Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

Case IH AFS Connect vs Lely Horizon

Case IH AFS Connect logo

Case IH AFS Connect

Agriculture

Telematics and farm data platform for Case IH machinery, now delivered as FieldOps

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lely Horizon logo

Lely Horizon

Agriculture

Dairy herd management software billed per lactating cow that only runs a Lely robot barn

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Case IH AFS Connect coverage of non-Case IH machinery is thin, so a mixed-colour fleet ends up running two portals and reconciling the data by hand or through a third-party platform.; Lely Horizon billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.
  • They diverge on capability: Case IH AFS Connect covers Machine telemetry, Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Case IH AFS Connect and Lely Horizon actually diverge.

Attributes where Case IH AFS Connect and Lely Horizon differ
AttributeCase IH AFS ConnectLely Horizon
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Case IH AFS Connect

  • Machine telemetry
  • Remote display view
  • Two-way file transfer
  • Yield and coverage mapping
  • Fleet dashboards
  • Data sharing and APIs
  • FieldOps mobile app

Only in Lely Horizon

  • Per-cow milking data
  • Health and fertility alerts
  • Work list generation
  • Feed management
  • Farm Management Support
  • Multi-site view
  • Mobile alerts
  • Reporting and benchmarking

What people use each for

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

Case IH AFS Connect

  • A row-crop operation running a Case IH Magnum and Axial-Flow fleet that wants as-applied and yield data off the machines without USB sticksnot Lely Horizon
  • A farm manager who needs to talk an inexperienced operator through a display setting during harvest without driving to the fieldnot Lely Horizon
  • A dealer service department diagnosing an alert remotely before deciding whether to dispatch a techniciannot Lely Horizon
  • An operation buying new Case IH iron after October 2024 that wants connected features without an annual telematics renewalnot Lely Horizon

Lely Horizon

  • A 180-cow dairy running four Astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a daynot Case IH AFS Connect
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Case IH AFS Connect
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Case IH AFS Connect
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Case IH AFS Connect

Where each one falls short

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

Case IH AFS Connect

  • Coverage of non-Case IH machinery is thin, so a mixed-colour fleet ends up running two portals and reconciling the data by hand or through a third-party platform.
  • The agronomic side is weaker than software-first platforms: field records, input tracking and compliance reporting are shallower than Agworld or Conservis and most serious growers export to something else.
  • The entry cost is hardware, not software; a Pro 1200 display and receiver retrofit runs into five figures per machine, which is the real barrier for anyone hoping to add the platform to an older tractor.
  • Connectivity Included only applies to qualifying machines from October 2024 onward, so a farm with a five-year-old fleet still faces a per-machine dealer activation fee and older modems may not be eligible at all.
  • Dealer dependency is total: activations, subscription changes and most troubleshooting route through the dealer rather than a self-service portal, which makes response times a function of your local dealership rather than CNH.

Lely Horizon

  • Billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.
  • Horizon is not optional: the barn equipment depends on it, so the subscription cannot be cancelled in a difficult year the way a discretionary analytics tool can, which removes any negotiating position at renewal.
  • It manages Lely equipment and effectively nothing else, so a farm running a Lely robot alongside a conventional parlour or another manufacturer's feeder ends up with two systems and no combined cow record.
  • The migration from the older T4C system was compulsory and rebuilt the interface and reporting, and farms that had years of T4C reports and custom lists found the equivalents either missing or shaped differently, costing retraining time.
  • Everything is bought and supported through the local Lely Center, so pricing, response time and the quality of advice vary by dealer with no published rate card, and a farm with a weak local centre has no practical alternative supplier.

Pricing, plan by plan

Case IH AFS Connect

On request
  • AFS Connect / FieldOps$undefined/year
    • Included with qualifying machines built and purchased after 1 October 2024
    • One-time dealer activation fee for older machines with a compatible modem
    • Display and receiver hardware quoted separately by the dealer

Lely Horizon

On request
  • Horizon Basic$undefined/month
    • Core robot operation and monitoring
    • Per lactating cow subscription
    • Invoiced digitally by the local Lely Center
  • Horizon Control$undefined/month
    • Adds herd management and fertility tooling
    • Per lactating cow subscription
  • Horizon Advance$undefined/month
    • Adds analysis, benchmarking and advisor tooling
    • Per lactating cow subscription

Which should you pick?

Choose Case IH AFS Connect if

  • You need machine telemetry.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want remote display view.
Case IH AFS Connect review

Choose Lely Horizon if

  • You need per-cow milking data.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want health and fertility alerts.
Lely Horizon review

Questions people ask

Is Case IH AFS Connect or Lely Horizon better?
Neither clearly leads. Case IH AFS Connect starts at On request and Lely Horizon at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Case IH AFS Connect or Lely Horizon?
Case IH AFS Connect starts at On request and Lely Horizon at On request.
Does Case IH AFS Connect or Lely Horizon run on more platforms?
Case IH AFS Connect runs on Web, iOS, Android. Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
What is Case IH AFS Connect best used for?
Case IH AFS Connect is most often used for a row-crop operation running a case ih magnum and axial-flow fleet that wants as-applied and yield data off the machines without usb sticks, a farm manager who needs to talk an inexperienced operator through a display setting during harvest without driving to the field, a dealer service department diagnosing an alert remotely before deciding whether to dispatch a technician, an operation buying new case ih iron after october 2024 that wants connected features without an annual telematics renewal. Of those, a row-crop operation running a case ih magnum and axial-flow fleet that wants as-applied and yield data off the machines without usb sticks and a farm manager who needs to talk an inexperienced operator through a display setting during harvest without driving to the field are not what Lely Horizon is typically brought in for.
What can Case IH AFS Connect do that Lely Horizon cannot?
Case IH AFS Connect covers Machine telemetry, Remote display view, Two-way file transfer, Yield and coverage mapping. Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Case IH AFS Connect: Is AFS Connect the same thing as FieldOps?

FieldOps is the rebuilt CNH portal and app that AFS Connect accounts have been migrating into. The underlying machine connectivity is the same; the branding and interface changed.

Lely Horizon: How is Lely Horizon priced?

As a subscription per lactating cow milked by the Astronaut robots, in Basic, Control and Advance tiers. Lely does not publish rates; the local Lely Center quotes them.

Case IH AFS Connect: Do I still pay an annual subscription?

Not on qualifying machines built and purchased from 1 October 2024, where connectivity is included. Older machines with a compatible modem can be activated through a dealer for a one-time fee.

Lely Horizon: Can I run Horizon without Lely robots?

No. It is the control and management layer for Lely equipment and has no meaningful function without it.

Case IH AFS Connect: Can I use it with John Deere or New Holland machines in the same fleet?

Not natively in any useful way. New Holland shares CNH infrastructure but sits in its own portal, and Deere data has to come in through API sharing or a third-party farm management platform.

Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

Horizon replaced it. Migration was required rather than optional, and reporting was rebuilt rather than ported.

Case IH AFS Connect: What does it cost to add to a used tractor?

The subscription may be cheap or free, but the display, receiver and modem retrofit are the cost, and those are quoted per machine by the dealer into five figures.

Lely Horizon: Does the subscription end when the robot is paid off?

No. It continues for as long as the robots are milking, which is the cost most robot business cases understate.

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