Rachio vs Netro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rachio
This app allows you to control your sprinkler system remotely, creating custom watering schedules. It helps save water and money by optimizing irrigation based on weather and yard needs. Access your system from anywhere for convenient lawn care.
- Automated watering schedules
- Remote sprinkler control
- Water and money saving
- Weather-based adjustments
- Smart home integration
- Mobile app access
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The Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller changes the way you water. It makes running your sprinklers easy and convenient while saving you water and money. Rachio automatically creates a watering schedule that lowers your water bill and ensures the beautiful yard you want, while the mobile app gives you access to your sprinkler system from anywhere. Plus, Rachio is compatible with nearly any sized yard and smart home platform. This is the companion app to the industry-leading Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller.
Netro
This app manages your home irrigation system remotely. It creates intelligent watering schedules based on local weather to conserve water and maintain a healthy garden. Monitor your garden's status and adjust settings from anywhere.
- Dynamic weather-based watering schedules
- Remote sprinkler monitoring and control
- Garden health status indicators
- Adjustable watering preferences
- Schedule manager
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Netro is a cloud based watering system that is designed for effortless use in residential irrigation. It helps to reduce unnecessary water usage and keeps your garden healthy. Netro creates dynamic watering schedules by analyzing your local weather and estimating the rain amount. The Netro app shows the key factors for a healthy garden so you know exactly how your garden is doing. It also provides a convenient schedule manager through which you can adjust your watering preferences and Netro will optimally adjust the schedule for you. With the Netro app, you can monitor and control your sprinklers from anywhere. You can purchase the smart watering controller (Netro Sprite), the smart hose faucet timer(Netro Pixie) and the smart plant sensor (Netro Whisperer) at Netrohome.com or Amazon.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Rachio at 4.9 against Netro's 2.6. Rachio also leads on ratings volume (159K vs 17) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). Netro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On price and iOS requirement 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. Rachio sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Netro asks for nothing beyond the download.
Rachio holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rachio has 159K ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Rachio's written reviews are positive against 38% of Netro's.
Rachio ships an update every 3 weeks, Netro every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rachio | Netro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (159K ratings) — better | 2.6 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 57.4% of reviews — better | 37.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 159K — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 163 MB | 69 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | RACHIO, INC. | Netro Inc |
Customer experience
Rachio
Netro
User reviews
Rachio
From 159K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient remote control
- 🌱 Saves water and money
- 🌳 Helps maintain healthy lawn and plants
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues
- 💸 Aggressive upselling
- 🤔 Confusing user interface
- 🌧️ Inaccurate weather-based scheduling
Netro
From 17 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy setup and installation
- 👍 Good overall functionality
- 👍 Flexible programming options
- 👍 Supports remote access
- 👍 Good for dry climates
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Unreliable weather data
- 🐛 Login required every time
- 🐛 Limited historical data storage
- 🐛 Difficulty with manual control
Bugs and requests
Rachio
Reported bugs
4 issues- Zones running at unexpected times
- Schedules not working as programmed
- App crashing during setup and use
- Syncing issues between app and controller
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to skip multiple upcoming watering cycles
- Customizable notifications for low battery and offline status
- Better integration with smart home platforms like HomeKit
- More granular control over watering schedules and durations
Netro
Reported bugs
36 issues- App crashes on opening
- App crashes when renaming zones
- App crashes when moving between screens
- App crashes when attempting to open
- App crashes when logging in
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- App crashes when creating an account
- App crashes immediately after opening
- App crashes after entering login info
- App crashes every time on opening
- App crashes every single time on opening
- App crashes every time I attempt to open it
- App crashes every single time I attempt to open it
- App crashes every single time I attempt to open it and log in
- Json serialization error
- App freezes on spinning green dots when making setting changes
- Hourly data split between AM/PM and separate screens
- Scrolling on data plot pages crashes the app
- System randomly will not water zones
- Manual watering not working
- App doesn't send notifications when a program has run
- Weather data is inaccurate
- Controller does not reconnect to Wi-Fi after power outage
- Delay function is confusing
- Scheduling section is pointless
- App doesn't show main page update when zone is run from programs page
- Manual control changed to separate screen
- No way to shut off manual control
- Whisperer dying
- Pixies all died
- Cannot rearrange programs
- Device was dead during watering cycle
- Sync is too long
- Manual stop button doesn't work
- Saving custom programs only saves for about 2 weeks
- Scheduling function is not working
- Created scheduling program does not reflect in the calendar
Requested features
23 requests- Allow 1.5 minute watering intervals
- Allow simultaneous watering of multiple zones
- Alter order of watering zones with drag and drop
- Add more weather providers (e.g., Apple's API)
- Improve user interface for iOS users
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Incorporate scheduling under preferences into programs
- Increase maximum run time beyond 60 minutes
- Add push notifications for watering start/stop
- Allow users to choose Italian weather sources
- Allow users to select watering during night hours only
- Add a manual hard 'Stop' button for all zones
- Make manual control easier and more accessible
- Allow users to rearrange programs
- Improve historical data storage duration
- Remember login credentials
- Improve analytics depth and flexibility
- Allow users to customize default settings
- Make manual watering selection more accessible
- Allow users to configure custom zone names in Alexa app
- Improve the way wires make contact in slots
- Provide a more reliable weather forecast for Italy
- Allow users to disable weather-based watering if desired
- Improve the delay function to be more intuitive
In-app purchases
Rachio
- Tempest Integration$29.99
- AirLink Integration$29.99
- Heat Wave Boost$29.99
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- Wire Status$29.99
- Valve & Heat Monitoring Bundle$49.99
Netro
No in-app purchases
