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Agriculture · head to head

DTN Agriculture vs METER Group ZENTRA

DTN Agriculture logo

DTN Agriculture

Agriculture

Weather, markets, and agronomic insights

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: DTN Agriculture pricing is not published for any product; 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: DTN Agriculture covers Hyper-local weather, 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 DTN Agriculture and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where DTN Agriculture and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeDTN AgricultureMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer device subscription
Founded1984Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 DTN Agriculture

  • Hyper-local weather
  • Market data
  • Spray conditions
  • GDD tracking
  • Alerts
  • Farm platforms
  • Equipment systems
  • SOC 2

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.

DTN Agriculture

  • Commodity market data and analysis for grain tradersnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Weather and agronomic modelling through ClearAgnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Grain origination and merchandisingnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Market intelligence for ag retailers and input suppliersnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Field-level decision support for growersnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

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

Where each one falls short

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

DTN Agriculture

  • Pricing is not published for any product
  • A wide portfolio, including ProphetX, ClearAg, MyDTN and Instant Market, so the relevant product depends on whether you are a grower, a trader or a grain processor
  • Aimed mostly at the commercial agriculture chain rather than at individual farms

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

DTN Agriculture

$29/month
  • Progressive Farmer$399/year
    • Weather
    • Markets
    • Basic tools
  • Premium$999/year
    • Advanced weather
    • Full markets
    • Agronomy tools

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 DTN Agriculture if

  • You need hyper-local weather.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want market data.
DTN Agriculture 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 DTN Agriculture or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. DTN Agriculture 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, DTN Agriculture or METER Group ZENTRA?
DTN Agriculture starts at $29/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does DTN Agriculture or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
DTN Agriculture runs on Web, Ios, Android. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is DTN Agriculture best used for?
DTN Agriculture is most often used for commodity market data and analysis for grain traders, weather and agronomic modelling through clearag, grain origination and merchandising, market intelligence for ag retailers and input suppliers. Of those, commodity market data and analysis for grain traders and weather and agronomic modelling through clearag are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can DTN Agriculture do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
DTN Agriculture covers Hyper-local weather, Market data, Spray conditions, GDD tracking. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DTN Agriculture: How do I get DTN agriculture solution pricing?

DTN agriculture, weather, and refined fuels solutions do not display pricing on their main agriculture page. Contact DTN's sales team using the form on their website or visit specific product pages to request pricing information.

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.

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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