Compared by Tree Identifier's makers
Google Lens vs PictureThis for plants and trees
Lens is free and already in the Google app; PictureThis is a dedicated plant app with a paid Pro tier. The published tests and your own needs decide whether the app is worth installing.
Written by the makers of Tree Identifier, which appears here only as a third option. We compared what Google and PictureThis document on their own pages and App Store listings; we did not use or lab-test either. How we compared · Where the other app is the better pick
In short
Google Lens vs PictureThis is a free generalist against a paid specialist. Lens, inside the free Google app, names plants alongside animals, text and products, and works on iPhone, Android and Chrome. PictureThis is built only for plants, adds diagnosis, care reminders and expert chat, sells a Pro subscription, and scored clearly higher than Lens in a 2025 University of Maryland Extension test of nine identification apps.
- Disclosure: we make Tree Identifier, a third option covered in its own marked section. Facts come from Google's and PictureThis's own pages, checked 2026-10-21. We did not use or lab-test either.
- Use Lens for a quick, free name; install PictureThis if you care for plants or want the stronger published result.
- Lens has no App Store rating of its own: the Google app's ratings cover search, AI Mode and everything else the app does.
Google Lens and PictureThis both put a name on a plant from a photo, but they are different kinds of product. Lens is one feature of the free Google app, built to search anything a camera sees. PictureThis is a dedicated plant app from Glority Global Group, with a paid Pro tier. We make a third app, Tree Identifier, so it sits in its own marked section at the end and is kept out of the verdicts.
Pick by situation
Use Google Lens if…
- You want a free name and nothing more to install. Lens lives inside the free Google app; Google's Lens page puts it plainly: "Find out what plant is in your friend's apartment or what kind of dog you saw at the park."
- You identify more than plants. The Google app's US listing says Lens can "identify plants and animals, translate text in real-time, find similar products to buy, and even solve math problems."
- You switch between phone and computer, or use Android. Lens runs in the Google app on iPhone and Android, in Chrome on a desktop, and in the camera app of some Android phones.
- You want to ask follow-up questions for free. The Google app's listing describes AI Mode, where you can "snap a photo to get started, and ask follow-up questions".
Use PictureThis if…
- You care for houseplants or a garden. Its US listing adds disease diagnosis with treatment plans, watering reminders, a light meter, weed identification and toxic-plant warnings. Lens has no plant-care tools.
- You want the stronger published result. In the one published test that ran both, PictureThis came first of nine apps and Lens near the bottom (details below).
- You want a person to answer. The listing offers 24/7 chat with plant experts.
- You want a record of your plants. PictureThis keeps a plant collection and wishlist.
Use Apple Visual Look Up first if…
You have an iPhone with iOS 15 or later and the photo is already in your library. Open it in Photos, tap the Info button, then the leaf icon. Apple says results come "from Siri Knowledge and the web". It costs nothing and needs no app, and in the Maryland test it scored above Lens.
Where the other app is the better pick
Both beat Tree Identifier in ways that matter. Google Lens is free, already on many phones, and runs on iPhone, Android and Chrome on a computer; Tree Identifier is iPhone only and sells a Pro upgrade. PictureThis runs on iPhone, Android and the web, offers 24/7 chat with human plant experts, and was the top performer in both the 2022 Rutgers study of 55 tree species and the 2025 University of Maryland Extension test of nine apps; Tree Identifier has no published independent test.
Facts checked October 21, 2026
How we compared
We make Tree Identifier, so read this as written by an interested party, even though our app is neither of the two. Facts about Lens come from Google's Lens page and the Google app's US App Store listing; facts about PictureThis from its US App Store listing and website, all read on 2026-10-21. We did not use either for this page. For accuracy we cite only published third-party tests; PictureThis's listing quotes its own accuracy figure, which we don't repeat. Where a page says nothing, we write "not documented", never "no".
What the published tests found
- Both apps, pasture plants. The University of Maryland Extension test, updated November 2025, ran 90 photos of 30 pasture and hayfield plants through nine apps. PictureThis was first, naming 94% correctly on its first suggestion. Lens has no percentage in the text; on the article's bar chart of average scores (4 = top suggestion right), PictureThis sits near 3.8 and Lens near 2.2, ahead of only Seek and PlantSnap.
- Lens, British wild plants. In Hamlyn Jones's 2020 test of nine apps, Lens's first suggestion was right to species 45% of the time and at least to genus 56% of the time, close behind Flora Incognita and ahead of Pl@ntNet and Seek. PictureThis was not in that test.
