Compare / The best gardening apps in 2026
The best gardening apps in 2026
Grow To Eat is the one to pick if the job is growing food: a sowing plan built from your location and a weekly list of what to do next, free and uncapped. Four different kinds of software are sold as a gardening app, though, and they do not compete with each other — so this page is sorted by the job rather than ranked.
A planner tells you what to sow and when. A plot drawer shows you where it goes. A diary remembers what you did. A plant-care app keeps things alive that are already in the ground. Download the wrong kind and it will feel like the app is missing obvious features, when it is simply built for a different job. This page sorts the apps we know well into those four, says what each costs, and points at the fuller comparison where there is one.
Last updated September 2026
Four jobs, and the app for each
- Best overall for growing food: Grow To Eat — A sowing plan from your location and a weekly list of what to do next, free.
- Best for drawing beds: GrowVeg / Almanac Garden Planner — Rotation warnings and spacing handled as you place crops.
- Best square-foot planner: Planter — Illustrated tiles on a grid of squares, with a free garden to start in.
- Best for a quick climate-zone lookup: Gardenate — What can go in this month where you live, with no account to make.
- Best garden diary: Gardenize — Photographs and dated events, kept and searchable years later.
#1
Grow To Eat
Growing food to a schedule on a phone, with the plan keeping up when the season does not.
Pricing: Free with no time limit. Premium €7.49 a month or €44.99 a year.
Pros
- ✓Dates from your location, and every later date moves when you sow late
- ✓A weekly view: this week's sowings, next steps and harvests together
- ✓120+ edible crops, each with an A–Z guide from propagation to preservation
- ✓The free tier caps none of that, harvest tracking included
Cons
- ✗Northern hemisphere only, and English only today
- ✗No push notifications yet — the list waits in the app
- ✗The bed planner, succession planting and custom crops are Premium
- ✗No photo journal, no export, no ornamentals and no fruit trees
Best for: Growing food to a schedule on a phone, with the plan keeping up when the season does not.
A sowing plan for your garden, free
Dates from your location, and a weekly list of what to do next.
#2
GrowVeg / Almanac Garden Planner
Designing annual vegetable beds at a desk, and rotating families year to year.
Pricing: $35 a year recurring, or $50 for a single year.
Pros
- ✓Crop rotation warnings and spacing worked out as you place
- ✓408 plant types and thousands of named varieties
- ✓Email reminders through the season
Cons
- ✗Browser only — nothing native to carry out to the beds
- ✗No free tier after the 7-day trial, and the plan goes with the subscription
- ✗No fruit trees or other permanent plants
Best for: Designing annual vegetable beds at a desk, and rotating families year to year.
#3
Planter
Raised beds and square-foot gardening, planned quickly on a phone.
Pricing: $24.99 a year, or $99.99 once. Free tier with one garden.
Pros
- ✓A square-foot grid with illustrated tiles, laid out on a phone
- ✓A free tier with a garden, a calendar and custom plants in it
- ✓A one-off lifetime price instead of a subscription
Cons
- ✗The help mostly stops once the layout is drawn
- ✗Planting dates are less specific to where you are than the schedulers here
Best for: Raised beds and square-foot gardening, planned quickly on a phone.
#4
Gardenate
A free answer to what can be sown this month, with nothing to set up.
Pricing: Free on the web. The full app is about $2, once.
Pros
- ✓Free on the web, about $2 once for the full app
- ✓Six countries, including the southern hemisphere
- ✓Sowing depth, spacing, companions and kitchen notes on every plant
- ✓Works offline, with no account to make
Cons
- ✗The list is the same for everyone in your climate zone, wherever you are inside it
- ✗No bed planner and no weekly view
Best for: A free answer to what can be sown this month, with nothing to set up.
#5
Gardenize
Best garden diary
Pricing: Free tier. Basic $1.90 a month, Plus $44 a year, with a 14-day trial.
