Grove vs Planter
Planter is a clean, beginner-friendly grid planner - great for a first garden, but experienced growers quickly hit its ceiling. There's no harvest tracking, no weather-aware reminders, no local community, and the free tier limits you to a single garden. Grove starts where Planter stops: deeper planning tools, harvest analytics, weather-smart nudges, and a neighbourhood community built around the people growing near you.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Grove | Planter |
|---|---|---|
| Free core plan (unlimited gardens) | Yes | 1 garden free only |
| Visual bed planner | Yes | Yes |
| Frost-zone planting calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Weather-aware reminders | Yes | No |
| Harvest value tracker | Yes | No |
| Garden journal & photo log | Yes | Premium only |
| Local community feed | Yes | No |
| Seed & seedling marketplace | Yes | No |
| Companion planting info | Yes | Yes |
| Works in Canada & internationally | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone app | Yes | Yes |
Why Grove
Where Grove pulls ahead
Harvest tracking that shows your garden's real value
Planter has no harvest tracking at all. Grove's harvest value tracker lets you log everything you pick and automatically calculates the grocery-store equivalent - so you can see exactly what your garden is worth, season over season. It's the feature that turns casual gardening into something you can actually measure.
Reminders that check the weather first
Planter's reminders fire on a schedule regardless of conditions. Grove checks your local forecast before sending a watering nudge - if rain is coming, Grove stays quiet. It sounds like a small thing until you've gotten four watering alerts during a week of rain.
A local gardening community built in
Planter is a solo planning tool. Grove connects you with the gardeners on your street - you can see what's growing nearby, ask questions from people dealing with your exact microclimate, and trade spare seedlings without driving to a nursery. That community layer makes every growing season better.
More gardens, always free
Planter's free tier limits you to a single garden. A second raised bed or a balcony container setup means upgrading to $29.99/year. Grove's free plan has no such limit - log as many beds, containers, and growing spaces as you actually have.
Where Planter falls short
One garden on the free plan
A single garden per free account is a tight restriction. Most gardeners with more than a 4×4 raised bed will need multiple layouts - and Planter locks those behind the subscription.
No harvest tracking or analytics
Once you've planned and planted, Planter doesn't help you track what you harvest. There's no yield log, no grocery savings calculation, and no way to compare seasons. You're back to a notebook for the most satisfying part of the growing year.
No community or social layer
Planter has no way to connect with other gardeners. No feed, no messaging, no marketplace. Everything happens in a silo - just you and your layout, with no way to learn from the people growing in the same conditions.
The verdict
Planter is a polished, approachable planner that serves beginners well. But when your garden grows beyond one bed and you want harvest analytics, weather-smart reminders, and a community of local growers, Grove is ready for that next level - free, from the first day.
Try Grove free - see the difference.
Join the waitlist and your first month of Grove+ is on us. No credit card needed.