5 Best Cliniko Alternatives, Features and Pricing (2024)

By Jamie Frew on Jun 16, 2024.

Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.

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Table of content

Introduction Why you need a Cliniko alternative Top 5 Cliniko alternatives Conclusion

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Introduction

Looking for the best Cliniko alternatives?

Cliniko is an excellent practice management solution for Australian allied health professionals - Psychologists, Nurses, Therapists etc.

Firstly I want to give Cliniko credit.👏 When they first launched 15 years ago, they helped innovate the Australian private practice sector with basic but robust software.

Unfortunately, today it does have some severe shortcomings for many private practices.

Firstly they are expensive for small teams 💸. It doesn't seem fair that a small team pays $49/mo per user, but large companies pay $2/Mo. 😤

And here's another issue.

They don't have a client portal.

And here's another issue.

They don't have online payments.

And here's one more issue.

It is stupidly hard to use.

Every healthcare practitioner needs simple electronic health records to streamline their workflow.

Because of this, countless practitioners have been saying "Ciao!" to Cliniko, just like you!

This article will cover what Cliniko is and why you should make the swap. Then, we'll cover our top alternatives and help you make the right choice for your practice.

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Why you need a Cliniko alternative

Cliniko provides healthcare practitioners like yourself with some handy features to help you and your team manage your day-to-day work life.

Some of its features are:

Nurse scheduling software
Billing and Invoicing
EHR
Note-taking
Document Management

While those features sound promising, Cliniko has a few limitations:

What Mobile App?

As a healthcare practitioner in 20224, you'll know that being mobile isn't just handy; it's critical to your practice's functionality. How can you work during a lockdown, provide telehealth (or telemedicine) or deal with a patient crisis after hours within a practice management app? You can't! And that is a massive problem. ❌

Both you and your clients need to be able to access your practice management system. Whether it is from android, iPhone, or iPad, you need to access a user-friendly service for your patients.

Pricing

Naturally, for most healthcare practitioners, when looking at software solutions, pricing is a significant factor. Unfortunately, Cliniko pricing, while being simple, is costly. Who wants to pay $49 per month as a solo practitioner?

Patient Portal

As a healthcare practitioner, you'll know that having a client portal is an integral part of intake forms, online payments, messaging, and appointment reminders.

The bottom line is if you're seeking a practice management solution, don't go without it.

Top 5 Cliniko alternatives

Carepatron

Carepatron is the best practice management solution in the world today!

It was co-designed by practitioners, so you know it works how you work and does all of the crucial things for you.

Carepatron key features

Here are just a few reasons why Carepatron is a great Cliniko alternative:

1. Telehealth for no additional cost

Use our secure telehealth with your clients for no additional cost. I don't know about you, but we are sick of these ridiculous add-on charges for what is now just a core tool.

You can start using Carepatron's telehealth tool with your clients, team, or groups for free.

On top of that, our video calling's quality is the best in the market, hands down. No one is even close!

2. Workflow manager

Many practice management platforms have basic scheduling tools. But in 2022, that is not enough. Instead, we have a complete end-to-end workflow tool, which utilizes cutting-edge technology to automate and optimize what we do and how we do them.

Thousands of private practices use this app to provide their clients with more digitally enabled experiences.

Here are some of Carepatron's powerful workflow tools:

Client appointments: Enjoy the best client appointment software in the world.

‍Tasks: Share and manage tasks.‍
Reminder: Set reminders, so you never miss those crucial moments again.‍
Auto reminders: A built-in reminder service removes the risk of DNA and stress from your shoulders. You can send as many reminders as you want, with none of those limits or add-on costs.‍
Team meeting: Organize all of your sessions in one place. Whether it's with your team or professional network, bring it all together in one place.

3. Client relationships

Manage Client relationships directly within their profile. This means you will have a simple way to link your clients with their key support people. Whether it's their parents, partner, or other health providers, you will place your team and clients at the center of the healthcare ecosystem.

4. Voice to text transcription

Most of us speak faster than we can type. So why not type with your voice?

We have built the world's most powerful voice-to-text capability within our private practice system. Moreover, we have created something pretty special by combining the most advanced machine learning capability with natural language processing.

