Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

AgriWater vs Gallagher eShepherd

A

AgriWater

Agriculture

Smart irrigation management platform

From
$45/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Gallagher eShepherd logo

Gallagher eShepherd

Agriculture

Virtual fencing where you own the solar collars outright and pay only a small monthly connectivity fee

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: AgriWater company status: AgriWater's parent company Puricare has ceased trading; current product availability and support status unclear; Gallagher eShepherd gallagher does not publish neckband prices, quoting instead by herd size, region and connectivity type, so the ownership-versus-lease advantage over subscription rivals cannot be verified without a sales conversation.
  • They diverge on capability: AgriWater covers Irrigation scheduling, Gallagher eShepherd covers Map-drawn virtual paddocks.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which AgriWater and Gallagher eShepherd actually diverge.

Attributes where AgriWater and Gallagher eShepherd differ
AttributeAgriWaterGallagher eShepherd
Starting price$45/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 AgriWater

  • Irrigation scheduling
  • Soil moisture monitoring
  • Water usage tracking
  • Pump automation
  • Weather forecasting
  • Valley Irrigation
  • Lindsay Zimmatic
  • Netafim

Only in Gallagher eShepherd

  • Map-drawn virtual paddocks
  • Audio cue then pulse
  • Solar neckband
  • Cellular or LoRa connectivity
  • Animal location tracking
  • Grazing rotation management
  • Exclusion zones
  • Behaviour alerts

What people use each for

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

AgriWater

  • Irrigation optimizationnot Gallagher eShepherd
  • Water conservationnot Gallagher eShepherd
  • Compliance reportingnot Gallagher eShepherd
  • Remote monitoringnot Gallagher eShepherd

Gallagher eShepherd

  • A ranch subdividing a 2,000 acre paddock for rotational grazing without buying a mile of wirenot AgriWater
  • A grazier fencing cattle out of a creek line for a stewardship scheme without building riparian fencenot AgriWater
  • An operation on leased ground where permanent fencing is not permitted or not recoverablenot AgriWater
  • A farm short of labour that needs paddock moves done from a phone rather than a quad bikenot AgriWater

Where each one falls short

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

AgriWater

  • Company status: AgriWater's parent company Puricare has ceased trading; current product availability and support status unclear
  • Limited publicly available documentation and technical specifications

Gallagher eShepherd

  • Gallagher does not publish neckband prices, quoting instead by herd size, region and connectivity type, so the ownership-versus-lease advantage over subscription rivals cannot be verified without a sales conversation.
  • A minimum of about 20 animals is needed to train a mob, which rules out smallholders and makes the system awkward for operations that run many small separate groups.
  • It is cattle only: sheep, goats and deer are not supported, so a mixed grazing enterprise still needs conventional fencing for everything else.
  • The connectivity fee is per active neckband and continues indefinitely, so the collars are yours but the system stops fencing if you stop paying, which is the same dependency as a subscription with a different label.
  • Virtual fencing is regulated inconsistently: some jurisdictions restrict or have not yet ruled on aversive-stimulus containment, and welfare-scheme or organic certifier acceptance varies, so eligibility should be checked locally before ordering.

Pricing, plan by plan

AgriWater

$45/month
  • Basic$45/month
    • Irrigation scheduling
    • Soil moisture data
    • Weather integration
  • Professional$125/month
    • All Basic features
    • Pump control
    • Water usage analytics
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Multi-site management
    • API access
    • Custom integrations

Gallagher eShepherd

On request
  • eShepherd neckband$undefined/year
    • Neckbands purchased outright, not leased per head
    • Small fixed monthly connectivity fee per active neckband
    • Fees charged only on active bands

Which should you pick?

Choose AgriWater if

  • You need irrigation scheduling.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want soil moisture monitoring.
AgriWater review

Choose Gallagher eShepherd if

  • You need map-drawn virtual paddocks.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want audio cue then pulse.
Gallagher eShepherd review

Questions people ask

Is AgriWater or Gallagher eShepherd better?
Neither clearly leads. AgriWater starts at $45/month and Gallagher eShepherd at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, AgriWater or Gallagher eShepherd?
AgriWater starts at $45/month and Gallagher eShepherd at On request.
Does AgriWater or Gallagher eShepherd run on more platforms?
AgriWater runs on Web, Ios, Android. Gallagher eShepherd runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is AgriWater best used for?
AgriWater is most often used for irrigation optimization, water conservation, compliance reporting, remote monitoring. Of those, irrigation optimization and water conservation are not what Gallagher eShepherd is typically brought in for.
What can AgriWater do that Gallagher eShepherd cannot?
AgriWater covers Irrigation scheduling, Soil moisture monitoring, Water usage tracking, Pump automation. Gallagher eShepherd covers Map-drawn virtual paddocks, Audio cue then pulse, Solar neckband, Cellular or LoRa connectivity.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

AgriWater: What is AgriWater technology?

AgriWater is a nature-based water treatment technology that accelerates regenerative outcomes in agriculture by increasing the effectiveness of existing irrigation water and creating favorable conditions for soil microbial activity. It is a compact water treatment system easily incorporated into existing water distribution networks.

Source
Gallagher eShepherd: Do I lease the collars or own them?

You buy them outright. The ongoing cost is a small monthly connectivity fee per active neckband, not a per-head lease.

AgriWater: How widely has AgriWater been tested?

AgriWater has been scientifically researched and practically proven on over 300 operational farms in more than 10 countries on 4 continents, covering around 60,000 hectares of land and managing more than 400 billion litres of water per year.

Gallagher eShepherd: Do I need base stations?

Not with the cellular version, which uses existing mobile networks. The LoRa version needs small on-property base stations and suits areas with poor coverage.

AgriWater: Who developed AgriWater?

AgriWater was developed by R&D company Puricare as part of a suite of applications and services.

Gallagher eShepherd: How many cattle do I need?

At least 20 to train a mob, after which groups can be split into smaller mobs as long as each contains leaders and followers.

Gallagher eShepherd: Does it work for sheep?

No. eShepherd is a cattle system.

Share

Related pages

More on AgriWater

More on Gallagher eShepherd

Keep looking

Other head to heads