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Agriculture · head to head

CropX vs SMARTBOW

CropX logo

CropX

Agriculture

Soil intelligence for precision irrigation

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SMARTBOW logo

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis

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.; SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • They diverge on capability: CropX covers Soil moisture sensing, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CropX and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where CropX and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeCropXSMARTBOW
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, HardwareWindows, Web, 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 SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location
  • Heat detection
  • Rumination monitoring
  • Health alerts
  • On-farm server
  • Individual baselines
  • Herd software integration

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 SMARTBOW
  • Monitoring disease risk and crop nutrition against in-field weather datanot SMARTBOW
  • Combining sensor, weather and satellite data in a single farm management systemnot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

  • A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot CropX
  • A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot CropX
  • A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot CropX
  • A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot 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.

SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
  • Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
  • Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
  • Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.

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

SMARTBOW

On request
  • SMARTBOW$undefined/year
    • Ear tags priced per animal
    • Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
    • Installation and commissioning quoted separately

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 SMARTBOW if

  • You need real-time location.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want heat detection.
SMARTBOW review

Questions people ask

Is CropX or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. CropX starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CropX or SMARTBOW?
CropX starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does CropX or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
CropX runs on Web, Ios, Android, Hardware. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, 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 SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can CropX do that SMARTBOW cannot?
CropX covers Soil moisture sensing, Irrigation scheduling, Salinity monitoring, Root zone analysis. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

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
SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?

Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.

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
SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?

Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.

SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?

Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.

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