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Agriculture · head to head

MyJohnDeere vs SMARTBOW

MyJohnDeere logo

MyJohnDeere

Agriculture

Connected farm management by John Deere

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SMARTBOW logo

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: MyJohnDeere myJohnDeere is now branded John Deere Operations Center; access to the actual platform (myjohndeere.deere.com) requires an Okta single sign-on login with no public trial or pricing path, per the vendor's own marketing page and login redirect.; SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • They diverge on capability: MyJohnDeere covers Equipment connectivity, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which MyJohnDeere and SMARTBOW actually diverge.

Attributes where MyJohnDeere and SMARTBOW differ
AttributeMyJohnDeereSMARTBOW
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWindows, Web, iOS, Android
Founded1837Unknown

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 MyJohnDeere

  • Equipment connectivity
  • Operations Center
  • Variable rate
  • Field analyzer
  • AutoTrac
  • Climate FieldView
  • Granular
  • Raven

Only in SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location
  • Heat detection
  • Rumination monitoring
  • Health alerts
  • On-farm server
  • Individual baselines
  • Herd software integration

What people use each for

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

MyJohnDeere

  • Equipment managementnot SMARTBOW
  • Data integrationnot SMARTBOW
  • Precision farmingnot SMARTBOW

SMARTBOW

  • A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot MyJohnDeere
  • A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot MyJohnDeere
  • A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot MyJohnDeere
  • A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot MyJohnDeere

Where each one falls short

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

MyJohnDeere

  • MyJohnDeere is now branded John Deere Operations Center; access to the actual platform (myjohndeere.deere.com) requires an Okta single sign-on login with no public trial or pricing path, per the vendor's own marketing page and login redirect.

SMARTBOW

  • Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
  • It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
  • Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
  • Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
  • Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.

Pricing, plan by plan

MyJohnDeere

$29/month
  • BasicFree
    • Equipment connectivity
    • Basic data
    • JDLink
  • Premium$1200/year
    • Full Operations Center
    • Advanced analytics
    • Prescriptions

SMARTBOW

On request
  • SMARTBOW$undefined/year
    • Ear tags priced per animal
    • Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
    • Installation and commissioning quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose MyJohnDeere if

  • You need equipment connectivity.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want operations center.
MyJohnDeere review

Choose SMARTBOW if

  • You need real-time location.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want heat detection.
SMARTBOW review

Questions people ask

Is MyJohnDeere or SMARTBOW better?
Neither clearly leads. MyJohnDeere starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, MyJohnDeere or SMARTBOW?
MyJohnDeere starts at $29/month and SMARTBOW at On request.
Does MyJohnDeere or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
MyJohnDeere runs on Web, Ios, Android. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
What is MyJohnDeere best used for?
MyJohnDeere is most often used for equipment management, data integration, precision farming. Of those, equipment management and data integration are not what SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
What can MyJohnDeere do that SMARTBOW cannot?
MyJohnDeere covers Equipment connectivity, Operations Center, Variable rate, Field analyzer. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?

Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.

SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?

Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.

SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?

Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.

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