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Agriculture · head to head

Cropin vs Lely Horizon

Cropin logo

Cropin

Agriculture

Agri-intelligence platform for organisations running programmes across thousands of smallholder farms

From
On request
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

  • Each has a real cost: Cropin data quality depends on field agents entering records honestly and consistently, so an organisation without an existing extension network has to build one before the software returns anything useful.; 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: Cropin covers Plot digitisation, 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 Cropin and Lely Horizon actually diverge.

Attributes where Cropin and Lely Horizon differ
AttributeCropinLely Horizon
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Cropin

  • Plot digitisation
  • Field agent mobile app
  • Satellite crop monitoring
  • Yield prediction
  • Traceability
  • Farmer advisory
  • Risk scoring
  • Data hub

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.

Cropin

  • A food company that must demonstrate where a crop was grown and under what practices, across thousands of contract growersnot Lely Horizon
  • A bank or insurer that needs an independent view of yield and risk before lending against a harvestnot Lely Horizon
  • A development programme reporting outcomes to a donor across multiple countries and cropsnot Lely Horizon
  • A seed or input business tracking demonstration plots and field trial performance at scalenot 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 Cropin
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Cropin
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Cropin
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Cropin

Where each one falls short

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

Cropin

  • Data quality depends on field agents entering records honestly and consistently, so an organisation without an existing extension network has to build one before the software returns anything useful.
  • Satellite-derived yield and health estimates degrade on small fragmented plots and during monsoon cloud cover, which is precisely where much of the customer base operates.
  • It is not a tool for running a single farm, so an individual grower or estate evaluating it will find an enterprise programme platform with no meaningful single-farm workflow.
  • Contracts are typically project shaped and tied to programme or donor funding, so the software can be switched off when a funding round ends rather than renewed on its merits.
  • There is no equipment telemetry or machinery integration of consequence, so any customer that also runs a mechanised operation needs a second platform for that side of the business.

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

Cropin

On request
  • Cropin Cloud$undefined/year
    • Quoted per programme, by grower count and geography
    • Field agent licences and implementation services quoted separately
    • Satellite and imagery layers often priced by area monitored

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 Cropin if

  • You need plot digitisation.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want field agent mobile app.
Cropin 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 Cropin or Lely Horizon better?
Neither clearly leads. Cropin starts at On request and Lely Horizon at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cropin or Lely Horizon?
Cropin starts at On request and Lely Horizon at On request.
Does Cropin or Lely Horizon run on more platforms?
Cropin runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
What is Cropin best used for?
Cropin is most often used for a food company that must demonstrate where a crop was grown and under what practices, across thousands of contract growers, a bank or insurer that needs an independent view of yield and risk before lending against a harvest, a development programme reporting outcomes to a donor across multiple countries and crops, a seed or input business tracking demonstration plots and field trial performance at scale. Of those, a food company that must demonstrate where a crop was grown and under what practices, across thousands of contract growers and a bank or insurer that needs an independent view of yield and risk before lending against a harvest are not what Lely Horizon is typically brought in for.
What can Cropin do that Lely Horizon cannot?
Cropin covers Plot digitisation, Field agent mobile app, Satellite crop monitoring, Yield prediction. Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cropin: Can an individual farm buy Cropin?

In practice no. It is sold to organisations managing many growers, and the pricing and implementation model assume programme scale.

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.

Cropin: Does it need field staff on the ground?

Yes for most deployments. Satellite layers supplement agent-collected data, they do not replace it.

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.

Cropin: Which regions is it strongest in?

India, South East Asia and Africa, where smallholder programmes are the dominant structure. Coverage in North America and Europe exists but the reference base is thinner.

Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

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

Cropin: Is pricing published?

No. Everything is quoted by grower count, geography and the modules taken.

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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