If you're searching for a farm management app, you've probably come across both CropsBook and Bushel Farm. They sound similar on the surface — both help farmers plan and track their operations — but they're built for very different people. Bushel Farm grew out of the grain and commodity world, while CropsBook was designed from the ground up for vegetable growers, market gardeners, and small-scale farmers who need something simple, private, and free.
This comparison breaks down the real differences so you can pick the right tool for your operation. We'll be honest about where Bushel Farm shines and where CropsBook is the better fit.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | CropsBook | Bushel Farm |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Works Offline | Yes — 100% offline | Limited — requires connectivity for many features |
| Account Required | No | Yes |
| Best For | Market gardeners, vegetable growers, solo operators | Commodity grain farmers, large-acreage operations |
| Platform | iOS (App Store) | iOS, Android, Web |
| Key Features | Crop planning, planting logs, harvest tracking, succession planting | Field mapping, grain marketing, yield tracking, input cost management |
| Data Privacy | All data stays on your device | Data stored on Bushel Farm servers |
Pricing
Both CropsBook and Bushel Farm offer free access, which is a genuine advantage for farmers who are tired of paying monthly subscriptions for software they use seasonally. However, the nature of "free" differs between the two apps.
CropsBook is free with no strings attached. There's no account to create, no email to hand over, and no premium tier dangling features behind a paywall. You download it, open it, and start planning your crops. Every feature is available from day one.
Bushel Farm is also free, but it requires you to create an account and share your farm data with the Bushel platform. Bushel is a broader agricultural technology company that connects farmers with grain buyers and elevators, so the free farm management tool serves partly as a gateway into their larger ecosystem. That's not necessarily a bad thing — if you sell grain through Bushel's network, having your farm data integrated can be convenient. But if you're a market gardener selling at farmers' markets, that integration doesn't offer much value.
| Cost | CropsBook | Bushel Farm |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $0 |
| 1-Year Total | $0 | $0 |
| 3-Year Total | $0 | $0 |
| Account Required | No | Yes |
| Hidden Costs | None | Data shared with Bushel platform |
On price alone, both apps are hard to beat. The real question is what you're giving up in exchange for "free." With CropsBook, the answer is nothing — your data stays on your phone and that's the end of the transaction.
Save money. Try CropsBook free today. Download CropsBook on the App Store — no account needed, works 100% offline.
Features
This is where the two apps diverge the most, because they were built for fundamentally different types of farming.
Where Bushel Farm excels:
- Field mapping and acreage tracking: Bushel Farm has solid tools for mapping large fields, which is essential for row-crop operations spanning hundreds or thousands of acres. If you're managing corn and soybean rotations across multiple sections, this is genuinely useful.
- Grain marketing integration: Because Bushel connects farmers with grain buyers and elevators, you can track grain contracts and market prices directly in the app. For commodity farmers, having this data alongside your field records saves time.
- Input cost tracking: Bushel Farm lets you log seed, fertilizer, and chemical costs per field, which helps with profitability analysis on a per-acre basis. This is well-suited to operations where inputs are purchased in bulk and applied uniformly across large areas.
- Yield monitoring: The app integrates with some precision agriculture workflows, making it easier to compare yields across fields and seasons.
If you're farming 500 acres of corn, Bushel Farm has features that CropsBook simply doesn't need to offer. It's a capable tool for its intended audience.
Where CropsBook excels:
- Crop planning for diversity: Market gardeners don't grow two or three crops — they grow 30, 40, or more varieties across a single season. CropsBook is built for this complexity. You can plan dozens of crops with different planting dates, spacing requirements, and harvest windows without the interface becoming overwhelming.
- Succession planting: If you're planting lettuce every two weeks from April through October, CropsBook handles succession planting naturally. This is a core workflow for market gardeners that commodity-focused apps like Bushel Farm don't address well.
- Harvest tracking: When you're picking beans on Monday, tomatoes on Wednesday, and greens on Friday, you need a quick way to log what came out of the field. CropsBook keeps this simple and fast, designed for the pace of a working market garden.
- Season planning: From seed starting dates to last frost calculations, CropsBook helps you plan your entire garden season in one place. You can map out your beds, schedule transplants, and see your whole season at a glance.
The difference comes down to scale and crop diversity. Bushel Farm thinks in terms of fields and acres. CropsBook thinks in terms of beds, rows, and the dozens of crops that make a market garden profitable.
If your farm operation extends beyond crops, it's worth knowing that companion apps exist for other aspects of small-farm management. Barnsbook handles livestock farming, ranching, and barn management for farmers who raise animals alongside their vegetable production. And if you keep bees for pollination or honey sales, HiveBook is purpose-built for beekeeping and apiary management. Having focused tools for each part of your operation beats trying to force everything into one generic platform.
Want to try CropsBook for free? Download CropsBook on the App Store — no subscription required.
Offline & Privacy
This is CropsBook's strongest advantage, and it matters more than many farmers initially realize.
