PlantNet vs FertAdvisor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PlantNet
Identify plants by taking photos with your smartphone. Contribute to a global citizen science project to understand and preserve plant biodiversity. Recognizes thousands of wild and cultivated species.
- Identify plants by photographing them
- Citizen science project for biodiversity
- Supports identification of flowering plants, trees, grasses, and more
- Recognizes cultivated plants in parks and gardens
- Filter recognized species by genus or family
- Map your observations
- Links to plant factsheets
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Pl@ntNet is an application that allows you to identify plants simply by photographing them with your smartphone. Very useful when you don't have a botanist on hand! Pl@ntNet is also a great citizen science project: all the plants you photograph are collected and analysed by scientists around the world to better understand the evolution of plant biodiversity and to better preserve it. Pl@ntNet allows you to identify and better understand all kinds of plants living in nature: flowering plants, trees, grasses, conifers, ferns, vines, wild salads, cacti (and many more). Pl@ntNet can also identify a large number of cultivated plants (in parks and gardens) but this is not its primary purpose. We especially need Pl@ntNet’s users to inventory the wild plants, those that you can observe in nature, but also those that grow on the sidewalks of cities or in the middle of your vegetable garden! The more visual information you give to Pl@ntNet about the plant you are observing, the more accurate the identification will be. There are indeed many plants that look alike from afar and it is sometimes small details that distinguish two species of the same genus. Flowers, fruits and leaves are the most characteristic organs of a species and it is them that should be photographed first. But any other detail can be useful, such as thorns, buds or hair on the stem. A photograph of the whole plant is also very useful information, but it is often not sufficient to allow a reliable identification. At present, Pl@ntNet makes it possible to recognize about 20,000 species. We are still a long way from the 360,000 species living on earth, but Pl@ntNet is getting richer every day thanks to the contributions of the most experienced users among you. Don't be afraid to contribute yourself! Your observation will be reviewed by the community and may one day join the photo gallery illustrating the species in the application. The new version of Pl@ntNet released in January 2019 includes many improvements and new features: -The ability to filter recognized species by genus or family. -The differentiated data revision that gives more weight to users who have demonstrated the most skills (in particular the number of species observed, validated by the community). -The re-identification of shared observations, whether yours or those of other users of the application. -The multi-flora identification that allows you to search for the photographed plant in all the flora of the application and not only in the one you have selected. Very useful when you are not sure what flora to look for. -The selection of your favorite floras to access them more quickly. -The navigation at different taxonomic levels in image galleries. -The mapping of your observations. -Links to many factsheets. The web version of the application is also available at the following address: https://identify.plantnet.org/
FertAdvisor
This app helps homeowners and turfgrass professionals calculate fertilizer needs for lawns. It provides tools for spreader calibration, label interpretation, and application guidance through animations and videos.
- Fertilizer amount calculation
- Spreader calibration
- Fertilizer label reading
- Application technique guidance
- Soil sampling videos
- Area calculation
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FertAdvisor assists homeowners and turfgrass practitioners in calculating the amount of lawn fertilizer needed, drop and rotary spreader calibration, and reading a fertilizer label to properly apply fertilizer to turfgrass areas. Built in calculators help you determine how much fertilizer will be needed to properly fertilize turfgrass areas, streamline calibration calculations, calculate the amount of nitrogen, phosphate and potash that will be applied to their area based on the fertilizer selected. Animations and videos guide turfgrass enthusiasts on how to take a soil sample, properly apply fertilizer using drop and rotary spreaders, calibrate a fertilizer spreader, and calculate lawn surface area. Tips on application techniques, accurate calibration, proper fertilizer timing, nitrogen source selection combine to provide users a comprehensive tool that will help ensure accurate applications and reduce misapplications that can potentially damage turfgrass, waste fertilizer and/or pose environmental risk.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: FertAdvisor at 5.0 against PlantNet's 4.6. FertAdvisor also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 83%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.1). PlantNet's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 10 months) and ratings volume (7.1K vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
FertAdvisor holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PlantNet has 7.1K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of PlantNet's written reviews are positive against 100% of FertAdvisor's.
PlantNet ships an update every 2 months, FertAdvisor every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PlantNet | FertAdvisor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7.1K ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.1K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Cirad-France | University of Connecticut |
Customer experience
PlantNet
FertAdvisor
Bugs and requests
PlantNet
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes or freezes on some devices
- Geolocation issues (app thinks user is in wrong location)
- Inconsistent or missing plant identification results
Requested features
5 requests- Add more regional/local plant information
- Improve search and filtering options
- Provide plant care and usage details
- Allow users to save and organize identified plants
- Add a community forum or discussion features
FertAdvisor
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PlantNet
No in-app purchases
FertAdvisor
No in-app purchases









