Free weed identifierIs this a weed?

Drop a plant photo hereor paste one from your clipboard

This free weed identifier is 99.0% accurate. Take a photo of any plant and find out if it's a weed where you live, down to your state. It runs on your phone, with no cloud upload, no tracking and no cost.

Take a photo Choose a photo

Use my location for better resultsUse your current location to help cross reference against recent sightings in your area to improve accuracy

Checking the weed lists for

Fill the frame with one plant, in focus.
A leaf, flower or seed head works best.
Add more photos of the same plant for a stronger answer.

How do I identify weeds by photo?

Take a clear photo of the plant, add your location, and this weed identifier tells you if the plant is a weed in your state or country, with its best guess at the plant and the lists that name it. It compares your photo with 60,902 plants, right on your device.

Check a plant

Photograph the plant
Get one leaf, flower or seed head filling most of the frame and in focus. More photos of the same plant make the answer stronger.
Set your location
Switch on location and it picks your country and state for you, or choose them from the lists. Weeds differ from state to state, so this changes the answer.
Read your answer
You get a yes, a no or a not sure, its best guess at the plant, the lists that name it, and up to 20 possible weeds ranked from most likely down.

What makes a good weed photo?

A clear photo of one plant gets a firm answer. These are the shots that work and the ones that don't.

Photos that work

Leaves up close
Fill the frame with one plant's leaves, in focus.
A flower in focus
One flower head, close enough to see its parts.
A seed head
Seed heads are as telling as flowers.

Photos that don't

Too far away
From here it can't see any leaf or flower.
Too many plants
Which one do you mean? Get close to just one.
Out of focus
A blurry leaf hides what tells plants apart.

Is this a weed or not? What each answer means

Yes

Yes, in California.

A law, an invasive list or a weed guide names this plant for where you are. You see each list, what it says and a link to read it yourself.

No

No, not in Scotland.

No list we hold for your area names its best guess. If a neighbouring state or another country does, it says which.

Not sure

It holds back when the photo could be either, which happens on about 1 photo in 17. Add a close-up of a leaf or flower and it checks again with both photos.

Weed identification pictures: the world's most-listed weeds

These plants appear on the most countries' weed lists, out of the 5,424 listed weeds it knows.

White LeadtreeLeucaena leucocephala Listed in 113 countries
Common LantanaLantana camara Listed in 78 countries
JimsonweedDatura stramonium Listed in 71 countries
Giant SalviniaSalvinia molesta Listed in 71 countries
Tree-of-heavenAilanthus altissima Listed in 69 countries
Black LocustRobinia pseudoacacia Listed in 67 countries
Siam WeedChromolaena odorata Listed in 45 countries
Giant MilkweedCalotropis procera Listed in 36 countries
Common GuavaPsidium guajava Listed in 36 countries
Mexican SunflowerTithonia diversifolia Listed in 33 countries
Billygoat WeedAgeratum conyzoides Listed in 33 countries
Coral VineAntigonon leptopus Listed in 32 countries

What counts as a weed?

A plant counts as a weed where you live when a law, an official invasive list or a recognised weed guide names it for your state or country. We hold 917 weed lists from agriculture departments, environment agencies, universities and weed science societies across the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Together they cover 5,424 of the 60,902 plants it knows. Each answer shows the lists behind it, with a link to the source.

How does it know my state or country?

With location on, it works out your country and state on your device, from your photo's location or your phone's. Your exact location stays on your device. To cross-check sightings, the page downloads the records for your wider region, an area about 1,100 km across. You can also choose your country and state yourself. Before you've done either, it starts from the country your connection is in.

Weed identifier questions

How accurate is this weed identifier?

This weed identifier is 99.0% accurate, tested on 72,879,938 plant photos it never saw while being built, as of November 2026.

Is this weed identifier really free?

Yes. Every check runs on your own phone or computer, so there is no cost per photo. There is no limit on photos and no account to create.

Is my photo uploaded anywhere?

No. Your photo is read and checked inside your browser and never leaves your device.

Do I need to download a weed identifier app?

No. It runs in the web browser on phones, tablets and computers.

Does it work on lawn and garden weeds?

Yes. It knows 60,902 plants, and its lists include the lawn, garden and crop weed guides of universities and agriculture departments. In the United States, crabgrass, dandelion and creeping thistle all get a yes.

Does it tell me if a plant is a weed in my state?

Yes. It checks the lists for your state and your country, using your location or the place you choose, and tells you when another place lists the plant instead.

How accurate is this weed identifier?

This weed identifier is 99.0% accurate, tested on 72,879,938 plant photos as of November 2026. Here is exactly how we tested it: which photos, which lists, what counts as right, and every count behind that number.

99.0% accurateTested on 72,879,938 photos

72,879,938plant photos tested, all unseen while it was being built
917weed lists from official and expert bodies
208countries and territories covered
5,424plants listed as a weed somewhere

The test, step by step

The photos
Every test photo is a confirmed sighting from iNaturalist that the model never saw while being built. We tested on 74,843,373 of them and counted 72,879,938, leaving out 1,664,437 from places with no weed list and 298,998 taken more than about 25 km from land.
The right answer
We take the plant the sighting was confirmed as, and the state and country the photo was taken in. If a list for that state or country names the plant, the right answer is yes. If not, it's no.
The answer it gives
It ranks the plants for each photo using nearby sightings, then adds up how likely its top plants are to be one listed for that place. At 80% or more it says yes, at 20% or less it says no, and in between it says not sure. This page uses the same rule.
The accuracy
Accuracy is the share of firm answers, a yes or a no, that match the right answer. Not sure answers aren't in that score, so the table below shows them separately.

Every answer it gave

Answers on 72,879,938 test photos, with location, as of November 2026
The photo shows	It said yes	It said no	It said not sure
A plant listed for that place	14,896,396 85.5%	449,161 2.6%	2,069,224 11.9%
Any other plant	247,897 0.4%	52,875,263 95.3%	2,341,997 4.2%

67,771,659 of 68,468,717 firm answers were right, so the weed identifier is 99.0% accurate.

98.4%of yes answers were right
99.2%of no answers were right
93.9%of photos got a firm answer

Read the weed row first. 23.9% of these photos show a weed, so a checker that always said no would still be right on 76.1% of them. Finding weeds is the hard part: 85.5% of weed photos got a yes, 2.6% got a no, and the other 11.9% got a not sure.

How much does location matter?

Location matters most for finding weeds: 85.5% of weed photos get a yes with location on and 51.7% from the photo alone.

Test	Photos	Accuracy	Weeds said yes to	Other plants said no to	Firm answers given
All test photos, with location	72,879,938	99.0%	85.5%	95.3%	93.9%
All test photos, photo only	72,879,938	96.8%	51.7%	97.0%	89.1%
United States, with location	33,359,025	98.9%	86.6%	94.2%	93.1%
Outside the US, with location	39,520,913	99.0%	84.4%	96.2%	94.6%

Where the weed lists come from

In the US, Canada, Europe and Australia we use 917 weed lists: noxious weed laws, official invasive lists, and the weed guides of universities, agriculture departments and weed science societies, state by state wherever states keep their own. Everywhere else we use each country's GRIIS checklist, counting a plant only when the checklist marks it invasive. A watch list alone doesn't count, because those plants aren't established yet, and neither does a broad reference list that names crops and trees alongside weeds.

Check the numbers yourself

See the full accuracy results by country Raw counts, part 1 (JSON) Raw counts, part 2 (JSON)