**Identification App Prices Compared — Which Ones Are Actually Free** > Every in-app purchase price for 21 identification apps, read from the App Store on 2026-09-03. 7 of them have nothing to buy at all. Source: https://orvik.app/compare/ · updated: 2026-09-03 Compare # Which identification apps are actually free? **7 of these 21 apps have no in-app purchases at all** — nothing inside them to buy, no subscription, no unlock. The rest are free downloads with subscriptions running as high as **$79.99**, which is Blossom. Every figure below was read from the US App Store on 2026-09-03, not typed from memory. Apps priced **21** Free outright **7** Comparisons **16** Alternatives pages **12** The short version The apps with nothing to buy are published by **universities, public research institutes and non-profits** — Cornell, the Audubon Society, the French research consortium behind PlantNet, and the iNaturalist initiative. The subscription apps are published by commercial studios. That correlation holds across every app in the table below, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you install anything. ## Every app, priced *Read from each app’s US App Store listing on 2026-09-03 using Apple’s Lookup API and product pages. Apple does not publish billing periods next to in-app purchase names, so a low tier is frequently weekly rather than one-off — check the sheet before you subscribe. Google’s tiers are for other services inside the Google app; Lens itself is not paywalled.* | App | Publisher | In-app purchases | Range | Rating | Covers | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Merlin Bird ID | Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a university research programme | **None** | — | 4.9 (111,609) | Birds | | Dog Scanner | Siwalu Software, a commercial publisher | **None** | — | 4.6 (36,616) | Animals | | Seek | iNaturalist, a non-profit joint initiative | **None** | — | 4.8 (30,894) | Plants, Insects, Animals, Birds, Food, Nature | | PlantNet | Cirad, INRAE, Inria and IRD — French public research | **None** | — | 4.6 (7,040) | Plants | | Audubon Bird Guide | National Audubon Society, a conservation non-profit | **None** | — | 4.3 (4,518) | Birds | | eBird | Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a university research programme | **None** | — | 3.9 (809) | Birds | | iNaturalist | iNaturalist, a non-profit joint initiative | **None** | — | 4.1 (658) | Plants, Insects, Animals, Birds, Food, Nature | | Google Lens | Google, inside the main Google app | 8 tiers | $0.89–$99.99 | 4.6 (5,028,083) | Everything | | PictureThis | Glority Global Group, a commercial publisher | 4 tiers | $3.99–$49.99 | 4.8 (1,111,545) | Plants | | CoinSnap | Next Vision Limited, a commercial publisher | 6 tiers | $3.99–$39.99 | 4.7 (299,815) | Collectibles | | PlantIn | Vortemol Limited, a commercial publisher | 9 tiers | $6.99–$49.99 | 4.6 (228,414) | Plants | | Planta | Planta AB, a commercial publisher | 8 tiers | $7.99–$47.99 | 4.8 (113,511) | Plants | | Plant Parent | Glority Global Group, a commercial publisher | 6 tiers | $3.99–$59.99 | 4.7 (90,950) | Plants | | Rock Identifier | Next Vision Limited, a commercial publisher | 5 tiers | $3.99–$69.99 | 4.7 (79,371) | Rocks | | Blossom | Mosaic S.r.l., a commercial publisher | 6 tiers | $4.99–$79.99 | 4.6 (68,745) | Plants | | PlantSnap | PlantSnap, Inc., a commercial publisher | 10 tiers | $0.99–$59.99 | 4.6 (68,206) | Plants | | Picture Insect | Next Vision Limited, a commercial publisher | 6 tiers | $2.99–$39.99 | 4.6 (44,113) | Insects | | Picture Bird | Next Vision Limited, a commercial publisher | 3 tiers | $3.99–$39.99 | 4.7 (40,029) | Birds | | Picture Mushroom | Next Vision Limited, a commercial publisher | 7 tiers | $0.99–$39.99 | 4.7 (24,125) | Plants, Food | | LeafSnap | Appixi, a commercial publisher | 6 tiers | $4.99–$39.99 | 4.5 (4,915) | Plants | | Orvik | Vast Flow, an independent studio | 2 tiers | $4.99–$29.99 | — | Everything | ## Head to head 16 comparisons - [PictureThis vs PlantNet The commercial heavyweight against the free research app.](https://orvik.app/compare/picturethis-vs-plantnet/) - [PictureThis vs PlantSnap Two subscriptions compared — and the free app that beats both on wild plants.](https://orvik.app/compare/picturethis-vs-plantsnap/) - [PictureThis vs Seek Plants in depth for money, or everything alive for nothing.](https://orvik.app/compare/picturethis-vs-seek/) - [PictureThis vs iNaturalist A two-second guess, or an answer a scientist would accept.](https://orvik.app/compare/picturethis-vs-inaturalist/) - [PictureThis vs Google Lens Free and already installed, against a plant subscription.](https://orvik.app/compare/picturethis-vs-google/) - [PlantNet vs PlantSnap A free research app against a paid one. On wild plants, free wins.](https://orvik.app/compare/plantnet-vs-plantsnap/) - [Seek vs iNaturalist One is instant and private. The other is confirmed by