PlantNet vs MLC School
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/
MLC School
Stay connected with your school community through instant updates, newsletters, and event information. Manage notification preferences for timely alerts and easily access contact details for quick communication.
- Instant school updates
- Push notifications for urgent notices
- School calendar with event subscriptions
- Electronic newsletter delivery
- Quick contact directory
- Customizable notification settings
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Bridge the gap between home and school with the MLC School app, developed by Digistorm. Receive instant information about MLC School, push notifications for urgent updates, school newsletters and more. Key features of the MLC School app: Notices: the Notices module provides MLC School with the ability to keep their community informed with important information, with push notifications for urgent school notices Calendar: the Calendar module displays all events occurring in the current week or those that are up-and-coming. Events can easily be subscribed to, shared and saved for later Newsletter: the Newsletter module allows MLC School to share electronic newsletters, directly to the app Other features such as a quick and easy Contact Directory help you to reach MLC School with the tap of a button Settings allows you to manage the frequency and type of notifications that you receive from MLC School. Developed by Digistorm - Software for Smarter Schools.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PlantNet at 83% against MLC School's 0%. PlantNet also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months). MLC School's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). 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.
PlantNet ships an update every 2 months, MLC School every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and June 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PlantNet | MLC School |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 82.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cirad-France | MLC SCHOOL |
Customer experience
PlantNet
MLC School
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
MLC School
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PlantNet
No in-app purchases
MLC School
No in-app purchases









