PictureThis

Commercial plant identification app with a short free trial that converts to an annual subscription

As of 1 September 2026, PictureThis's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. A paid plant identification and care app from Glority, sold on a free trial that auto-renews into an annual subscription unless cancelled through the App Store or Play Store. Softwr lists it under Education. PictureThis is made by Glority LLC, available on iOS, Android.

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Overview

What PictureThis does

PictureThis identifies plants, flowers, trees and fungi from a photo and provides care instructions, disease diagnosis and reminders. It is built by Glority, a commercial software company that also publishes similar identification apps for insects, birds and other categories, and it monetises through a subscription rather than a one-off purchase. The fact that matters most for a buyer is the trial and billing structure. PictureThis offers a short free trial, commonly around seven days, that auto-converts to a paid annual subscription unless actively cancelled before it ends; cancellation has to be done through the App Store or Play Store subscription settings, not by deleting the app. This pattern has generated a consistent volume of complaints about unexpected charges and unclear cancellation timing, which is a real factor to weigh against free alternatives like Seek and PlantNet that do the same core job of identification for nothing. Buyers are gardeners and plant owners who want ongoing care guidance rather than a one-off identification, and are willing to pay for it. The trade-off is direct: PictureThis offers more polish and care features than the free nonprofit apps, but it charges for what those apps give away, and the conversion mechanics require active attention to avoid an unwanted renewal.

What people use it for

A gardener who wants ongoing care reminders and disease diagnosis, not just a one-off identification
Someone willing to pay for a more polished interface than the free nonprofit alternatives
A plant owner who wants toxicity warnings for pets and children
A buyer who reads the trial terms carefully and sets a reminder to cancel before it converts

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about PictureThis.

The free trial converts to a paid annual subscription automatically, and a documented pattern of user complaints describes unexpected charges when the trial was not cancelled in time.
Cancellation has to be done through App Store or Play Store account settings, not by deleting the app, which catches users off guard.
It solves the same core identification problem that Seek, PlantNet and Merlin solve for free, so the paid tier is competing against genuinely free options for the same task.
Care guidance for uncommon or exotic species is criticised as generic rather than specific.
Being a commercial product from a company that publishes near-identical identification apps for other categories, its plant-specific depth is not obviously deeper than a dedicated botanical tool.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of PictureThis

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

PictureThisvs
Pl@ntNet
Pl@ntNet: If you want free plant identification from a nonprofit research consortium instead of a paid subscription
PictureThisvs
Seek by iNaturalist
Seek by iNaturalist: If you want free identification across all wildlife, not just plants
PictureThisvs
Merlin Bird ID
Merlin Bird ID: If your actual need is bird identification rather than plants

Pricing

What PictureThis costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

PictureThis Annual

$39.99 /yr

Unlimited plant identifications
Disease diagnosis
Care reminders and guides

Capabilities

Features

Plant identification
Photo-based identification of plants, flowers, trees and fungi
Disease diagnosis
Identifies common plant diseases and pest damage from a photo
Care reminders
Watering and care schedules generated per identified plant
Plant care library
Written care guides for a large catalogue of species
Toxicity warnings
Flags plants that are toxic to humans or pets
My Garden tracking
Personal collection of identified and saved plants

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is there a free version?

A limited free tier exists with restricted identifications and ads; full use requires the paid subscription.

How long is the free trial and does it auto-renew?

The trial is typically about seven days and auto-renews into the annual subscription unless cancelled beforehand through your App Store or Play Store settings.

Is PictureThis the same as PlantNet or Seek?

No. PlantNet and Seek are free nonprofit identification tools; PictureThis is a commercial subscription product with more built-in care features.

Keep looking

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for PictureThis, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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