TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor (2022)

If you’re ready to throw in the towel with DIY lawn care and are searching for the best lawn care service out there, you’re probably overwhelmed by many options. There are countless companies to choose from, offering programs, packages, and one-off services at varying prices. Two of the best lawn care services — and likely the ones you’ve heard about most — are TruGreen and Lawn Doctor. TruGreen is a massive national company with many services in 48 contiguous states. Lawn Doctor is smaller, covering 38 states, and provides fewer plan options from locally-owned offices.

Our House Method Reviews Team analyzed, reviewed, and compared TruGreen and Lawn Doctor on key metrics like customer reviews, services offered, availability, reputation, a-la-carte options, and more. Ultimately, we recommend TruGreen as the best lawn care service for its broad coverage, fantastic reputation, and Healthy Lawn Guarantee. This guide will go over these companies in-depth and provide insight into which one is best for your needs.

Compare TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor 

The table below is a quick breakdown of what each provider offers.

TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor Overview

TruGreen and Lawn Doctor both have extensive experience in the industry, accumulating thousands of satisfied customers each. They both have a long history of success and generally positive customer feedback.

TruGreen Overview

TruGreen provides customers access to five different pre-set service plans: TruComplete, TruHealth, TruMaintenance, TruSignature, and TruNatural. These plans include a good variety of services and pricing, so you’re bound to find one that works for your property and budget. The services can be basic — covering fertilization, lawn amendments, and some additional treatments — or cover your entire property — including customized lawn maintenance, pesticide application, weed control, tree care, shrub care, and much more.

TruGreen provides a customer satisfaction guarantee on all of its plans, and it also has a la carte services like core aeration, grub control, and termite and insect perimeter control. These add-on services let you further customize your lawn maintenance program.

Lawn Doctor Overview

Lawn Doctor is a national lawn service company, but each location is independently owned and operated as a franchise. Customer service can be spotty from local Lawn Doctor locations, but customer reviews are generally positive. Lawn Doctor also provides a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, similar to TruGreen, so you can rest assured that you’re in good hands.

Lawn Doctor has three different fertilization and weed control plans, mosquito control and tick control. It also has some add-on services, like seeding, lawn aeration, and tree and shrub care, but these aren’t available as part of its annual service plans. You’ll have to remember to schedule these in advance if you want them.

TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor Services and Plans

The effectiveness of a professional lawn care company often depends on the quality of its services and the value of its treatment plans. The plans offered by TruGreen and Lawn Doctor vary quite a bit, so finding the right company for your needs could be as simple as finding the right plan. We’ll take a look at each company’s offerings below.

TruGreen Plans and Services

TruGreen has five annual plans available, plus many add-on services to customize each one to your liking.

The pre-built plans provide varying levels of service, but each one includes the following:

• Soil test
• Fertilization services
• Healthy lawn guarantee
• Satisfaction guarantee

The more premium plans add weed control and pest control services, tree and shrub care, aeration, and seeding to patch bare spots in your lawn and reduce soil compaction. All of TruGreen’s services and products are informed by the soil test completed on your property, so you’ll have science and a highly-trained lawn care specialist backing up your results.

TruGreen also has one-off services available. You can use these to add to your annual plan of choice or use them as standalone lawn care treatments. The a la carte services from TruGreen are listed below:

• Soil amendment for pH balance
• Fertilization
• Aeration
• Overseeding
• Insect control for fire ants, carpenter ants, spiders, ticks, fleas, chiggers, and earwigs
• Mosquito control
• Grub control and prevention
• Termite prevention
• Weed control
• Tree and shrub care

Virtually any homeowner will be able to find a combination of a service plan and a la carte services from TruGreen that meets their expectations.

Read our TruGreen Review to learn more about plans and services.

Lawn Doctor Plans and Services

Lawn Doctor provides three plans, but only one is catered toward lawn care—the other two deal exclusively with lawn pests.

Lawn Doctor only provides one annual service plan for landscaping. The others will help you keep biting insects off of your property. The fertilization and weeds plan are a bit limited in scope. However, it will help leave you with an aesthetically pleasing green lawn. The targeted weed control can help keep walkways, sideways, patios, and driveways looking clean and tidy.

Lawn Doctor also provides add-on services that you can purchase as one-off treatments or customize one of the plans above. The add-on services from Lawn Doctor include:

• Lawn fertilization
• Aeration
• Grass seed application
• Tree and shrub care
• Mosquito prevention
• Single-event mosquito spraying (for outdoor parties, etc.)
• Tick prevention

Although the service plans are a bit sparse, the add-on services can help you find the right balance between lawn care and insect prevention. The single-event mosquito treatment is also a great option to keep costs down but still keep your yard usable when barbecue season rolls around.

Lawn Doctor locations operate as individual local companies, so some offer specialized services like lawn mower repair, power seeding, etc.

To learn more: Lawn Doctor review.

TruGreen vs Lawn Doctor Prices

Both TruGreen and Lawn Doctor offer affordable plan options that come with full-service lawn care. For both lawn care providers, more comprehensive programs tend to come at a larger cost than one-off or a-la-carte services.

TruGreen Cost

TruGreen’s lawn care plans are cheaper for the first application but increase for the remaining visits. The most expensive plan option is TruSignature because it offers the most comprehensive lawn care. The prices below represent the full annual cost for a 5,000 sq. ft. yard.

• TruMaintenance℠ Lawn Plan: $403
• TruHealth℠ Lawn Care Plan: $474
• TruComplete℠ Lawn Plan: $744 + $270 for overseeding/aeration
• TruSignature℠ Lawn Plan: $1208 + $270 for overseeding/aeration
• TruNatural℠ Lawn Plan $698

Additional a-la-carte services can be purchased at varying prices.

