Plant Planner vs Gardenate — different jobs, honestly.
Gardenate tells you what month. Plant Planner tells you which bed, how many plants, what day. We’re not a Gardenate alternative — we’re a different category. Most Australian gardeners use both: Gardenate as a quick monthly reference, Plant Planner to actually run their patch.
Choose Plant Planner if
You want a full garden system — raised-bed layout drawn to scale, family-size crop maths, companion checking, and reminders the morning before each task.
Stick with Gardenate if
You just want a quick monthly reference, prefer no signup, and value the simple iOS/Android app that works offline. It’s good at what it does.
We genuinely like Gardenate — we link to it from our planting guides. The full breakdown is below.
What Is Gardenate?
Gardenate is a long-running free resource that tells you what to plant in your garden each month, based on your Australian climate zone. You select your zone from a list, and Gardenate shows a simple, clear calendar of what to sow, plant out, and harvest for each month of the year.
It's simple by design. There's no account required, no subscription, and no complexity. Many experienced Australian gardeners use it as a quick monthly reference — it's been around for a long time and its data is generally reliable. It also has a dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android.
Gardenate at a Glance
- Completely free
- No account required
- iOS and Android app
- Works offline once loaded
- Australian climate zones
- No bed planning or layout
- No crop tracking or task management
- No AI or personalisation
The Quick Verdict
Choose Plant Planner if…
- You have raised beds and want to plan what goes in them specifically
- You want personalised recommendations based on your postcode and family size
- You want to track what you've planted and when to harvest
- You want email reminders for upcoming planting and harvest windows
- You want to know how much to grow to feed your whole household
Stick with Gardenate if…
- You just need a quick "what can I plant this month" reference
- You don't want to create an account or manage any subscriptions
- You need offline access from a dedicated mobile app
- Your gardening is casual and you don't need to track individual beds
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
These two tools do genuinely different things — Gardenate is a calendar, Plant Planner is a full garden management system. The comparison below shows where they overlap and where they diverge.
| Feature | 🌱 Plant Planner | Gardenate |
|---|---|---|
| Price Both are free to start — Gardenate is entirely free | Free (2 beds) · $5/mo Pro | Free |
| Australian Climate Zones Both support Australian climate zones — Gardenate requires manual selection | 5 zones, postcode-based | Yes (select your zone) |
| Postcode-Based Detection Plant Planner detects your zone automatically from your postcode | ||
| AI Crop Recommendations | ||
| Bed Layout & Visualisation Gardenate is a calendar tool only — no bed visualisation | ||
| Family Harvest Calculator | ||
| Companion Planting | Built-in (automatic) | Basic info per crop |
| Monthly Planting Calendar Gardenate's strength — simple, reliable month-by-month guide | ||
| Crop-Specific Growing Notes Both include notes on spacing, sowing depth, days to harvest | ||
| Garden Task Tracking | ||
| Email Reminders | Pro plan | |
| Mobile App Gardenate has a dedicated mobile app; Plant Planner is mobile-optimised web | Mobile-first web app | iOS & Android app |
| Offline Access Gardenate's app works without internet once loaded | ||
| Raised Bed Focus Gardenate works for any garden type; Plant Planner is optimised for raised beds | ||
| Account Required Gardenate's calendar works without any signup |
From the makers
Get a Personalised Planting Calendar for Your Postcode
Plant Planner goes beyond monthly guides — enter your postcode and beds to get a schedule tailored to your exact climate zone and garden.
Where Gardenate Wins
Gardenate has earned its reputation over many years. There are real things it does better — or at least differently — than Plant Planner.
Completely Free, Always
Gardenate is free with no limitations, no account required, and no subscription tier to navigate. You open it, select your climate zone, and instantly see what to plant this month. For gardeners who want information without friction, that simplicity is genuinely valuable. Plant Planner's free tier is generous, but it still requires signup.
Native Mobile App with Offline Access
Gardenate has dedicated iOS and Android apps that work offline once loaded. If you're out in the garden without reliable mobile data — or in a rural area with patchy signal — Gardenate's app will still give you your planting calendar. Plant Planner is a web app optimised for mobile, but requires an internet connection.
Zero Commitment, Zero Setup
Gardenate requires nothing from you. No email, no password, no measurements, no profile. It's useful the first second you visit. For casual gardeners who want to check what to plant before a weekend trip to the nursery, that immediacy is its strongest feature.
Reliable, Established Data
Gardenate's planting calendar data has been used and refined by Australian gardeners for many years. It's well-trusted within the Australian gardening community as a straightforward, reliable monthly reference. That track record carries genuine weight.
Where Plant Planner Goes Further
Gardenate answers the question: "What can I plant this month?" Plant Planner answers a much broader set of questions — and for anyone with actual raised beds they're trying to manage, that matters.