people. Carry both.](https://orvik.app/compare/seek-vs-inaturalist/) - [Seek vs Google Lens Both free. One names species, the other finds lookalikes — and those differ.](https://orvik.app/compare/seek-vs-google/) - [Merlin Bird ID vs eBird Two free Cornell apps that are constantly confused. One identifies, one records.](https://orvik.app/compare/merlin-vs-ebird/) - [Merlin Bird ID vs Audubon Bird Guide Two free institutional bird apps that do opposite jobs.](https://orvik.app/compare/merlin-vs-audubon/) - [Merlin Bird ID vs Picture Bird A free Cornell Lab app against a subscription. The answer is short.](https://orvik.app/compare/merlin-vs-picture-bird/) - [Orvik vs PictureThis Our app against the category leader. Where each actually wins.](https://orvik.app/compare/orvik-vs-picturethis/) - [Orvik vs Seek Seek is free and excellent. Here is the exact gap it leaves.](https://orvik.app/compare/orvik-vs-seek/) - [Orvik vs Google Lens The free one already on your phone, against a paid identifier.](https://orvik.app/compare/orvik-vs-google/) - [Orvik vs Picture Insect A dedicated bug app against a general one — and the free option beating both.](https://orvik.app/compare/orvik-vs-picture-insect/) - [Orvik vs Rock Identifier Two apps compared — and the free key that beats both.](https://orvik.app/compare/orvik-vs-rock-identifier/) ## Alternatives 12 pages - [PictureThis alternatives Six apps that do what PictureThis does, three of them with nothing to buy inside.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/picturethis/) - [PlantSnap alternatives PlantSnap was first. Five apps that caught up, two of them free outright.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/plantsnap/) - [PlantNet alternatives PlantNet is free and research-backed. The reasons to leave it are specific and short.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/plantnet/) - [LeafSnap alternatives The famous research app is finished. What is in the store now, and what to use instead.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/leafsnap/) - [Seek alternatives Seek is free and private. Five apps for the gaps it leaves on purpose.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/seek/) - [iNaturalist alternatives Free and the most accurate there is. Four apps for its three real limits.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/inaturalist/) - [Merlin Bird ID alternatives Merlin is free and the best in its category. Here is what it does not do.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/merlin/) - [Picture Insect alternatives Four bug identifiers, two of them with nothing to buy inside.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/picture-insect/) - [Picture Mushroom alternatives Four alternatives — and the honest reason none of them settles edibility.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/picture-mushroom/) - [Rock Identifier alternatives Alternatives with real prices — and why a streak plate beats a camera.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/rock-identifier/) - [CoinSnap alternatives Alternatives with real prices — and why grade, not the date, decides value.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/coinsnap/) - [Google Lens alternatives Lens finds similar pictures. Five apps that name the species instead.](https://orvik.app/alternatives/google/) ## Why the free ones are free The pattern in the table is not a coincidence and it is worth understanding, because it predicts things the table does not show. Merlin and eBird come from the **Cornell Lab of Ornithology**, a membership-funded university research programme. The Audubon guide comes from a conservation non-profit. PlantNet comes from a consortium of French public research institutes. Seek and iNaturalist come from a non-profit joint initiative. For all of them, identification is the institutional mission and the app is outreach — a paywall would work against the reason the organisation exists. That funding model also explains their *quality*, which is the part people find surprising. Merlin’s live sound identification is not matched by any paid app, because it rests on the Macaulay Library of expert-verified recordings and on eBird’s record of what is actually present near you. A commercial publisher can build a good classifier; it cannot build a century of ornithology. The commercial apps are not thereby bad. They are better at cultivars, at care guidance, at answering every time, and at interface polish — all real things. But if your question is “which is best”, the honest answer in birds, and arguably in wild plants, is a free one. ## How to read an in-app purchase list Apple publishes the name and price of every in-app purchase on an app’s product page, and it is the most useful thing on that page. It does **not** publish the billing period, which is where the confusion comes from. So a tier called “Premium” at a low price can be