BeachNut vs Seek
Seek by iNaturalist points a camera at all of nature. BeachNut points one at the tide line in Florida.
The short version
Seek is excellent at what it is for: living plants and wildlife, anywhere in the world, feeding a global naturalist community. If you want to know the bird on the dune or the plant behind it, use Seek.
Most of what you pick up on a beach is not a living organism. It is an empty shell, a fossil tooth, a tumbled piece of glass, a drift seed, a shard of old pottery. BeachNut is built for that pile — and for the question that comes first: is today even worth the drive?
Where they differ
- Subject. Seek: living organisms everywhere. BeachNut: beach finds — shells, shark teeth, fossils, sea glass, sea beans, beach pottery.
- Timing. Only BeachNut scores beaches daily and names the best window to walk.
- Place. BeachNut covers 250+ Florida public beaches with maps, nearby search, a day planner and local collecting rules.
- Keeping. Finds save to a geotagged collection with beach, date and conditions attached.
- Scope. BeachNut covers Florida public beaches today and is expanding across the U.S. coast. It is not a plant or rock identifier.
How the ID works
You get a ranked match — most likely first, then the next closest candidates — each with a confidence read, and every match links to its field-guide page so you can compare against the illustration, size range and habitat yourself. Markings and exact colorations vary between individuals. Identifications are best-effort estimates from a photo, not expert authentication.
Common questions
- Can Seek identify shells and shark teeth?
- Seek is built around living organisms across all of nature. Beach debris like worn shell fragments, fossil shark teeth, sea glass and beach pottery sit outside what a living-organism identifier is designed for.
- What does BeachNut identify?
- Shells, shark teeth, fossils, sea glass, sea beans and beach pottery, returned as a ranked match with a confidence read and a link to the field-guide page for that species or material.
- Does BeachNut tell me when to go to the beach?
- Yes. BeachNut scores 250+ Florida public beaches and re-scores them through the day using tide swing, wind, swell and recent conditions, and gives the best window to walk.
- Is BeachNut free?
- Browsing beaches, today's conditions and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds with three photo identifications a day. Premium adds unlimited identification, the seven-day outlook and multi-day trip planning.
Details about Seek come from its own public description and may change; check their site for what it does today.