Using GrowPilot
How does Compare work?
Compare puts two scans of the same plant next to each other, photos on top, diagnoses below, so you can see at a glance whether leaves are clearer, lesions are smaller, or symptoms have spread. It's the fastest way to answer "is the treatment working?" without trying to remember what the plant looked like a week ago.
What you need
A saved plant with at least two scans of itself. Compare requires the two scans to be of the SAME plant, that's how the diagnoses line up. If you've only scanned a plant once, run a rescan and come back.
Grower tier or higher. Compare is one of the features that unlocks at the Grower plan ($20/month). Basic users still see the page with an in-context upgrade prompt, better than a dead-end redirect.
Three ways to open Compare
From the Dashboard: click the Compare action pill at the top of /dashboard. You'll land on /compare, which lists every plant in your collection that's eligible for comparison (2+ scans). Click a plant card to open its side-by-side view.
From a plant's detail page: open any saved plant. If it has 2+ scans, a Compare button appears next to Rescan and PDF report. One click goes straight to that plant's compare view.
Direct URL: /plants/[id]/compare loads Compare for any plant you own.
Reading the side-by-side view
Compare defaults to oldest vs. newest, the most common question is "has it gotten better since I started treating it?" so the bookend scans are pre-selected.
Each side shows the scan photo, species identification, the diagnosis label (Healthy / Attention) with confidence percentage, the top diagnosis with description, and the scan date.
Use the dropdown above each photo to switch which scans you're looking at. Any two of the plant's scans can be paired, not just adjacent ones.
Tips for getting the most out of Compare
Scan from a consistent angle. If both photos show the same leaves from a similar camera position, your eye picks up tiny changes (new spotting, color shifts, leaf curl) the AI might score subtly.
Compare across treatment milestones. The most useful pairing: a scan just before you started a treatment vs. a scan 2-3 weeks in. Side-by-side, you'll know within seconds whether to continue, switch, or escalate.
Compare is a viewer, not a smarter analyzer. Each scan's diagnosis is independent; Compare just lines them up.
Frequently asked
- Can I compare two different plants?
- Not currently. Compare is designed for ONE plant's progress over time, pairing two different plants would mix incompatible diagnoses. If you want to look at two different plants, open each in its own browser tab.
- How do I add another scan of a plant I want to compare?
- Open the plant's detail page, click Rescan. The new scan auto-links to the same plant. Once it's done, the new scan appears in Compare's dropdowns.
- Why don't I see a Compare option for my plant?
- Two reasons: (1) you're on Basic, upgrade to Grower to unlock; (2) you've only scanned this plant once, Compare needs two or more scans of the same plant. Run a rescan and the button appears.
- Does Compare cost a scan from my monthly limit?
- No. Compare shows scans you've already run. It doesn't call the AI engine or count against your scan quota. Use it as often as you like on Grower and Cultivator.