We Compared The Top 5 Indoor Gardens. Here’s Our Favorite Pick This Black Friday.

Sponsored Content

Editor’s Note: Rise Garden’s is having a Black Friday sale right now. Get 30% off for the first time in Rise’s history. CLICK HERE to get the deal! Don’t miss out!

I’m mentally in spring all year round — but plants are not. I always wanted to get into growing my own fruits and veggies, but never knew where to start. I live in the Northeast – so any growing season ends in October. So I wanted to find a way to garden that was easy and available 365 days a year. 

Enter: Indoor gardens. Indoor gardens utilize hydroponic systems that grow plants from the comfort of your own home without the mess of fertilizer, soil, and watering. 

While looking for the perfect indoor garden, I was on the lookout for one that could offer me longevity, aesthetics, high output, and a reasonable cost. It would also be helpful if it’s easy to use since I don’t exactly have a green thumb. Out of the top 5 indoor garden brands on the market — Rise Gardens, Gardyn, Lettuce Grow, AeroGarden, and Click & Grow — only one could check all those boxes. 

Aesthetics matter. 

A garden is the perfect addition to add an Earthy element to my minimalist home. Did I ever think I would find an indoor garden that fits the aesthetic of home while bringing life to it? No…until the Rise Garden. Right off the bat, I noticed the garden’s sleek, minimalist design with a touch of wood accents that elevated the room. It comes in Cloud and Charcoal, which are versatile colors to blend in with any home design. 

For those who are looking for a smaller, simplistic design, choose the Gardyn Home Kit 3.0. With a simple aesthetic, it’s not an overbearing garden and can fit into any design. It only requires 2 sq. ft. of space — ideal for those dipping their feet in the home garden world. 

The aesthetic of the Lettuce Grow Farmstand, which is an outdoor hydroponic system, is modern and unique. I gravitated towards the shape of the farmstand as it’s different from a typical rectangular design for a home gardening system. However, this shape could get a tad difficult when finding a space for it on your patio. The all-white look gives it a standout feature, especially contrasted against the greens of the outside. 

If you’re looking for something that is a little corner pick-me-up that is also a miniature garden, then opt for the AeroGarden Harvest. Its compact design makes it easy to move around your house,  The Harvest is sleek and contemporary. The color choices take a darker, masculine approach to interior design with the two options being black and cool gray. It’s a space-saving device that can also act as decor. The only downside: The hood might make it slightly difficult when adding water or nutrients when your plants get to a certain height. However, the hood is expandable.  

I’m a sucker for neutrals that can go with any aesthetic, which Click & Grow offers in their Smart Gardens. The Smart Gardens’ design is minimalist, sleek, and not domineering. Its small size allows you to store it on your countertop. Similar to the AeroGarden Harvest, it features a hood, which can be cumbersome when adding nutrients and water. 

Output=longevity 

I’m on the hunt for an indoor garden that will be able to sustain my lifestyle. It needs to be able to be a good alternative for grocery stores. Which means, it needs to have a high level of output for longevity. 

With Rise, you can grow up to 108 plants, which is the most out of any indoor garden. Of those 108 plants, it can consist of up to 105 varieties. The plants physically grow roots in the Rise Garden, making the output one that is long-lasting and plentiful — perfect for families.

The Gardyn Home Kit 3.0 has an output of 30 plants with the ability to grow 64 varieties. The Lettuce Grow Farmstand’s smallest level has an output of up to 18 plants, two levels have an output of up to 24 plants, and the highest number of levels can grow up to 36 plants. The Farmstand can grow 106 varieties, but availability is seasonal. 

AeroGarden Harvest is a compact design, which means it comes at the expense of output. You can only grow 6 plants at a time. Similarly, with Click & Grow, you can only grow between 3 and 9 plants, but there are 75 varieties to choose from.

I want to grow with my garden.

Something I didn’t know I needed until I started gardening was the ability to grow with it. When I started testing out the gardens, a quick favorite attribute was modular designs. Only two gardens feature that: Rise and Lettuce Grow Farmstand. 

Rise Garden comes with three tiers. Its modular design allows you to work your way up to your dream indoor garden. I started off with the one-level system of 36 plants and found this was efficient for growing the basic herbs and necessities. As I fell in love with indoor gardening, I realized that I wanted to expand my output to not only include herbs and lettuce, but vegetables and more. This helps me sustain a healthy diet and saves me grocery runs. 

