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Agriculture · head to head

fieldmargin vs METER Group ZENTRA

fieldmargin logo

fieldmargin

Agriculture

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

From
£3.75/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: 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.; 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: fieldmargin covers Field mapping, 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 fieldmargin and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where fieldmargin and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributefieldmarginMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting price£3.75/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer farm per month, unlimited hectaresPer device subscription

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 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.

fieldmargin

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

METER Group ZENTRA

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

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

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

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 fieldmargin if

  • You need field mapping.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want offline mobile.
fieldmargin 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 fieldmargin or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. fieldmargin starts at £3.75/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, fieldmargin or METER Group ZENTRA?
fieldmargin starts at £3.75/month and METER Group ZENTRA at On request.
Does fieldmargin or METER Group ZENTRA 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 METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can fieldmargin do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
fieldmargin covers Field mapping, Offline mobile, Team activity feed, Job assignment. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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