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Agriculture · head to head

FarmWorks vs SMARTBOW

FarmWorks logo

FarmWorks

Agriculture

Complete farm accounting and management

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: FarmWorks no pricing published on website - contact required; 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: FarmWorks covers Farm accounting, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FarmWorks and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where FarmWorks and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeFarmWorksSMARTBOW
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, WindowsWindows, Web, iOS, Android
Founded1992Unknown

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 FarmWorks

  • Farm accounting
  • Field records
  • Livestock management
  • Mapping
  • Inventory tracking
  • Trimble
  • QuickBooks
  • Farm equipment

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.

FarmWorks

  • Retrofit precision agriculture equipment across any machinery brandnot SMARTBOW
  • Field operation management and in-field platform planningnot SMARTBOW
  • Agronomic data visualization with 20|20 analytics platformnot SMARTBOW
  • Autonomous grain cart operations with OutRun technologynot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

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

Where each one falls short

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

FarmWorks

  • No pricing published on website - contact required
  • NEXT Farming solution only available in Europe
  • Retrofit technology requires local dealer support
  • Compatibility tied to specific equipment and dealer network

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

FarmWorks

$29/month
  • Accounting$499/year
    • Farm accounting
    • Reports
    • Inventory
  • Complete Suite$999/year
    • All modules
    • Mapping
    • Livestock

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 FarmWorks if

  • You need farm accounting.
  • You work on Web, Windows.
  • You also want field records.
FarmWorks 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 FarmWorks or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. FarmWorks 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, FarmWorks or SMARTBOW?
FarmWorks starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does FarmWorks or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
FarmWorks runs on Web, Windows. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is FarmWorks best used for?
FarmWorks is most often used for retrofit precision agriculture equipment across any machinery brand, field operation management and in-field platform planning, agronomic data visualization with 20|20 analytics platform, autonomous grain cart operations with outrun technology. Of those, retrofit precision agriculture equipment across any machinery brand and field operation management and in-field platform planning are not what SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can FarmWorks do that SMARTBOW cannot?
FarmWorks covers Farm accounting, Field records, Livestock management, Mapping. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

FarmWorks: How much do PTx precision agriculture solutions cost?

PTx does not publish pricing on their website. Contact information and dealer locators are available for pricing inquiries.

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.

FarmWorks: What equipment does PTx support?

PTx offers brand-agnostic retrofit solutions compatible with planters, seeders, drills, sprayers, fertilizer applicators, harvesters, and tillage equipment regardless of brand or model.

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.

FarmWorks: Is NEXT Farming available worldwide?

No, NEXT Farming is only available in Europe. Other PTx solutions like Precision-IQ, 20|20, and OutRun are available in other regions.

Source
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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