Land and landowners in the same system
Properties carry their acquisition status, landowner, area and eligibility, next to their boundaries on the map.
Terraware's fixed nursery-to-planting structure, or one system shaped around your project
Restoration Scope is a complete system configured around how your project already works, from land and partners to field work, monitoring and donors, and it grows with the project. Terraware is free and open source, and its strongest part is the nursery: seed banks, seed accessions and seedling batches. It covers a focused set of jobs with a fixed structure, from seed bank to planting site to monitoring, so your project adapts to it.
Restoration ScopeShould you use Terraware or Restoration Scope?
For most projects, Restoration Scope: it is configured around how your project already works and grows with it, from land agreements and farmer agroforestry to several partners and your own donors. Terraware is the better pick if you run your own seed bank and nursery and your project fits its seed-to-planting structure and monitoring method as they are: it is free and strongest there.
Restoration Scope publishes this comparison and is one of the options. We list it first because we think it's the best fit for most projects: it adapts to each project and grows with it, and covers operations and costs as well as fundraising and reporting. No vendor paid to be included. Something out of date? Write to info@restorationscope.com.
Terraware and Restoration Scope at a glance
| Restoration Scope |  Terraware | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A complete restoration data platform configured around your project: records, a field app, monitoring, maps and portals. | A free, open-source tool from Terraformation, built around seed banks, nurseries and planting sites. |
| Cost | A free pilot on a sample of your data, then a platform license plus implementation, quoted after a scoping call. | Free. |
| Setup | Configured with our team around your project. Someone on your side owns the workflow. | Fixed modules for seed bank, nursery, planting sites and monitoring. You fill them with your sites, species and records, and fit your project to their structure. |
| Seeds and nurseries | Nursery and species records, set up the way your team tracks them. | Its strongest area: seed collections, seed bank inventory and viability, and nursery batches linked to seed accessions. |
| Monitoring | Site visits, plots and survival records linked to each site and set up to your method, with geospatial data layers. | Survival and growth monitoring with its own sampling method, based on the US Forest Service Common Stand Examination protocol, plus remote sensing. |
| Beyond the nursery | Land and landowner records, partner programmes and data from Kobo, Google Sheets and GIS files in the same system. | Its site does not describe land agreements, landowner records, custom forms or imports from tools such as Kobo. |
| Offline capture | Restoration Scope Field works offline: points, lines, polygons and photos. | Android and iOS apps capture seed collections and monitoring observations offline. Nursery changes need a connection. |
| Funder reporting | Donor portals for your own funders, per donor or programme, from the same records. | A Funder Portal, launched in December 2025, for funders of Terraformation's projects. |
Checked against Terraware's own pages on October 17, 2026: Terraware, Funder Portal announcement, Plant monitoring, Seedling inventory, Mobile app, Source code.
Where Restoration Scope differs, on screen
These are Restoration Scope screens from our demo project and a public donor portal. To see Terraware, visit its own site.
Portals for your own funders
Each donor or programme gets their own portal, built from the same records the team keeps.
Where each fits
Pick Restoration Scope when
- You want one complete system for the whole project, shaped to how you work: carbon projects with land agreements, farmer agroforestry, multi-partner programmes.
- You want to keep tools your partners already use, such as Kobo or Google Sheets.
- You report to your own donors and want portals in your name.
Pick Terraware when
- You run your own seed bank and nursery and want them tracked at no cost.
- Your project fits its seed-to-planting structure and monitoring method as they are.
- You work with Terraformation and your funders use its Funder Portal.
- You have experienced software engineers who can fork its open-source code and maintain your own version. Budget for an ongoing development team: maintaining software is expensive.
Where each sits, from word of mouth to an adaptable platform
- 1 Word of mouth
- 2 Paper
- 3 Excel files
- Workable from here4 Google Sheets
- 5 Advanced Sheets
- 6 Airtable
- 7 Restoration software: Terraware
- 8 Network of tools
- 9 Custom system
- 10 Adaptable platform: Restoration Scope
Terraware is restoration software: a set seed-to-planting structure your project adapts to. Restoration Scope is an adaptable platform, configured around your project’s own steps.
Where restoration records live, from word of mouth to custom softwareQuestions teams ask
Is Terraware free?
Yes. Terraformation describes Terraware as free and open source, and its code is on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 licence. A team with experienced engineers could fork it and maintain a modified version, but that needs an in-house development team, which is the expensive part.
Is Restoration Scope a Terraware alternative?
For most projects, yes: Restoration Scope is one complete system shaped around your own workflow, partners and data sources. If your project fits Terraware’s structure, especially if the nursery is the heart of your work, Terraware is hard to beat on cost.
How do the funder portals differ?
Terraware's Funder Portal is for funders of Terraformation's projects. Restoration Scope builds donor portals for your own donors and programmes, from the records your team keeps.
Does Terraware work offline?
Partly. Its mobile apps capture seed collections and monitoring observations offline; nursery inventory changes need a connection. Restoration Scope Field works offline.
Another question? Email us or book a call.