Virginia Tech digital dendrology material to your iPhone. It contains fact sheets for 969 woody plants from all over North America with an in-depth description, range map and thousands of color images of leaves, flowers, fruit, twigs, bark and form. Users can narrow the species list for any location in North America using the phone's GPS or any entered address or zip code. Basically the application can become "The Woody Plants of Where You Are Standing." For example, it can become "The Woody Plants of Southwestern Oregon," "The Woody Plants of Central Park," or "The Woody Plants of 37.108 lat., -80.452 long., elevation 2118." Users can further narrow the species list by answering a series of very simple tree attribute questions such as where the plant is growing, leaf shape, leaf arrangement, flower color or fruit type. The species list can also be narrowed by typing a keyword such as oak, Abies, red or palm. For example, if "oak" is typed, only oaks found in the defined area will be listed. A feature also allows you to send any tree related question to "Dr. Dendro," a tree expert in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech. You can send a tree description or pictures of your plant and experts will help with identification. KEY FEATURES •969 woody plants from all over North America. •Over 6,400 color photographs of leaves, flowers, fruit, twig, bark, form, and range map for each species. •In depth description of all plant parts. •Narrows species list based on your location and elevation using the device's GPS or user entered location. •Search for species by a key word, e.g. maple. •Identify species by answering a series of simple questions. A picture is displayed showing what is being asked. •Navigate between species with a push of a button. •Send a tree question to "Dr. Dendro," a tree expert at Virginia Tech. VIRGINIA TECH TREE IDENTIFICATION DIGITAL MATERIAL Visit our web sites at: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu Woody Plants in North America, 2012, Kendall/Hunt Publishing is a multimedia tutorial on DVD covering 920 woody plants with over 23,000 color photographs of leaves (summer and fall), flowers, fruits, twigs, bark and form for each plant. The software displays multiple images of all plant parts so user can develop a "feel" for normal field variation. A customizable self-quizzing section allows users to evaluate their progress in plant identification. For more features on this software, visit: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/wpina.htm NOTES The 650 MB database of tree photographs and text is downloaded from our server. We recommend you install Virginia Tech Tree Identification using a fast WIFI connection. A cellular connection will generally be too slow. Text and photography by John R. Seiler, John A. Peterson Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech and Ed Jensen, Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University.

About

TheTreeApp SA

Identify over 1200 South African trees using detailed descriptions, artwork, and photographs. Search by scientific or common name in 11 languages, or use interactive location and random search functions. An evaluation version is available, with a yearly subscription unlocking the full database and two versions of the app.

Highlights
  • Identify over 1200 South African trees
  • Detailed species descriptions
  • Artwork and over 6000 photographs
  • Search by scientific/common name
  • Search in 11 South African languages
  • Interactive location-based search
  • Random Tree Search function
  • Offline functionality after initial download
Features
Read full description

Identify and discover over 1200 indigenous and selected invasive trees of South Africa. The app provides full species descriptions as well as uses and gardening information. Tree details are described in artworks, over 6000 photographs, maps, and texts. Searching for a species can be done by scientific or common name, using any of the 11 South African languages. Once loaded using Wi-Fi, no internet is needed; but satellite coverage improves the map and Location search experience. Interactive Location options based on unique, highly detailed species distribution maps, rapidly reduce the number of tree species to the actual number that can grow there naturally. Using the powerful, rapid, and highly intuitive random Tree Search function; the characteristics of your tree are matched to those on the app. Select the relevant tick-boxes and watch as the number of species’ choices in the Tree List reduces! If you are a new user, you can download and test the free Evaluation version of TheTreeApp SA, covering a limited number of trees (155). To load all 1 399 trees, you must buy a yearly subscription of R179,99 by pressing the Buy Full Subscription Version button on the Home Screen in the app and following the steps. TheTreeApp SA has an inbuilt education system; based on clicking InfoHotSpots, for explanations about any detail that is not clear. In Settings on the home screen, you can select your use of primary and secondary languages from Scientific, English, or Afrikaans. In addition, the Sightings function allows you to add and list the names of your own personal tree discoveries. You can also type in notes and record GPS locations. The Second Edition is a two-in-one app that contains both the Original version (simple English terms) and the Botanical version (classical Botanical terms). Therefore, you only pay for one subscription per year but you receive both versions of the app. Users can switch between versions on the app home screen. The language differences apply to the search, text, and captions. Both versions include all South African trees, and all species’ artwork, photographs, and maps. *** MTN App of the Year Winner 2017 – Agriculture (Conservation) ***