Go ahead, sign up for free with Carepatron. 🎉

Carepatron Pros

Automated billing and payments

Carepatron allows you to conduct invoicing and payments within their platform to automate the billing journey for both yourself and your clients. Carepatron also means you can throw your credit card terminal away and bring all of your payments into a digital workspace. Meaning you don't have to have that awkward moment when you have to ask your client for their debit card at the end of a perfect session.

Inbuilt Scheduling Software

The automatic reminder service allows you to stay up to date with a client in real-time. Ensuring they always turn up for an appointment on time and cancellations and no-shows a thing of the past, improving revenue and client wellness.

They also support other workflows as clinic management software by:

Enabling you to assign tasks to your team or clients—monitor their completion on treatment notes or
Set reminders to make sure important things don't get missed
Schedule in-person meetings or video calls

HIPAA compliant

Compliance is not the most exciting part, but when it comes to choosing a software management platform for private practices to store patient records, it's the most important. Carepatron is HIPAA certified, which is fantastic.

Some other incredible Carepatron pros

Extensive free version available
Intuitive, user-friendly interface
AI-powered voice to text transcription
Unlimited 24/7 support
Note and clinical report software
Client relationship capability
User reviews give Carepatron an overall five-star rating!
Ease of use, never need to be trained how to use again

Carepatron Pricing

Carepatron has a robust free plan for unlimited users with paid versions at just $12 per user/month.

Power Diary

Power Diary is a web-based practice management platform that provides a calendar management solution. It includes automated appointment notifications, billing and invoicing, SMS-based chat, and more.

Pros

Solid interface, menus, and setup
Patient-practitioner messaging capabilities via email and SMS
Scheduling reminders via SMS or email

Cons

No mobile app
No healthcare-specific billing capability
It's hard to learn and use 😞
No ability to create healthcare plans
Primarily focused on the calendar with a few add-on tools.

Pricing

The cost of Power Diary is very confusing. The more you use it, the more it'll cost.

2-3 calendars $8 per week
4-9 calendars $13 per week
10-20 calendars $21 per week
21+ calendars variable

Nookal

Nookal is a practice management software (EMR) designed for allied health clinics (including physical therapy) clinics to help practitioners and therapists boost their revenue. It enables automation of payments and bookings, reminder messages, staff scheduling, invoicing, and more.

Pros

Intuitive interface
Free 30 day trial
Generation of automatic reminders

Cons

Not great value for money 💰
Non-HIPAA compliant
Limited support
Not great for mental health workflow
Limited integration with external providers such as Mailchimp and Xero

Pricing

Nookal saas pricing starts at $55 per month, which is too much for small practices if you ask us. 👎

Simplepractice

Simplepractice is one of the best-known medical practice management platforms that boasts a broad range of tools to help streamline business management. Including online bookings, medical billing, and referrals. We don't think it lives up to the hype, here's why:

Customer Service

Customer reviews and social media reveal a sad story; they're hard to reach and lack the sense of urgency you'd hope to find in the CRM of any healthcare platform.

No Templates

Templates are a great way to save time and ensure you can create comprehensive but brief client notes. Why doesn't SimplePractice have them? We have no idea.🤯

Limited Progress Note Capabilities

Simple practice only offers limited progress notes and psychotherapy note functionality.

Pricing

Simplepractice has two plans, both on a monthly payment plan (listed below). The telehealth video functionality is $10 per month per practitioner.

The essential plan is $39 monthly
The professional plan is $59 per month

Halaxy

Last and, unfortunately probably least, is Halaxy. They have been around the Australian PMS sector for a while now with limited success. But for completeness, we wanted to share a brief summary.

Pros

They do have a limited free version
Include a bunch of the usual features
Focus mainly on medium size healthcare organizations

Cons

Read their privacy statement and T&C's carefully. Over the years, there has been a lot of conversation about how they own and potentially resell the client data stored on their platform. We won't rehash here, but I would strongly recommend you do your due diligence.
PMS costs are tough to understand. Lots of hidden gotchas to avoid. 🤬
Reminds me a bit of the Drchrono or Kareo complex interface
The design is confusing and, at times, overly complex.
No charting capability or API
Doesn't support immersive patient care experience