Plant Light Meter — Point Your Camera. See What Grows.
A free browser tool that estimates light levels (lux) at any spot in your home using your phone camera — and tells you exactly which houseplants will thrive there.
- Point your phone at the spot where you'd put the plant, not at the light source
- Hold the phone facing outward — same direction the plant will "look"
- Take a reading during the brightest part of the day for that spot
- The reading is an estimate, not a scientific measurement. Good for choosing plants, not for research.
✅ Will thrive here
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Why a plant light meter matters more than "bright indirect"
After 14 years working with indoor plants and answering thousands of "why is my Monstera dying" questions, the number one cause I see is light mismatch. Someone reads "Fiddle Leaf Fig likes bright indirect light" and puts it in a north-facing bathroom — a spot that measures maybe 100 lux. A Fiddle needs 800-2,000 lux to survive. It's dead in three months.
Actual lux measurements demystify all of this. A window looks "bright" to human eyes because our eyes adapt logarithmically — but a plant's photosynthesis machinery is linear. 500 lux is five times less usable light than 2,500 lux, even though both feel "bright" to you.