A prototype of an electrostatic nozzle was developed for spraying cotton crops in a project titled ‘Design and development of an electrostatic nozzle for agricultural applications’. The study was carried out to evaluate the locally-developed electrostatic nozzle and compare its performance with an imported electrostatic nozzle and solid cone nozzle (conventional knapsack sprayer) in the cotton crop at the departmental research farm of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. Different spray performance parameters, i.e. number median diameter (NMD), volume median diameter (VMD), uniformity coefficient, droplet density, the volume of spray deposition, and area covered with droplets were determined with the help of water-sensitive paper (WSP) method of deposition collection. There was comparatively less variation in uniformity coefficient with the imported and locally-developed electrostatic nozzles than the solid cone nozzle at a 5 % level of significance. The average droplet density obtained with both the imported and locally-developed electrostatic nozzles was significantly more compared to the solid cone nozzle. The area covered by the droplets of the locally-developed prototype of the electrostatic nozzle was more than the solid cone nozzle. The volume of spray deposition differed significantly for all three treatments at a 5 % level of significance. Overall, there was no significant difference in the performance of both electrostatic sprayers, but they were found to be more effective than the solid cone nozzle.