Let me tell you about the dark period.
Last winter, I killed four plants in two months. A calathea. Two fittonias. And my beloved string of pearls that I'd kept alive for almost a year.
The worst part? I couldn't figure out what went wrong. Did I overwater? Underwater? Was it the heating coming on? I had no idea, because I wasn't keeping track of anything.
That's when I went down the rabbit hole of plant tracker apps. I downloaded pretty much everything on the Play Store and App Store. Some I used for a day, some for weeks. A few actually helped.
Here's my honest breakdown after six months of testing.
First, do you even need an app?
Honestly? If you have three plants, probably not. A simple note on your phone or even a sticky note works fine.
But somewhere around plant number eight or nine, things get messy. You start second-guessing yourself. "Wait, did I water the pothos on Tuesday? Or was that the philodendron?"
And when something goes wrong (and something always goes wrong eventually), you have no way to look back and figure out what changed.
That's where an app becomes genuinely useful. Not for the reminders (though those help), but for the history. The patterns. The "oh, I see what happened" moments.
The apps I actually tested
I spent real time with each of these. Not just downloaded-and-deleted, but actually used them for my plants.
Beflore
This is the one I ended up sticking with, so I'll be upfront about my bias. But let me explain why.
Most plant apps treat care like a checklist. Water on Monday. Fertilize on the 15th. Done. But plants don't work like that. My monstera in the sunny corner needs water way more often than my snake plant in the bedroom. Generic schedules don't cut it.
Beflore does something different. It tracks what you actually do, not what some database says you should do, and shows you patterns over time. After a few weeks, I could see that my peace lily was happiest when watered every 5-6 days, not the weekly schedule I'd been trying to force.
What I like
- Everything stays on my phone (no cloud)
- Works offline
- Widget for quick logging
- No annoying upsells
What's annoying
- No iPhone version yet
- Can't identify plants
- 10 plant limit on free
Planta
This is the big one. Everyone recommends it. The design is gorgeous.
I used Planta for about three months before switching. Here's the thing: it's really good at telling you about plants in general. The care guides are detailed. The plant ID feature actually works (mostly). If you buy a plant and have no idea what it is or how to care for it, Planta shines.
But it felt like I was following orders rather than learning my plants. Also (and this is petty), the subscription cost feels steep for what it is. Almost $8/month adds up.
What I like
- Plant identification
- Light meter feature
- Beautiful interface
What's annoying
- Expensive
- Generic reminders
- Lots locked behind paywall
Greg
Greg tries to be fun. It has personality. There's a community aspect where you can see what other plant parents are doing and ask questions.
I wanted to like Greg more than I did. The personalized watering schedules based on your home conditions (light, pot size, etc.) are smart in theory. But I found them weirdly inaccurate for my space. It kept telling me to water my succulents every 4 days, which would have been a death sentence.
What I like
- Fun personality
- Community features
- Tries to personalize
What's annoying
- Even more expensive
- Schedules were off for me
- Requires internet
The honest comparison
Here's where I actually land on all of this:
If you want to understand your plants: Beflore. The pattern tracking changed how I think about plant care. Instead of following generic advice, I'm learning what my specific plants in my specific home actually need.
If you need plant identification: Planta. The ID feature is the best I've found. Just be ready to pay for it.
If you want a community: Greg. Though personally, I get my plant community from Reddit and local Facebook groups for free.
What I use now
I've settled on Beflore for daily tracking. It runs in the background, I log my care through the widget most days, and I look back at the timeline whenever something seems off.
I still have Planta installed for plant ID, but I rarely open it otherwise.
Is this the perfect setup for everyone? No. If you're deep in the Apple ecosystem and need an iPhone app, Beflore isn't an option yet. If you buy mystery plants at IKEA constantly, Planta's ID feature might be worth the subscription.
But for tracking what I actually do and learning from it? Nothing else has clicked the same way.
The bigger picture
Here's what I've realized after all this app-hopping: the best app is the one you'll actually use.
A fancy app with features you ignore is worthless. A simple app you open every day is invaluable.
I killed those four plants last winter because I wasn't paying attention. Not because I lacked information (I could Google anything), but because I wasn't tracking what I was doing. Now I have a record. When my calathea starts looking sad, I can look back and see exactly what changed.
That peace of mind is worth more than any app subscription.
Ready to try Beflore?
Free for up to 10 plants. All features included. No account needed.
Download Beflore →My calathea is still alive, by the way. Seven months and counting. Pretty sure that's a personal record.