• Soil amendments like lime to get the right pH balance — $70
• Fertilization — $75 per application
• Core aeration and overseeding — $270 per service
• Pest control services — $110 per treatment
• Dedicated mosquito defense — $80 per application
• Grub control and prevention — $100
• Termite prevention — $110 per treatment
• Weed treatments — $75 per application
• Tree and shrub maintenance — $70 per service

Lawn Doctor Cost

Lawn Doctor pricing is a bit more difficult to come by as the provider does not have pricing on the website, and customers can only get a quote by entering their phone number and email and waiting for a representative to reach out. Each of Lawn Doctor’s programs is priced annually, and homeowners can expect a full-service Lawn Doctor plan to cost anywhere from $930 to $2,900 per year. One-off services can be purchased for an additional fee.

• Lawn Maintainer Program: $1050
• Natural Lawn Care Program: $1,278
• Aeration: $150-$350
• Mosquito Control: $500-$725

TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor Availability & Locations

TruGreen and Lawn Doctor are massive national companies that service multiple states. TruGreen is larger and covers more areas throughout the states it services, but both have a strong presence.

TruGreen Availability

TruGreen is available in all 48 contiguous states, plus Washington, D.C. It only doesn’t provide services in Hawaii or Alaska.

Lawn Doctor Availability

Lawn Doctor is available in 38 states. It services all states except:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Nevada
• Rhode Island
• Mississippi
• Utah
• Hawaii
• New Mexico
• South Dakota
• Wisconsin
• Delaware

TruGreen vs. Lawn Doctor Reviews

Customer reviews are a great way to gauge how effective a lawn company’s treatments are and how valuable their customer service is. You’ll often see the best and the worst a company has to offer in its reviews. Below, you’ll find some honest customer reviews for each company pulled from Yelp.

TruGreen Customer Reviews

“I would say the Truegreen technicians that I have experienced do truly care to improve the way my lawn looks. My house is fairly new to me. I have only been there two years, and I have been trying to fix my yard since I moved in. It is a process for sure. I have planted numerous plugs each year, and Trugreen has been there every step of the way, offering advice and providing extra fertilizing treatments. They have been giving me watering tips and yearly aeration. Finally, this year I have received multiple compliments on how my lawn looks in the neighborhood. I am proud and thank you, Trugreen, for your continued help.” –David H.

“I’m new to TruGreen. I’ve tried several different companies to get rid of a weed problem I’ve Had. After one treatment, the weeds are dead. Pricing is comparable to both other companies I tried before them.  They not only notify you before they come, but they also send tracking info of where their driver is en route to you. Also, they leave a detailed lawn analysis telling what they did and what they recommend.  So far, I’m seriously impressed and highly recommend.” –Lezli J.

Lawn Doctor Customer Reviews

“I have tried a few lawn care services and haven’t been satisfied with the quality of service for the price. I then found Lawn Doctor! Bill is easy to get in contact with and very professional. My crabgrass and weeds are under control, and my lawn will look great when the weather gets warmer.” –Rich G.

“They put in a new lawn. Only patches came in, and they were rude about coming back. They blamed me and my lack of water for the lawn not coming in; I watered per their instructions. My yard was covered in rocks they never removed. Now it is dead filled with weeds even after they came back to redo it. I have previously used TruGreen, and my lawn looked great. This company is awful.” –Kerri H.

Final Verdict

TruGreen and Lawn Doctor are two of the most popular professional lawn maintenance companies. TruGreen has a massive footprint in 48 states, while Lawn Doctor’s is less impressive in 38 states. Both companies carry out soil tests and let science inform what products they use on your lawn and property, and they both offer a satisfaction guarantee.

If you’re stuck between choosing one of these companies, TruGreen is our recommendation for the best lawn care service provider. TruGreen has a much more comprehensive array of services for customizing your property and needs. It has more annual plans available, plus more add-on services covering lawn health, weed control, pest control, tree and shrub maintenance, and much more. Check out TruGreen’s plans today to see which works best for you and get a free quote.

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Frequently Asked Questions

House Method’s Rating Methodology

At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. That’s why we took the time to create an objective rating system and score each lawn company/service according to our methodology.

Our research team dug deep into the fine print of contracts, combed through more than one hundred customer reviews, and thoroughly investigated all of each lawn care service’s services, costs, and products. We’ve done the homework for you by researching nearly all of the lawn care companies on the market so you can have the information you need to make the best choice for your home.

We developed a formula to objectively determine the best lawn care companies and give each a score out of 100 based on the following criteria:

• Plan Options (30): Do they provide a variety of plan options? We looked at the number of plans each company offered and the flexibility of adjusting the plan.
• Services offered (20): How many services are offered in each plan? We looked at the number of lawn care coverages, including weed control, seeding, irrigation, aeration, dethatching, and more.
• Trust (10): What do customers say after their lawn has been serviced? Does this company offer a guarantee? We considered how satisfied customers are post-service if the company does what it says it will, BBB accreditation, and service guarantees.
• Prices (10): How reasonable are the costs of the plan or service in comparison to the industry average? We compared the costs of each company to competitors that offer the same lawn services.
• Unique perks (10): Does the company offer discounts or special services such as organic treatments, pest control, or a mobile app? We looked for perks each company offers that set them apart from the competition.
• Customer Service (10): How is the customer experience when contacting the company? We considered the speed of response, weekend/holiday availability, and ease of communication through phone calls, email, and online chat functions.
• Nationwide availability (10): How many states does the company offer its services? Companies that operate nationally and in all zip codes are favored over those with limited availability.