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Agriculture · head to head

Herdwatch vs METER Group ZENTRA

Herdwatch logo

Herdwatch

Agriculture

Farm & herd management made simple

From
Free
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

  • Only Herdwatch has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Herdwatch annual pricing amounts not displayed, calculated dynamically based on farm type and herd size; 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: Herdwatch covers Animal registry, 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 Herdwatch and METER Group ZENTRA actually diverge.

Attributes where Herdwatch and METER Group ZENTRA differ
AttributeHerdwatchMETER Group ZENTRA
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer device subscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsIos, Android, WebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2014Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Herdwatch

  • Animal registry
  • Movement records
  • Breeding management
  • Medicine & treatment records
  • Compliance reports
  • Calving records
  • Weight tracking
  • EID tag reading

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.

Herdwatch

  • Livestock records for cattle and sheepnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Calving and breeding records on a phone in the fieldnot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Medicine and treatment records for compliancenot METER Group ZENTRA
  • Pasture and grassland managementnot METER Group ZENTRA

METER Group ZENTRA

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

Where each one falls short

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

Herdwatch

  • Annual pricing amounts not displayed, calculated dynamically based on farm type and herd size
  • Free trial available but actual subscription costs vary by farm size
  • Pricing shown excluding VAT

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

Herdwatch

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Basic herd records
    • Animal movements
    • Simple reports
  • Premium$12.5/month
    • Unlimited animals
    • Breeding management
    • Medicine records
  • Complete$20/month
    • Everything in Premium
    • Financial tracking
    • Farm mapping

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 Herdwatch if

  • You need animal registry.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Ios, Android, Web.
  • You also want movement records.
Herdwatch 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 Herdwatch or METER Group ZENTRA better?
Neither clearly leads. Herdwatch starts at Free 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, Herdwatch or METER Group ZENTRA?
Herdwatch has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Herdwatch and On request for METER Group ZENTRA.
Does Herdwatch or METER Group ZENTRA run on more platforms?
Herdwatch runs on Ios, Android, Web. METER Group ZENTRA runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Herdwatch for free?
Yes. Herdwatch has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. METER Group ZENTRA starts at On request.
What is Herdwatch best used for?
Herdwatch is most often used for livestock records for cattle and sheep, calving and breeding records on a phone in the field, medicine and treatment records for compliance, pasture and grassland management. Of those, livestock records for cattle and sheep and calving and breeding records on a phone in the field are not what METER Group ZENTRA is typically brought in for.
What can Herdwatch do that METER Group ZENTRA cannot?
Herdwatch covers Animal registry, Movement records, Breeding management, Medicine & treatment records. METER Group ZENTRA covers TEROS soil sensors, Water potential measurement, ZL6 data loggers, ZENTRA Cloud.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Herdwatch: What pricing options are available for Herdwatch?

Herdwatch offers a 6-month promotional plan at $49 with full access to all Complete features and no long-term commitment. Pricing is customized based on your farm type and herd size, with both annual and monthly options available.

Source
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.

Herdwatch: Can I try Herdwatch before purchasing a subscription?

Yes. Herdwatch offers a free digital calving book to new registrants and allows users to try the app free before committing to a subscription, with full access to features during the trial period.

Source
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.

Herdwatch: What free features does Herdwatch provide?

Herdwatch provides a free subscription tier that includes a free digital calving book for tracking calving events. This free option allows basic record-keeping without requiring immediate payment.

Source
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.

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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