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Agriculture · head to head

Growers Edge vs SMARTBOW

Growers Edge logo

Growers Edge

Agriculture

Crop input financing and risk 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: Growers Edge no pricing published on website; contact sales 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: Growers Edge covers Input financing, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Growers Edge and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where Growers Edge and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeGrowers EdgeSMARTBOW
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWebWindows, Web, iOS, Android
Founded2011Unknown

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 Growers Edge

  • Input financing
  • Operating loans
  • Risk analytics
  • Market insights
  • Farm planning
  • Retailers
  • Lenders
  • Farm software

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.

Growers Edge

  • Farm operators seeking input financing and crop plan warranty products tied to farmland risk managementnot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

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

Where each one falls short

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

Growers Edge

  • No pricing published on website; contact sales 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.
  • 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

Growers Edge

$29/month
  • Input FinancingFree
    • Competitive rates
    • Flexible terms
    • Quick approval
  • Full PlatformFree
    • Financing
    • Risk tools
    • Analytics

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 Growers Edge if

  • You need input financing.
  • You also want operating loans.
Growers Edge 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 Growers Edge or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. Growers Edge 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, Growers Edge or SMARTBOW?
Growers Edge starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does Growers Edge or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
Growers Edge runs on Web. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is Growers Edge best used for?
Growers Edge is most often used for farm operators seeking input financing and crop plan warranty products tied to farmland risk management. Of those, farm operators seeking input financing and crop plan warranty products tied to farmland risk management is not what SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can Growers Edge do that SMARTBOW cannot?
Growers Edge covers Input financing, Operating loans, Risk analytics, Market insights. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Growers Edge: What is Growers Edge's pricing model?

Growers Edge does not display pricing on their website. The company offers financial solutions including Crop Plan Warranty, Input Financing, Farm Mortgage and Operating Line Financing, and Land Portfolio Intelligence, but pricing requires direct contact.

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.

Growers Edge: How can I get a quote from Growers Edge?

Contact Growers Edge directly at (515) 726-3343, email [email protected], or use their contact form at https://www.growersedge.com/contact/

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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