Plant Planner vs GrowVeg — which one’s yours?
Choose Plant Planner if
You garden in Australia and want postcode-accurate timing, an AI that recommends crops for your beds and family, and an honest free tier you can stay on.
Choose GrowVeg if
You garden in the Northern Hemisphere, want the polished drag-and-drop layout editor, and are happy paying an annual subscription up front.
That’s the short version. Below: full feature comparison, pricing breakdown, and the cases where each one genuinely wins.
The Quick Verdict
Choose Plant Planner if…
- You garden in Australia and want postcode-accurate advice
- You want AI-powered crop recommendations based on your bed size and family
- You plan on a phone more often than a desktop
- You want to start free without committing to an annual plan
- You need email reminders for planting and harvest windows
Choose GrowVeg if…
- You love a drag-and-drop visual layout tool
- You garden internationally or need UK/US-centric crop data
- You want a large, established community of users for tips
- You prefer a single annual payment over a monthly subscription
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
We've tested both tools extensively. Here's how they stack up across the features that matter most for Australian raised bed gardeners.
| Feature | 🌱 Plant Planner | GrowVeg |
|---|---|---|
| Price Plant Planner's free tier covers most hobby gardeners | Free (2 beds) · $5/mo Pro | $49.95/year |
| Australian Climate Zones Plant Planner maps your postcode to one of 5 Australian climate zones | ||
| AI Crop Recommendations | ||
| Family Harvest Calculator Shows how much bed space you need to feed your household | ||
| Companion Planting Plant Planner enforces companion rules when you assign crops | Built-in (automatic) | Separate tool |
| Personalised Planting Calendar | By postcode | Generic zones |
| Raised Bed Visualiser | ||
| Drag-and-Drop Layout GrowVeg has a more polished drag-and-drop planner interface | ||
| Crop Database Focus | Australian varieties | Global (UK/US-centric) |
| Email Reminders | Pro plan | |
| Mobile Friendly | Mobile-first design | Desktop-focused |
| Seed Spacing Tools | Digital (built-in) | Digital only |
| Crop Deduplication Plant Planner prevents the same crop appearing across multiple beds | ||
| Years in Operation GrowVeg has a more established community and user base | Newer | 10+ years |
From the makers
Ready to Try Plant Planner?
Free for up to 2 beds — personalised planting calendar, AI crop recommendations, and companion planting built in.
Where GrowVeg Wins
We think Plant Planner is a better tool for Australian gardeners — but that doesn't mean we can't be honest about where GrowVeg does things well.
Polished Drag-and-Drop Layout
GrowVeg's signature feature is its drag-and-drop garden planner, where you can position individual plants on a grid and rearrange them visually. It's a genuinely satisfying interface that has been refined over many years. If you want to spend time designing your bed layout like a floor plan, GrowVeg excels at this.
Larger, More Established Community
GrowVeg has been operating for over a decade and has a large base of gardeners contributing tips, photos, and advice. If community knowledge-sharing is important to you, GrowVeg's established user base is a genuine advantage.
Predictable Annual Pricing
At roughly $50 AUD per year, GrowVeg is a single annual payment — no ongoing subscription management. For users who prefer to pay once and forget it, that simplicity has appeal.
International Garden Support
GrowVeg supports gardens across the UK, US, Europe, and more. If you have family or friends gardening internationally and want to share plans, GrowVeg covers more ground. Plant Planner is Australian-first by design.
Where Plant Planner Wins
For Australian home gardeners — particularly those growing in raised beds — Plant Planner was built from the ground up for your specific context.
Genuinely Australian-First
Plant Planner uses your Australian postcode to identify your climate zone — tropical, subtropical, temperate, cool, or arid — and adjusts every planting date and crop recommendation accordingly. GrowVeg uses generic climate zones that weren't designed around Australian seasons and growing conditions. The difference shows up immediately in the recommendations.
AI-Powered Crop Recommendations
Plant Planner analyses your bed dimensions, sun exposure, climate zone, and existing crops to generate personalised recommendations. GrowVeg tells you what you can grow in a given month, but it doesn't reason about your specific situation. If you're starting from scratch and don't know what to plant, Plant Planner's recommender is significantly more useful.
Family Harvest Calculator
Tell Plant Planner how many people are in your household and it calculates how much of each vegetable you need to grow to be self-sufficient — then recommends the number of plants and bed space required. GrowVeg has no equivalent feature. For gardeners who want their garden to actually feed their family, this is transformative.
Free Tier That's Actually Useful
Plant Planner is free for up to 2 beds — which covers the majority of home gardeners. GrowVeg requires a paid subscription to access the planner. If you're not sure whether a garden planning app will fit your workflow, being able to test Plant Planner properly without paying anything is a meaningful advantage.
Mobile-First Design
Most gardeners check their app while they're actually in the garden — on their phone. Plant Planner was designed mobile-first, so every screen works properly on a small display. GrowVeg's interface is primarily desktop-oriented, and the drag-and-drop planner is particularly difficult to use on mobile.
Email Reminders
Plant Planner Pro sends email reminders for sowing windows, transplanting dates, and harvest time — so you never miss the right moment. GrowVeg does not offer any email reminder functionality. For busy gardeners who struggle to remember when to act, reminders are a genuine practical difference.
Pricing Compared
Plant Planner Free
$0
Forever free
- 2 beds
- AI recommendations
- Family calculator
- Planting calendar
- Email reminders
Plant Planner Pro
$5/mo
~$60/year AUD
- 10 beds
- AI recommendations
- Family calculator
- Planting calendar
- Email reminders
GrowVeg
~$50/yr
Annual plan (AUD approx.)
- Drag-drop planner
- Crop database
- Planting calendar
- AI recommendations
- Email reminders
Who Should Choose What
"I'm an Australian gardener with 1–3 raised beds"
Plant Planner. The postcode-based climate zone detection alone is worth it — you'll get accurate planting dates for your actual region, not a generic calendar built around English growing conditions. The free tier covers up to 2 beds, so for most hobby gardeners, there's nothing to pay.
"I want to design a detailed visual layout of exactly where each plant goes"
GrowVeg has the edge here. Its drag-and-drop planner is more visually sophisticated for precise layout planning. Plant Planner shows your bed layout and crop positions, but doesn't offer the same freeform drag-and-drop positioning. If layout design is the main thing you want from a planner, try GrowVeg first.
"I want to know exactly how much to grow to feed my family"
Plant Planner. The family harvest calculator is unique to Plant Planner — it takes your household size and calculates the number of plants and bed space needed to meet your consumption needs. GrowVeg has no equivalent feature.
"I'm mostly on my phone and need something that works in the garden"
Plant Planner. It was designed mobile-first, with every screen optimised for small displays. GrowVeg's interface — particularly the drag-and-drop planner — is frustrating to use on a phone.
From the makers
Try Plant Planner Free — No Credit Card Required
Set up your first bed in under 5 minutes. Enter your postcode, add your bed dimensions, and get an Australian-specific planting calendar instantly.
Final Thoughts
GrowVeg is a solid product that has served a lot of gardeners well for a long time. If you discovered it first and love the interface, there's no strong reason to switch — particularly if you primarily use it for the drag-and-drop layout tool or you garden in multiple countries.
That said, for Australian gardeners specifically, Plant Planner is the more purposeful tool. The combination of postcode-based climate zones, AI recommendations, family planning, and a free tier means it's both more relevant to your context and easier to start using without financial commitment.
Both tools offer enough for a sensible trial. We'd suggest starting with Plant Planner's free tier — it costs nothing, takes minutes to set up, and the Australian-specific planting calendar alone may be worth the switch.