Screenshots

vTree4 screens
TheTreeApp SA4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: vTree at 3.3 against TheTreeApp SA's 2.7. vTree also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ratings volume (46 vs 3). TheTreeApp SA's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months). On price, review sentiment, ads 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. TheTreeApp SA sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per year. vTree asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

vTree holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: vTree has 46 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 37% of vTree's written reviews are positive against 33% of TheTreeApp SA's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

vTree ships an update every 11 months, TheTreeApp SA every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
vTree versus TheTreeApp SA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametervTreeTheTreeApp SA
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (46 ratings) — better2.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews36.5% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings46 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB1.4 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn PetersonHigh Branching cc

Customer experience

vTree

All ratings46 ratings
Positive47.8%
Neutral19.6%
Negative32.6%
Written reviews52 reviews
Positive36.5%
Neutral11.5%
Negative51.9%

TheTreeApp SA

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

vTree

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • Eternally spinning “loading species” then crashes
  • Won’t open, downloads to 123% then freezes
  • Stuck “downloading species”
  • Crashes when updating location off grid
  • Missing photos
Show 26 more
  • Crashes when I try to open the app
  • Down problem, takes back to app store
  • Search locations brings back incomplete results
  • Pictures will not display when individual species are selected
  • Photos do not load
  • The last update caused issues
  • App crashes constantly
  • User unfriendly
  • Using the search function causes the app to crash
  • When I hit the "identify trees" button it crashes
  • Page disappears into the background when searching
  • App crashes when connection is poor
  • Crashes any time you use the search function
  • Searching repeatedly crashes the app
  • App freezes when opening after downloading fact sheets
  • GPS function doesn't work
  • Manually entered location doesn't stay remembered
  • App closes when putting in location
  • Glitching when trying to download again
  • App is bugging out when I go to put in my location and then it closes
  • No true way to narrow the results down
  • Urban trees are missing
  • Almost none of the pictures work
  • Pictures are downloading but very slowly
  • One ID was totally wrong, others could not give a possibility
  • Encountered a glitch when selecting a particular arrangement of leaves

Requested features

8 requests
  • Allow offline use by downloading all fact sheets
  • Update app for newer iPhone screen sizes
  • Editable list of recently identified trees
  • Search trees by leaf
  • Break down database into regions/states
Show 3 more
  • Ability to discard unnecessary data
  • Ability to swipe through photos
  • ID plants from a photo

TheTreeApp SA

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

vTree

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

TheTreeApp SA

Subscriptions5
  • TheTreeAppAddOn$6.991 Year
  • TreeProBotAddOn$6.991 Year
  • TheTreePro SA$8.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • TheTreeApp$9.991 Year
  • TreeProBot$9.991 Year

Questions

Is vTree free?
vTree is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TheTreeApp SA free?
TheTreeApp SA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, vTree or TheTreeApp SA?
vTree is rated higher. vTree averages 3.3 out of 5 from 46 ratings, while TheTreeApp SA averages 2.7 from 3 ratings.
Do vTree or TheTreeApp SA have ads?
Neither vTree nor TheTreeApp SA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, vTree or TheTreeApp SA?
vTree ships an update every 11 months, and TheTreeApp SA every 2 months. Most recently, vTree was updated on November 1, 2026 and TheTreeApp SA on November 2, 2026.

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