Cricket vs Grasshopper (2026): Identification, Comparison, & Photos

Estimated reading time: 10 to 12 minutes

The fastest way to tell a cricket from a grasshopper is antenna length and time of day. Crickets have long antennae (often longer than the body) and are nocturnal. Grasshoppers have short, stubby antennae and are active during the day. Both belong to Order Orthoptera, but over time, they split into different suborders with different body plans, diets, and behaviors.

If you are trying to identify one in your yard, garden, or on a walk, or figure out whether it is harmless, feeding on plants, or worth treating, this guide gives you a quick verdict first, then the details that matter. You will see the four cricket families you are most likely to encounter (bush, cave, mole, and true crickets), the most common grasshopper species, the key differences in behavior and biology, and the practical risks, prevention steps, and treatment options for lawns and gardens.

Antenna length is the single fastest field ID cue: crickets carry long, thread-like antennae that often exceed body length, while grasshoppers wear short, stubby ones that rarely reach past the pronotum. Understanding that difference matters because crickets and grasshoppers use different habitats, feed differently, and do not create the same kind of garden or pest-control problem.

Cricket vs Grasshopper (Identification, Comparison, Photos)

Here is the head-to-head breakdown. Every row below is a field cue you can check in a few seconds without picking the insect up.

If you want a broader picture of what else might be walking through your yard at dusk, our crawling insect hub covers beetles, roaches, silverfish, and other lookalikes.

Quick 4-step field ID checklist

1. Check the antennae. Longer than the body means cricket. Short and stubby means grasshopper.

2. Check the time of day. Dusk or night activity points to a cricket. Midday sun points to a grasshopper.

3. Check color and body shape. A cylindrical brown or black body signals a true cricket. Green or streaky brown with a flatter, keeled thorax signals a grasshopper.

4. Listen. Chirping at night comes from crickets rubbing their wings. Buzzing or clicking in daylight comes from when grasshoppers stridulate (rubbing legs against wings).

Order Orthoptera

Crickets and grasshoppers share the same insect order, Orthoptera, which translates as "straight-winged." The order contains roughly 20,000 described species worldwide, and it splits into two suborders that neatly divide our two subjects.

• Suborder Ensifera (the "long-horned" side): crickets, katydids, and wētā.

• Suborder Caelifera (the "short-horned" side): grasshoppers and locusts.

Orthoptera is ancient. Fossil evidence places the order in the Carboniferous period, roughly 300 million years ago, meaning these insects were chirping and hopping across coal-forest floors well before the first dinosaurs and other animals from that period appeared. That deep evolutionary split explains why the two groups look and behave so differently despite sharing an order. For related insect guides, see our Learning Center.

Both belong to Order Orthoptera, but the split into Ensifera (long antennae) and Caelifera (short antennae) explains almost every other visible difference between the two groups.

Bush crickets

Bush crickets belong to the family Tettigoniidae. In the UK they are called bush crickets. In North America they are called katydids. Same family, same body plan, different regional label.

The trait to look for is antennae length: bush crickets carry very long antennae that often exceed the whole body. Most species are green and shaped like a leaf, which makes them near-invisible in vegetation and trees. Males stridulate by rubbing one forewing against the other, producing a raspy song on late summer evenings. In the UK, the south of England has the greatest variety of Orthoptera species, and bush crickets tend to be especially well represented there.

Named species you will encounter include the great green bush cricket, the oak bush cricket, and Roesel's bush cricket. You may even encounter an ant-cricket, which is known for being adapted to live in ant nests. For photo references and species notes, our main bush crickets and katydids page has additional images.

The great green bush cricket, Tettigonia viridissima, is one of the largest Orthoptera in Europe. Its antennae can measure three times the length of its body, and adults can fly.

Cave crickets

Cave crickets belong to the family Rhaphidophoridae. You may also hear them called camel crickets or spider crickets. They are the odd cousin of the cricket family and the ones homeowners most often confuse for spiders in a basement.

Three ID cues nail this group every time:

• Wingless. No forewings, no hind wings, ever.

