Folly vs Blossom: Which Plant Care App Fits You?
Of all the apps Folly gets compared with, Blossom is the closest. Both identify plants, diagnose problems with treatment and prevention advice, keep notes with photos, group plants by room, and send weather alerts. If you are looking for a list of things Blossom cannot do, this is not going to be a long one.
Blossom is the broader library: a bigger identification database, a light meter, growing guides and a planting calendar for edibles, and a search that filters by pet safety and difficulty. Folly is narrower and goes further into the schedule itself.
The three real differences are that Folly gives each growing site its own weather, batches your care onto a day you choose, and shows the arithmetic behind every watering interval.
The short answer
- This is the closest comparison in our set. Both apps do weather alerts, notes with photos, room grouping, disease diagnosis and adaptive reminders.
- Folly runs up to 5 growing sites on Folly Pro, each with its own location and weather, and batches tasks onto a chore day you choose.
- Folly shows its working - every watering interval breaks down into the 15 factors that set it, with the percentage each one added or cut.
- Blossom has a light meter, edible growing guides with a planting calendar, and runs on iOS 15.4 where Folly needs 16.4.
When Folly is the better pick
Pick Folly if you grow in more than one place, want your care batched onto a single day, or want to see exactly why a schedule says what it says rather than being handed a number.
When Blossom is the better pick
Pick Blossom if you grow edibles - its planting calendar and growing guides have no equivalent in Folly - or if you want a light meter and a bigger identification library today. It also installs on older iPhones than Folly does.
Folly vs Blossom at a glance
| Feature | Folly | Blossom |
|---|---|---|
| Plant identification from a photo | Instant identification from a photo, across a large plant database | Large identification library, with a Multisnap mode for several photos of one plant |
| Health diagnosis with treatment plan | Plant Doctor: 500+ diseases and pests, with step-by-step treatment, a recovery timeline and prevention tips | Disease identification with cause, treatment and prevention, plus AI Botanist treatment plans |
| Care schedule type | 15 factors - weather, season, room, pot, soil, light and more - recalculated as conditions change | Reminders created automatically from the plant's needs, light conditions and time of year; water calculator uses plant type and pot size |
| Shows why the schedule changed | Every factor listed with the percentage it added or cut, grouped into what shortened and what lengthened the interval | Check app |
| Chore day grouping (tasks batched onto one day) | Shifts due dates onto your chosen chore day where the plant allows it. Included free | Check app |
| Weather warnings | Frost, heat, wind and storm alerts naming the plants at risk, with a protection checklist | Alerts about upcoming weather changes with advice for those conditions |
| Multiple growing sites, each with its own weather | Up to 5 sites on Folly Pro, each with its own location and weather; 1 site free, 20 rooms on either | Plants can be grouped by room type; no evidence of separate locations each with their own weather |
| Notes with progress photos | Included free | Journal growth and development, with photos attached |
| Light meter | Coming soon | Measures ambient light to find the right spot |
| Growing guides for edibles | No planting calendar for edible crops | Personalised planting calendar and extra reminders for edible plants |
| Plant suggestions for your conditions | Matches plants to a room's conditions and your existing plants | Advanced search by light needs, difficulty, plant type and pet safety |
| Monthly personalised care guide | Written for your collection and climate (Folly Pro) | Check app |
| Interface | Built in 2026 for current iOS and Android design conventions | First released 2020, actively updated since |
| Minimum iOS version | iOS 16.4, so older iPhones miss out | iOS 15.4 |
| Platforms | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
Blossom details checked August 2026 from its own website and App Store listing. Features change — "Check app" means we could not confirm it either way, not that it is missing.
Where Blossom wins
Blossom covers ground Folly does not go near at all. Its growing guides for edible plants come with a personalised planting calendar and their own reminders, so if you are sowing carrots and tomatoes rather than keeping houseplants alive, Blossom is doing a job Folly simply does not do. We have no answer to that.
It is also the broader reference. A bigger identification library, a Multisnap mode that takes several photos of the same plant for a better match, a search that filters by pet safety and care difficulty, and a working light meter - ours is still to come. If you are choosing plants as much as caring for them, Blossom gives you more to work with.
