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Agriculture · head to head

Ag-Analytics vs SMARTBOW

Ag-Analytics logo

Ag-Analytics

Agriculture

Agricultural data science and AI platform

From
$29/month
Rated
-
SMARTBOW logo

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ag-Analytics the vendor's homepage as captured by the Internet Archive on 16 June 2019 offered the Profit Layers tool as a 30 day free trial then a monthly subscription billed at $0.01 per acre; this capture is over five years old and should be treated as historical, not current pricing; SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • They diverge on capability: Ag-Analytics covers Yield prediction, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ag-Analytics and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where Ag-Analytics and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeAg-AnalyticsSMARTBOW
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, ApiWindows, Web, iOS, Android
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ag-Analytics

  • Yield prediction
  • Sustainability scoring
  • Risk assessment
  • Field boundaries
  • Weather analysis
  • USDA data
  • Satellite providers
  • Farm platforms

Only in SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location
  • Heat detection
  • Rumination monitoring
  • Health alerts
  • On-farm server
  • Individual baselines
  • Herd software integration

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ag-Analytics

  • Yield modelingnot SMARTBOW
  • Risk assessmentnot SMARTBOW
  • Sustainabilitynot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

  • A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot Ag-Analytics
  • A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot Ag-Analytics
  • A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot Ag-Analytics
  • A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot Ag-Analytics

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ag-Analytics

  • The vendor's homepage as captured by the Internet Archive on 16 June 2019 offered the Profit Layers tool as a 30 day free trial then a monthly subscription billed at $0.01 per acre; this capture is over five years old and should be treated as historical, not current pricing

SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
  • Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
  • Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
  • Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ag-Analytics

$29/month
  • API AccessFree
    • Custom pricing
    • API calls
    • Basic data
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Custom pricing
    • Unlimited calls
    • Premium data

SMARTBOW

On request
  • SMARTBOW$undefined/year
    • Ear tags priced per animal
    • Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
    • Installation and commissioning quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Ag-Analytics if

  • You need yield prediction.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want sustainability scoring.

Choose SMARTBOW if

  • You need real-time location.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want heat detection.

Questions people ask

Is Ag-Analytics or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. Ag-Analytics starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ag-Analytics or SMARTBOW?
Ag-Analytics starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does Ag-Analytics or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
Ag-Analytics runs on Web, Api. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is Ag-Analytics best used for?
Ag-Analytics is most often used for yield modeling, risk assessment, sustainability. Of those, yield modeling and risk assessment are not what SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can Ag-Analytics do that SMARTBOW cannot?
Ag-Analytics covers Yield prediction, Sustainability scoring, Risk assessment, Field boundaries. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?

Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.

SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?

Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.

SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?

Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.

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