Seedling alternative: prices and features side by side

Carbon Recycling and Seedling both help UK businesses produce a carbon footprint, a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and an SECR report. Seedling has a free starter tier and quotes its paid plans, which include carbon experts and expert-written reports. Carbon Recycling is self-serve software at a published £59 or £149 a month, or £399 for groups.

Updated 3 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Prices are as each company published them on that date; tell us if one has changed and we will correct it.

Seedling is a UK carbon platform for small and mid-sized teams of up to about 2,000 staff, with carbon experts working alongside the software. It covers PPN 006, SECR, B Corp and ISO 14064 verification. The main differences are how much expert help is included and whether you can see the price up front.

Side by side

	Seedling	Carbon Recycling
Free option	Seedling Starter: basic footprint, hotspot analysis only, 1 site	14-day free trial of every feature, no card needed
Paid plans	Core and Advanced, by personalised quote	£59 or £149 a month, published
Sites	1 on Starter, 10 on Core, unlimited on Advanced	2 on Starter, 10 on Growth, unlimited on Enterprise
Groups of companies	Not listed	£399 a month: 5 companies included, combined group report, published price cap
PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan	Yes, on Core and Advanced	Built in on every plan, in the government template, held as a draft until board sign-off is recorded
SECR report	Yes, among its detailed reports	Built in on every plan, with intensity ratio and methodology statement
Factor shown on every figure	Not listed	Factor ID, year and value on every line
Expert help	Expert onboarding and data review on Core; dedicated carbon expert and unlimited support on Advanced	Optional one-off expert review of your plan, £395; one a year included on Enterprise
Target setting and reduction modelling	Yes, SBTi-aligned targets and decarbonisation modelling	Not yet
Product and project footprints	Yes	No
Certification	Seedling Business Certification on Core; ISO 14064 verification available	No

Seedling plans and features are as shown on its pricing page on 3 October 2026. "Not listed" means we didn't find the feature there; check with Seedling if it matters to you.

Choose Seedling if

you want a carbon expert to review your data and write your reports for you;
you need product or project footprints, or ISO 14064 verification;
you want a free basic footprint to start with and don't need a full plan yet.

Choose Carbon Recycling if

you are happy to enter your own data and want the price up front;
you need a PPN 006 plan and SECR report on the entry plan;
you want to see the DESNZ factor behind every figure;
you run several companies and want one published price for the group.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Seedling cost?

Seedling Starter is free. Seedling Core and Seedling Advanced are priced by quote: when we checked on 3 October 2026, its pricing page asked for your number of staff and type of business and emailed a personalised quote.

Is Seedling's free plan enough for a Carbon Reduction Plan?

Seedling's pricing page lists a basic footprint with hotspot analysis only on Starter, and puts reports such as PPN 006 on Core. For a full PPN 006 plan you would need a paid Seedling plan, or a plan elsewhere.

Does Carbon Recycling include expert help like Seedling?

Not in the same way. Seedling's paid plans include expert onboarding, data review and expert-written reports. We are self-serve software, with an optional one-off expert review of your Carbon Reduction Plan for £395, and one review a year included on Enterprise.

Can I move my data from Seedling?

Yes. Export your activity figures as a spreadsheet and upload them with our CSV import. We then recalculate them with the DESNZ factors for each year.

Get your figures and reports done in an afternoon

Add a year of bills and Carbon Recycling produces your footprint, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report, with every figure traced to its government factor. Prices are on the pricing page, from £59 a month.

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14 days free. No card needed.