• Humpbacked. The thorax arches sharply, giving the "camel" nickname.

• Very long hind legs and very long antennae. Both look disproportionately large for the body.

Because they have no wings, cave crickets cannot stridulate. They make no sound at all, which is itself a useful ID clue. You will find them in basements, crawl spaces, wells, storm drains, and actual caves. Anywhere moist and dark. When startled, they jump erratically, and often toward the perceived threat rather than away from it, which is why they unnerve people. For a longer profile with photos, see the camel cricket section of our crickets guide.

Cave crickets thrive in cool, damp voids: basements, crawl spaces, wells, and window wells. If you can hear water dripping in your basement, you have the humidity they want.

Mole crickets

Mole crickets belong to the family Gryllotalpidae, and they are the one cricket category most likely to cost you money. They live underground and damage lawns.

Adults run 1 to 1.5 inches long, cylindrical, brown, and velvety, with a body that looks almost furred. The distinguishing trait, the single feature you cannot miss, is the pair of shovel-like front legs built for digging. No other cricket has front legs anything like them. They tunnel through the upper soil layer, feeding on roots and displacing turf as they go. The result is raised ridges across a lawn that look very similar to mole damage, hence the name.

Nymphs cause the most turf damage from mid-June through July. If you already suspect mole crickets in your yard, our dedicated mole cricket control page walks through baits, timing, and how to confirm activity before you treat.

Mole crickets can push through 10 to 20 feet of soil in a single night. Peak turf damage happens when nymphs feed heavily from mid-June through July.

True crickets

True crickets belong to the family Gryllidae. This is the cricket most readers picture when they hear the word: black or brown, cylindrical, flattened, with long antennae and a familiar dusk-and-night chirp.

There are 23 cricket species in the UK, which helps place true crickets within a wider group of different species.

Three species dominate the North American and European conversation, though many crickets outside these familiar examples look and behave quite differently:

• House cricket (Acheta domesticus). Straw-colored, lives outdoors but pushes indoors for warmth and moisture in the fall.

• Field cricket (Gryllus campestris). Glossy black, robust, strongly attracted to porch and security lights at night.

• Wood cricket (Nemobius sylvestris). Smaller, brownish, associated with leaf litter and woodland edges.

Males chirp by rubbing their forewings together, and the tempo varies by temperature. Warmer nights, faster chirps. For a longer photo tour of field crickets and house crickets, including size comparisons, see our main crickets page.

The field cricket, Gryllus campestris, is the archetypal "true cricket." Its temperature-linked chirp rate is accurate enough that entomologists use Dolbear's law to estimate air temperature from cricket song.

Common Grasshopper Species (Quick Look)

Grasshoppers belong to the family Acrididae, part of the suborder Caelifera. Every grasshopper worth knowing shares three traits: short antennae, daytime activity, and clustered egg pods laid in soil. In the UK, there are 11 grasshopper species.

Named species from the field include the common green grasshopper, the meadow grasshopper, and the field grasshopper. Their powerful back legs are built for jumping and are typically much larger than the front pairs. Note the locust connection: locusts are grasshoppers in a swarming phase, triggered by crowding and hormonal shifts. Same insect, different behavioral state.

Grasshopper life cycle is incomplete metamorphosis. There is no pupal stage. Eggs hatch into nymphs, and nymphs pass through several instars, shedding skin at each step, until they reach the winged adult form. Crickets follow the same pattern. If grasshopper damage is showing up on ornamentals or vegetable beds, our lawn and garden pest control category covers targeted treatments.

The meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, is one of the most widespread grasshoppers across Europe. Females are nearly always flightless, while males have functional wings only about 3 percent of the time.

Crickets vs Grasshoppers: Are they Dangerous?

Short answer: not to humans, not to pets, and rarely to your home. The main risk is to lawns and gardens in high numbers. Here is how the risk breaks down.

For a look at how we frame other lookalike-vs-pest identification pieces on the site, our Palmetto Bug vs. Cockroach guide uses the same feature-first ID structure.

Why They Appear

Crickets and grasshoppers do not show up randomly. Both respond to a small set of environmental triggers.

