Is SMARTBOW or Teralytic better?

Neither clearly leads. SMARTBOW starts at On request and Teralytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, SMARTBOW or Teralytic?

SMARTBOW starts at On request and Teralytic at On request.

Does SMARTBOW or Teralytic run on more platforms?

SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Teralytic runs on Web, iOS, Android.

What is SMARTBOW best used for?

SMARTBOW is most often used for a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes, a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals, a herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritis, a vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herds. Of those, a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes and a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals are not what Teralytic is typically brought in for.

What can SMARTBOW do that Teralytic cannot?

SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts. Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing, Three-depth profile, Soil respiration and aeration, Long-range radio uplink.

Agriculture · head to head

SMARTBOW vs Teralytic

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

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

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Teralytic

Agriculture

Wireless soil probe reading NPK at three depths, sold as an annual per-probe service rather than a sensor

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: 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.; Teralytic the company is reported at around six employees, so if it stops trading the buried probes become inert hardware, which is the single biggest risk in a multi-year soil sensing deployment.
They diverge on capability: SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which SMARTBOW and Teralytic actually diverge.

Attributes where SMARTBOW and Teralytic differ
Attribute	SMARTBOW	Teralytic
Platforms	Windows, Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android

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 SMARTBOW

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

Only in Teralytic

Wireless NPK sensing
Three-depth profile
Soil respiration and aeration
Long-range radio uplink
Cloud analytics
Above-ground sensing
API access
Multi-field deployment view

What people use each for

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

SMARTBOW

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

Teralytic

A research trial that needs continuous nitrogen readings between sampling dates rather than two lab tests a seasonnot SMARTBOW
A vegetable grower on sandy ground where leaching after rain makes a fortnightly lab test worthlessnot SMARTBOW
An almond or vine operation tracking salinity build-up under drip irrigationnot SMARTBOW
An agronomist validating a variable-rate nitrogen prescription against in-ground readingsnot SMARTBOW

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Teralytic

The company is reported at around six employees, so if it stops trading the buried probes become inert hardware, which is the single biggest risk in a multi-year soil sensing deployment.
No current pricing is published and reported figures have moved between roughly 300 and 500 US dollars per probe per year, so a buyer cannot model the cost of a hundred-probe deployment without a quote.
The subscription is mandatory for the probe to report at all, so the up-front hardware payment buys nothing durable and a lapsed account means a field full of dead instruments.
In-field NPK sensing is scientifically contested and readings need interpretation against soil type and calibration, so agronomists will not treat the numbers as interchangeable with a lab test and many will insist on both.
Spatial coverage is the unsolved problem: a probe measures one point, soil varies over metres, and covering a field properly multiplies both the hardware and the annual subscription by the number of zones you care about.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Teralytic

On request

Teralytic Soil Probe$undefined/year
- Probe purchased or supplied with an annual per-probe subscription
- Subscription covers hardware, network, software and analytics
- Reported figures have ranged from roughly 300 to 500 USD per probe per year

Which should you pick?

Choose SMARTBOW if

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

SMARTBOW review

Choose Teralytic if

You need wireless npk sensing.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want three-depth profile.

Teralytic review

Questions people ask

Is SMARTBOW or Teralytic better?: Neither clearly leads. SMARTBOW starts at On request and Teralytic at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, SMARTBOW or Teralytic?: SMARTBOW starts at On request and Teralytic at On request.
Does SMARTBOW or Teralytic run on more platforms?: SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Teralytic runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is SMARTBOW best used for?: SMARTBOW is most often used for a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes, a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals, a herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritis, a vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herds. Of those, a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes and a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals are not what Teralytic is typically brought in for.
What can SMARTBOW do that Teralytic cannot?: SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts. Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing, Three-depth profile, Soil respiration and aeration, Long-range radio uplink.

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.

Teralytic: Can I buy the probe without a subscription?

No. The probe reports through Teralytic’s network into its cloud, and without an active subscription it does not deliver data.

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.

Teralytic: Does it replace lab soil tests?

No. It gives continuous in-season trend data. Most agronomists will still want lab results for absolute nutrient values and for compliance records.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

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

Teralytic: How much does it cost?

Teralytic does not publish current pricing. Reported figures have ranged from roughly 300 to 500 US dollars per probe per year including hardware and connectivity.

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.

Teralytic: How many probes does a field need?

That depends on soil variability. One probe represents one point, so a field with several distinct soil zones needs one per zone to be meaningful.

SMARTBOW vs Teralytic

SMARTBOW

Teralytic

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in SMARTBOW

Only in Teralytic

What people use each for

SMARTBOW

Teralytic

Where each one falls short

SMARTBOW

Teralytic

Pricing, plan by plan

SMARTBOW

Teralytic

Which should you pick?

Choose SMARTBOW if

Choose Teralytic if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on SMARTBOW

More on Teralytic

Keep looking

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