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Agriculture · head to head

Halter vs Teralytic

Halter logo

Halter

Agriculture

Solar collar virtual fencing and cow monitoring for dairy and beef grazing

From
9.9/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Teralytic logo

Teralytic

Agriculture

Wireless soil probe reading NPK at three depths, sold as an annual per-probe service rather than a sensor

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Halter the subscription is permanent and per head, so a 500 cow dairy carries a five-figure annual bill indefinitely and the collars become inert if it lapses; there is no owned-outright end state.; Teralytic the company is reported at around six employees, so if it stops trading the buried probes become inert hardware, which is the single biggest risk in a multi-year soil sensing deployment.
  • They diverge on capability: Halter covers Virtual fencing, Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Halter and Teralytic actually diverge.

Attributes where Halter and Teralytic differ
AttributeHalterTeralytic
Starting price9.9/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer cow per month plus one-time installquote
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb, iOS, Android

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 Halter

  • Virtual fencing
  • Remote shifting
  • Heat detection
  • Health alerts
  • Pasture management
  • Solar collars
  • Exclusion zones

Only in Teralytic

  • Wireless NPK sensing
  • Three-depth profile
  • Soil respiration and aeration
  • Long-range radio uplink
  • Cloud analytics
  • Above-ground sensing
  • API access
  • Multi-field deployment view

What people use each for

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

Halter

  • A 600 cow grazing dairy that shifts breaks twice daily and cannot recruit enough staff to do itnot Teralytic
  • A beef ranch fencing off riparian margins and wetlands without building physical fencenot Teralytic
  • A dairy replacing a separate heat detection collar system with one collar that also does fencingnot Teralytic
  • An operation running cell grazing on country where the cost of internal fencing exceeds the collar subscriptionnot Teralytic

Teralytic

  • A research trial that needs continuous nitrogen readings between sampling dates rather than two lab tests a seasonnot Halter
  • A vegetable grower on sandy ground where leaching after rain makes a fortnightly lab test worthlessnot Halter
  • An almond or vine operation tracking salinity build-up under drip irrigationnot Halter
  • An agronomist validating a variable-rate nitrogen prescription against in-ground readingsnot Halter

Where each one falls short

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

Halter

  • The subscription is permanent and per head, so a 500 cow dairy carries a five-figure annual bill indefinitely and the collars become inert if it lapses; there is no owned-outright end state.
  • On-farm tower infrastructure is a separate up-front install cost that is not in the headline per-cow price, and terrain with hills or bush can require more towers than the initial quote assumed.
  • Coverage is concentrated in New Zealand, Australia and parts of the United States; buyers elsewhere face no local support, no local install crew and uncertain regulatory acceptance of virtual fencing.
  • Virtual fencing is not universally legal or accepted: some jurisdictions and some organic or welfare certification schemes restrict aversive stimulus devices, which can decide eligibility before price is even discussed.
  • Total vendor lock-in on collar, towers, app and animal data means there is no second source for a replacement collar and no way to keep the fencing working if the commercial relationship ends.

Teralytic

  • The company is reported at around six employees, so if it stops trading the buried probes become inert hardware, which is the single biggest risk in a multi-year soil sensing deployment.
  • No current pricing is published and reported figures have moved between roughly 300 and 500 US dollars per probe per year, so a buyer cannot model the cost of a hundred-probe deployment without a quote.
  • The subscription is mandatory for the probe to report at all, so the up-front hardware payment buys nothing durable and a lapsed account means a field full of dead instruments.
  • In-field NPK sensing is scientifically contested and readings need interpretation against soil type and calibration, so agronomists will not treat the numbers as interchangeable with a lab test and many will insist on both.
  • Spatial coverage is the unsolved problem: a probe measures one point, soil varies over metres, and covering a field properly multiplies both the hardware and the annual subscription by the number of zones you care about.

Pricing, plan by plan

Halter

9.9/month
  • Core$9.9/month
    • Virtual fencing and remote shifting
    • Per cow per month
    • On-farm tower infrastructure charged separately
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • Everything in Core
    • Heat detection and reproduction tools
    • Health and behaviour alerts
  • Unlimited$undefined/month
    • Everything in Pro
    • Full feature set for larger operations
    • Pasture and residual management

Teralytic

On request
  • Teralytic Soil Probe$undefined/year
    • Probe purchased or supplied with an annual per-probe subscription
    • Subscription covers hardware, network, software and analytics
    • Reported figures have ranged from roughly 300 to 500 USD per probe per year

Which should you pick?

Choose Halter if

  • You need virtual fencing.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want remote shifting.
Halter review

Choose Teralytic if

  • You need wireless npk sensing.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want three-depth profile.
Teralytic review

Questions people ask

Is Halter or Teralytic better?
Neither clearly leads. Halter starts at 9.9/month and Teralytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Halter or Teralytic?
Halter starts at 9.9/month and Teralytic at On request.
Does Halter or Teralytic run on more platforms?
Halter runs on iOS, Android, Web. Teralytic runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Halter best used for?
Halter is most often used for a 600 cow grazing dairy that shifts breaks twice daily and cannot recruit enough staff to do it, a beef ranch fencing off riparian margins and wetlands without building physical fence, a dairy replacing a separate heat detection collar system with one collar that also does fencing, an operation running cell grazing on country where the cost of internal fencing exceeds the collar subscription. Of those, a 600 cow grazing dairy that shifts breaks twice daily and cannot recruit enough staff to do it and a beef ranch fencing off riparian margins and wetlands without building physical fence are not what Teralytic is typically brought in for.
What can Halter do that Teralytic cannot?
Halter covers Virtual fencing, Remote shifting, Heat detection, Health alerts. Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing, Three-depth profile, Soil respiration and aeration, Long-range radio uplink.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Halter: Do I buy the collars or rent them?

In practice you are buying into a per-cow monthly subscription plus a one-time install for the towers. The collars are not useful without an active subscription.

Teralytic: Can I buy the probe without a subscription?

No. The probe reports through Teralytic’s network into its cloud, and without an active subscription it does not deliver data.

Halter: What does it actually cost for 500 cows?

Starting from around NZ$9.90 per cow per month, that is roughly NZ$59,000 a year before the one-time tower infrastructure cost, and it recurs every year.

Teralytic: Does it replace lab soil tests?

No. It gives continuous in-season trend data. Most agronomists will still want lab results for absolute nutrient values and for compliance records.

Halter: Can I finance it?

New Zealand dairy farmers can finance the install through ANZ, ASB, BNZ or Westpac over two years, and paying the subscription up front attracts a discount.

Teralytic: How much does it cost?

Teralytic does not publish current pricing. Reported figures have ranged from roughly 300 to 500 US dollars per probe per year including hardware and connectivity.

Halter: Does it replace heat detection collars?

Yes on the higher tiers. That is the main reason dairies justify the cost, because it removes a second per-cow system.

Teralytic: How many probes does a field need?

That depends on soil variability. One probe represents one point, so a field with several distinct soil zones needs one per zone to be meaningful.

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