Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

Allflex Livestock Intelligence vs METER Group ZENTRA

Allflex Livestock Intelligence logo

Allflex Livestock Intelligence

Agriculture

SenseHub cow monitoring where the collar, the software and the reader come as one per-animal monthly fee

From
3.83/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
METER Group ZENTRA logo

METER Group ZENTRA

Agriculture

Research-grade soil, plant and atmosphere sensors with the ZENTRA Cloud data platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Allflex Livestock Intelligence the subscription version never ends: at published New Zealand rates a 400-cow herd on the Premium plan pays roughly 22,700 dollars a year indefinitely, which over a ten-year collar life exceeds what an outright purchase would have cost.; METER Group ZENTRA hardware costs several times what commodity soil probes cost, so a farm that only needs a rough irrigation trigger is paying for calibration accuracy it will never use.
  • They diverge on capability: Allflex Livestock Intelligence covers Heat detection, METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Allflex Livestock Intelligence and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where Allflex Livestock Intelligence and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeAllflex Livestock IntelligenceMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price3.83/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer cow per monthPer device subscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb, iOS, Android

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 Allflex Livestock Intelligence

  • Heat detection
  • Health monitoring
  • SenseHub Beef and Feedlot
  • Transition cow monitoring
  • Group nutrition reporting
  • Sorting gate control
  • Electronic identification
  • Herd management integration

Only in METER Group ZENTRA

  • TEROS soil sensors
  • Water potential measurement
  • ZL6 data loggers
  • ZENTRA Cloud
  • Threshold alerts
  • Open API
  • ATMOS weather stations

What people use each for

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

Allflex Livestock Intelligence

  • A 400-cow dairy replacing tail paint and a synchronisation programme with automated heat detectionnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • A herd manager who wants fresh cow problems flagged on day two rather than found on day fivenot METER Group ZENTRA
  • A feedlot monitoring pen-level rumination to spot a ration problem before intakes dropnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • A farm installing a drafting gate so flagged cows are separated automatically at exit rather than by handnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

  • A university soil physics group that needs measurements defensible enough for peer reviewnot Allflex Livestock Intelligence
  • An irrigation district accounting for water applied and lost across a schemenot Allflex Livestock Intelligence
  • A vineyard managing deficit irrigation from water potential rather than volumetric moisture alonenot Allflex Livestock Intelligence
  • An environmental consultancy monitoring a remediation or drainage site where the data may be contestednot Allflex Livestock Intelligence

Where each one falls short

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

Allflex Livestock Intelligence

  • The subscription version never ends: at published New Zealand rates a 400-cow herd on the Premium plan pays roughly 22,700 dollars a year indefinitely, which over a ten-year collar life exceeds what an outright purchase would have cost.
  • The software only works with Allflex sensors, so a farm that wants to change monitoring supplier replaces every collar or tag on every animal, which is the switching cost that keeps herds in place.
  • Automated sorting requires a drafting gate that is a separate capital purchase, published in New Zealand at 38,200 to 53,500 dollars plus GST, so the alerts are only as useful as your willingness to fetch cows by hand until you buy one.
  • Pricing is published in only a few markets and varies with herd size and distributor, so a buyer in North America or Europe cannot benchmark a quote without doing the cross-market conversion themselves.
  • Integration into herd management packages is partner-dependent rather than universal, and a farm running an uncommon local herd recording system may find data has to be exported and reconciled rather than flowing across.

METER Group ZENTRA

  • Hardware costs several times what commodity soil probes cost, so a farm that only needs a rough irrigation trigger is paying for calibration accuracy it will never use.
  • ZENTRA Cloud is a per-device subscription, so a large sensor network carries a recurring bill that grows linearly with every probe added and is easy to underestimate at design stage.
  • The three-year subscription bundled with the ZL6 Pro means the renewal decision arrives exactly when a typical research grant has ended, which is how long-running datasets get abandoned.
  • METER sells measurement rather than recommendations; there is no irrigation scheduling engine, so someone has to turn the numbers into decisions or buy a second platform that will.
  • Installation quality dominates results with soil sensors, and a badly installed TEROS probe produces confidently wrong data, so the accuracy you paid for depends on field technique the vendor cannot supply.

