Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

Cropin vs Soil Scout

Cropin logo

Cropin

Agriculture

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Soil Scout logo

Soil Scout

Agriculture

Buried wireless soil sensors with a ten to twenty year battery and no cables to the surface

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.; Soil Scout sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • They diverge on capability: Cropin covers Plot digitisation, Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cropin and Soil Scout actually diverge.

Attributes where Cropin and Soil Scout differ
AttributeCropinSoil Scout
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

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 Soil Scout

  • Fully buried sensors
  • Ten to twenty year battery
  • Underground radio
  • Dual depth sensing
  • Moisture, temperature and salinity
  • Soil Scout Hub
  • Web service API
  • Long base station range

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 Soil Scout
  • A bank or insurer that needs an independent view of yield and risk before lending against a harvestnot Soil Scout
  • A development programme reporting outcomes to a donor across multiple countries and cropsnot Soil Scout
  • A seed or input business tracking demonstration plots and field trial performance at scalenot Soil Scout

Soil Scout

  • A golf course monitoring greens moisture where a surface-mounted probe would be hit by mowers and playnot Cropin
  • A stadium pitch under a closed roof where hand-held probing is impractical during the seasonnot Cropin
  • A research plot needing consistent multi-year soil data below cultivation depthnot Cropin
  • An irrigated field where a surface logger would not survive tillage or a spray boomnot 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.

Soil Scout

  • Sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • No pricing is published at all, which makes it hard to justify against commodity probes that quote openly, and per-sensor cost is well above the alternatives.
  • It measures but does not control, so tying moisture readings to actual irrigation decisions requires either manual interpretation or a separate integration project with the control system.
  • Underground radio range depends on soil type and moisture; heavy wet clay attenuates the signal and can force more base stations than the headline kilometre figure suggests.
  • The company is small and Finland-based, so outside its established golf and sports turf distribution the support, spares and installation expertise depend entirely on whether a competent local distributor exists.

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

Soil Scout

On request
  • Soil Scout$undefined/year
    • Sensors and base station quoted per site
    • Hub subscription terms quoted with the hardware
    • No individual sensor data plans required

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 Soil Scout if

  • You need fully buried sensors.
  • You also want ten to twenty year battery.
Soil Scout review

Questions people ask

Is Cropin or Soil Scout better?
Neither clearly leads. Cropin starts at On request and Soil Scout at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cropin or Soil Scout?
Cropin starts at On request and Soil Scout at On request.
Does Cropin or Soil Scout run on more platforms?
Cropin runs on Web, iOS, Android. Soil Scout runs on Web.
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 Soil Scout is typically brought in for.
What can Cropin do that Soil Scout cannot?
Cropin covers Plot digitisation, Field agent mobile app, Satellite crop monitoring, Yield prediction. Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors, Ten to twenty year battery, Underground radio, Dual depth sensing.

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.

Soil Scout: How long do the sensors last?

Up to ten years for the Happi100 and up to twenty for the Hydra100, buried, with no battery replacement.

Cropin: Does it need field staff on the ground?

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

Soil Scout: Do the sensors need mobile data plans?

No. Sensors transmit to a base station through the soil, and only the base station uses a cellular modem.

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.

Soil Scout: Can it control irrigation directly?

No. It is a measurement and alerting system; controlling valves needs an integration with your irrigation controller through the API.

Cropin: Is pricing published?

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

Soil Scout: What happens if a buried sensor fails?

You dig it up. There is no remote service option, which is the trade-off for having nothing above ground to damage.

Share

Related pages

More on Cropin

More on Soil Scout

Keep looking

Other head to heads