weekly, monthly or annual and the listing looks identical either way. Read the list as a shape rather than as prices: several tiers sharing a name is one product billed over different terms, the lowest number is almost always the shortest term, and it is the one the app presents first because it looks cheapest. Do the arithmetic before you tap. A weekly subscription at a few dollars is several hundred a year — routinely five times the annual tier of the same product. If a free trial converts to weekly billing, that is the tier to avoid, and the annual one is usually two taps away in the same sheet. Two defences worth knowing. Look at the in-app purchase list *before* installing, when you are not three screens into an onboarding flow with a countdown on it. And if you were charged for something you did not intend to buy, request a refund at *reportaproblem.apple.com* — Apple grants those more often than people expect, particularly for a first accidental subscription. ## Cancelling, which deleting does not do Subscriptions live with your Apple Account, not with the app, so removing the app leaves the billing running. This is the single most common mistake in this category. **iPhone or iPad:** Settings, tap your name at the top, then Subscriptions. Every active subscription across every app is in that one list, and it is authoritative regardless of what an app’s own settings screen says. **Mac:** App Store, your name at the bottom of the sidebar, View Information, then Manage. **Android:** Play Store, profile icon, Payments and subscriptions. Cancelling keeps the subscription working until the end of the period you already paid for, so there is no reason to delay it. ## What no app in this table does Every free identifier here — Seek, iNaturalist, PlantNet, Merlin, eBird, Audubon — is built on a **taxonomy of living things**. A rock has no taxonomic position. Neither does a fossil, a coin, an arrowhead or a mark on the base of a jug. That is not a gap more training data would close; it is what those apps are, and it is the right scope for them. But it means the free, institution-backed option that exists so well for plants, birds and insects has **no equivalent for the other half of what people photograph**. There is no Cornell Lab of geology shipping a free scanner. Some of that half is not a camera problem at all. A mineral is identified by streak, hardness, cleavage and heft; a track by counting toes and looking for claws; a mushroom by a spore print left on paper overnight. Those are tests rather than photographs, which is why the [free tools on this site](https://orvik.app/tools/) ask you to do them — determination keys and field calculators, in a browser, with no account and nothing to buy. ## What is not in this table, and why Three categories were left out deliberately, and saying so is more useful than a longer table. **Plant-care apps with identification bolted on.** Planta, Blossom, Plant Parent and several others are genuinely good products for keeping a houseplant alive, and identification is the front door rather than the room. They appear in individual comparisons where relevant, but ranking them as identifiers misrepresents what they are. **Apps with a famous name and a different publisher.** The App Store listing carrying a name you remember is not always the product you remember — the developer line under the app name is the most informative field on the page, and it takes ten seconds to read. Our [LeafSnap page](https://orvik.app/alternatives/leafsnap/) works through the clearest example. **Anything we could not price from Apple’s own data.** If a figure could not be read from the Lookup API or the product page, the app is not in the table, because the alternative is an estimate — and an estimate presented next to verified figures is worse than an omission. ## How these pages are kept honest Three rules, enforced by the build rather than by intention. **No number is typed.** Every price, tier, rating, review count, version, size and update date on every page in this section is read from Apple’s Lookup API and product pages by a script, stored as a dated snapshot, and substituted at render. The build fails if a price appears in the editorial text, because a price a human typed is a price that goes stale silently — and on a comparison page a stale price is worse than no page at all. **The snapshot date is printed everywhere.** Prices in this category move, and a figure without a date is a claim without evidence. **Where a competitor is better, the page says so.** Orvik is our app. It appears in some of these comparisons and it loses several of them, which is the only way a comparison page written by an interested party is worth reading. --- HTML version: https://orvik.app/compare/ Structured data for this site: https://orvik.app/api/v1/openapi.json · https://orvik.app/llms.txt Free to quote and reuse with a link back to the source URL above (CC BY 4.0).