Best Free Plant Apps UK 2026 — 4 That Stay Free

"Free" is the most abused word in the plant app category. Almost every app in the UK App Store is free to download, which is not the same thing as free to use, and the gap between the two is where unexpected charges come from.

We make Growli, which is one of the four free apps below, so read this with that in mind. That is also why every claim about the other apps comes from their own App Store listings rather than from our opinion of them.

How we compared. Prices and ratings come from each app's GB App Store listing, read on 29 July 2026 (Blossom and Plantum on 1 August 2026). Feature claims come from each app's own App Store description, read on 22 October 2026, worded the way the app words them. We have not run a hands-on test, so nothing here ranks the apps by accuracy. Where a listing does not mention a feature, we say "not on its listing". That is not the same as the app lacking it.

An app counts as free here if you can keep using its core purpose indefinitely without paying. An app that gives you a trial and then bills you does not, however it is labelled.

The four free apps

PlantNet — free, with no in-app purchases listed

PlantNet is the one app in this comparison whose listing shows no in-app purchases at all. It is run by the Pl@ntNet consortium of four French research institutes: CIRAD, INRAE, Inria and IRD. Its listing describes photo identification of about 20,000 species, searching several plants at once, and filtering by genus or family.

What it is best at: a free identifier you can trust for wild flowers, trees and weeds.

Not on its listing: diagnosis, care reminders, a light meter, weather or pet toxicity. It is an identifier, not a care app.

Verdict: if you want one free app for naming plants on a walk, this is it.

Seek by iNaturalist — free, and good for logging what you find

Seek is made by iNaturalist, an independent non-profit since July 2023 and before that a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic. Its listing describes image recognition for plants, animals and fungi, badges and challenges, and says that Seek does not require registration. It is free, and rated 4.8 from about 31,000 ratings on the US App Store.

What it is best at: logging what lives in your garden or along a walk, and getting children interested in it.

Not on its listing: care advice or diagnosis.

RHS Grow — a free tier funded by the Royal Horticultural Society

RHS Grow has a free tier, funded by the RHS, and the RHS's own page says the paid subscription is separate from RHS membership: £5.99 a month or £39.99 a year, with a free trial. So you do not need to be an RHS member to use the free tier or to subscribe.

The RHS's page sets out which features are free and which need the subscription. We have not re-read that list for this update, so check the RHS page for the current split before you decide. The GB App Store listing shows several price tiers (£3.99, £5.99, £29.99, £34.99 and £39.99) without stating what period each covers; the RHS's own £5.99 and £39.99 are the figures to plan around. Rated 4.7 from about 5,900 ratings on the GB App Store.

Verdict: the official UK option, and worth installing for the free tier alone if you garden outdoors in Britain. The full breakdown is in how much is the RHS Grow app?

Growli — a free tier that does not expire

This is our app, so here is the plain version. The free tier is not a trial. It covers the garden plan, weather-timed daily care tasks, frost warnings ahead of cold nights, and step-by-step growing guides. Those keep working indefinitely.

What is behind the paywall: photo plant identification, photo diagnosis with a treatment plan, and unlimited chat. That is Growli Plus at £34.99 a year or £6.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan. Rated 4.8 from 165 ratings on the UK App Store, read 22 October 2026.

We say that plainly because a page about free apps that quietly describes paid features as free is worse than useless. An earlier version of our own comparison pages did exactly that, and we corrected it on 29 July 2026.

Verdict: the free tier is worth it if your problem is keeping plants alive through a British year: the frost alerts and weather-timed tasks cost nothing. If your problem is naming a plant from a photo and you want it free, PlantNet does that.

The four that charge

PictureThis, Planta and PlantIn read 29 July 2026; Blossom 1 August 2026. What each app's free tier includes before the paywall is not stated on these listings, so try it and see. Blossom is the dearest app in this category in the UK, despite often being described as a budget option.

Before you start any trial, know how to cancel it: through your phone's subscription settings, not by deleting the app. Deleting the app does not cancel anything.

And look past weekly plans. PlantIn lists weekly tiers up to £8.99, and Blossom up to £7.99. Paid every week for a year, either costs many times the same app's annual plan. Weekly pricing exists because the number looks small at the paywall.

Which free app for which job

• "I want to know what this plant is, on a walk." PlantNet. Free, no in-app purchases listed.
• "I want to log what is living in my garden." Seek by iNaturalist. Free, no account needed.
• "I want the Royal Horticultural Society's own app." RHS Grow's free tier, with the subscription separate from membership.
• "I keep forgetting to water things, and I lost plants to frost last year." Growli's free tier: the weather-timed tasks and frost warnings are the free part.
• "I want one free app that does everything." It does not exist. Every app that tries to do everything charges for it. Two free apps together, such as PlantNet plus RHS Grow or PlantNet plus Growli, cover more ground than any single subscription.

What free costs you instead

Free tiers are funded somehow, and it is worth knowing how before you choose.

PlantNet is run by research institutes; Seek by a non-profit. Your observations go to a research project rather than a subscription business.

RHS Grow's free tier is funded by the Royal Horticultural Society. It is also, plainly, a route into the paid tier.

Growli's free tier is funded by people who upgrade to Plus. We are not pretending otherwise.

The apps that charge are funded by subscriptions, which is fine. Just read the paywall before you agree to it.

Related reading

If you decide a paid app is worth it after all, every UK price is side by side in how much plant apps cost in the UK. The feature-by-feature comparisons are in best plant care app UK and best plant identifier app UK.

Related articles

• How much is the RHS Grow app? Cost and free tier — the price, the free tier, and the membership confusion
• Growli vs RHS Grow — honest 2026 comparison — against the official Royal Horticultural Society app
• How much do plant apps cost in the UK? 10 verified — every GB price read from its own App Store listing
• Best plant care app UK 2026 — free and paid compared — the full care-side comparison
• Best plant identifier app UK 2026 — honest comparison — the ID side in depth
• PictureThis alternatives UK — 7 plant ID apps compared — when the subscription stops being worth it
• Growli pricing — what is free, what is Plus, and what it costs

Written and maintained by the Growli editorial team. Prices and ratings were read from each app's GB App Store listing on 29 July 2026 (Blossom 1 August 2026); feature claims from each app's App Store description on 22 October 2026. If something has changed, email hello@getgrowli.app and we will correct it.