Grove vs Plant Power: Fiber Grams or Plant Variety?

Grove and Plant Power are both fiber apps for iPhone, but they count different things. Plant Power is built around plant variety and the 30 plants a week goal, and it lets you log by photo or voice. Grove is built around fiber grams, using the full USDA FoodData Central database and a barcode scanner, with a one-tap gut check-in next to your daily total. Pick Plant Power if variety is the habit you want. Pick Grove if you want an accurate gram count and a record of how your gut feels.

I build Grove, so read this knowing that. I checked every Plant Power detail below against its App Store page on October 7, 2026. Where that page does not mention a feature, I say "not listed" instead of guessing.

Two different scoreboards

Most fiber advice gives you one number: eat 25 to 38 grams a day. The 30 plants a week idea gives you a second one: eat 30 different plants every week, because variety feeds more kinds of gut bacteria.

Those are two separate goals. You can hit 35 grams from oats and beans alone and eat only five plants all week. You can also eat 30 plants in small amounts and fall short on grams.

Plant Power keeps score on the second goal. Grove keeps score on the first. That is the real difference between them, and most of the feature list follows from it.

Feature comparison

| Feature | Grove | Plant Power | | --- | --- | --- | | Main thing it counts | Fiber grams per day | Plants, toward 30 a week, plus fiber goals | | Food data | Full USDA FoodData Central database | Source not listed | | Barcode scanning | Yes | Not listed. It reads nutrition labels by photo | | Photo logging | No | Yes, AI photo recognition for meals | | Voice logging | Siri | Yes, AI voice logging | | Daily gut check-in | Yes, one tap: Great, Good, Meh or Rough | Not listed | | Goals | Daily fiber goal, starts at 25g | Daily and weekly fiber goals | | Fast repeat logging | One-tap tiles for the foods you eat most | Reusable meals | | Apple Health | Yes, two-way | Not listed | | Widgets | Home and lock screen | Not listed | | Devices | iPhone, iOS 18 or later | iPhone, iPad and Mac, iOS 17 or later | | Account | None needed | Not listed | | Price | Grove+ $7.99/mo or $49.99/yr, after 7 days with the whole app and no card | Free to download. Fiber Premium in-app purchases from $1.99 to $24.99 |

Where Plant Power wins

It counts plant variety. This is the reason to choose it. Plant Power's App Store subtitle is "Gut Health 30 Plants per Week," and the app is designed around that count. Grove does not have a plant counter. If 30 plants a week is your goal, Plant Power is built for it and Grove is not.

You can log with a photo or your voice. Plant Power lists AI photo recognition for meals and nutrition labels, and AI voice logging. Grove asks you to search for a food or scan a barcode. If typing is what makes you quit food apps, that matters.

It runs on more devices. Plant Power lists iPhone, iPad and Mac, and it supports iOS 17. Grove is iPhone only and needs iOS 18.

It costs less to start. Plant Power is free to download, with in-app purchases that start at $1.99. Grove is a subscription after the first week.

Where Grove wins

The gram count comes from USDA data. Grove pulls fiber numbers from the full USDA FoodData Central database, which covers thousands of foods. You search the real food, pick a serving like 1 cup or 1 slice, and get the number USDA publishes. A photo estimate is quicker, but it is an estimate. If you are trying to reach a specific number, like the target from our fiber calculator, a looked-up value is easier to trust.

It scans barcodes. Point the camera at a package and Grove fills in the fiber. Plant Power's page lists photo reading of nutrition labels and does not list barcode scanning.

It tracks how your gut feels. Once a day you tap Great, Good, Meh or Rough. Grove lines those answers up with your fiber in the Week view. After a few weeks you can see whether your higher-fiber days were your better days. Plant Power's page does not list symptom tracking.

Your log stays yours. Grove needs no account and shows no ads. Your food log lives on your iPhone and, if you use iCloud, in your own private iCloud account. Grove has no server that stores it.

Grove also syncs both ways with Apple Health, has home and lock screen widgets with one-tap logging, and exports your log as a CSV file.

Which one should you use?

Choose Plant Power if you are doing the 30 plants a week challenge, you want to log by photo or voice, or you want an app that also runs on iPad and Mac.

Choose Grove if you want a fiber gram count you can trust, a barcode scanner, and a daily record of how your gut feels. Grove+ is $7.99 a month or $49.99 a year, and you get the whole app for 7 days with no card before you pick a plan.

Still deciding between more than these two? Our roundup of the best fiber tracker apps for iPhone covers FiberUp, Proto, Cronometer and MyFitnessPal. If you are not sure what your daily number should be, start with how much fiber per day.

Frequently asked questions

Is Grove a good Plant Power alternative?

It is if you care more about fiber grams than plant count. Grove gives you USDA fiber numbers, barcode scanning and a daily gut check-in. You give up Plant Power's 30 plants counter and its photo and voice logging.

Does Grove count plants toward 30 a week?

No. Grove counts fiber grams. You can see every food you logged in a week and count the plants yourself, but there is no built-in plant counter. Plant Power is the better app for that goal.

Does Plant Power have a barcode scanner?

Its App Store page does not list one as of October 7, 2026. It lists AI photo recognition for meals and nutrition labels, plus voice logging and manual entry. Grove scans barcodes.

Which app is cheaper?

Plant Power. It is free to download, with Fiber Premium in-app purchases from $1.99 to $24.99. Grove+ is $7.99 a month or $49.99 a year after 7 days with the whole app.

Can I track both fiber grams and plant variety?

Yes, and both matter. Fiber grams tell you whether you ate enough. Plant variety tells you whether you ate widely. Using two apps for every meal is a quick way to stop logging, so pick the goal you most want to build first and add the second later.

The bottom line

Plant Power is the app for counting plants. Grove is the app for counting grams and watching how your gut responds. Decide which number you want to see every day, and that picks the app.

If the gram count and the gut check-in are what you have been missing, you can get Grove on the App Store and see where today's fiber lands before dinner.