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Agriculture · head to head

Davis Instruments WeatherLink vs Soil Scout

Davis Instruments WeatherLink logo

Davis Instruments WeatherLink

Agriculture

Cloud service for Davis weather stations, priced per device per month with a genuinely usable free tier

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Soil Scout logo

Soil Scout

Agriculture

Buried wireless soil sensors with a ten to twenty year battery and no cables to the surface

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Davis Instruments WeatherLink has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Davis Instruments WeatherLink pricing is per device, so a grower with a dozen stations pays a dozen subscriptions, and at Pro+ that is over 1,200 US dollars a year in software on top of hardware that already cost several thousand.; Soil Scout sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • They diverge on capability: Davis Instruments WeatherLink covers Per-station cloud dashboards, Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Davis Instruments WeatherLink and Soil Scout actually diverge.

Attributes where Davis Instruments WeatherLink and Soil Scout differ
AttributeDavis Instruments WeatherLinkSoil Scout
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer device per monthquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: 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 Davis Instruments WeatherLink

  • Per-station cloud dashboards
  • Custom charting
  • Data export
  • Shareable public links
  • Third-party uploads
  • Mobilize agricultural views
  • Integrated pest management models
  • Network map

Only in Soil Scout

  • Fully buried sensors
  • Ten to twenty year battery
  • Underground radio
  • Dual depth sensing
  • Moisture, temperature and salinity
  • Soil Scout Hub
  • Web service API
  • Long base station range

What people use each for

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

Davis Instruments WeatherLink

  • An orchard running frost protection that needs one-minute temperature data to decide when to start wind machinesnot Soil Scout
  • A vineyard driving disease models from on-site rather than airport weathernot Soil Scout
  • A research station exporting long historical records from several instrumentsnot Soil Scout
  • A grower sharing a public station page with neighbours and a spray contractornot Soil Scout

Soil Scout

  • A golf course monitoring greens moisture where a surface-mounted probe would be hit by mowers and playnot Davis Instruments WeatherLink
  • A stadium pitch under a closed roof where hand-held probing is impractical during the seasonnot Davis Instruments WeatherLink
  • A research plot needing consistent multi-year soil data below cultivation depthnot Davis Instruments WeatherLink
  • An irrigated field where a surface logger would not survive tillage or a spray boomnot Davis Instruments WeatherLink

Where each one falls short

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

Davis Instruments WeatherLink

  • Pricing is per device, so a grower with a dozen stations pays a dozen subscriptions, and at Pro+ that is over 1,200 US dollars a year in software on top of hardware that already cost several thousand.
  • The free tier only uploads to third parties every 15 minutes, which is too coarse for frost protection and short-interval spray decisions, so the tier that exists is not the tier a commercial grower can use.
  • Davis directs bulk device management to a sales conversation rather than publishing a volume discount, so large networks cannot budget from the public rate card.
  • Three-year commitments are the only way to reach the lower per-device rate, which locks a grower into a platform for longer than a station deployment plan often survives.
  • The hardware is durable enough to outlive several software generations, and owners of older Vantage stations have repeatedly had to buy new data loggers or gateways to stay compatible with the current cloud, turning a maintenance-free instrument into a recurring purchase.

Soil Scout

  • Sensors are unserviceable once buried, so a failed or drifting unit means excavation and the confidence you place in a single reading has no easy verification.
  • No pricing is published at all, which makes it hard to justify against commodity probes that quote openly, and per-sensor cost is well above the alternatives.
  • It measures but does not control, so tying moisture readings to actual irrigation decisions requires either manual interpretation or a separate integration project with the control system.
  • Underground radio range depends on soil type and moisture; heavy wet clay attenuates the signal and can force more base stations than the headline kilometre figure suggests.
  • The company is small and Finland-based, so outside its established golf and sports turf distribution the support, spares and installation expertise depend entirely on whether a competent local distributor exists.

Pricing, plan by plan

Davis Instruments WeatherLink

Free
  • BasicFree
    • Data viewing and export
    • Custom charting and network map
    • Mobile app access
  • Pro$3.95/month
    • Per device, billed annually
    • 3.35 USD per device per month on a 3 year plan
    • 6 shareable links
  • Pro+$8.95/month
    • Per device, billed annually
    • 7.65 USD per device per month on a 3 year plan
    • 10 shareable links

Soil Scout

On request
  • Soil Scout$undefined/year
    • Sensors and base station quoted per site
    • Hub subscription terms quoted with the hardware
    • No individual sensor data plans required

Which should you pick?

Choose Davis Instruments WeatherLink if

  • You need per-station cloud dashboards.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want custom charting.
Davis Instruments WeatherLink review

Choose Soil Scout if

  • You need fully buried sensors.
  • You also want ten to twenty year battery.
Soil Scout review

Questions people ask

Is Davis Instruments WeatherLink or Soil Scout better?
Neither clearly leads. Davis Instruments WeatherLink starts at Free and Soil Scout at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Davis Instruments WeatherLink or Soil Scout?
Davis Instruments WeatherLink has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Davis Instruments WeatherLink and On request for Soil Scout.
Does Davis Instruments WeatherLink or Soil Scout run on more platforms?
Davis Instruments WeatherLink runs on Web, iOS, Android. Soil Scout runs on Web.
Can I use Davis Instruments WeatherLink for free?
Yes. Davis Instruments WeatherLink has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Soil Scout starts at On request.
What is Davis Instruments WeatherLink best used for?
Davis Instruments WeatherLink is most often used for an orchard running frost protection that needs one-minute temperature data to decide when to start wind machines, a vineyard driving disease models from on-site rather than airport weather, a research station exporting long historical records from several instruments, a grower sharing a public station page with neighbours and a spray contractor. Of those, an orchard running frost protection that needs one-minute temperature data to decide when to start wind machines and a vineyard driving disease models from on-site rather than airport weather are not what Soil Scout is typically brought in for.
What can Davis Instruments WeatherLink do that Soil Scout cannot?
Davis Instruments WeatherLink covers Per-station cloud dashboards, Custom charting, Data export, Shareable public links. Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors, Ten to twenty year battery, Underground radio, Dual depth sensing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Davis Instruments WeatherLink: Is WeatherLink free?

There is a permanently free Basic tier with charting and export, but third-party uploads run only every 15 minutes and there are no shareable links.

Soil Scout: How long do the sensors last?

Up to ten years for the Happi100 and up to twenty for the Hydra100, buried, with no battery replacement.

Davis Instruments WeatherLink: What does the paid tier actually add?

Faster upload intervals, five minutes on Pro and one minute on Pro+, plus shareable public links. The faster cadence is what matters for frost and spray timing.

Soil Scout: Do the sensors need mobile data plans?

No. Sensors transmit to a base station through the soil, and only the base station uses a cellular modem.

Davis Instruments WeatherLink: Is pricing per account or per station?

Per device. Every station you own needs its own subscription.

Soil Scout: Can it control irrigation directly?

No. It is a measurement and alerting system; controlling valves needs an integration with your irrigation controller through the API.

Davis Instruments WeatherLink: Can I get the data out via an API?

Yes, Davis publishes a WeatherLink API, but practical use depends on your account tier and station model, so confirm before designing around it.

Soil Scout: What happens if a buried sensor fails?

You dig it up. There is no remote service option, which is the trade-off for having nothing above ground to damage.

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