With a modular design that takes on a unique shape, the Lettuce Grow Farmstand elevates a space. The Farmstand has three different heights available. The highest level, which reaches a height of 6’1’’, can grow up to only 36 plants. This is a relatively small output compared to the modular design of Rise. 

Ease of use

I’m not adept in the green thumb realm, so I was looking for a garden that did the hard work for me. The beauty in hydroponic systems: no digging, no mess. 

Growing plants is made easy with Rise Garden’s advanced technology. Alongside its easy hydroponic system, consisting of a 9-gallon water tank, that does all the work for you, the Rise Garden comes with a tech-savvy app that makes gardening simple and keeps you up to date on the plants’ lives. No green thumb is required for growing with Rise. 

The app will tell you when it’s time to add nutrients or water, as well as a whole library of plant facts and weekly reminders. Plus, you can connect your Rise Garden to the Amazon Alexa. Simply say, “Alexa, Run Care.” The Rise Garden hits all the boxes of an easy-to-use, beautiful, and highly productive garden. If that’s what you’re looking for, choose Rise Gardens. 

Similar to the Rise Garden, the Gardyn Home Kit 3.0 has a partner app that monitors your plants’ health via the use of cameras and lets you know what to do when it comes to water levels and nutrients. The app as well as the 6-gallon self-watering system makes it easy to use, but on a smaller scale.

The Farmstand is a self-watering and self-fertilizing system. Its water capacity can hold up to 20 gallons of water. It can be used both inside and outside, but if you want to convert it into an indoor garden, you have to purchase the glow rings to mimic natural light. As for the heavy lifting, all you have to do is add the pH and nutrients according to the maintenance schedule. It’s simple to use and versatile.

The Harvest devices might not be as tech-savvy as the rest of the devices, but they are incredibly simple to use. All you have to do is plant the pods and follow the reminder buttons on the device that tell you when you need to add more water and nutrients. It also features a vacation mode for when you’re going out of town.

Similarly, the Click & Grow is smaller, making it easy and fast to use. All you have to do is add the soil capsules to the plastic cups in the Smart Garden. There is a water float indicator feature that tells you when you need to add water. The Smart Garden 9 Pro features a Bluetooth-compatible app that allows you to set a schedule for the growing lamp. The water tank is between 0.31 and 1.06 gallons, making it a less moisture-rich hydroponic system. 

I’m looking for a price that pays off. 

When it comes to indoor gardening, value is important. Prices can rack up, but this can be worth it if the output is high and the price-per-plant has good value. 

The Rise Garden is worth the money (and all models are currently 20% off). 

• The one-level tier model is for $799 $559
• The two-level model is $1149 $839
• The three-level model is $1449 $1014

Though these are premium prices, the modular design makes it easy to get started with Rise Gardens. Plus, with the average cost of $2.50 per plant, its price-per-plant payout is less than other indoor gardens.

The Gardyn Home Kit 3.0 is at a moderate rate of $899, but is currently on sale for $695. The price comes with a one-year warranty and a 30-plant starter set. Though it’s one of the cheaper options, the price per plant averages out to $4.99. 

The Farmstand has three different heights available at varying prices. The smallest level is $474. The next level is $549. The highest level is $699. It’s one of the cheaper gardening brands, but unfortunately, plants are not included. Depending on what size you choose, starter plant bundles start at $71.82. The average price for individual plants is around $2.50. 

Harvest devices start at $79.95, making it by far the cheapest of the options. With your purchase, you get a starter seed kit and plant nutrients. You can purchase seed kits starting at $11.16

The Smart Gardens systems start at $99.95 and can go up to $289.95. Your purchase comes with either 3 complimentary soil pods with basil seeds or a set of plant capsules with 3 basil, 3 tomato, and 3 lettuce (depending on what Smart Garden you get) and a 1-year warranty. You can purchase plant pods separately, which start at $9.95 and come with three, averaging around $3.31 per plant. 

The Bottom Line

Indoor garden needs vary from person to person, but the most beneficial one is a garden that can replace grocery stores and help you create a sustainable lifestyle — for me, that is Rise Gardens.

The Rise Garden is for anyone who wants a stunningly beautiful, high-output garden that comes with a slightly more premium upfront price but will save you money versus endless trips to the grocery store. 

Don’t miss their deal! Get 30% off a Rise Garden by clicking the link below 👇