Comparison
Loamio vs. spreadsheets and paper
Compare the way your district works today with a shared workspace for orders, field activity, and assessment records.
Is it time to leave the spreadsheet?
Review the way information moves through your district: the request, the field record, and the assessment. Loamio keeps the office's, the ditch rider's, and the patron's work in one set of district records, with each person seeing what their role allows.
Questions to bring to your district's review
| Workflow | Loamio | Your current process |
|---|---|---|
| Plan cost | Lateral $99.00/month; District $299.00/month; Basin by discussion. | What software and services do you pay for today? |
| Access | Office, ditch rider, and patron workspaces with role-based access. | Who can read and change each record? |
| Field activity | Assigned deliveries and start, end, and flow-recording actions. | How do field notes reach the office? |
| Assessments | Assessment records show saved quantities, rates, and totals. | How do you preserve the quantities and rates behind a charge? |
| Patron invoicing | Stripe-hosted invoices on the district's connected account, with payment status returned to Loamio. | How do you issue invoices and record their payment status? |
| History | Activity records for delivery, patron, assessment, invoice, and payment changes. | How do you trace a correction to its original record? |
| Recovery | Automated database backups on AWS. | How would you recover a lost or damaged record? |
| Network | District map and system schematic linked to operational records. | How do you keep the network and order records aligned? |
The Loamio column reflects Loamio's current offering across its plans (see pricing).
Field work
Open your route before heading out. Record delivery activity when signal drops, then sync when you're connected again.
Where the spreadsheet is the better pick
- Very small operations. A handful of patrons, one ditch, no assessments — a single sheet and a paper notebook may genuinely be cheaper.
- You're winding the company down. If your district is in the process of consolidating with a neighbor or dissolving, a new system isn't worth the migration.
- You have a custom workflow Loamio does not handle. If your district's accounting is genuinely unique, a sheet you control may beat a product you'd have to bend.
Where Loamio is the better pick
- More than one person needs to know how things work. If your district is exposed to the loss of the secretary or the one person who maintains the spreadsheet, a shared system keeps the records readable for the next person.
- Assessment season eats weeks. Assessments use per-acre or per-acre-foot billing. Assessments for every active patron in a period are generated in one run, and each record keeps its saved quantities, rates, and totals.
- Ditch riders cover ground with no signal. Open your route before heading out. Record delivery activity when signal drops, then sync when you're connected again.
- You need to defend a delivery in writing. Orders and deliveries carry their recorded times, and Loamio keeps activity records for delivery, patron, assessment, invoice, and payment changes.
- You want online invoicing for patrons. Stripe-hosted invoices on your district's connected Stripe account, with payment status returned to Loamio. Stripe processing fees apply.
Loamio pricing
Lateral $99.00/month · District $299.00/month · Basin by discussion. No per-user or per-patron charges. See plans and pricing.
Migrating from a spreadsheet to Loamio
If your current system is a sheet plus paper, the practical steps are:
- Review your existing records with us. Bring an example of your patron list, assessment records, and run sheet so we can discuss the steps involved.
- Import your records. The import tool accepts CSV or Excel files for patrons, parcels, shares, water rights, and infrastructure.
- Keep your exports. Patrons, parcels, assessments, billing, and deliveries can be exported to CSV.
Other comparisons: Loamio vs. WaterMaster · Loamio vs. Watervize · Loamio vs. CVSS Storm
If your district has a spreadsheet workflow we should account for, tell us.
See Loamio at work
See it with your district in mind.
Bring a water order, a run sheet, or an assessment question to a 20-minute walk-through.