Education · pricing
eBird pricing
eBird publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the education tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, eBird pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free, no ads and no in-app purchases
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
eBird plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBird | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where eBird stops being free
eBird, Free
- Unlimited checklist logging
- Hotspot and rare bird alerts
- Web and mobile access
No paid tier on record
eBird lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full eBird feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Checklist logging
- Hotspot exploration
- Life list tracking
- Rare bird alerts
- Regional review
- Data used in research
People bring eBird in for a birder who wants to keep a searchable life list across every location they have visited, someone wanting alerts when a rare species is reported nearby, a researcher or land manager pulling public sighting data for a specific region, a group leading a birding outing who wants to log a shared checklist for the trip. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to eBird are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Education
Too few education tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eBird (this page) | Free | Free, no ads and no in-app purchases | - | |
| Anki | Free | Open source, no licence fee except a paid iOS app | - | vs eBird |
| Busuu | Free | Free with a Premium subscription | - | vs eBird |
| PictureThis | On request | Per year, sold via a short free trial that auto-renews | - | vs eBird |
| Stellarium | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs eBird |
| Lumosity | Free | Free with a subscription | - | vs eBird |
| Star Walk 2 | Free | Freemium, low-cost ad-free subscription upgrade | - | vs eBird |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the eBird badges page.
Before you pay for eBird
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
eBird runs on ios, android, web, and is published by Cornell Lab of Ornithology of Ithaca, New York, United States. The full record is on the eBird review, and the rest of the category is under best education tools.
eBird pricing questions
- How much does eBird cost?
- eBird publishes a single tier, eBird, at Free.
- Does eBird have a free plan?
- Yes. The eBird tier costs nothing and covers unlimited checklist logging, hotspot and rare bird alerts, web and mobile access.
- Which education tools can I use without paying?
- 7 of the 8 education tools listed alongside eBird have a free tier: Anki, Busuu, Stellarium, Lumosity, Star Walk 2.
- What am I actually paying for with eBird?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a birder who wants to keep a searchable life list across every location they have visited, someone wanting alerts when a rare species is reported nearby, a researcher or land manager pulling public sighting data for a specific region.
- Does eBird charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these eBird prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare eBird against before paying?
- The closest education tools in this directory are Anki, Busuu, PictureThis, Stellarium. Each has a side-by-side comparison with eBird covering price, platforms and features.