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Agriculture · head to head

CropX vs METER Group ZENTRA

CropX logo

CropX

Agriculture

Soil intelligence for precision irrigation

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: CropX no pricing information is published; customers must request a demo and contact sales.; 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: CropX covers Soil moisture sensing, 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 CropX and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where CropX and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeCropXMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer device subscription
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, HardwareWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2015Unknown

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 CropX

  • Soil moisture sensing
  • Irrigation scheduling
  • Salinity monitoring
  • Root zone analysis
  • Weather integration
  • Valley Irrigation
  • Lindsay
  • Netafim

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.

CropX

  • Scheduling irrigation from continuous soil moisture sensor readingsnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Monitoring disease risk and crop nutrition against in-field weather datanot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Combining sensor, weather and satellite data in a single farm management systemnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

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

Where each one falls short

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

CropX

  • No pricing information is published; customers must request a demo and contact sales.
  • Pricing likely depends on number of sensors, fields, farms, and users, but no rate structure is disclosed.

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

CropX

$29/month
  • Basic$250/sensor/year
    • Soil moisture
    • Temperature
    • Basic analytics
  • Advanced$500/sensor/year
    • Full analytics
    • Irrigation recommendations
    • 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 CropX if

  • You need soil moisture sensing.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Hardware.
  • You also want irrigation scheduling.
CropX 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 CropX or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. CropX 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, CropX or METER Group ZENTRA?
CropX starts at $29/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does CropX or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
CropX runs on Web, Ios, Android, Hardware. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is CropX best used for?
CropX is most often used for scheduling irrigation from continuous soil moisture sensor readings, monitoring disease risk and crop nutrition against in-field weather data, combining sensor, weather and satellite data in a single farm management system. Of those, scheduling irrigation from continuous soil moisture sensor readings and monitoring disease risk and crop nutrition against in-field weather data are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can CropX do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
CropX covers Soil moisture sensing, Irrigation scheduling, Salinity monitoring, Root zone analysis. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CropX: How much does CropX cost?

CropX does not publish pricing online. The company uses a custom, quote-based pricing model. Customers must send a message to request a demo, and the local sales team will provide a customized quote based on their specific farm management needs.

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.

CropX: What is CropX's pricing model?

CropX uses a sales-driven, quote-based pricing model for enterprise farm management software. Pricing is customized based on factors like number of sensors, farms, fields, users, and specific feature modules required rather than using standardized tiers.

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.

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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