• Lights at night draw crickets, especially field crickets, from a surprising distance.

• Moisture and cool shelter pull cave crickets into basements and crawl spaces.

• Overgrown vegetation and tall grass attract grasshoppers and field crickets to the property edge.

• Warm-season turf attracts mole crickets, especially in the southern US.

• Late summer is peak activity for both, when populations have completed most of their nymph stages.

Our post on summer pest attraction factors covers lights, moisture, and vegetation triggers in more depth if you are seeing a spike.

Best Products to Use

If identification points to an active infestation and you want to act, these product categories align with each cricket type. This piece stays informational, so treat the list as a routing map, not a full product review.

• General cricket control: cricket control products.

• Mole cricket control: mole cricket control products and turf-safe baits.

• Perimeter bait for outdoor crickets: Intice 10 Perimeter Bait.

• All-in-one indoor solution: General Pest Control Apartment Kit.

• Grasshopper and lawn concerns: lawn and garden pest control category.

Prevention Tips

Prevention is habitat modification. Neither insect can settle where the conditions do not support them.

• Seal cracks and crevices around foundations, doors, and windows.

• Reduce outdoor lighting at night, or switch to yellow "bug" bulbs that attract fewer insects.

• Cut tall grass and weeds within a 3-foot band around the foundation.

• Remove leaf litter, mulch piles, and stacked debris close to the house.

• Fix moisture problems in basements and crawl spaces with a dehumidifier or improved drainage.

• Store firewood off the ground and at least 20 feet away from the house.

For a broader exclusion checklist, our general pest control tips page covers the same principles for other pests you may find alongside crickets.

When to Call a Professional

DIY works for most cricket and grasshopper situations. Call a pro when any of the following are true:

• You see repeated raised tunneling in turf covering more than roughly 500 square feet, which usually means an established mole cricket infestation.

• Indoor cricket noise is loud enough to be heard from multiple rooms every night.

• DIY perimeter treatments have failed across two full application cycles.

• Grasshopper activity in the locust phase is damaging an ornamental or edible garden faster than you can spray.

Before you call, a stepped-up in-home option like the General Pest Control Apartment Kit can handle mid-sized indoor problems that a single spray can will not.

The Final Word on Crickets vs Grasshoppers

Antenna length, time of day, sound production, and diet: those four cues will settle almost every cricket-versus-grasshopper question you will ever have. If the antennae are longer than the body and the insect is out at dusk, it is a cricket. If the antennae are stubby and the insect is out at noon on grass, it is a grasshopper.

Once you know which family you are dealing with (bush, cave, mole, or true cricket, or one of the common Acrididae grasshoppers), the right prevention and product path becomes obvious. If damage is already showing up in turf or a garden, work through the prevention list first, and if that fails, route to the product category that matches your species and move on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the main difference between a cricket and a grasshopper?

A. The main difference is antenna length and activity time. Crickets have long antennae, often longer than the body, and are nocturnal. Grasshoppers have short, stubby antennae and are active during the day. Diet also differs: crickets are omnivorous, grasshoppers are strictly herbivorous.

Q. Do crickets and grasshoppers bite?

A. Both can bite if handled roughly, but neither bites people in a way that causes harm or breaks skin. There is no venom, no disease transmission of concern in most regions, and no reason to fear either insect on your body. Large mole cricket adults have the strongest mandibles, but even those bites are painless.

Q. Are katydids crickets or grasshoppers?

A. Katydids are related to crickets. Specifically, katydids are bush crickets (family Tettigoniidae) in suborder Ensifera. In the UK, the same insects are called bush crickets. Their very long antennae and leaf-like green bodies make them look grasshopper-adjacent, but taxonomy places them firmly on the cricket side of Orthoptera.

Q. Why do crickets chirp at night but grasshoppers make noise during the day?

A. Crickets are nocturnal, so their mating songs happen after dusk when males rub forewings together. Grasshoppers are diurnal, so they stridulate in sunlight by rubbing hind legs against forewings. Both sounds serve the same purpose (attracting mates and defending territory), just on opposite work shifts.