Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

Lely Horizon vs Traction

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
Traction logo

Traction

Agriculture

Modern marketplace for farm equipment

From
$950/year
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.; Traction limited to farm accounting and field data, less comprehensive than full farm management ERPs
  • They diverge on capability: Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Traction covers Equipment marketplace.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Lely Horizon and Traction differ
AttributeLely HorizonTraction
Starting priceOn request$950/year
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb, Mobile
FoundedUnknown2019

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 Traction

  • Equipment marketplace
  • Parts sourcing
  • Dealer management
  • Price analytics
  • Lead generation
  • DMS systems
  • Website builders
  • CRM platforms

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 Traction
  • A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Traction
  • A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Traction
  • A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Traction

Traction

  • Equipment buying/sellingnot Lely Horizon
  • Inventory managementnot Lely Horizon
  • Market analysisnot Lely Horizon
  • Lead generationnot 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.

Traction

  • Limited to farm accounting and field data, less comprehensive than full farm management ERPs
  • Integration capabilities are limited to John Deere and Climate FieldView platforms

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

Traction

$950/year
  • Basic$950/year
    • Farm accounting
    • Field records
    • Basic reporting
  • Plus$1950/year
    • Farm accounting
    • Field records
    • Advanced reporting
  • Pro$3950/year
    • Farm accounting
    • Field records
    • Advanced reporting

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 Traction if

  • You need equipment marketplace.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want parts sourcing.
Traction review

Questions people ask

Is Lely Horizon or Traction better?
Neither clearly leads. Lely Horizon starts at On request and Traction at $950/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lely Horizon or Traction?
Lely Horizon starts at On request and Traction at $950/year.
Does Lely Horizon or Traction run on more platforms?
Lely Horizon runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. Traction runs on Web, Mobile.
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 Traction is typically brought in for.
What can Lely Horizon do that Traction cannot?
Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management. Traction covers Equipment marketplace, Parts sourcing, Dealer management, Price analytics.

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.

Traction: Does Traction Ag integrate with John Deere equipment?

Yes. Traction Ag integrates with the John Deere Operations Center, allowing farmers to automatically pull in field data for application, tillage, seeding, and harvest records.

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.

Traction: What is the starting price for Traction Ag?

Traction Ag offers three pricing tiers: Basic starts at $950 per year, Plus costs $1,950 per year, and Pro costs $3,950 per year.

Source
Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?

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

Traction: Does Traction Ag offer a free trial?

Yes. Traction Ag offers a 30-day free trial providing access to farm accounting, field operations, and agronomy features.

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.

Traction: What is the main difference between Traction Ag and other farm management software?

Traction Ag is the only farm management solution uniquely built for the cloud, integrating actual accounting numbers with field operations to provide real-time financial analysis.

Source
Traction: Can Traction Ag manage multiple farms?

Yes. Traction Ag includes multi-entity access under one login, allowing farmers to manage multiple farms and see field profitability tracking across all operations.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Lely Horizon

More on Traction

Keep looking

Other head to heads