Plant apps that aren't a subscription trap

The test that separates them

Ask one question before installing anything: does the app tell you what it costs before you download it?

Checked on September 2, 2026, none of the three most recommended plant apps state a price on their own website. Planta's site carries "Download now" and "Buy now" links with no figure attached. Greg's site states no price. PictureThis's landing page states no price. In each case the number appears after install, inside the app's own paywall.

That is legal and common, and it is also why "plant app subscription" complaints cluster around surprise renewals. An app that publishes its price before you install has given up the option of surprising you later.

Who publishes a price before you install

What a fair plant app subscription looks like

Price transparency is the first test, not the only one. These are the commitments Ezina publishes, and they are a reasonable checklist to hold any subscription app to:

• The price is public before install. You can compare without downloading anything.
• Price changes come with 30 days' notice, by email and inside the app.
• A new price requires your explicit opt-in. No one is auto-renewed onto a higher rate. If you do nothing, the subscription simply ends at the close of the current period.
• Anything you already bought keeps working. Credit packs do not expire and are unaffected by later pricing changes.
• Cancelling does not require contacting support. It happens in the App Store or Google Play.
• Exporting and deleting your data is self-service, from Settings, without an email to anyone.

Ezina's versions of these are written out in full in the transparency promise.

Ezina is in closed alpha. Anyone can install the Android app, but creating an account still needs an access code, and public launch is February 2027. If you need a plant app working on your phone tonight, the honest answer on this page is one of the others.

The free options worth knowing about

Not every plant question needs a subscription.

Pl@ntNet is free and identifies plants from photos against a citizen-science database. iNaturalist gives an AI suggestion and then a community of naturalists confirms or corrects it, which is the most reliable route for wild plants. Seek, from the same organisation, identifies through the camera without an account.

Ezina's Is it native here? is free and needs no account. Enter a plant and a U.S. county and it reports whether the plant is recorded as native, introduced, or absent there, and whether it is listed as invasive or noxious in that state, citing the statute behind each listing. The state index covers 43 states and 2,130 listings.

Which plant apps run ads?

Ezina does not, and has committed not to in any future version, including sponsored placements, affiliate links, and paid species in identification results. Planta, Greg, and PictureThis do not publish a comparable permanent commitment either way.