vTree vs Pingree Park Field Guide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 969 North American woody plants
- Thousands of color images
- Location-based species filtering
- Search by keyword
- Identify via attribute questions
- Expert identification help
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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.
Pingree Park Field Guide
Access offline reference materials for the CSU Mountain Campus, specifically developed for the NR220 course. This application provides essential information without requiring an internet connection.
- Offline access
- Reference materials
- CSU Mountain Campus
- NR220 course content
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Offline access to reference materials for the CSU Mountain Campus. Materials developed for the NR220 course.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pingree Park Field Guide at 100% against vTree's 37%. Pingree Park Field Guide also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months). vTree's advantage is rating (3.3 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (46 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
vTree holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: vTree has 46 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 37% of vTree's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pingree Park Field Guide's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
vTree ships an update every 11 months, Pingree Park Field Guide every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | vTree | Pingree Park Field Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (46 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 36.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 46 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 621 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | John Peterson | Colorado State University |
Customer experience
vTree
Pingree Park Field Guide
In-app purchases
vTree
No in-app purchases
Pingree Park Field Guide
No in-app purchases