Pricing, plan by plan

Allflex Livestock Intelligence

3.83/month
  • SenseHub Collar Starter$3.83/month
    • Heat detection only
    • Per cow per month, excluding GST
    • Collar, shed setup and NFC stick reader included
  • SenseHub Collar Premium$4.73/month
    • Heat, health and rumination monitoring
    • Per cow per month, excluding GST
    • Collar, shed setup and NFC stick reader included
  • SenseHub purchased system$undefined/year
    • Capital purchase of tags, controller and licence
    • Starter, Advanced and Premium application tiers
    • Quoted regionally through distributors

METER Group ZENTRA

On request
  • ZENTRA Cloud$undefined/year
    • Priced per activated device, pay for what you use
    • Three year subscription included with the ZL6 Pro logger
    • Cellular data included in the device subscription

Which should you pick?

Choose Allflex Livestock Intelligence if

  • You need heat detection.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want health monitoring.
Allflex Livestock Intelligence review

Choose METER Group ZENTRA if

  • You need teros soil sensors.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want water potential measurement.
METER Group ZENTRA review

Questions people ask

Is Allflex Livestock Intelligence or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. Allflex Livestock Intelligence starts at 3.83/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Allflex Livestock Intelligence or METER Group ZENTRA?
Allflex Livestock Intelligence starts at 3.83/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does Allflex Livestock Intelligence or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
Allflex Livestock Intelligence runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Allflex Livestock Intelligence best used for?
Allflex Livestock Intelligence is most often used for a 400-cow dairy replacing tail paint and a synchronisation programme with automated heat detection, a herd manager who wants fresh cow problems flagged on day two rather than found on day five, a feedlot monitoring pen-level rumination to spot a ration problem before intakes drop, a farm installing a drafting gate so flagged cows are separated automatically at exit rather than by hand. Of those, a 400-cow dairy replacing tail paint and a synchronisation programme with automated heat detection and a herd manager who wants fresh cow problems flagged on day two rather than found on day five are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can Allflex Livestock Intelligence do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
Allflex Livestock Intelligence covers Heat detection, Health monitoring, SenseHub Beef and Feedlot, Transition cow monitoring. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Allflex Livestock Intelligence: Does the software work without Allflex tags?

No. SenseHub reads Allflex sensors only, so the software and hardware are a single purchase decision.

METER Group ZENTRA: Is ZENTRA Cloud included with the loggers?

A three-year subscription is included with the ZL6 Pro. Other loggers require a separate per-device subscription.

Allflex Livestock Intelligence: What does SenseHub cost per cow?

Where published, a collar Starter plan is around 3.83 New Zealand dollars per cow per month and Premium around 4.73, both excluding GST and both varying with herd size and region.

METER Group ZENTRA: Do I need a separate cellular data plan?

No. Cellular data is covered within the device subscription rather than billed as a separate SIM contract.

Allflex Livestock Intelligence: Is there a way to buy it outright instead of subscribing?

Yes, the purchased system remains available with Starter, Advanced and Premium licence tiers, quoted through distributors. SenseHub GO is the subscription alternative.

METER Group ZENTRA: Will it tell me when to irrigate?

No. METER provides measurement, not scheduling recommendations. You either interpret the data yourself or feed it into a scheduling platform.

Allflex Livestock Intelligence: Do I need a drafting gate?

Not to receive alerts, but without one you fetch flagged cows manually. Gates are a separate five-figure capital purchase.

METER Group ZENTRA: Why is it more expensive than commodity soil probes?

Individual sensor calibration and documented measurement physics, which is what makes the data hold up in research, regulatory and legal contexts.

Share

Related pages

More on Allflex Livestock Intelligence

More on METER Group ZENTRA

Keep looking

Other head to heads