Folly vs Greg: Which Plant Care App Fits You?
Greg and Folly both work out how much water a plant needs rather than nagging you on a fixed timer, and both are pleasant to use. The difference is what surrounds that.
Greg is a community app. Its own listing leads with the social feed and troubleshooting from other growers before it gets to features, and it is aimed squarely at indoor plants. Folly has no community at all, and is built for people growing across more than one place, including outdoors.
So the honest question is not which is better, but whether you want other people involved in your plant care or you want the app to handle a garden, a greenhouse and a flat that all have different weather.
The short answer
- Greg has a genuine community - a social feed and troubleshooting from experienced growers, often answered in minutes. Folly has nothing comparable.
- Folly is built for outdoor and multi-site growing: up to 5 sites on Folly Pro, each with its own location and weather, plus frost, heat, wind and storm alerts with protection checklists.
- Folly shows its working - every watering interval breaks down into the 15 factors that set it, with the percentage each one added or cut.
- Greg is cheaper: its listing prices a year at $29.99 against Folly Pro at £59.99.
When Folly is the better pick
Pick Folly if you grow outdoors or across more than one place, want warnings before frost or heat does damage, and want to see exactly why a schedule says what it says.
When Greg is the better pick
Pick Greg if you grow indoors and want people around you while you do it. The community is the real product and it is good - Folly has no answer to it - and Greg costs less per year. If you like asking other growers rather than reading an algorithm's reasoning, Greg is the better fit.
Folly vs Greg at a glance
| Feature | Folly | Greg |
|---|---|---|
| Plant identification from a photo | Instant identification from a photo, across a large plant database | PlantVision: identifies the species, measures the pot and the distance to the nearest window |
| Community and discussion | No community feed | Social feed, #Communities and troubleshooting from other growers |
| Care schedule type | 15 factors - weather, season, room, pot, soil, light and more - each shown with the effect it had | Custom watering plan from species, size and home environment, with seasonal updates as local weather changes |
| 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 |
| Health diagnosis with treatment plan | Plant Doctor: 500+ diseases and pests, with step-by-step treatment, a recovery timeline and prevention tips | Check app |
| Light meter | Coming soon | Indoor Light Gauge, plus distance-to-window measurement |
| Weather risk alerts with protection steps | Frost, heat, wind and storm alerts for the plants at risk | Seasonal updates that adapt care as local weather changes, rather than per-plant risk alerts |
| 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 | Check app |
| Outdoor growing focus | Outdoor, greenhouse and in-ground setups are first-class | Positions itself around indoor plants |
| 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 | iOS 16.0 |
| Platforms | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
Greg 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 Greg wins
The community is Greg's real product, and it is genuinely good. A social feed, interest-based groups, and experienced growers who will look at a photo of your sad fiddle-leaf fig and tell you what is wrong, often within minutes. Folly has nothing like it - no feed, no forum, no way to ask another person anything. If that is how you like to learn, Greg wins outright and no feature list of ours changes it.
PlantVision is clever too. As well as identifying the species it measures the pot and the distance to the nearest window, which is a neat way to get the environment right without asking you to fill in a form. Greg also includes an Indoor Light Gauge; Folly's light meter is still to come.
And Greg is cheaper. Its App Store listing prices a year at $29.99 with a 7-day trial, against Folly Pro at £59.99 a year. Even allowing for currency, that is a meaningful gap, and if you are choosing on price Greg wins that too.
Where Folly wins
Greg is built for indoor plants. Folly is built for everywhere you grow - a flat, a greenhouse, an allotment two miles away - and on Folly Pro each of those is a separate site with its own location and its own weather, rather than one averaged home. The free tier covers a single site, so multi-site is a reason to upgrade rather than something you get on day one.
That matters most when the weather turns. Greg adapts care as the seasons change, which is good; Folly goes further and warns you before damage happens. When frost, heat, wind or a storm is forecast, Folly works out which of your plants are actually at risk and sends a protection checklist - what to move, what to cover, what to water first. Adjusting a watering interval and telling you to bring the olive in tonight are different jobs.
Folly also shows its working. Open any plant and you see the base interval for the species, then each of the 15 factors that moved it with the percentage it added or cut, grouped into what is making you water more often and what is making you water less. Greg tells you how much water a plant needs; Folly tells you how it arrived at the answer.
And Folly batches care onto a chore day you choose, shifting due dates wherever the plant tolerates it, so forty plants become one job on a Saturday rather than notifications all week.
Finally, an opinion rather than a fact: we think Folly is the better-looking and better-feeling app. It was designed in 2026 for how phones look now, where Greg has been building on an interface first shipped in 2020. Judge that for yourself - both are free to download - but it is a difference we would stand behind.
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.
Greg is free to download, with a paid tier at $29.99 a year. That is the US price from Greg's App Store listing, which notes that pricing outside the US may vary, so the UK figure may differ.
Questions people ask
Is Folly a good alternative to Greg?
Yes, if what you want is care rather than company. Folly covers outdoor and multi-site growing, sends per-plant alerts with protection steps before frost, heat, wind or storms cause damage, batches tasks onto a chore day you choose, and shows the reasoning behind every schedule. What Folly cannot replace is Greg's community: if asking other growers is the part you value, Greg remains the better app.
Does Folly have a community like Greg's?
No. Folly has no social feed, forum or community feature at all, and we would rather say so plainly than imply otherwise. Folly puts its effort into the schedule itself - what it is calculated from, why it changed, and warning you when the weather threatens a plant. If community is what you are looking for, Greg is built around it and Folly is not.
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 outdoor plants, Folly or Greg?
Folly. Greg positions itself around indoor plants, while Folly treats outdoor, greenhouse and in-ground growing as first-class: rain exposure, ground drainage, establishment stage and irrigation all feed into the schedule, and weather alerts flag the plants at risk when frost, heat, wind or storms are forecast. If most of what you grow is outside, that is the clearest reason to choose Folly.
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.