Pros
- ✓Photographs against every plant, area and event
- ✓45,000+ species, and eight languages
- ✓Export to PDF, spreadsheet or a photo gallery
- ✓Several gardens on one account
- ✓Free tier with unlimited records, one photo each
Cons
- ✗No sowing plan and no planting dates of any kind
- ✗Nothing tells you what to do next week
- ✗No bed planner or layout tool
- ✗You have to remember to write in it
Best for: Gardeners who want a photographic record of what they grew and when.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best gardening app in 2026?
Grow To Eat is the one to pick if the job is growing food: a sowing plan built from your location, every date after sowing moving when you sow late, a weekly list of what to do next, and 120+ edible crops with a full growing guide each — free and uncapped. For drawing beds with rotation handled, GrowVeg is the stronger answer.
What is the best free gardening app?
Grow To Eat gives the most away on the growing side: the whole sowing plan, the weekly view, harvest tracking and every A-Z guide, with no cap. Gardenate is free on the web with no account at all, though its calendar is the same for everyone in your climate zone. Planter's free tier includes one garden; GrowVeg has none after its trial.
Which gardening app is best for beginners?
Grow To Eat, because the part a beginner needs most is the part that costs nothing: what to sow, when to sow it, what to do next week, and a full guide behind every crop. Gardenate is the simplest thing to try first if you only want to know what can go in this month.
Which gardening apps work outside the United States?
Grow To Eat works anywhere in the northern hemisphere, including the UK and Europe, because dates come from your location. GrowVeg and Planter work in both hemispheres, and Gardenate covers six countries including Australia and New Zealand.
Do I need more than one gardening app?
Most people do not. Decide which job you actually want help with — planning and growing food, or drawing the beds — and use the app built for it. Grow To Eat covers the first and concedes the second, which is why the drawing tools are on this page.
Which gardening app has a proper phone app?
Grow To Eat, Planter, Gardenate and Gardenize all have native iPhone and Android apps. GrowVeg and the Almanac Garden Planner run in a browser, which is comfortable at a desk and awkward standing over a bed.
Can a gardening app tell me what to do this week?
Grow To Eat is built around that question: the home screen carries this week's sowings, the next step for everything already in the ground, and whatever is ready to pick. Gardenate sends a monthly email, GrowVeg emails reminders through the season, and the layout tools leave the plan where you drew it.
Which app has the most plants?
GrowVeg lists 408 types with thousands of named varieties, but that count spans ornamentals and trees as well as food. Grow To Eat carries 120+ crops and every one is edible, each with a full growing guide. The number to compare is the overlap with what you intend to eat, not the total.
Grow To Eat works out the next step for every crop you sow.
Free sowing plans and full A–Z growing guides. No credit card required.
Head-to-head comparisons
Grow To Eat vs Almanac Garden PlannerA phone app for helping you grow food day by day or a desktop garden design tool — and which one fits the way you grow your food in your garden.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs GardenateGrow To Eat tells you what to sow now and what to step-by-step and advice for 120+ crops vs a free monthly garden calendar of what you can sow now.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs GardenizeGrow To Eat tells you what to sow and when — 120+ crops, free vs a journal app helping you keep track of all the plants in your garden.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs GrowVegA phone app for helping you grow food day by day or a desktop garden design tool — and which one fits the way you grow your food in your garden.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs PlantaGrow To Eat tells you what to sow and when — 120+ crops, free vs a plant care app that waters and feeds your indoor and garden plants.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs PlanterGrow To Eat has a free todo list from sowing to harvest vs a cheaper premium tier and more visual for laying out beds — but it is not as useful once the growing starts.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs Seed to SpoonSimilar-sized libraries, very different reach: US zip codes against dates built from your own location.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs SeedtimeClosely matched on features, but Grow To Eat costs about half as much with no caps on free tier features.Read comparison →Grow To Eat vs VegPlotterGrow To Eat gives you a weekly plan from sowing to harvest for free. VegPlotter is cheaper to buy, but the jobs list is monthly and ticking it off is in paid tier.Read comparison →
Last updated: September 2026