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Agriculture · head to head

Lely Horizon vs Pix4Dfields

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
Pix4Dfields logo

Pix4Dfields

Agriculture

Drone mapping software for agriculture

From
$330/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Pix4Dfields satellite imagery is sold as separate credit packages on top of the subscription, with only 100 free credits included per year
  • They diverge on capability: Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Pix4Dfields covers Orthomosaic generation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lely Horizon and Pix4Dfields actually diverge.

Attributes where Lely Horizon and Pix4Dfields differ
AttributeLely HorizonPix4Dfields
Starting priceOn request$330/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWindows, Ios
FoundedUnknown2011

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 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

Only in Pix4Dfields

  • Orthomosaic generation
  • NDVI & vegetation indices
  • Multispectral processing
  • Zonation mapping
  • Prescription maps
  • Stand count
  • Export to machinery
  • Offline processing

What people use each for

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

Lely Horizon

  • A 180-cow dairy running four Astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a daynot Pix4Dfields
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Pix4Dfields
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Pix4Dfields
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Pix4Dfields

Pix4Dfields

  • Processing drone imagery of fields into orthomosaics without acreage limitsnot Lely Horizon
  • Generating vegetation indices and crop health maps from aerial surveysnot Lely Horizon
  • Producing variable rate prescription maps for exporting to farm machinerynot Lely Horizon
  • Agronomists producing crop scouting reports from drone flightsnot Lely Horizon

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Pix4Dfields

  • Satellite imagery is sold as separate credit packages on top of the subscription, with only 100 free credits included per year
  • Monthly billing is listed at $165.83 per month against $1,990 for a year, so paying monthly costs substantially more
  • The software runs only on Windows and macOS, with no Linux build

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Pix4Dfields

$330/month
  • Monthly$330/month
    • RGB & multispectral processing
    • Vegetation indices
    • Zonation maps
  • Annual$2640/year
    • Everything in Monthly
    • 33% savings
    • Priority support
  • Perpetual$5500/one-time
    • Lifetime license
    • 1 year updates
    • Local processing

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Pix4Dfields if

  • You need orthomosaic generation.
  • You work on Windows, Ios.
  • You also want ndvi & vegetation indices.
Pix4Dfields review

Questions people ask

Is Lely Horizon or Pix4Dfields better?
Neither clearly leads. Lely Horizon starts at On request and Pix4Dfields at $330/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lely Horizon or Pix4Dfields?
Lely Horizon starts at On request and Pix4Dfields at $330/month.
Does Lely Horizon or Pix4Dfields run on more platforms?
Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. Pix4Dfields runs on Windows, Ios.
What is Lely Horizon best used for?
Lely Horizon is most often used for a 180-cow dairy running four astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a day, a farm adding vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milking, a dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one account, a lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth box. Of those, a 180-cow dairy running four astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a day and a farm adding vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milking are not what Pix4Dfields is typically brought in for.
What can Lely Horizon do that Pix4Dfields cannot?
Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management. Pix4Dfields covers Orthomosaic generation, NDVI & vegetation indices, Multispectral processing, Zonation mapping.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Pix4Dfields: How much does PIX4Dfields cost?

PIX4Dfields costs $111 per month for a monthly subscription plan. The software offers actionable data and insights from drone imagery for high efficiency and productivity in precision agriculture. Source: https://pix4d.com/pricing

Source
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.

Pix4Dfields: Does PIX4Dfields offer a free trial?

Yes, PIX4Dfields provides a free 15-day trial that requires no credit card to start. You can cancel before renewal without incurring charges, though no refunds are issued upon cancellation. Source: https://pix4d.com/pricing

Source
Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

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

Pix4Dfields: Can I add cloud processing credits to PIX4Dfields?

Yes, PIX4Dfields subscriptions allow you to add cloud processing credits to your account for additional image processing beyond the standard monthly allocation. Credits can be purchased as needed. Source: https://pix4d.com/pricing

Source
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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