Tree Inventory Software Compared:
Which One Fits a Commercial Tree Care Business?
An honest look at TreeKeeper, TreePlotter and PlanIT Geo - what each is genuinely best at, and when a commercial tree care business needs more than an inventory.
Short Answer (So You Don’t Waste Time)
Inventory tools catalog trees. ArboStar catalogs trees and runs the company that maintains them. That is the whole comparison in one line, and both halves are legitimate work.
If you run a municipal urban forestry program, TreeKeeper and TreePlotter are frequently the right answer. They are purpose-built, mature, and they integrate with the asset and 311 systems a city already runs. You are not billing per job, so a CRM would be dead weight.
If you are a commercial operator selling removals, pruning and maintenance, the inventory is where the work starts. You also need tree mapping that feeds quotes, schedules, crews and invoices - and that is what ArboStar is.
Tools That Power Your Tree Service
| Product | What it is genuinely good at | Runs the business side? |
|---|---|---|
| TreeKeeper (Davey Resource Group) | ||
| TreePlotter (PlanIT Geo) | ||
| PlanIT Geo | ||
| ArboStar |
What Each Tool Actually Does
Three products, one buyer, one question. Here is what each is for.
TreeKeeper, from Davey Resource Group
TreeKeeper describes itself as designed by urban foresters for urban foresters, and the pedigree is real. It is one of the oldest products in this niche, sold to cities, parks departments, universities, cemeteries and non-profits, with published pricing that starts around 3,600 US dollars a year and includes unlimited users and unlimited data.
What you get is a serious inventory: customisable asset fields, GIS integration, mobile field collection with photos and documents, ecosystem-benefit calculation, and integrations into the systems cities already run, including 311 request systems, Cartegraph and Cityworks. Work orders exist, but they are municipal service requests rather than commercial crew dispatch.
There is no CRM, no estimating, no invoicing. For a city forestry department that is exactly right, because nobody there is quoting a removal or chasing an invoice. For a contractor, it means the half of the job that earns money happens somewhere else.
TreePlotter, from PlanIT Geo
TreePlotter calls itself the leading tree inventory and asset management software for mapping and managing an urban forest, and it is TreeKeeper's closest direct competitor. It is used by local and state government, universities, non-profits and tree care companies across the US, UK, Australia and beyond.
Its practical strengths are web-based GIS with unlimited user accounts, configurable reporting and advanced queries, i-Tree and ESRI compatibility, and genuine offline field collection with sync, which matters more than it sounds when your surveyors are out of signal for hours. Third-party listings put entry pricing around 3,500 US dollars a year, though PlanIT Geo does not publish pricing itself.
Like TreeKeeper, it does not attempt CRM, quoting, invoicing or crew scheduling. We already publish a direct comparison of ArboStar and TreePlotter, so if that is the specific decision in front of you, read ArboStar vs TreePlotter next.
PlanIT Geo, searched as its own brand
PlanIT Geo is the company behind TreePlotter rather than a separate product, which is worth knowing if you are comparing names on a shortlist. Founded in 2012, it describes itself as a global urban forestry software development and consulting firm.
Alongside the TreePlotter suite it sells services: tree inventories and assessments, hybrid inventory work, urban forestry consulting and geospatial mapping. If you need the fieldwork done rather than the software to do it with, that services side is a real offering and a legitimate reason to talk to them.
For software evaluation purposes, treat PlanIT Geo and TreePlotter as one entry on your shortlist, not two.
ArboStar solves these by being built specifically for tree care – not adapted to it.
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What ArboStar Actually Helps You Do
ArboStar connects your office, crews, and finances in one system. No spreadsheets. No disconnected tools. No blind spots.
Track every tree (history, health, risk, photos).
Schedule crews with route optimization.
Track profitability by job, crew, and service.
Create estimates, invoices, and reports in one workflow.
See real business performance in real time.
Real Clients Stories
Explore Our Platform in Action
Watch the video and find out how ArboStar can streamline your tree care business! See How It Works
Switch to ArboStar Risk-Free
VIP Onboarding Package
Full Data Migration
Early access to RAI (the first AI crew in the industry)
No disruption to your operations
FAQ
Tree inventory software catalogs trees. ArboStar catalogs trees and runs the company that maintains them. TreeKeeper and TreePlotter are built to hold species, condition, risk and location data for an urban forest, and they are good at it. ArboStar holds the same tree data and then attaches quoting, scheduling, crews, equipment, invoicing and reporting to it, because a commercial operator has to sell and deliver the work, not only record it.
For a commercial tree care contractor, ArboStar. Neither TreeKeeper nor TreePlotter attempts CRM, estimating, invoicing or crew payroll, and that is a deliberate design choice rather than a gap, because their buyer is a city forestry program rather than a contractor billing per job. For a municipal urban forestry program, the inventory tools are frequently the right answer.
They offer strong reporting about trees: canopy analysis, ecosystem benefits, i-Tree compatibility, inspection and risk history. What they do not offer is business intelligence about the company, which is the question a commercial owner is asking. ArboStar reports on crew efficiency, job and service profitability, advertising return and sales performance alongside the tree data.
Inventory platforms use GPS to place trees accurately on a map. They do not track crews, because their users are not dispatching crews. ArboStar uses GPS for both, mapping the trees and showing crews, vehicles, equipment and active jobs on one live job map so a dispatcher can move the right crew and the right kit to the next job.
Offline collection is a genuine strength of the inventory tools. TreePlotter states data collection works online or offline with sync, which matters for foresters working in low-signal areas. ArboStar has a dedicated offline module that covers the whole job, so a crew can work through the schedule, notes and job records as well as the tree data, and everything syncs when signal returns.
Yes, and it is often an addition rather than a replacement. ArboStar includes free data migration, setup and training, with no setup fees, and most companies are running in two to four weeks. Existing tree records, sites and clients come across into a platform that also handles the quoting and the money.
ArboStar provides live support with an average response time under 5 minutes, with onboarding and training included. The inventory vendors sell into public-sector procurement, where support and service levels are typically negotiated per contract rather than published, so ask for the specifics in writing before you sign.