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Agriculture · head to head

Bushel vs Lely Horizon

Bushel logo

Bushel

Agriculture

Digital infrastructure for grain

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 Bushel has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bushel pricing is not published for the agribusiness products; 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: Bushel covers Digital scale tickets, 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 Bushel and Lely Horizon actually diverge.

Attributes where Bushel and Lely Horizon differ
AttributeBushelLely Horizon
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, Windows
Founded2017Unknown

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 Bushel

  • Digital scale tickets
  • Contract management
  • Settlement tracking
  • Delivery scheduling
  • Multi-location management
  • Price notifications
  • Offer management
  • Mobile access

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.

Bushel

  • Grain trading and contract workflows between farmers and elevatorsnot Lely Horizon
  • Payments between agribusinesses and growersnot Lely Horizon
  • Quoting and CRM for ag retailersnot Lely Horizon
  • Replacing paper processes across the grain supply chainnot 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 Bushel
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Bushel
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Bushel
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Bushel

Where each one falls short

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

Bushel

  • Pricing is not published for the agribusiness products
  • Sold as many separate modules, including CRM, portals, Trade, Bushel Pay, quoting and loyalty
  • Its value depends on network effects across the 3,500 grain and ag retail facilities already connected

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

Bushel

Free
  • Bushel FarmFree
    • Grain contracts & settlements
    • Scale ticket access
    • Delivery scheduling
  • Bushel for Elevators$undefined/month
    • Customer portal
    • Mobile ticketing
    • Offer management

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 Bushel if

  • You need digital scale tickets.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want contract management.
Bushel 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 Bushel or Lely Horizon better?
Neither clearly leads. Bushel 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, Bushel or Lely Horizon?
Bushel has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Bushel and On request for Lely Horizon.
Does Bushel or Lely Horizon run on more platforms?
Bushel runs on Web, Ios, Android. Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
Can I use Bushel for free?
Yes. Bushel has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lely Horizon starts at On request.
What is Bushel best used for?
Bushel is most often used for grain trading and contract workflows between farmers and elevators, payments between agribusinesses and growers, quoting and crm for ag retailers, replacing paper processes across the grain supply chain. Of those, grain trading and contract workflows between farmers and elevators and payments between agribusinesses and growers are not what Lely Horizon is typically brought in for.
What can Bushel do that Lely Horizon cannot?
Bushel covers Digital scale tickets, Contract management, Settlement tracking, Delivery scheduling. Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bushel: What subscription tiers does Bushel offer?

Bushel offers multiple tiers for farmers including Rainfall, Lite, and Essentials. Specific pricing and feature comparisons are available on their pricing page at bushelpowered.com/farmers/oldpricing.

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.

Bushel: Does Bushel offer services for agribusinesses beyond farmers?

Yes. Bushel serves agribusinesses with solutions including Customer Relationship Management, Customer Portal, Commercial Portal, Trade, Bushel Pay, Farm Management, Website Management, Professional Services, Loyalty Program, and Quoting.

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.

Bushel: Does Bushel offer payment processing?

Yes. Bushel Business Account includes payment processing with interest-bearing capabilities. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. Interest rates are variable and subject to change.

Source
Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

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

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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