Best Plant Identification App: 3 Accuracy Tests Compared

Pl@ntNet is the safest single pick on the evidence: it was near the top in all three independent tests we read, and it is free. But no app won every test, and the winner depends on how the test was run.

• In a peer-reviewed PLOS ONE study (Campbell, Peacock and Bacon, 2023), Pl@ntNet identified 88.21 percent of flower photos and 80.36 percent of leaf photos correctly to species, the best of six apps.
• In Grow It Build It's 2024 test of 234 images, PictureThis came first at 78 percent and Pl@ntNet second at 68 percent.
• In Common by Nature's 2025 test of ten British plants, ObsIdentify and LeafSnap tied at 9.9 out of 10, with Pl@ntNet close behind at 9.7.

So if you want one free app that has done well everywhere, use Pl@ntNet. If you are willing to pay, PictureThis topped one of the tests. For anything that matters, use two apps and check the answer yourself.

PLOS ONE, 2023 (Campbell, Peacock and Bacon). 38 species of herbaceous plants from 15 families, five or ten individuals each, 280 leaf and 280 flower photos taken on one phone. Species-level accuracy of the first suggestion:

• Pl@ntNet: 88.21 percent flowers, 80.36 percent leaves
• LeafSnap: 83.57 percent flowers, 77.14 percent leaves
• Seek: 52.14 percent flowers, 22.86 percent leaves
• iNaturalist: 3.57 percent flowers, 6.79 percent leaves
• Google Lens and PlantSnap were also tested. The authors note all apps were free except PlantSnap, whose premium version they bought.

Grow It Build It, 2024. 234 images of nearly 80 species, including flowers, trees, grasses and vines, each uploaded to every app:

• PictureThis 78 percent, Pl@ntNet 68 percent, PlantApp 57 percent, Google Lens 48 percent, Plant Story 44 percent, Blossom 40 percent, iNaturalist 39 percent

Common by Nature, 2025. Ten British plants including grasses, ferns and sedges, one high-quality photo each, scored out of 10 with deductions when the right answer was not first:

• ObsIdentify 9.9, LeafSnap 9.9, Pl@ntNet 9.7, PictureThis 9, Flora Incognita 8.9, Google Lens 6.7, Seek 6.2, PlantSnap 0.1

The tests differ in plants, photos and scoring, so compare rankings within a test, not percentages across tests.

Pl@ntNet. It is run by four French public research institutes, CIRAD, INRAE, INRIA and IRD, and its site describes it as open and free to everyone, supported by donations. When we opened it on 2026-09-25 it listed 84,710 species and more than 1.4 billion images across 77 floras. It was the top or near-top app in all three tests above.

Other free options: iNaturalist describes itself as free, nonprofit and community-powered; Seek was free to use in the PLOS ONE study; and Google Lens is free and built into Google's apps (see what plant is this?). Many paid apps, PictureThis among them, have a limited free tier and a subscription; check the current terms in your app store, since they change.

PlantLens, our app, gives a confidence level and alternative candidates on each result. It was not part of any of the three tests above.

They do different jobs.

• Pl@ntNet gives an instant species suggestion from your photo. You can tag what the photo shows, such as leaf, flower, fruit, bark or the whole plant (Pl@ntNet documentation), which helps it compare like with like. It scored highest in the PLOS ONE study.
• iNaturalist also suggests an identification instantly, but its site says a global community of naturalists then confirms or refines it. Observations that enough people agree on become Research Grade and are shared with biodiversity databases such as GBIF (California Academy of Sciences). It covers animals and fungi as well as plants.

The tests above scored only each app's first automatic suggestion, which is where iNaturalist scored low (3.57 percent of flowers in PLOS ONE, 39 percent in Grow It Build It). They did not measure the human review iNaturalist is built around. Use Pl@ntNet for a quick answer, and iNaturalist when you want a record that other people have checked.

None of the three tests measured disease diagnosis or care advice, so there is no independent accuracy figure to quote for those features. What the extension services do say is that most houseplant problems are not diseases: a University of Florida plant pathologist writes that overwatering is the number one way houseplants are killed. Before trusting any app's diagnosis, check watering, light and roots.

Our own guides cover the common cases: yellow leaves on plants, spotting plant pests and indoor plant care. Knowing the correct name first matters, because care differs so much between plants.

• Photograph the flower if there is one. In the PLOS ONE study the leading apps were clearly more accurate on flowers than on leaves; Seek dropped from 52 percent to 23 percent.
• Take separate close-ups of a flower, a leaf and, for trees, the bark, and tag them in apps that ask for the plant part.
• Fill the frame with one plant against a plain background.
• Read the alternatives. The Common by Nature scoring shows how often the right answer is second or third.
• Check with a second app. Grow It Build It recommends using its top two apps together.
• Never decide from an app whether something is safe to eat or touch. The PLOS ONE authors say apps should be treated as an aid and not assumed correct, especially if the plant might be toxic. For anything you might eat, ask a local expert; if someone has swallowed a plant, call Poison Control on 1-800-222-1222.

Research and drafting for this page were done with the help of AI, and every figure was then checked line by line against the sources listed at the end of the page. Sources were opened on 2026-09-25. We did not run our own accuracy test; all scores come from the three published tests named above. PlantLens is our own app, and it was not included in those tests. If you find a mistake, tell us and we will correct it.