And on the things people assume are ours alone, Blossom is level. It sends weather alerts. It keeps notes with photos. It groups plants by room. Its reminders adapt to the plant's needs, its light and the time of year. Anyone selling you Folly on the basis that Blossom cannot do those things has not read Blossom's app description. It also runs on iOS 15.4, where Folly needs 16.4, so on an older iPhone it may install where we will not.
Where Folly wins
Since so much is level, the differences that remain are worth being precise about. The first is place. Blossom groups plants by room inside one collection; on Folly Pro you can run up to five separate growing sites, each with its own location and its own live weather, and up to 20 rooms inside each. An allotment two miles away gets its own forecast rather than sharing your flat's. The free tier covers a single site, so this is a reason to upgrade rather than something you get on day one.
The second is the shape of the alert. Both apps tell you the weather is turning. Folly's alerts name the individual plants at risk and hand you a protection checklist - what to move, what to cover, what to water first - rather than giving you general advice for the conditions and leaving you to work out which of your plants it applies to.
The third, and the one we would point at first, is that Folly shows its working. Blossom creates a reminder and you trust it. Folly gives you the base interval for the species, then each of the 15 factors that moved it - pot material and size, soil, light, room, season, temperature, humidity, rainfall, maturity and the rest - with the percentage it added or cut, grouped into what is making you water more often and what is making you water less. When Folly says nine days rather than a fortnight, you can see it was the terracotta pot and the warm week, and disagree if you think it is wrong.
And Folly batches care onto a chore day you choose, moving due dates wherever a plant tolerates the shift, so a large collection becomes one job on a Saturday rather than notifications spread across the week.
One point we will label as opinion rather than fact: we think Folly is the better-looking and better-feeling app. It was designed in 2026 around how phones look now, where Blossom has been building on an interface first shipped in 2020. Both are free to download, so that is an easy one to judge for yourself.
Pricing
Folly is free to download and free to keep using. Chore day grouping, notes with progress photos and the full plant care guide are all included at no cost, with no trial attached. The free tier covers 5 scans a month, one growing site with up to 20 rooms, and a 7-day Folly Pro trial.
Folly Pro is £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year. It raises you to 30 scans a month, opens up to 5 growing sites each with its own location and weather, and adds the monthly personalised care guide. If you need more scans in a particular month, you can buy a one-off scan pack rather than move up a tier.
Blossom is free to download and sells a paid tier inside the app. It does not publish its subscription prices on its website, and pricing varies by region, so we would rather send you to the source than quote a figure that might be wrong: check Blossom on the App Store.
Questions people ask
Is Folly a good alternative to Blossom?
Yes, though they are closer than most comparisons suggest. Both identify plants, diagnose problems, keep notes with photos and send weather alerts. Folly adds separate growing sites each with their own weather, batches care onto a chore day you choose, and shows the full breakdown behind every watering interval. Blossom adds edible growing guides, a light meter and a larger identification library. Which is better depends on whether you want depth in the schedule or breadth in the library.
Does Blossom have weather alerts like Folly?
Yes. Blossom's App Store listing describes alerts about upcoming weather changes with advice on caring for plants in those conditions, so weather warnings are not unique to Folly. The difference is that Folly's alerts name the specific plants at risk and include a protection checklist of what to move, cover or water first, rather than general advice for the forecast conditions.
Is Folly free?
Folly is free to download and free to keep using. The free tier includes 5 plant scans a month, one growing site with up to 20 rooms, and a 7-day Folly Pro trial, plus chore day grouping, notes with progress photos and the full plant care guide at no cost. Folly Pro is £7.99 a month or £59.99 a year, and raises you to 30 scans a month, up to 5 growing sites each with its own weather, and the monthly personalised care guide. Scans are capped on both tiers; if you need more in a given month you can buy a one-off scan pack.
Which is better for growing vegetables, Folly or Blossom?
Blossom. It has growing guides for edible plants with a personalised planting calendar and its own reminders, which Folly does not offer at all. Folly is built around caring for plants you already have rather than planning a sowing season, so if edibles are the main thing you grow, Blossom is the better fit.
Does Folly work in my country?
Yes. Folly is available worldwide on the App Store and Google Play, and its schedules and weather alerts use your own location, so care advice reflects your local conditions rather than a UK default. Folly is built by Zohho Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.
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