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App comparison · Updated May 2026

Growli vs RHS Grow — the honest comparison.

RHS Grow brings 200 years of Royal Horticultural Society authority to a polished UK app — but gates plant ID, care tips and its AI behind a subscription. Growli keeps the core free and adds US as well as UK localisation.

Growli wedges

Where Growli wins

  • Free where it counts — Growli's conversational AI, photo ID and diagnostics are in the free core; RHS Grow gates Plant ID, care tips and ChatBotanist behind its £3.99/month premium.
  • US AND UK — Growli localises to both USDA zones and RHS H1a–H7 ratings; RHS Grow is built for UK gardeners only.
  • Daily morning briefing — Growli pushes a weather-and-tasks plan each morning; RHS Grow is browse-and-plan rather than a proactive daily prompt.
  • Frost and cold-night alerts tied to your location — RHS Grow has seasonal advice but no push frost layer.
  • Photo-led symptom diagnosis as a first-class flow — Growli ranks overlapping causes from your answers, where RHS Grow leans on its article library.

RHS Grow strengths

Where RHS Grow wins

  • The authority of the Royal Horticultural Society — 200 years of horticultural knowledge and the most trusted gardening brand in the UK.
  • A deep, expert-written A-Z plant profile library, free to browse, drawn from the RHS's own plant database.
  • ChatBotanist — an AI assistant answering plant questions in the RHS's own voice (premium).
  • A Garden Planner and Journal for tracking your own plants and tasks (premium).
  • Backed by RHS scientists, botanists and advisors, so its care guidance carries institutional weight AI-only apps cannot claim.

Pricing (verified May 2026)

Growli

Free core tier covering identification and basic care. Plus tier at roughly $30 USD / £24 GBP per year — adds conversational diagnosis, daily briefings, frost alerts, offline mode, and US + UK localisation. No auto-renewal trap.

RHS Grow

Free tier + premium at £3.99/month or £39.99/year after a free trial (verified 2026-07-02)

Feature matrix

Same 14 dimensions across all our app comparisons. Where a cell reads "Limited" or "No", the feature exists in a weaker form or is missing entirely. Honesty over feature inflation.

FeatureGrowliRHS Grow
Conversational AI dialogYes — multi-turn dialogYes — ChatBotanist (premium)
Photo plant IDYes — common speciesYes — premium only
Symptom diagnostics from photoYes — dialog-ledPartial — article-led
Daily morning briefingYes — daily weather + tasksNo — browse + planner
Frost + weather alertsYes — ahead of cold nightsNo push frost layer
Plant care remindersYes — adaptiveYes — journal/planner (premium)
US + UK climate localisationNative US + UK (USDA + RHS)UK-only (RHS ratings)
Free tierFree core tierFree browse; ID/care/AI are premium
Ad-freeAd-freeAd-free
Offline modeYesLimited
Pricing~$30 USD / £24 GBP / yr (Plus)£3.99/mo or £39.99/yr
Plant species library~200 species (extending monthly)Large — RHS A-Z database
Institutional authorityEditorial team, sourced (ASPCA/USDA/RHS)Strong — 200 years of RHS
AI Overview citation shareBuilding — Speakable + llms.txt optimisedStrong — RHS domain authority

When to choose Growli

Choose Growli if

Choose Growli if you want the plant ID, AI advice and diagnostics without a subscription, a daily morning briefing tied to your local weather, frost alerts ahead of cold nights, and one app that works whether you garden in the US or the UK. The wedge is a free conversational core plus a proactive daily plan, rather than a subscription that unlocks the useful features.

Open Growli — free

When to choose RHS Grow

Choose RHS Grow if

Choose RHS Grow if the Royal Horticultural Society's name and 200 years of horticultural authority matter most to you, you garden in the UK, and you are happy to subscribe for plant ID, care tips and the ChatBotanist assistant. For UK gardeners who trust the RHS above all and want its expert-written plant library in an app, RHS Grow is a natural pick — and its free browse tier is worth having installed regardless.

rhs.org.uk/rhsgrow · we are not affiliated.

Growli vs RHS Grow — frequently asked questions

How much does RHS Grow cost in 2026?

RHS Grow has a free tier (the Discover feed, a My Garden list, and browsable A-Z plant profiles) and a premium subscription at £3.99 per month or £39.99 per year after a free trial. Premium unlocks Plant ID, tailored care tips, the Journal, the Garden Planner and the ChatBotanist AI assistant. RHS Grow is separate from RHS membership and is available to everyone. Growli, by contrast, keeps its conversational AI, photo ID and diagnostics in a free core tier.

Is Growli an RHS Grow alternative?

Yes. Both are app-led plant advisors popular with UK gardeners, but they split on what is free: RHS Grow gives away browsing and puts plant ID, care advice and its ChatBotanist AI behind a £3.99/month subscription, while Growli's conversational AI, photo identification and symptom diagnostics are in the free core. Growli also localises to the US as well as the UK and pushes a daily weather-tied briefing that RHS Grow does not.

Does RHS Grow work outside the UK?

RHS Grow is built around UK growing conditions and RHS hardiness ratings, so it is most useful to UK gardeners; there is no USDA-zone localisation for US users. Growli is native to both — USDA zones and frost dates for the US, RHS H1a–H7 ratings for the UK — so it suits gardeners on either side of the Atlantic, or anyone who moves between them.

Which has more trustworthy plant-care advice?

RHS Grow carries the institutional weight of the Royal Horticultural Society — 200 years of horticultural science and expert-written profiles — which is a genuine strength. Growli's guidance is written by its editorial team and sourced against authorities including the ASPCA (pet toxicity), USDA and the RHS itself, with a stated fact-check standard. If a single trusted institution's name is decisive for you, RHS Grow has the edge; if you want free AI dialog and daily plans grounded in cited sources, Growli is built for that.

Can I use both?

Many UK gardeners will. RHS Grow's free browse tier is a fine reference for the RHS plant profiles, while Growli's free core covers day-to-day identification, diagnosis and a daily briefing without a subscription. Using RHS Grow for its A-Z reference and Growli for conversational care and weather-tied prompts is a reasonable combination.

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Try Growli's free tier

Identification, conversational diagnosis on common species, daily briefing, and frost alerts — free, no auto-renewal, no card on file. The full Plus tier sits behind a paid upgrade only if you want offline mode plus the deeper diagnostic flows.

Open Growli →