From Calendar to Actual Garden Plan
Gardenate tells you tomatoes can be planted in your zone in September. Plant Planner tells you how many tomatoes fit in your specific 1.2m × 2.4m bed, warns you that your Bed 2 already has tomatoes assigned, suggests the companion plants to go alongside them, and schedules a reminder email for when to start seeds indoors six weeks earlier. The difference is the gap between a reference tool and an actual planning system.
Postcode Precision
Gardenate asks you to manually select your climate zone from a list. Plant Planner detects it automatically from your Australian postcode. This is a small convenience, but it also means Plant Planner can be more precise — a postcode in the Dandenong Ranges gardening in cool conditions gets different recommendations than inner Melbourne's temperate microclimate, even within the same broad zone.
Knowing How Much to Grow
One of the most common mistakes in vegetable gardening is growing too much of one thing and not enough of another. Plant Planner's family harvest calculator uses your household size and Australian average consumption data to tell you exactly how many plants you need of each crop to meet your family's needs for a year. Gardenate has no equivalent — it tells you the "what" but not the "how much."
Tracking What You've Actually Done
Gardenate is a calendar — it shows you what to do, but it has no memory. Plant Planner tracks what you've planted in each bed, when you planted it, and when to expect harvest — building a record of your garden over time. If you've ever wondered "when did I put those beans in?" or wanted to review last season's yields, Plant Planner holds that history.
Automatic Companion Plant Checking
Gardenate includes basic companion planting information on individual crop pages. Plant Planner enforces companion and antagonist rules automatically when you assign crops to beds — bad neighbours are flagged before you plant them. For gardeners who are still learning companion planting, having it built in as a guardrail is much more useful than a reference page.
No Duplicate Crops Across Beds
Plant Planner enforces a hard rule: the same crop can't appear in multiple beds at the same time, unless you explicitly override it. This prevents a very common mistake for multi-bed gardeners — accidentally planning tomatoes in Bed 1 and Bed 2 when one bed's worth would already exceed your family's needs. Gardenate doesn't manage beds at all.
They're Really Different Products
It's worth being direct: Gardenate and Plant Planner are solving different problems. Comparing them is a bit like comparing a street directory to a GPS navigation app. Both deal with routes, but one shows you where roads are and one actively guides your journey.
Gardenate is an excellent, reliable reference. If you're an experienced gardener who already knows what you want to grow and just needs a quick check on timing, Gardenate does that job well and requires nothing from you.
Plant Planner is for gardeners who want help making decisions — what to grow, how much of it, where in which bed, when to start seeds, and what to do when the harvest window approaches. The tradeoff is that it requires setup (adding your beds, entering your postcode) and a login. For most gardeners who want their garden to actually feed their household efficiently, that setup pays off quickly.
Who Should Choose What
"I just want to know what to plant in my garden this month"
Gardenate handles this perfectly and costs nothing. Select your climate zone, check the month, and you have your answer in seconds. Plant Planner is overkill for this use case unless you also want to manage beds and track your garden.
"I have 2–4 raised beds and I want to plan what goes in each one"
Plant Planner. Gardenate doesn't have any bed management — it can't help you decide whether the beans go in Bed 1 or Bed 2, or flag that you've already allocated too much space to leafy greens and not enough to tomatoes for your family's needs.
"I garden without reliable internet access"
Gardenate's native app works offline and is the better choice here. Plant Planner is a web app that requires connectivity.
"I want my garden to actually provide meaningful food for my family"
Plant Planner. The family harvest calculator will tell you exactly how much bed space you need and which crops to prioritise. Gardenate tells you when to plant — it can't tell you how much to plant to feed four people through a Queensland summer.
"I already use Gardenate and it's working fine"
Keep using it. If Gardenate gives you what you need, there's no reason to change. Consider Plant Planner if you find yourself wanting bed-level planning, tracking, or reminders that Gardenate doesn't provide.
From the makers
See What Plant Planner Can Do for Your Garden
Start free — add your first raised bed, enter your postcode, and get a personalised planting calendar that goes beyond a monthly guide.
Final Thoughts
Gardenate is a genuinely useful free resource that has served Australian gardeners well. It deserves its reputation as a reliable planting calendar, and for gardeners who just want a quick monthly reference, it's hard to beat something that's free, instant, and works offline.
Plant Planner is for gardeners who want more — a full system for planning, managing, and tracking raised beds across the whole growing year. The free tier (up to 2 beds) lets you experience the AI recommendations, companion planting automation, and family calculator without spending anything.
Our honest suggestion: if you currently use Gardenate and sometimes wish it could do more — track what you've planted, help you plan multiple beds, or tell you how much to grow — Plant Planner's free tier takes about five minutes to set up and addresses all of those gaps. There's nothing to lose in trying it.