10 Free Plant Identifier Apps You Should Know About

Are you interested in learning more about plants? Plants are incredibly versatile, so knowing more about them can be incredibly useful. Aside from consumption, plants can have medicinal and even decorative value. Some plants may even be dangerous or poisonous to consume.

The best way to improve your knowledge about plants? Start with the plants around you first. You can install free plant identifier apps on your mobile or tablet. These apps are very user-friendly and use your phone’s camera to scan plants and give you all the information you need along with some useful facts.

#1. Plantnet

Image source: Identify.plantnet.org

One of the best free plant identifier apps, Plantnet allows you to identify all kinds of unique plants including flowers, trees, grasses, conifers, ferns, shrubs, vines, and cacti by simply taking a picture. But it’s more than just an alternative to a botanist for whenever you’re traveling and surrounded by diverse foliage. It’s also a citizen science project.

All the pictures you click are collected in a database of pictures analyzed by leading botanists across the world. By using this app, you’d be improving your own knowledge and contributing to the growth of knowledge and scientific understanding. It’s a pretty nifty way to discover new plant species, new mutations, or evolutions efficiently.

The more people use this app, the more they add to the inventory of images and data on the app. It’s a win-win for both you and the app!

#2. Inaturalist

Image source: Inaturalist.org

Inaturalist is one of the most popular nature guide apps available for free today. It helps you identify both plants and animals around you. It also connects you to a community of over 400,000 experienced scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more.

The app lets you upload pictures and videos of plants and animals along with a message board to post your observations. You can discuss your observations with other people, share new discoveries, and help others learn more about or identify what they’ve seen.

It’s the perfect concept for an enthusiast and adds a social element to learning, which is usually more conducive. The design and features are quite user-friendly and don’t take long to get accustomed to.

There’s also a map feature that shows you all the places where you’ve made observations, discovered new species, and where your fellow observers from the community have been sharing pictures from.

#3. Plantsnap

Image source: Plantsnap.com

Plantsnap is an instant encyclopedia that lets you identify over 600,000 species of plants, flowers, trees, succulents, mushrooms, ferns, conifers, cacti, and more. You can share pictures of your new discoveries and make posts to discuss them with your friends. The app has over 50 million active users from 200 different countries. So you’re sure to see some incredibly rare plants.

Not only do you receive key information about plants, Plantsnap is also a guide to help you grow over 10,00 types of plants at home. Lastly, Plantsnap helps you actively contribute to the environment by planting one tree for every new user who installs the app and registers.

#4. Picturethis

Image source: Picturethisai.com

Picturethis is a high-quality, nerd-friendly plant identifier. It has more than 70 million active users from around the world and lets you identify 17,000+ species with 98% accuracy. It’s an identifier that’s more reliable than most human experts. You can curate your own personal collection to keep track of all the observations and species you’ve identified.

Picturethis uses revolutionary artificial intelligence to constantly improve upon itself with feedback from its users, experts, and specialists. It also has a community board that allows you to interact with the specific expertise you’re looking for.

The app also caters to plant growers and hobbyists with tips on how to better care for your plants. It can diagnose a plant’s illness and inform you how to nurture it back to life if your plant ever gets sick. There’s also a water-reminder feature you can use to follow a watering schedule.

#5. Flowerchecker

Image source: Flowerchecker.com

Flowerchecker is a unique plant identifier that works with full human involvement, as opposed to artificial intelligence. It works by sending a picture of the plant you want to identify along with some details such as your location, whether you’re indoors or outdoors, etc.

The photo and the information you provide are studied by an international team of experts who process the request and send you 100% accurate identification. It can take minutes stretching into hours but requests are usually processed within a day.

The first identification request is free of charge but the consequent ones will come at a fee that will be a part of Google or Apple Store’s in-app purchases.

If the team of experts cannot identify your plant, your money will be refunded. They can identify more than 90% of the plants in the world, save only for new species.

#6. Garden Compass/Smart Plant Home

Image source: Farm.com

A reliable guide to the entire ecosystem, Garden Compass is backed by experts and local garden centers. You can scan a picture of any plant or animal and instantly receive information about its identity, uses, availability, commercial value, and warnings. You get expert information on everyday plants and animals at your fingertips.

The updated version Smart Plant Home can also helps you with gardening to make your plants flourish by giving you tips, care reminders, and allowing you to connect with experts. If you upgrade to the premium version, you will have access to horticulture experts who can answer any questions you have regarding your houseplants and pests.

#7. Agrobase

Image source: play.google.com

Agrobase is one of the most unique free plant identifier apps that is specially developed for farmers and agronomists.

It contains a database of all the pests, weeds, diseases, and registered pesticides in your country. You can identify sick plants, eliminate weeds and get tips on how to deal with pests, or which pesticide to use.

#8. Plantix

Image source: Plantix.net

Plantix is an advisory app for farmers and gardeners that can help you not only identify plants and pests, but also diagnose diseases, nutrient deficiencies and offers treatment protocols.

It’s the perfect guide for new farmers and home gardeners and serves as a complete solution for crop management.

#9. Google Lens

Image source: Lens.google

Google Lens is a search scanner that lets you search and identify or learn more about everything that you see.

This not only includes plants and animals but also places around you, objects, and even Barcodes. It’s a general search engine that takes input in the form of pictures as opposed to search queries.

#10. Leafsnap

Image source: Leafsnap.com

Leafsnap can identify 90% of all the known species of wildflowers, shrubs, trees, moss, and all kinds of plants.

It’s powered by a huge database that’s constantly improving upon itself with the information it receives from your pictures. It’s very easy to use; simply scan and get information, useful tips, and more instantly.