YardLedger vs Lawn Dominator

Which one should you choose?

What using YardLedger actually looks like

YardLedger’s workflows do not change with who we are being compared against. Each one says the plan it runs on, and what a paid plan adds to it. For what each plan costs, see the pricing page.

1. Write down what you put on the lawn, while you are still standing in it

   Free

   Mows, waterings, aerations, soil tests, notes and problem spots all go in against the yard they happened to, with the date and photos — and an application carries what it actually was: the product out of your Garage and the rate you put down. 16 record types, unlimited entries, on the free tier too. This is the part everything else reads from — there is no separate "data entry" step, because the log IS the product.

   • Plus adds Multiple Properties: a second yard on Plus and up to 10 on Pro, each with its own history, zones and schedule.
   • Plus adds photo storage: room for 100 photos on Plus and 500 on Pro, against 30 on the free tier.

2. Start with a plan on day one, before you have any history at all

   Free

   Name a grass the engine models and setting the yard up puts a starter schedule on the calendar straight away — built by the same rules-based engine behind the free public schedule generator, from that grass, your USDA hardiness zone, the date you start and how hands-on you want to be. No AI wrote it, every item is visible, and you can move or delete any of them. A mixed or unidentified lawn skips the starter plan and starts from the assistant instead. Your soil and your weather come in after that, through the watering balance and anything you ask.

   • Plus adds Calendar Sync: an iCal subscription, so the schedule shows up in Google Calendar, Outlook or whatever you already keep.

3. Ask about your own yard, then decide what lands on the calendar

   Free

   Ask the assistant a question or hand it a photo of a bad patch, and it answers against that yard's own history, weather and products — proposing tasks with the reasoning attached and safety notes on any plan it builds. It proposes; you add the tasks you want, one at a time or all at once, and anything you leave alone never reaches your calendar. The monthly credit allowance is what scales with the plan: 5 a month on the free tier (15 in your first), 150 on Plus, 600 on Pro.

4. Draw the yard into zones, and water off a running balance rather than a weekly habit

   Free

   Trace the lawn on an overhead view and each zone carries its own area, grass and exposure into one running balance for the yard: Open-Meteo evapotranspiration draws it down, rainfall credits it back — the modeled figure, raised to a NOAA gauge reading where one covers you — and the soil sets how deep and how often to refill — the USDA SSURGO estimate for your coordinates where the survey covers you, a loam default where it does not. What comes back out is per zone: how long to run each one. Free accounts get the whole engine, the automatic soil resolution and a property-level override of it.

   • Plus adds Sprinkler Calibration: per-zone head type, a precipitation rate measured from your own catch-cup run, root depth and slope, so a run time is your system's rather than an assumed one.
   • Plus adds Weather Stations: a personal weather station (Ambient Weather, Ecowitt, Tempest, WeatherLink or Netatmo) driving your yard's conditions from readings taken at the property, and its ET too on the days the station reports enough sun, wind and humidity to compute one.
   • Plus adds Sprinkler & Utility Map: pinning the sprinkler heads, valves, supply lines, drains and the main shut-off on the same overhead view, with photos and notes.

5. Be told about the weather that is going to cost you something

   Free

   Free accounts get the seasonal safety alerts — frost, winterize-now, spring irrigation startup, and the spring and fall pre-emergent windows — alongside the ordinary care reminders, on push or email.

   • Plus adds Proactive Care Alerts: day-to-day weather-aware alerts that ride along with your daily reminder: when to water, when to skip for rain, spray-weather checks, and a weekly summary..

6. Turn on a guided program and let it bring its own steps

   Free

   Winterization, spring irrigation startup and yard leveling are free programs on every plan. Enable one and its steps join this yard's plan, for you to review and complete like anything else on it.

   • Plus adds Premium Care Programs: crabgrass pre-emergent on soil-temperature timing and PGR on accumulated growing degree days, plus fall pre-emergent for winter weeds and grub prevention.

7. Time a reapplication by the weather instead of by the calendar

   Plus

   Per-yard accrual from your local weather, so the timing moves with the season rather than the calendar: PGR sums growing degree days and reminds you when the reapplication interval comes due, and crabgrass pre-emergent watches a rolling soil temperature climbing toward the germination threshold and opens its window as it approaches.

   • Pro adds Custom PGR Target: tuning that interval to this lawn — an exact GDD target, or one dialled in from your height of cut — instead of the standard fixed cadence.

Side by side

Lawn Dominator details last checked 2026-09-17. Products change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll correct it.

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