- PictureThis, trees. In the Rutgers study of 55 New Jersey tree species, with app versions from 2020, PictureThis was the top performer of six apps, naming the genus from 97.27% of leaf photos and 65.45% of bark photos. Lens was not tested.
So the evidence favours PictureThis for naming plants, but none of it pits the two against each other on trees. Run your own check with the five-photo test on the best tree identification apps page.
Price, privacy and devices
| Google Lens | PictureThis | |
|---|---|---|
| What you install | The Google app (Lens is a feature) | PictureThis - Plant Identifier |
| Price on the US listing | Free; the app's in-app purchases are Google storage and AI plans | Free to download; PictureThis Pro $3.99 to $39.99, Family Plan $49.99 |
| Devices | iPhone and iPad (iOS 16+), Android, Chrome desktop | iPhone and iPad (iOS 15+), Android, web upload |
| Plant-care tools | None listed | Diagnosis, reminders, light meter, weed and toxic-plant ID |
| Questions after a result | AI Mode follow-up questions | 24/7 chat with plant experts |
| Data used to track you (privacy label) | None declared | Purchases, identifiers, usage data |
| Data linked to you (privacy label) | Twelve categories, including location, contacts, search and browsing history | Seven categories, including contact info, user content and search history |
Prices and privacy labels as shown on each US App Store listing on 2026-10-21. The Google app's label covers everything the app does, not only Lens.
A third option: Tree Identifier (ours)
This section is about our own app; weigh it accordingly. Tree Identifier, listed as Tree Identifier AI: ID Trees, is an iPhone app built around trees. One photo returns the common and scientific names, origin, growing conditions and key traits, with a follow-up chat under each result and an AI Tree Expert tab. Finds fill a 138-species tree Collection and, with location allowed, a Tree Map; there are also Diagnose, Toxicology and Care Guide tools. It needs no account and is free to download with optional in-app purchases (Tree Identifier Pro, $2.99 to $19.99 on its US listing, 2026-10-21).
Its gaps: iPhone only (it runs on iPad in iPhone layout), a connection for every identification, one photo at a time, no confidence score or list of other candidates, and no published test. If a free name is all you need, Lens or Visual Look Up does it; the guide to identifying trees with an iPhone shows the built-in way step by step.
What a photo can't settle
- Neither test of Lens used trees: the Maryland test used pasture plants and the 2020 test used British wild plants. No published tree study has included Google Lens.
Questions people ask
Is Google Lens good for identifying plants?
Good enough for a quick, free first guess. In Hamlyn Jones's 2020 test of British plants, Lens's first suggestion was right to species 45% of the time, third of nine apps. In the 2025 University of Maryland Extension test on pasture plants, it scored well below PictureThis, iNaturalist, Pl@ntNet and Apple's Visual Look Up.
Is PictureThis better than Google Lens for plants?
For naming plants, the one published test that ran both, by University of Maryland Extension in 2025, put PictureThis first of nine apps with 94% right on the first suggestion and Lens near the bottom. PictureThis also adds care and diagnosis tools. Lens wins on cost, on breadth beyond plants, and on Chrome desktop use.
Is Google Lens free?
Lens is a feature of the free Google app. The app's in-app purchases on its US listing are Google storage and AI plans (checked 2026-10-21), not a Lens fee. PictureThis is free to download, with PictureThis Pro purchases from $3.99 to $39.99 and a Family Plan at $49.99 on its US listing that day.
Can I use Google Lens on an iPhone?
Yes, inside the free Google app, which needs iOS 16 or later on its US listing. iPhones also have Apple's Visual Look Up built in: open a photo in Photos, tap the Info button, then the leaf icon.
Sources
- Google Lens — Google
- Google (US App Store listing) — Apple App Store (seller: Google LLC)
- PictureThis - Plant Identifier (US App Store listing) — Apple App Store (seller: Glority Global Group Ltd.)
- Snap It or Scrap It: Putting Plant ID Apps to the Test — University of Maryland Extension (Amanda Grev)
- What plant is that? Tests of automated image recognition apps for plant identification on plants from the British flora (AoB PLANTS 12(6), 2020) — Oxford University Press (Hamlyn G. Jones)
- An Analysis of the Accuracy of Photo-Based Plant Identification Applications on Fifty-Five Tree Species (Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 48(1): 27–43, 2022) — International Society of Arboriculture (Schmidt, Casario, Zipse and Grabosky, Rutgers University)
- Look up what's in a photo with your iPhone or iPad — Apple Support