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Agriculture · head to head

Soil Scout vs Teralytic

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
Teralytic logo

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 reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; 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: Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors, Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Soil Scout and Teralytic actually diverge.

Attributes where Soil Scout and Teralytic differ
AttributeSoil ScoutTeralytic
PlatformsWebWeb, 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 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

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.

Soil Scout

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

Teralytic

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

Where each one falls short

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

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.

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

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

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 Soil Scout if

  • You need fully buried sensors.
  • You also want ten to twenty year battery.
Soil Scout 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 Soil Scout or Teralytic better?
Neither clearly leads. Soil Scout 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, Soil Scout or Teralytic?
Soil Scout starts at On request and Teralytic at On request.
Does Soil Scout or Teralytic run on more platforms?
Soil Scout runs on Web. Teralytic runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Soil Scout best used for?
Soil Scout is most often used for a golf course monitoring greens moisture where a surface-mounted probe would be hit by mowers and play, a stadium pitch under a closed roof where hand-held probing is impractical during the season, a research plot needing consistent multi-year soil data below cultivation depth, an irrigated field where a surface logger would not survive tillage or a spray boom. Of those, a golf course monitoring greens moisture where a surface-mounted probe would be hit by mowers and play and a stadium pitch under a closed roof where hand-held probing is impractical during the season are not what Teralytic is typically brought in for.
What can Soil Scout do that Teralytic cannot?
Soil Scout covers Fully buried sensors, Ten to twenty year battery, Underground radio, Dual depth sensing. Teralytic covers Wireless NPK sensing, Three-depth profile, Soil respiration and aeration, Long-range radio uplink.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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