What is the best livestock management software in 2026?

CattleMax does one thing: cattle records, for commercial and registered herds. The Commercial plan covers complete cattle records, pasture maps, income and expenses, and a calendar with tasks, at $30 a month billed yearly for up to 250 active animals. Registered, at $41 a month, adds breed association interfaces, 3-generation pedigrees, embryo inventory, EPDs and EBVs.

Price follows your active head count, in tiers from 50 up to 2,000+ (250 is the tier shown first), and bigger operations talk to the Success team. Billing yearly saves about 20%. The 21-day free trial needs no credit card, every plan includes unlimited users, and only active animals count: sold, deceased and archived records don't.

The limits: if you run sheep or goats too, CattleMax won't track them. The pricing page says nothing about offline entry, so check that on your phone in the barn during the trial.

Tip: count active animals at your peak, after calving, before you pick a tier.

Herdwatch is an Irish herd app built for quick daily entry on a phone. It covers cow-calf, feedlot, sheep and pasture, and it works offline: you record at the chute, it syncs when you're back in range. You can try the app free before you decide.

On the US site, you can sign up for a free digital calving book. In the UK, the free version downloads your animals from BCMS, ScotEID and NIFAIS, which saves you from typing your herd in by hand.

The limit is price transparency. Pro and Pro+ are priced for your farm size, with no amount on the page. The only figure shown is a 6-month offer, labelled $49 in one place and $79 on its button: ask which one applies before you pay.

Tip: start on the free tier through calving season. You'll know within a month whether your crew actually uses it.

AgriWebb is built for grazing businesses. You choose mob management or individual animal management, then one of three plans: Essentials, Compliance or Performance. Add-ons cover grazing planning and pasture data.

Pricing is by head count. You type your cattle and sheep numbers into the calculator, and it shows your yearly and monthly cost. The trial needs no credit card, and the app works offline.

The limits: only cattle and sheep. The page shows no currency code: it opens on the Australian region, ex GST, where setup packages start at $200 on top of the plan. Switch the region selector to yours first.

Tip: if you run mobs, start with mob management. Switching every animal to individual records is a big job you can do later, tag by tag.

Farmbrite is a whole-farm tool for small, diversified operations. The Livestock plans start at $29 a month for up to 300 active animals, sets or flocks of any species. Performance, at $49, goes to 500 animals with unlimited team members. Premium, at $79, handles 5,000 or more.

Health and treatment records come with Essentials; breeding and fertility start on Performance. Offline record keeping and the iOS and Android apps are included on every plan, and the trial runs 14 days with no card.

The limit is depth. A 400-cow commercial herd will find CattleMax more focused on cattle work. And the entry plan doesn't track breeding.

Do the yearly math: Essentials costs $290 a year, against $348 paid monthly, a $58 difference.

Breedr is a performance tool. It's built around weighing animals by EID tag and keeping medicine records, so you see which animals gain and which don't. Plus costs $35 a month for 300 head, which comes to $420 a year.

The $2 tier, up to 50 head, is the cheapest paid way in this ranking to drop the paper herd book. You move up to Pro and Premium as the herd grows, to 2,000 head.

The limit is scope. Breedr is narrower than a full herd tool, and you need EID tags and a reader to get the most out of it.

Tip: weigh on the same day each month. Comparing gains from irregular weigh dates is where the numbers lie.

FarmKeep is the only tool here with a free-forever plan. Basic covers one farm, three active breeding groups, one production type and five invoices. It also starts you on a 14-day Premium trial.

Premium costs $8 a month billed yearly, $95.99 in total, or $9.99 month to month, and removes the limits: several farms, unlimited breeding groups and production types. FarmKeep lists more than 1,200 species and breeds.

The limit is scale. Three breeding groups fill up fast on a real cattle operation, and the pricing page says nothing about offline use. Commercial operations get a custom quote.

Tip: use the Premium trial during kidding or lambing, when you need the most groups at once, to see if Basic will be enough the rest of the year.