Which garden app fits you?
Here's how Gardiflora compares to Planta, Gardenize, RHS Grow and GardenGuide. None of those other apps measure what your garden does for nature. Gardiflora does.
The European garden-app market splits into four camps
Most garden apps do one thing reasonably well and the rest not at all. PictureThis, PlantNet and Flora Incognita identify plants. Planta and RHS Grow remind you to water. Gardenize is a garden journal. Permapeople lets permaculture enthusiasts draw out food forests. What none of them do: tell you what your garden actually means for bees, birds and soil life. That last part is the whole point of Gardiflora.
Feature comparison
What each app does and doesn't do for someone who wants to garden ecologically.
| Gardiflora | Planta | Gardenize | RHS Grow | GardenGuide | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI plant identification | ✅ via PlantNet | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Garden organisation (zones, biotopes, structures) | ✅ deep | ⚠️ rooms only | ⚠️ areas only | ❌ | ⚠️ zones only |
| Seasonal tasks per plant | ✅ | ⚠️ care only | ⚠️ regional calendars as separate apps | ⚠️ care only | ✅ |
| Biodiversity / Eco-Score | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| NL, EN, FR, DE in one app | ✅ all four | EN-led | ✅ all four | EN-UK only | NL only |
| iOS, Android and web | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | iOS and Android | iOS only |
⚠️ means the feature exists but is more limited than in Gardiflora. No pricing row: most competitors only surface prices inside the App Store or Play Store, which makes a fair head-to-head unreliable.
Gardiflora vs Planta
Planta is large and polished, with a self-reported 7 million users. But at its core it's still a houseplant app. Your garden is called a 'room', the reminders are about watering, and outdoor gardening only came later. For someone who gardens outside and wants to include nature in that, there's not much to work with. Gardiflora was built for the outdoors from day one, and thinks in biotopes instead of rooms.
Gardiflora vs Gardenize
Gardenize is a solid garden journal. Photos, notes, looking back at what you did in July last year. What it doesn't do: identify plants, give you an ecological score, or offer seasonal tasks in the same app (Gardenize sells its regional calendars as separate apps per country). Gardiflora is more focused on now: what's growing in my garden, what can I do this month, and what does that do ecologically?
Gardiflora vs RHS Grow
RHS Grow has the kind of authority you don't build overnight, with a curated library of 35,000 plants and even its own plant chatbot. The catch: the app is deliberately UK-only and English-only (RHS itself cites charity funding as the reason). There's no ecological score either. For someone who wants to garden in Dutch, French or German, RHS Grow simply isn't an option.
Gardiflora vs GardenGuide (Jouw tuincoach)
GardenGuide is the closest match in concept to Gardiflora: a Dutch garden coach with auto-generated maintenance tasks. An honest indie project from a single maker. iOS-only, no plant identification, no ecological score. Gardiflora runs on iOS, Android and web, with plant identification via PlantNet and a score for what your garden does for nature. That last part is the whole reason I started building Gardiflora.
Plant-ID apps are a different kind of tool
Apps like PlantNet, PictureThis and Flora Incognita do one very specific thing: get from a photo to a plant name. They're good at it. But organising a garden, or tracking what needs doing, simply isn't their job. Different task. Gardiflora's plant identification actually runs on PlantNet, the European scientific citizen-science network. So think of them as allies more than competitors.
What makes Gardiflora different: the Ecoscore
No other European garden app measures what your garden does for nature. I went looking. Gardiflora does: every plant, biotope and structure earns points for pollination, habitat, biodiversity, soil health and ecological risks. Added together they make a garden score between 0 and 100, that grows alongside your garden.
How the Ecoscore works →What Gardiflora isn't (yet)
Gardiflora is young and a long way from finished. The app is built for ecological gardening in the broad sense, from a modest ornamental border to a full naturalistic garden or food forest. What it isn't: a day-precise vegetable-garden planner with sowing and harvest calendars. There's also no 2D garden layout with canopy layers, the way Permapeople has. If your main thing is sowing and harvesting on exact dates, a dedicated vegetable-garden app will serve you better.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good alternative to MijnTuin.org?
MijnTuin shut down in May 2024 and left more than 230,000 Dutch-speaking gardeners without an app. Gardiflora is a new garden app built by someone who actually gardens, with an Ecoscore for biodiversity. More on Gardiflora as a MijnTuin alternative.
Which garden app measures the ecological impact of my garden?
As far as I know, Gardiflora is currently the only European garden app with a built-in Ecoscore. Other apps do one of the familiar things: identify plants, send reminders, or keep a journal. A score for pollination, habitat and biodiversity isn't in any of them.
What's the difference between Gardiflora and Planta?
Planta is a care app built up around houseplants, and only moved outdoors later. Gardiflora has been an outdoor garden app from the start, with biotopes and an ecological score. Put differently: Planta is mostly concerned with whether the Ficus has had enough water, Gardiflora looks at what your whole garden does for bees, birds and soil life.
Is there a garden app with plant identification in English, Dutch, French and German?
Yes. Gardiflora is fully available in English, Dutch, French and German in a single app, with plant identification built in via a partnership with PlantNet.
What's the difference between Gardiflora and Gardenize?
Gardenize is essentially a garden journal: you record afterwards what you did. Gardiflora is more focused on now: it shows per plant what can be done this month, and gives an ecological score for your whole garden. Plant identification, by the way, is built into Gardiflora as standard, but not into Gardenize.