CropsBook works 100% offline. Every feature, every screen, every piece of data — it all lives on your device and works without an internet connection. This isn't a "limited offline mode" or a cached version of a cloud app. CropsBook was designed from the start to function entirely on your phone, with no server dependency whatsoever.
Why does this matter? Because farms don't have reliable Wi-Fi. You're standing in a field at 6 AM wanting to check which bed needs transplanting today, or you're at the farmers' market logging your harvest totals, or you're in the barn planning next week's planting schedule. In all of these real-world scenarios, cellular signal and Wi-Fi are often spotty or nonexistent. An app that needs connectivity is an app that fails you when you need it most.
Bushel Farm requires an internet connection for many of its features. Account creation, syncing, grain marketing data, and map features all depend on server connectivity. While some basic information may be cached locally, the app is fundamentally a cloud-based tool. For a farmer in rural Iowa with excellent LTE coverage near grain elevators, this may not be an issue. For a market gardener working a hillside plot with no cell signal, it's a dealbreaker.
On privacy, the difference is stark. CropsBook stores all your data on your device. Period. No account means no email address collected. No cloud sync means no farm data on someone else's servers. No analytics means no one is tracking which crops you grow, how much you harvest, or what your operation looks like.
Bushel Farm, as part of the broader Bushel ecosystem, collects farm data and associates it with your account. Their platform is built around connecting agricultural data across the supply chain. While they have a privacy policy outlining how data is used, the reality is that your farm information exists on their servers and is part of their business model. For some farmers, that tradeoff is worthwhile because of the grain marketing features. For others — especially those who view their planting plans and yield data as competitive intelligence — it's a reason to look elsewhere.
Your planting schedule, crop varieties, and harvest yields are valuable information. With CropsBook, that information never leaves your phone.
Who Should Use Bushel Farm
Let's be fair: Bushel Farm is a solid app for the right farmer. You should seriously consider Bushel Farm if:
- You grow commodity crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, or other grains. Bushel Farm's entire feature set is optimized for this type of operation.
- You sell through grain elevators or buyers in the Bushel network. The integration between farm records and grain marketing is genuinely convenient and can save you time during selling season.
- You manage large acreage and need field mapping tools that work at scale. Bushel Farm handles hundreds or thousands of acres well.
- You want precision agriculture integration. If you're already using GPS-guided equipment and yield monitors, Bushel Farm fits into that workflow better than CropsBook does.
- You need Android or web access. Bushel Farm is available across more platforms, which matters if your team uses a mix of devices.
Bushel Farm is not a bad app. It's a specialized tool built for commodity agriculture, and it does that job well. The problem comes when market gardeners try to use it for diversified vegetable production — it's like using a combine to harvest cherry tomatoes. The tool doesn't match the task.
Who Should Use CropsBook
CropsBook is purpose-built for a specific type of grower, and if you fit this profile, it's going to feel like the app was made for you:
- Market gardeners growing dozens of vegetable varieties for direct sales at farmers' markets, through CSA shares, or to restaurants. CropsBook handles the complexity of diversified production without the overhead of enterprise farm software.
- Solo operators and small teams who need to plan, plant, and track without spending time on account setup, syncing issues, or software administration. You open the app and get to work.
- Growers who want crop rotation planning and companion planting support built into their workflow. CropsBook understands that a market garden is a complex system, not just a collection of individual crops.
- Farmers in areas with poor connectivity who can't rely on cloud-based tools working when they're in the field. If your farm is off-grid or in a cellular dead zone, CropsBook still works perfectly.
- Privacy-conscious growers who don't want their farm data on corporate servers. Whether it's principle or competitive strategy, CropsBook keeps your information yours.
- Beginning farmers who want to start a market garden without committing to expensive software or complex setup processes. CropsBook's zero-cost, zero-friction approach lets you focus on learning to grow rather than learning software.
CropsBook is also ideal for growers who are serious about soil health and organic pest management, since tracking crop history and rotations is essential to both practices. Having your planting records in your pocket makes it easy to reference what grew where last season when you're standing in the field making decisions.
The Bottom Line
Bushel Farm and CropsBook are both free, and they're both useful — but they serve different farmers. Choosing between them isn't about which app is "better" in the abstract. It's about which app matches the way you actually farm.
If you're a commodity grain farmer who sells through elevators and manages large acreage with precision equipment, Bushel Farm integrates well with your existing workflow. Its grain marketing features and field mapping tools are genuinely valuable for that type of operation.
If you're a market gardener, vegetable grower, or small-scale farmer who grows diverse crops for direct sales, CropsBook is the better fit. It understands your workflow — the succession plantings, the dozens of varieties, the bed-level planning — in a way that commodity-focused apps simply don't. And it does all of this for free, offline, and without requiring an account or sending your data anywhere.
The good news is that both apps are free, so there's no financial risk in trying either one. But if you value simplicity, privacy, and an app that works everywhere your farm takes you — including places without cell service — CropsBook is the clear choice for market gardeners and solo operators.
Ready to switch? Download CropsBook on the App Store — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.