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The best vegetable garden apps in 2026
Seven apps, what each is for, and where each falls down. Including ours.
Right, cards on the table. I make one of these apps, so you'd expect me to say mine's the best. What I'll do instead is tell you what each one is actually for, cuz they're not all trying to do the same job, and the right one for you depends on what you want out of it. Some are planners. Some name plants from a photo. One or two, like ours, try to follow you through the whole season from packet to plate.
Prices and free tiers are what the stores showed on 3 September 2026. They change. Check before you pay for anything.
At a glance
| App | Free tier | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| GrowMore CookMore Us. iPhone and Android. Built in England, sowing dates by USDA zone. | Pest and disease library, basic growing guides, sample recipes, three packet scans. | Harvest and Bumper Harvest tiers, yearly. Prices in the store. |
| Seedtime US, family-run. Web app, iPhone and Android. | Free forever plan, no card. | About $84 or $168 a year. |
| From Seed to Spoon Oklahoma, now owned by Park Seed. iPhone and Android. | Free up to 10 plants. | About $46.99 a year. |
| Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner The Almanac, powered by GrowVeg. Web and apps. | Seven-day trial. | About $29 a year. |
| Gardenate Australian two-person team. iPhone and Android. | None; $2.99 once. | One-off. |
| LizPlants US solo developer. iPhone. | Three packet scans. | About $39.99 a year. |
| Planta Sweden. iPhone and Android. | Free with limits. | Subscription. |
| PictureThis and PlantNet Plant identification apps. | PlantNet is free. PictureThis has a trial then a subscription. | PictureThis is one of the priciest apps in the category. |
Checked 3 September 2026. Links to other apps are plain links; we don't earn from them.
What each one is for
GrowMore CookMore
Best at: The whole season in one app: scan any packet, sow it, track it by your zone and frost dates, then cook what you picked. Club grow-again votes on varieties.
Doesn't do: No plant identification, nothing for houseplants. The founder's accent is Northern English; the dates aren't.
Seedtime
Best at: Frost-date planning by ZIP that builds you a whole calendar. Big following among homesteaders.
Doesn't do: Nothing for the kitchen, no packet scanning, and the paid tiers are the dearest here.
From Seed to Spoon
Best at: Zone-based planting dates, companion planting, pest notes, and thousands of five-star ratings. Buy button goes to Park Seed.
Doesn't do: The ten-plant cap bites fast. Recipes are thin. One seed company behind it.
Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner
Best at: The most detailed bed layout tool there is, with the Almanac's frost dates. Drag plants onto a plan, it does spacing and rotation.
Doesn't do: Planning only. No recipes, no scanning, no community.
Gardenate
Best at: A dead-simple 'what to sow this month in your zone' list. Cheap and honest.
Doesn't do: That's all it does.
LizPlants
Best at: A seed-packet scanner that builds zone timelines. Closest thing to our Scan Centre.
Doesn't do: Scanner and timelines only; no recipes, no journal, no club.
Planta
Best at: Houseplant care, watering reminders, light meter. Millions of users, featured by Apple.
Doesn't do: Houseplants, not vegetables.
PictureThis and PlantNet
Best at: Point the camera at a leaf and it names the plant.
Doesn't do: Identification only. Neither plans a garden or knows your last frost.
How to choose
You want to lay out beds on a screen. The Almanac planner (GrowVeg underneath). Nothing else comes close for layout.
You want a calendar built from your ZIP and nothing else. Seedtime's free plan, or Gardenate for three dollars.
You want to name a plant you don't recognise. PlantNet. It's free and it's run by scientists.
You want one app for the whole thing. Sow it, track it, know when it's ready, cook it, and see what other gardeners actually grew again. That's what we built GrowMore CookMore for, and From Seed to Spoon is the other one having a go at it.
If I've got something wrong about somebody else's app, tell me and I'll fix it. Same goes if you think I've been soft on ours.
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 3 September 2026.