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Agriculture · head to head

Agronomic vs Lely Horizon

A

Agronomic

Agriculture

Data-driven nutrient management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lely Horizon logo

Lely Horizon

Agriculture

Dairy herd management software billed per lactating cow that only runs a Lely robot barn

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Agronomic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Agronomic add-on only to FieldAlytics, not a standalone product; Lely Horizon billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.
  • They diverge on capability: Agronomic covers Soil analysis, Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Agronomic and Lely Horizon actually diverge.

Attributes where Agronomic and Lely Horizon differ
AttributeAgronomicLely Horizon
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, iOS, Android, Windows
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Agronomic

  • Soil analysis
  • Nutrient recommendations
  • Variable rate maps
  • Tissue testing
  • Fertility planning
  • Climate FieldView
  • John Deere
  • Ag Leader

Only in Lely Horizon

  • Per-cow milking data
  • Health and fertility alerts
  • Work list generation
  • Feed management
  • Farm Management Support
  • Multi-site view
  • Mobile alerts
  • Reporting and benchmarking

What people use each for

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

Agronomic

  • Soil samplingnot Lely Horizon
  • Nutrient planningnot Lely Horizon
  • Variable rate fertilizernot Lely Horizon
  • Crop consultingnot Lely Horizon

Lely Horizon

  • A 180-cow dairy running four Astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a daynot Agronomic
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Agronomic
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Agronomic
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Agronomic

Where each one falls short

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

Agronomic

  • Add-on only to FieldAlytics, not a standalone product
  • Pricing requires sales contact, not transparently published
  • Takes 3-4 days to reflect rainfall impacts in recommendations
  • No direct competitor to Climate FieldView's broader analytics capabilities

Lely Horizon

  • Billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.
  • Horizon is not optional: the barn equipment depends on it, so the subscription cannot be cancelled in a difficult year the way a discretionary analytics tool can, which removes any negotiating position at renewal.
  • It manages Lely equipment and effectively nothing else, so a farm running a Lely robot alongside a conventional parlour or another manufacturer's feeder ends up with two systems and no combined cow record.
  • The migration from the older T4C system was compulsory and rebuilt the interface and reporting, and farms that had years of T4C reports and custom lists found the equivalents either missing or shaped differently, costing retraining time.
  • Everything is bought and supported through the local Lely Center, so pricing, response time and the quality of advice vary by dealer with no published rate card, and a farm with a weak local centre has no practical alternative supplier.

Pricing, plan by plan

Agronomic

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Basic soil analysis
    • Weather data
    • Limited recommendations
  • Professional$89/month
    • Advanced soil testing
    • Nutrient management
    • Prescription maps
  • Consultant$199/month
    • Multi-client management
    • White-label reports
    • API access

Lely Horizon

On request
  • Horizon Basic$undefined/month
    • Core robot operation and monitoring
    • Per lactating cow subscription
    • Invoiced digitally by the local Lely Center
  • Horizon Control$undefined/month
    • Adds herd management and fertility tooling
    • Per lactating cow subscription
  • Horizon Advance$undefined/month
    • Adds analysis, benchmarking and advisor tooling
    • Per lactating cow subscription

Which should you pick?

Choose Agronomic if

  • You need soil analysis.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want nutrient recommendations.
Agronomic review

Choose Lely Horizon if

  • You need per-cow milking data.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want health and fertility alerts.
Lely Horizon review

Questions people ask

Is Agronomic or Lely Horizon better?
Neither clearly leads. Agronomic starts at Free and Lely Horizon at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Agronomic or Lely Horizon?
Agronomic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Agronomic and On request for Lely Horizon.
Does Agronomic or Lely Horizon run on more platforms?
Agronomic runs on Web, Mobile. Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
Can I use Agronomic for free?
Yes. Agronomic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lely Horizon starts at On request.
What is Agronomic best used for?
Agronomic is most often used for soil sampling, nutrient planning, variable rate fertilizer, crop consulting. Of those, soil sampling and nutrient planning are not what Lely Horizon is typically brought in for.
What can Agronomic do that Lely Horizon cannot?
Agronomic covers Soil analysis, Nutrient recommendations, Variable rate maps, Tissue testing. Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Agronomic: How does Adapt-N generate nitrogen recommendations?

Adapt-N uses 13 interconnected models that process soil characteristics, crop history, real-time weather data, manure applications, and irrigation information to generate field-specific nitrogen recommendations. It requires a minimum of 7 core data inputs, though spatial data significantly improves accuracy.

Source
Lely Horizon: How is Lely Horizon priced?

As a subscription per lactating cow milked by the Astronaut robots, in Basic, Control and Advance tiers. Lely does not publish rates; the local Lely Center quotes them.

Agronomic: Where is Adapt-N available?

Adapt-N is available across the lower 48 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.

Source
Lely Horizon: Can I run Horizon without Lely robots?

No. It is the control and management layer for Lely equipment and has no meaningful function without it.

Agronomic: Is Adapt-N a standalone product or add-on?

Adapt-N is an optional paid add-on service for FieldAlytics users. It is not available as a standalone product; farmers must use it through the FieldAlytics platform via Ever.Ag.

Source
Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

Horizon replaced it. Migration was required rather than optional, and reporting was rebuilt rather than ported.

Agronomic: How long does Adapt-N take to reflect weather changes?

Adapt-N takes 3 to 4 days after rainfall events to fully reflect environmental impacts in its nitrogen recommendations.

Source
Lely Horizon: Does the subscription end when the robot is paid off?

No. It continues for as long as the robots are milking, which is the cost most robot business cases understate.

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