Is Animana or Shepherd better?

Neither clearly leads. Animana starts at On request and Shepherd at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Animana or Shepherd?

Animana starts at On request and Shepherd at On request.

Does Animana or Shepherd run on more platforms?

Animana runs on Web. Shepherd runs on Web, Cloud.

What is Animana best used for?

Animana is most often used for a dutch or belgian clinic replacing an ageing on-premise system without buying a new server, a multi-country european group that needs one system handling several vat regimes, a practice already committed to idexx analysers and reference laboratory services, a clinic wanting staff to work from home or a second site without remote desktop software. Of those, a dutch or belgian clinic replacing an ageing on-premise system without buying a new server and a multi-country european group that needs one system handling several vat regimes are not what Shepherd is typically brought in for.

What can Animana do that Shepherd cannot?

Animana covers Cloud clinical records, IDEXX diagnostics integration, Multi-country financials, Inventory and dispensing. Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, Charges from treatment, Inventory, Cloud-based.

Veterinary · head to head

Animana vs Shepherd

Animana

Veterinary

Browser-based practice management for European small-animal clinics, owned by IDEXX

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Shepherd

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management built by a practising vet

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Animana it runs only in a browser, so a broadband outage stops consulting, invoicing and dispensing at the same time, and there is no offline mode to fall back on.; Shepherd quote-only pricing with no published rates
They diverge on capability: Animana covers Cloud clinical records, Shepherd covers Consultation-first records.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Animana and Shepherd actually diverge.

Attributes where Animana and Shepherd differ
Attribute	Animana	Shepherd
Platforms	Web	Web, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Veterinary).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Animana

Cloud clinical records
IDEXX diagnostics integration
Multi-country financials
Inventory and dispensing
Multi-location support
Reporting

Only in Shepherd

Consultation-first records
Charges from treatment
Inventory
Cloud-based

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Animana

A Dutch or Belgian clinic replacing an ageing on-premise system without buying a new servernot Shepherd
A multi-country European group that needs one system handling several VAT regimesnot Shepherd
A practice already committed to IDEXX analysers and reference laboratory servicesnot Shepherd
A clinic wanting staff to work from home or a second site without remote desktop softwarenot Shepherd

Shepherd

Practices losing revenue to treatment delivered but never billednot Animana
Clinics replacing on-premise legacy systemsnot Animana
Independent practices wanting something designed around clinical work rather than administrationnot Animana

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Animana

It runs only in a browser, so a broadband outage stops consulting, invoicing and dispensing at the same time, and there is no offline mode to fall back on.
The diagnostics integration is deepest with IDEXX equipment, so a practice that later switches laboratory supplier keeps software built around the supplier it left and loses the smoothest part of the workflow.
It is not sold in North America, where IDEXX offers a different cloud product, so a group with clinics on both continents runs two systems and consolidates reporting manually.
Reporting is functional rather than deep, and practices wanting detailed business analysis typically export to a spreadsheet or a separate tool.
Imaging is handled through integrations rather than natively, so radiography and ultrasound workflows depend on which PACS the practice already owns and how well it connects.

Shepherd

Quote-only pricing with no published rates
A smaller vendor than the established systems, with a correspondingly shorter track record
Cloud-only, so consultations depend on clinic connectivity

Pricing, plan by plan

Animana

On request

Animana$undefined/year
- Per-user subscription
- Implementation and data migration quoted separately
- Support included

Shepherd

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Shepherd review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Animana if

You need cloud clinical records.
You also want idexx diagnostics integration.

Animana review

Choose Shepherd if

You need consultation-first records.
You work on Web, Cloud.
You also want charges from treatment.

Shepherd review

Questions people ask

Is Animana or Shepherd better?: Neither clearly leads. Animana starts at On request and Shepherd at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Animana or Shepherd?: Animana starts at On request and Shepherd at On request.
Does Animana or Shepherd run on more platforms?: Animana runs on Web. Shepherd runs on Web, Cloud.
What is Animana best used for?: Animana is most often used for a dutch or belgian clinic replacing an ageing on-premise system without buying a new server, a multi-country european group that needs one system handling several vat regimes, a practice already committed to idexx analysers and reference laboratory services, a clinic wanting staff to work from home or a second site without remote desktop software. Of those, a dutch or belgian clinic replacing an ageing on-premise system without buying a new server and a multi-country european group that needs one system handling several vat regimes are not what Shepherd is typically brought in for.
What can Animana do that Shepherd cannot?: Animana covers Cloud clinical records, IDEXX diagnostics integration, Multi-country financials, Inventory and dispensing. Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, Charges from treatment, Inventory, Cloud-based.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Animana: Can I use Animana with non-IDEXX laboratory equipment?

Yes, but the integration is shallower. IDEXX analysers and reference lab results flow in automatically; other suppliers usually need a separate integration and sometimes manual result entry.

Shepherd: What does Shepherd cost?

Pricing is quoted per practice and not published.

Animana: Is Animana available in the United States?

No. IDEXX sells a different cloud practice management system in North America, so Animana is a European purchase only.

Shepherd: What makes it different from other veterinary systems?

It was designed by a practising vet around the consultation workflow, so charges accrue from recorded treatment rather than being entered as a separate billing step.

Animana: Do I need a server in the practice?

No. Everything runs in the browser. You need reliable internet and enough bandwidth for imaging, not local server hardware.

Shepherd: Is it cloud-only?

Yes, which removes server maintenance and makes connectivity a dependency.

Animana vs Shepherd

Animana

Shepherd

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Animana

Only in Shepherd

What people use each for

Animana

Shepherd

Where each one falls short

Animana

Shepherd

Pricing, plan by plan

Animana

Shepherd

Which should you pick?

Choose Animana if

Choose Shepherd if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Animana

More on Shepherd

Keep looking

Other head to heads