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Agriculture · head to head

fieldmargin vs Galcon

fieldmargin logo

fieldmargin

Agriculture

Per-farm field mapping, records and team messaging for livestock and arable farms

From
£3.75/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Galcon logo

Galcon

Agriculture

Battery and mains irrigation, fertigation and climate controllers with cloud management

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: fieldmargin per-farm pricing inverts badly at the small end: a 30 hectare holding pays the same as a 3,000 hectare estate, so the effective cost per hectare on a smallholding is many times what a large farm pays.; Galcon distribution and support run through regional wholesalers, so in markets where Galcon has no strong distributor you get the hardware and very little else.
  • They diverge on capability: fieldmargin covers Field mapping, Galcon covers Battery DC controllers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which fieldmargin and Galcon actually diverge.

Attributes where fieldmargin and Galcon differ
AttributefieldmarginGalcon
Starting price£3.75/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer farm per month, unlimited hectaresquote

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 fieldmargin

  • Field mapping
  • Offline mobile
  • Team activity feed
  • Job assignment
  • Livestock groups
  • Input and application records
  • NDVI satellite imagery
  • Cost per field

Only in Galcon

  • Battery DC controllers
  • GSI cloud
  • Galileo Cloud
  • Fertigation control
  • Greenhouse climate
  • Water budget reporting
  • Sensor inputs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

fieldmargin

  • A 900 hectare arable estate that wants field records without paying a per-hectare licence feenot Galcon
  • A livestock farm tracking mob movements and grazing rotation across fields on a phone with no signalnot Galcon
  • A farm manager assigning and checking off daily jobs for seasonal staff without phone callsnot Galcon
  • A mixed farm that wants photos and notes attached to specific field locations for later referencenot Galcon

Galcon

  • A parks department scheduling roadside and median planting beds where no valve has mains powernot fieldmargin
  • An orchard automating block irrigation without trenching electricity to every valvenot fieldmargin
  • A greenhouse dosing fertiliser to EC and pH targets alongside climate controlnot fieldmargin
  • A landscape contractor managing irrigation across dozens of client sites from one cloud accountnot fieldmargin

Where each one falls short

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

fieldmargin

  • Per-farm pricing inverts badly at the small end: a 30 hectare holding pays the same as a 3,000 hectare estate, so the effective cost per hectare on a smallholding is many times what a large farm pays.
  • It is not an agronomy platform, so there is no variable rate prescription engine and no nutrient planning to a standard a UK agronomist will certify, meaning most arable users still pay for Gatekeeper or an agronomist's own system alongside it.
  • There is no direct submission route into Basic Payment Scheme, Sustainable Farming Incentive or equivalent schemes, so the compliance paperwork that costs farms real money still has to be assembled elsewhere.
  • Machine integration is limited compared with Climate FieldView or Operations Center; as-applied data from the sprayer or drill generally is not flowing in automatically, so application records depend on someone typing them.
  • Satellite NDVI is confined to the top tier and is standard public imagery, so cloud cover in a British winter means long gaps and the imagery is not a substitute for the aircraft or drone capture that specialist providers sell.

Galcon

  • Distribution and support run through regional wholesalers, so in markets where Galcon has no strong distributor you get the hardware and very little else.
  • The cloud software is functional rather than refined, and its third-party integration list is short compared with Hunter Centralus or Rain Bird IQ, which matters if you want irrigation data in a wider asset system.
  • Battery-powered controllers mean battery replacement schedules across a large estate, and a dead battery on a remote valve is a silent failure that shows up as a dead planting bed weeks later.
  • No pricing is published for hardware or cloud subscriptions, and pricing varies by country and wholesaler, so budgeting a municipal rollout requires several quotes.
  • The product range is broad and fragmented across GSI, GSI PRO, Galileo Cloud and legacy timers, which makes it genuinely hard to work out which product line a given site should be on.

Pricing, plan by plan

fieldmargin

£3.75/month
  • Essentials$3.75/month
    • Field mapping and boundaries
    • Field notes and photos
    • Unlimited team members
  • Plus$20/month
    • Everything in Essentials
    • Job assignment and tracking
    • Input and application records
  • Pro$30/month
    • Everything in Plus
    • NDVI satellite imagery
    • Cost per field and crop analysis

Galcon

On request
  • Galcon GSI and Galileo Cloud$undefined/year
    • Controller hardware priced through irrigation wholesalers
    • Cloud subscription quoted by number of controllers and zones
    • Cellular connectivity charges vary by country

Which should you pick?

Choose fieldmargin if

  • You need field mapping.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want offline mobile.
fieldmargin review

Choose Galcon if

  • You need battery dc controllers.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want gsi cloud.
Galcon review

Questions people ask

Is fieldmargin or Galcon better?
Neither clearly leads. fieldmargin starts at £3.75/month and Galcon at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, fieldmargin or Galcon?
fieldmargin starts at £3.75/month and Galcon at On request.
Does fieldmargin or Galcon run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is fieldmargin best used for?
fieldmargin is most often used for a 900 hectare arable estate that wants field records without paying a per-hectare licence fee, a livestock farm tracking mob movements and grazing rotation across fields on a phone with no signal, a farm manager assigning and checking off daily jobs for seasonal staff without phone calls, a mixed farm that wants photos and notes attached to specific field locations for later reference. Of those, a 900 hectare arable estate that wants field records without paying a per-hectare licence fee and a livestock farm tracking mob movements and grazing rotation across fields on a phone with no signal are not what Galcon is typically brought in for.
What can fieldmargin do that Galcon cannot?
fieldmargin covers Field mapping, Offline mobile, Team activity feed, Job assignment. Galcon covers Battery DC controllers, GSI cloud, Galileo Cloud, Fertigation control.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

fieldmargin: Does it charge per hectare?

No. Subscriptions are per farm with unlimited hectares and unlimited team members, which is why it is cheap on large acreages and proportionally expensive on small ones.

Galcon: Do Galcon controllers need mains power?

The DC range does not. They run latching solenoids from internal batteries, which is the main reason they are specified where getting power to the valve is expensive.

fieldmargin: Can I submit my BPS or SFI claim from it?

No. It holds the records that support a claim but there is no direct submission integration, so the claim itself is prepared elsewhere.

Galcon: Is there a cloud subscription?

Yes for the connected GSI and Galileo Cloud products. Terms are quoted by controller count and vary by country along with cellular charges.

fieldmargin: Does it work without mobile signal?

Yes. The mobile apps capture records offline and sync when the phone regains a connection, which is the main reason it gets used in the far corners of a farm.

Galcon: Can it control fertigation?

Yes. Galcon makes dedicated fertigation and greenhouse climate controllers with EC and pH monitoring, sold as separate systems from the field controllers.

fieldmargin: Is there a free plan?

There is a 14 day trial rather than a permanently free tier. After that every farm is on a paid plan.

Galcon: How does it compare with Hunter or Rain Bird?

It competes on battery operation and price rather than ecosystem breadth. The American brands have deeper central control software and broader integration.

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