free plant identification
Identify plants for free
No subscription, no account, no app. You need a photo and a browser — and a photo taken the right way gives dramatically better answers than one taken at random.
Most plant apps lock what you actually want behind a subscription: unlimited identifications, care advice and disease diagnosis. Here the whole tool is free, and there is no paid version to upgrade to. Each visitor gets to make 10 identifications an hour — enough for an afternoon in the garden or a walk.
How to take a photo the models understand
Accuracy is decided almost entirely by the photo, not by the model. Six things make the biggest difference:
- Daylight, not flash. The colours are part of the distinguishing features, and flash distorts them.
- Fill the frame. A close-up of a leaf or flower beats an overview shot where the plant is a small speck.
- One plant at a time. The model can only give one answer — an image with three species produces guesses.
- Include what separates the species. The shape and edge of the leaf, how the leaf meets the stem, the centre of the flower, and the bark if you can. Conifers: needles in bundles or single, and how they sit.
- Up to three images. Leaf, flower and bark from the same plant give both models more to work with.
- Avoid shadow and blur. Cluttered backgrounds are the most common cause of low confidence.
Why two models instead of one
A single model always gives an answer, even when it ought to hold back. Here two independent systems run in parallel: Pl@ntNet matches the image against a scientific species register with GBIF-verified names, while Qwen vision assesses shape, colour and features and writes the care advice in plain English. Confidence is shown separately for each model. If they agree, the answer is safer. If they disagree, you see it straight away, instead of getting a confident answer with nothing to weigh against it.
What the free version actually limits
- 10 identifications an hour per connection. The cap exists because the service runs on a private API quota.
- JPEG and PNG, max 10 MB per image. Screenshots and HEIC must be converted first.
- 10 follow-up questions an hour.
- No images are saved. The image is analysed and forgotten — that is why there is no history to browse.
When to doubt the answer
Automatic identification is an educated guess, not a species determination. Be extra careful when:
- confidence is low, or the models suggest different species;
- the plant is a cultivated variety or hybrid — the models recognise the genus but rarely the variety;
- the plant is young, etiolated or damaged, so the distinguishing features are missing;
- you are planning to eat something. Then a photo is never enough — see lookalike plants.
Don't hesitate to take a new photo from another angle and run it again. It is free.
Common questions
These are the questions people actually search for.
Is the plant identification really free?
Yes, entirely. No account, no subscription, no paid version and no app. The cap is 10 identifications an hour per connection.
How many images can I upload at the same time?
Up to three images per identification — for example leaf, flower and bark. Several images of the same plant improve accuracy, but they must show the same individual.
Why is the answer sometimes wrong?
Automatic identification is a probability assessment. Cultivated varieties, young plants and blurry images are the most common causes. Upload a new image from a different angle and compare the confidence of the models.