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Agriculture · head to head

Bushel Farm vs METER Group ZENTRA

Bushel Farm logo

Bushel Farm

Agriculture

All-in-one farm management 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: Bushel Farm actual pricing figures not published on website; 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: Bushel Farm covers Field management, 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 Bushel Farm and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where Bushel Farm and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeBushel FarmMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumPer device subscription
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 Bushel Farm

  • Field management
  • Input tracking
  • Grain marketing
  • Profitability analysis
  • Inventory tracking
  • John Deere
  • Elevator systems
  • Accounting software

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.

Bushel Farm

  • Field-level profitability and cost of production trackingnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Grain contract tracking and price alertsnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Automatic field data import from machinery platformsnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Rainfall and weather records by fieldnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Farm records on a phone in the fieldnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

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

Where each one falls short

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

Bushel Farm

  • Actual pricing figures not published on website
  • Vendor mentions subscription tiers named Lite, Essentials, and standard but displays no prices
  • Requires contacting sales or using form to view pricing details

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

Bushel Farm

$29/month
  • FreeFree
    • Field mapping
    • Activity tracking
    • Basic reports
  • Pro$1500/year
    • Grain marketing
    • Financial tracking
    • Advanced analytics

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 Bushel Farm if

  • You need field management.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want input tracking.
Bushel Farm 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 Bushel Farm or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. Bushel Farm 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, Bushel Farm or METER Group ZENTRA?
Bushel Farm starts at $29/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does Bushel Farm or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
Bushel Farm runs on Web, Ios, Android. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Bushel Farm best used for?
Bushel Farm is most often used for field-level profitability and cost of production tracking, grain contract tracking and price alerts, automatic field data import from machinery platforms, rainfall and weather records by field. Of those, field-level profitability and cost of production tracking and grain contract tracking and price alerts are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can Bushel Farm do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
Bushel Farm covers Field management, Input tracking, Grain marketing, Profitability analysis. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bushel Farm: What is Bushel's pricing model?

Bushel offers tiered subscription plans called Lite, Essentials, and standard options. Specific pricing is not published on the website and requires requesting a quote.

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.

Bushel Farm: Does Bushel offer a free trial?

Yes, Bushel provides a 30-day free trial that allows farmers to test all features before committing to a subscription plan.

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.

Bushel Farm: Can I see Bushel's pricing before contacting sales?

No, Bushel does not publish specific pricing tiers, rates, or features online. To view pricing, you must click through to the pricing page or contact the sales team directly.

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.

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