Education · alternatives
Alternatives to PictureThis
19 education tools sit alongside PictureThis in this directory. Below is what separates each from PictureThis on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 19
- With a free tier
- 17
- Cheaper to start
- -
- PictureThis starts at
- On request
Why people look past PictureThis
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the PictureThis entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for PictureThis carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 17 of the 19 alternatives below can be used without paying.
There is only one tier
PictureThis publishes a single plan, PictureThis Annual at $39.99/year. There is no smaller tier to drop to if the fit is wrong or the budget moves.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Free plant identification app run by a consortium of French public research institutes
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Sold on a Free, no ads and no in-app purchases model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
Free nonprofit wildlife and plant identification app built to be safe for children
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Sold on a Free, no ads and no in-app purchases model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
Free bird identification app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology using photo, sound and step-by-step ID
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Sold on a Free, no ads and no in-app purchases model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
Vocabulary and spaced repetition language app built around video clips of native speakers
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Sold on a Free with a Pro subscription model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
Camera based maths solver that shows step by step working, owned by Google since 2022
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Sold on a Free with a Plus subscription model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
Piano-only learning app from JoyTunes using microphone listening, no MIDI keyboard required
- Can be used without paying; PictureThis cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of $119.99/year, where PictureThis does not.
- Sold on a Per user per year or month model rather than Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews.
- 2 tiers to PictureThis's 1.
Every PictureThis alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PictureThis (this page) | On request | Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews | 1 | |
| Pl@ntNetIf you want free plant identification from a nonprofit research consortium instead of a paid subscription | Free | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Seek by iNaturalistIf you want free identification across all wildlife, not just plants | Free | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Merlin Bird IDIf your actual need is bird identification rather than plants | Free | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Memrise | Free | Free with a Pro subscription | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Photomath | Free | Free with a Plus subscription | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Simply Piano | Free, then $119.99/year | Per user per year or month | 2 | vs PictureThis |
| Elevate | Free | Free with a Pro subscription | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Stellarium | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Flowkey | Free, then $119.99/year | Per user per year or month | 2 | vs PictureThis |
| Lumosity | Free | Free with a subscription | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Sky Guide | Free | Free download with Plus and Pro subscription upgrades | 3 | vs PictureThis |
| Busuu | Free | Free with a Premium subscription | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Star Walk 2 | Free | Freemium, low-cost ad-free subscription upgrade | 2 | vs PictureThis |
| Yousician | Free, then $9.99/month | Per user per month or year | 2 | vs PictureThis |
| Melodics | Free, then $9.99/month | Per user per month or year | 2 | vs PictureThis |
| eBird | Free | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| Anki | Free | Open source, no licence fee except a paid iOS app | 1 | vs PictureThis |
| SkySafari | On request | One-time purchase per tier | 3 | vs PictureThis |
| Jackrabbit Class | $49/month | Per month by student count | 6 | vs PictureThis |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the PictureThis badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (17)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Pl@ntNet , Free
- Seek by iNaturalist , Free
- Merlin Bird ID , Free
- Memrise , Free
- Photomath , Free
- Simply Piano , Free, then $119.99/year
- Elevate , Free
- Stellarium , Free
What you would be giving up
PictureThis is most often brought in for a gardener who wants ongoing care reminders and disease diagnosis, not just a one-off identification, someone willing to pay for a more polished interface than the free nonprofit alternatives, a plant owner who wants toxicity warnings for pets and children, a buyer who reads the trial terms carefully and sets a reminder to cancel before it converts. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If PictureThis is broadly right and the question is cost, the PictureThis pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Education category lists everything the directory holds, and best education tools ranks them.
PictureThis runs on ios, android. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about PictureThis alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to PictureThis?
- 19 other education tools are listed in this directory, led by Pl@ntNet, Seek by iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID, Memrise. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to PictureThis?
- 17 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Pl@ntNet, Seek by iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID, Memrise, Photomath.
- Why do people look for an alternative to PictureThis?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: there is no free tier; there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from PictureThis?
- PictureThis is most often brought in for a gardener who wants ongoing care reminders and disease diagnosis, not just a one-off identification, someone willing to pay for a more polished interface than the free nonprofit alternatives, a plant owner who wants toxicity warnings for pets and children, a buyer who reads the trial terms carefully and sets a reminder to cancel before it converts. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to PictureThis?
- None of the education tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these PictureThis alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Education, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare PictureThis against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against PictureThis covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every education tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Education category, 19 tools beside PictureThis. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.