Cattly vs DairyFarmManager (2026): The Honest Head-to-Head for Free Dairy Apps
Two of the most-used free options in dairy record keeping right now solve different problems. Cattly says: 'records for every cow, $0, forever.' DairyFarmManager says: 'records plus insights, free for your first 10 cows.' The honest answer to 'which is better' depends entirely on which sentence you need.
We publish our own limits below, and Cattly's strengths are real — it's the best zero-cost, no-cap option on the market for straightforward herd records. Where this comparison earns its keep is the middle ground: what each tool does worse, and the herd-size line where the free math flips.
Disclosure: DairyFarmManager is ours. Cattly is an independent product; all claims below reference its public pages and app listings, checked November 8, 2026. All trademarks belong to their owners.
The quick answer
Choose based on your situation, not feature lists
- Under 10 cows, want AI health alerts + DHIA import + offline web app: DairyFarmManager free plan — full features, no cap games.
- 11–50 cows, hard budget of $0, mixed beef + dairy, simple records: Cattly — unlimited animals free, no upgrade wall.
- 50–250 cows, want reports your bank/buyer will accept and per-cow profit: DairyFarmManager Starter/Pro ($180–$372/yr) — or Cattly if $0 is non-negotiable.
- Feedlot, cow-calf, or backgrounding operation with some dairy: Cattly — its DNA is built exactly for that.
Cattly: an honest assessment
What Cattly does genuinely well
- Actually free — unlimited. Per Cattly's pricing page: unlimited animals, unlimited users, all features, no credit card. No other dairy-capable platform does this.
- Offline-first Android app. Built for real barn and pasture connectivity, syncs when signal returns.
- Breadth across species and enterprises. Pens, weights, ADG, feed planning, health/withdrawal tracking, inventory, milk records, and Schedule F / P&L reports in one login.
- Per-head profitability. Cost-of-gain and per-animal profit reporting is unusual at any price, let alone zero.
- Data portability. CSV and PDF export on everything — you can always leave.
Cattly's real limitations
- No automated DHIA test-day sync. Import is manual CSV — fine for some, a dealbreaker for DHI-driven herds.
- No AI insights or advanced analytics. It records; it doesn't score risk, flag efficiency drift, or grade milk quality.
- iOS not shipped yet. Android app + web for now; the iPhone app is 'coming.'
- Dairy module is newer. The platform's core is beef/feedlot; per-session milking, lactation curves, and SCC fields exist but have less dairy-specific depth than dedicated tools.
- Free-forever sustainability is unclear. No published monetization plan beyond the promise. Export regularly; treat the model as an unverified bet.
- Community support only. No SLA, no phone line, no concierge migration.
The takeaway: Cattly is the strongest free records system for mixed cattle operations. The question is whether records alone answer your questions — or whether you want the software to notice things for you.
Feature head-to-head
| Feature | Cattly | DairyFarmManager |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ✅ Unlimited animals | ⚠️ Up to 10 cows (full features) |
| Paid plans | ❌ None | ✅ $19/mo (50 cows), $39/mo (250), custom above |
| Milk recording | ✅ Per-session/daily, batch entry, discard flags | ✅ Per-cow AM/PM, auto totals, drop alerts |
| Lactation curves | ✅ Included | ✅ Included with anomaly flagging |
| SCC / milk quality | ✅ Field tracking | ✅ Trends + quality grading analysis |
| Breeding & calving | ✅ Breeding records, gestation predictions | ✅ Heat/AI records, dry-off & calving reminders |
| Health & withdrawal | ✅ Treatments, auto withdrawal periods | ✅ Treatments, withdrawal, AI health risk scores |
| AI insights | ❌ | ✅ Health risk, feed efficiency, milk grading |
| DHIA / test-day sync | ❌ Manual CSV import | ✅ DHIA data import/sync |
| Feed & cost tracking | ✅ Feed planning, per-head cost, ADG | ✅ Feed cost/cow, income-over-feed-cost views |
| Financials | ✅ Schedule F, P&L (US-focused) | ✅ Income/expense, per-cow profit, shareable reports |
| iPhone support | ⚠️ Web browser (app coming) | ✅ Any browser, installable PWA |
| Offline | ✅ Android offline-first + web | ✅ Offline after first load |
| Parlor hardware integration | ❌ | ❌ (manual/auto milk-weight entry instead) |
| Data export | ✅ CSV + PDF | ✅ CSV |
| Support | ⚠️ Community | ✅ Email/priority on paid plans |
Dairy-specific depth: where the real gap is
Cattly tracks cows. DairyFarmManager is built around the four questions a dairy operator actually asks every week:
- "Is this cow earning her feed?" — per-cow income vs. cost, with feed efficiency analysis.
- "Why did her yield drop?" — automated anomaly flags the day a production trend breaks, before the monthly summary catches it. (See the math on why late detection is expensive in our software ROI guide.)
- "Is she sick yet?" — AI health risk scoring that ranks your watch-list from treatment history and production patterns.
- "Who needs to be bred, dried off, or dried out?" — breeding calendars, dry-off dates, and calving reminders that sync automatically as you log events.
None of those are Cattly features today — its reports describe what happened; they don't rank, flag, or score. For a beef or mixed operation, that's irrelevant. For a milking string, it's most of the value.
