Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

Arable vs METER Group ZENTRA

Arable logo

Arable

Agriculture

In-field crop intelligence platform

From
$29/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: Arable requires the Mark 3 field sensor, so it is a hardware deployment rather than a software subscription; 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: Arable covers Weather monitoring, 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 Arable and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where Arable and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeArableMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer device subscription
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, HardwareWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2014Unknown

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 Arable

  • Weather monitoring
  • Evapotranspiration
  • Chlorophyll index
  • Disease risk models
  • Growth stage tracking
  • Climate FieldView
  • John Deere
  • Trimble

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.

Arable

  • In-field weather and crop monitoring from a single sensornot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Irrigation scheduling based on measured conditionsnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Water sustainability reporting for enterprise growersnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Weather risk management across dispersed fieldsnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

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

Where each one falls short

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

Arable

  • Requires the Mark 3 field sensor, so it is a hardware deployment rather than a software subscription
  • Pricing is not published and goes through a sales conversation
  • Aimed at enterprise growers and advisors rather than smallholders

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

Arable

$29/month
  • Standard$1200/device/year
    • Weather data
    • Crop stress
    • Basic analytics
  • Premium$2400/device/year
    • Full analytics
    • Disease models
    • API access

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 Arable if

  • You need weather monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Hardware.
  • You also want evapotranspiration.
Arable 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 Arable or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. Arable starts at $29/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, Arable or METER Group ZENTRA?
Arable starts at $29/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does Arable or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
Arable runs on Web, Ios, Android, Hardware. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Arable best used for?
Arable is most often used for in-field weather and crop monitoring from a single sensor, irrigation scheduling based on measured conditions, water sustainability reporting for enterprise growers, weather risk management across dispersed fields. Of those, in-field weather and crop monitoring from a single sensor and irrigation scheduling based on measured conditions are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can Arable do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
Arable covers Weather monitoring, Evapotranspiration, Chlorophyll index, Disease risk models. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Arable: How do I get pricing for Arable?

Pricing is not published online. Customers can contact Arable directly at [email protected] or by phone at 510-992-4095, or visit their contact page at /contact to request pricing information.

Source
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.

Arable: Is there a free trial available?

The website does not mention a free trial. Interested customers should contact the company directly to inquire about trial availability.

Source
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.

Arable: Can I get pricing without speaking to sales?

No. Pricing information is only available through direct contact with Arable via email, phone, or their contact form. There is no self-service pricing page.

Source
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.

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 Arable

More on METER Group ZENTRA

Keep looking

Other head to heads