Alternative · 2026
A Curate Alternative for Florists Who Grow Their Own Flowers
Short version: Curate is event software for florists, and increasingly for caterers, venues and event teams too. It is built for the selling and production side of an event: proposals, recipes, contracts, payments and the purchasing that follows. If you buy every stem from a wholesaler, that can be a complete workflow. If you are a grower-florist who arranges flowers you raised yourself, Curate's site describes nothing about your field, so the question "how many of these will I cut, and how many must I buy?" stays on paper. That half is what Stemwise does. Here is an honest comparison, including when Curate is the better choice.
What Curate does well
From Curate's own florist pages (read October 2026), the core of the product is:
- Proposals built from a lead in one click, with photos, menu options and pricing, that the client can sign and pay from the same link.
- Recipes per arrangement, scaling from a single piece to a bulk order, with printable recipe sheets, venue details and shopping lists for event day.
- Purchasing: turning those recipes into wholesale orders.
- Running the business: pipeline and calendar, timelines and tasks, staffing, a client portal and a mobile app.
That is the heart of a studio florist's week, and if your flowers come from a supplier, the gap below does not apply to you. Curate is the more complete tool for that job.
Where a grower-florist runs out of Curate
Curate's shopping list answers how many stems the event needs. A grower-florist needs one more number before that list means anything: how many of those stems the field will give that week. Say a Saturday wedding needs 120 dahlias and your dahlia rows will give you about 80 that week. Curate's list says buy 120. The real order is 40, and those 80 home-grown stems are no longer free to sell at market or put in CSA bouquets.
That subtraction, done for every variety and every promise you have made that week (weddings, CSA, market, wholesale), is the whole of what Stemwise is for. It is also where hand-kept lists go wrong: the same flower spelled two ways, or a CSA week that quietly takes the stems a bride is expecting.
Curate vs Stemwise, side by side
Curate's column is taken from Curate's own website. "Not described" means we could not find it on their site, not that it is impossible.
| Capability | Curate | Stemwise |
|---|---|---|
| Recipe per arrangement | Yes (higher plans) | Yes |
| Client proposals, contracts & payments | Yes | Proposals planned (Studio); no contracts or payments |
| Wholesale purchasing from recipes | Yes | Buy-in list only |
| Caterers, venues, staffing | Yes | No |
| Bloom plan & harvest forecast | Not described | Yes |
| CSA / bouquet-subscription shares | Not described | Yes |
| What you'll cut vs. what you've promised, by variety, each week | Not described | Yes, the core |
| Published pricing | Quote on request | $149 founding offer |
Read from curate.co in October 2026. Features change; check Curate's site before deciding, and if anything here is wrong, email hello@getstemwise.com and we'll correct it.
Using Curate and Stemwise together
They do different jobs, so they can sit side by side: Curate for the client (proposal, contract, payment, production sheets), Stemwise underneath it for the weekly check of your field against everything you have promised. Stemwise has its own wedding recipe builder, so a grower-florist who does not need client proposals yet can start with Stemwise alone. A plain rule: if what you need most is polished proposals and you buy wholesale, choose Curate. If what you need most is knowing what your field covers and what you must source, choose Stemwise.
See the reconciliation on sample data, no signup. Open the demo, add a wedding recipe, and watch Stemwise split it into "cut from my field" and "buy in", variety by variety.
Try the live demo → See the full 5-tool comparisonFrequently asked questions
Is there a Curate alternative for florists who grow their own flowers?
Yes, that is who Stemwise is for. Curate is strong when you buy every stem from a wholesaler. If you grow some or all of what you arrange, Stemwise adds the half Curate does not describe: what your own field will cut this week, and only what you actually need to buy in.
Does Curate know what my flower farm will harvest?
Not as far as its own site describes. Curate's florist pages cover proposals, recipes, purchasing and wholesale orders; they describe no bloom plan, harvest forecast or flowers on hand from your own beds. Stemwise keeps the bloom plan and reconciles it against what you have promised. Our free weekly stem reconciliation calculator shows that check on your own numbers, no signup.
Can I use Curate for proposals and Stemwise for sourcing?
Yes. Keep Curate for the client side (the proposal, contract, payment and production sheets) and use Stemwise underneath it for the weekly question Curate's shopping list cannot answer: how many of those stems you will cut yourself. Stemwise has its own recipe builder, so it also works on its own.
How much does Curate cost compared to Stemwise?
Curate does not publish prices. Its pricing page lists Basic, Growth and Partnership plans, monthly or annual, and asks you to book a call for a quote. Stemwise is launching with a Founding Grower offer: lifetime Grower plus Studio access for the first 30 farms at a one-time $149.
Founding offer · first 30 farms
Found Stemwise for life. The first 30 farms lock lifetime Grower + Studio access — bloom plan, weekly reconciliation, CSA, market sheets, and the Wedding Recipe Builder — for one payment of $149. No subscription, founding price forever.
Become a founding grower →The honest takeaway: if you buy every stem, Curate is made for you. The day you start arranging flowers you grew yourself, you need a tool that knows your field as well as your recipes — and that's the half Stemwise adds.