Which fits your farm: scenarios
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Family farm, 6 cows, browser on an old phone | DairyFarmManager Free | Full features under 10 cows; no install; works offline |
| 35 cows dairy + 40 head of beef steers, $0 budget | Cattly | Unlimited animals across species at zero cost |
| 60-cow DHIA-herd, monthly test day, want alerts | DairyFarmManager Starter | DHIA import + anomaly alerts for $19/mo |
| Backgrounder/feedlot that sells some milk | Cattly | Built for pens, ADG, cost-of-gain |
| iPhone user, small herd | DairyFarmManager | Runs in iOS Safari; Cattly's iOS app hasn't shipped |
| Trying digital records for the first time | Both — free | Twenty minutes to import your herd into each; keep the one you actually open daily |
The cost math, stated plainly
| Herd | Cattly | DairyFarmManager | Difference buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 cows | $0 | $0 | — |
| 25 cows | $0 | $180/yr (Starter) | AI insights, DHIA import, reminders for ~$0.60/day |
| 50 cows | $0 | $180/yr (Starter) | Same — 50 is the Starter ceiling |
| 150 cows | $0 | $372/yr (Pro) | Full-herd analytics + priority support |
Honest read: Cattly wins every pure-price comparison. DairyFarmManager's paid plans only make sense if you'll use the insights — and one caught heat cycle ($84–$150 in days-open costs) or one mastitis case caught early ($200+) covers a year of Starter. If you won't look at analytics, don't pay for them. Use the free tier that fits.
Is $180/yr Worth It for Your Herd?
Calculate your per-cow profit and what a missed breeding or late mastitis detection actually costs you.
Launch Profit Calculator →Trying both, or moving between them
Because both are free to start and both export CSV, switching is low-risk in either direction:
- Export your herd list from whichever you install first (animals, breeding dates, last treatments).
- Import into the other — under 10 minutes on both platforms.
- Run one full milking month in parallel. Compare herd totals, treatment logs, and any reports you use weekly.
- Keep the one you actually open. Adoption beats features; a tool nobody logs into loses to a simpler tool people use. If neither sticks, that's a workflow problem worth solving first — start with our 2-minute daily routine guide.
Under 10 Cows? Keep Both Free — Start Here
Set up DairyFarmManager in five minutes, import your herd, and see the AI insights on your own data. No credit card, works offline.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cattly really free?
Yes — genuinely free as of November 2026. Cattly states no paid tiers, unlimited animals and users, all features included, and no credit card required. It monetizes differently (the company hasn't detailed how long free-forever is sustainable). One honest caution: when a product is free, your data and your dependency on the vendor's business model are the things to watch. Cattly does offer CSV/PDF export, which protects you.
Is there a better free dairy app than Cattly?
It depends on what 'better' means for you. DairyFarmManager is also free for up to 10 cows and adds dairy-specific depth Cattly doesn't have: AI health risk scoring, feed efficiency tracking, milk quality grading, and DHIA data sync. If you have more than 10 cows and a strict $0 budget, Cattly's unlimited free plan wins on capacity. If you want insights, not just records, DairyFarmManager wins on features.
Does Cattly sync with DHIA?
No. Cattly offers manual data import/export (CSV) but does not have an automated DHIA test-day sync. DairyFarmManager supports DHIA data import via API on its platform. If test-day integration matters to your workflow, that's the cleanest differentiator between the two.
Does Cattly have an iPhone app?
Not yet. Cattly has an Android app (offline-first) and a web app that works on phone browsers, but iOS has been announced as 'coming later.' DairyFarmManager works in any mobile browser on iPhone or Android — no app store needed — and can be installed as a home-screen web app.
Which is better for milk production tracking, Cattly or DairyFarmManager?
Both record per-cow milk. Cattly's dairy module supports per-session or daily recording, batch parlor entry, lactation curves, SCC fields, and milk sales. DairyFarmManager adds component-aware revenue tracking (fat/SNF context), automatic herd totals, anomaly flags when a cow's yield drops, and shareable production reports. For beef-style herd records at zero cost, Cattly; for dairy decision-support, DairyFarmManager.
Can I use Cattly and DairyFarmManager together?
You can, and many farmers do exactly this during a transition: record in one, check totals in the other weekly, and move fully after a month of clean reconciliation. Since both export CSV, nothing locks you in. Start by importing your herd list into both — it takes under 10 minutes.
What happens if Cattly stops being free?
Unknown — 'free forever' is a promise, not a contract. The practical hedge is data portability: export your records regularly (Cattly supports CSV/PDF export, so this is easy). Any tool you adopt should pass the 'can I leave with my data' test — both apps here do.
Is Cattly good for large commercial dairies?
Cattly's core DNA is cattle record keeping — pens, weights, health, feed, profitability reports — with a newer dairy module. Large commercial operations usually need parlor integration, DHI pipelines, and multi-user protocol workflows, which point toward DairyComp, BoviSync, or PCDart. Cattly fits best on small-to-mid herds that want zero cost and simple records.
The Dairy-Depth Free App
Full herd, milk, breeding, health, and finance tracking — free for up to 10 cows, $19/mo for 50. Works in any browser, on any phone.
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