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Healthcare · head to head

Bahmni vs Halaxy

Bahmni logo

Bahmni

Healthcare

Open source hospital information system and EMR for low-resource hospitals, built on OpenMRS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Halaxy logo

Halaxy

Healthcare

Practice management for allied health that charges nothing for the software and earns on payments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bahmni the licence is free and the implementation is not; configuration, data migration, training and multi-year support from a partner routinely cost far more than a small commercial system would have, and hospitals that budget only for hardware stall.; Halaxy the software being free does not mean the platform is cheap: a clinic taking most payments by card pays roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus a fixed fee on every transaction, which on a high volume practice comfortably exceeds what a flat AUD 60 per practitioner subscription would have cost.
  • They diverge on capability: Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Halaxy covers No licence fee.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bahmni and Halaxy actually diverge.

Attributes where Bahmni and Halaxy differ
AttributeBahmniHalaxy
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeFree software, revenue taken on payments and credits
PlatformsWeb, Linux, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Healthcare).

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 Bahmni

  • OpenMRS clinical record
  • Configurable clinical forms
  • Laboratory integration
  • Billing and inventory
  • Imaging
  • Inpatient management
  • Offline-capable clinical app
  • Reporting

Only in Halaxy

  • No licence fee
  • Integrated claiming
  • Credit-based extras
  • Online booking
  • Clinical notes and templates
  • Card payments
  • Multi-practitioner diary
  • Patient portal

What people use each for

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

Bahmni

  • A mission or charitable hospital in India or East Africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real EMR rather than papernot Halaxy
  • A ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised Digital Public Goodnot Halaxy
  • An NGO health network wanting one clinical record across several facilities with reporting that can feed a national DHIS2 instancenot Halaxy
  • A hospital that needs the clinical record, laboratory, pharmacy and billing to share one patient identity rather than running four disconnected systemsnot Halaxy

Halaxy

  • A solo psychologist starting out who wants Medicare and private health claiming without committing to a monthly subscription before there is any incomenot Bahmni
  • A physiotherapy clinic that wants patient reminders, online booking and card payments reconciled against invoices in one systemnot Bahmni
  • An NDIS provider that needs claim generation and service agreement tracking built into the same record as clinical notesnot Bahmni
  • A multi-location allied health group in Australia that wants one diary across sites without paying per practitioner licencesnot Bahmni

Where each one falls short

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

Bahmni

  • The licence is free and the implementation is not; configuration, data migration, training and multi-year support from a partner routinely cost far more than a small commercial system would have, and hospitals that budget only for hardware stall.
  • There is no single vendor with an obligation to you unless you contract one, so upgrade timing, security patching and defect resolution depend on whichever partner you hired and how long they stay engaged.
  • It integrates four substantial open source systems, which means an upgrade touches OpenMRS, OpenELIS, Odoo and the imaging stack together, and hospitals with heavy customisation often freeze on an old version rather than risk it.
  • Skilled Bahmni implementers are concentrated in a small number of firms in India and a few African countries, so a hospital outside those markets may find nobody local who can support it.
  • Funding for the coalition and its shared engineering comes from donors and member contributions rather than licence revenue, which makes the pace of core development dependent on grant cycles rather than on customer demand.

Halaxy

  • The software being free does not mean the platform is cheap: a clinic taking most payments by card pays roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus a fixed fee on every transaction, which on a high volume practice comfortably exceeds what a flat AUD 60 per practitioner subscription would have cost.
  • Credits are prepaid and consumed by ordinary daily activity including SMS reminders and Medicare claims, so running out mid-week silently stops reminders going to patients, which shows up as no-shows rather than as an error message.
  • Features that competitors treat as standard, including two-way calendar sync, API access and a dedicated SMS number, are locked behind the credit subscription, so the headline free tier is thinner than it first appears.
  • Claiming, funding and payment integrations are deeply Australian, so practitioners in the UK, Canada or the United States get the diary and notes but very little of the automation that makes the product worth choosing.
  • Because the vendor earns on payment volume, its interests and yours diverge on card processing: switching to a cheaper acquirer breaks the automatic reconciliation that is the main operational reason to stay on the platform.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bahmni

Free
  • BahmniFree
    • AGPL open source, no licence fee
    • All modules included
    • Community support via forum and documentation

Halaxy

Free
  • HalaxyFree
    • Unlimited practitioners with no subscription fee
    • Diary, patient records, clinical notes and invoicing
    • Online booking page
  • Premium subscription$25/month
    • Priced at 25 credits per month, so roughly AUD 4 to 6 depending on credit rate
    • Two-way calendar sync
    • White-label branding

Which should you pick?

Choose Bahmni if

  • You need openmrs clinical record.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Android.
  • You also want configurable clinical forms.
Bahmni review

Choose Halaxy if

  • You need no licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want integrated claiming.
Halaxy review

Questions people ask

Is Bahmni or Halaxy better?
Neither clearly leads. Bahmni starts at Free and Halaxy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bahmni or Halaxy?
Bahmni starts at Free and Halaxy at Free.
Does Bahmni or Halaxy run on more platforms?
Bahmni runs on Web, Linux, Android. Halaxy runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Bahmni for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Bahmni best used for?
Bahmni is most often used for a mission or charitable hospital in india or east africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real emr rather than paper, a ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised digital public good, an ngo health network wanting one clinical record across several facilities with reporting that can feed a national dhis2 instance, a hospital that needs the clinical record, laboratory, pharmacy and billing to share one patient identity rather than running four disconnected systems. Of those, a mission or charitable hospital in india or east africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real emr rather than paper and a ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised digital public good are not what Halaxy is typically brought in for.
What can Bahmni do that Halaxy cannot?
Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Configurable clinical forms, Laboratory integration, Billing and inventory. Halaxy covers No licence fee, Integrated claiming, Credit-based extras, Online booking.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bahmni: Is Bahmni free?

The software is, under an open source licence. Implementation, hosting, configuration, training and support are charged by whichever partner you engage.

Halaxy: Is Halaxy genuinely free or is there a hidden subscription?

The core practice management software has no subscription fee for any number of practitioners. Halaxy earns from card processing fees, prepaid credits for SMS and claiming, and an optional premium subscription priced at 25 credits a month.

Bahmni: Who owns and governs Bahmni?

Thoughtworks transferred ownership in October 2017 to the Bahmni Coalition, under the fiscal sponsorship of the non-profit OpenMRS Inc. Thoughtworks remains on the governing committee.

Halaxy: What does it actually cost a busy clinic?

Budget for card fees of roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus 75 cents to a dollar per transaction, plus credits at about AUD 0.15 to 0.22 each for every SMS, claim and telehealth session. A clinic with heavy card volume can pay more in total than a flat-rate competitor.

Bahmni: What does an implementation actually cost?

It varies by hospital size and country, but expect the dominant costs to be partner services, training and multi-year support rather than software or hardware. Get a fixed-scope quote covering upgrades, not just go-live.

Halaxy: Can I use it outside Australia?

Yes for the diary, notes, invoicing and booking. No for Medicare, DVA, NDIS and Australian health fund claiming, which is where most of the value sits.

Bahmni: Is it a recognised Digital Public Good?

Yes, Bahmni is on the Digital Public Goods Alliance register, which is increasingly a condition of donor funding for health information systems.

Halaxy: Does it handle NDIS?

Yes, including NDIS claim generation, service agreements and plan management alongside clinical records.

Bahmni: Where is it used?

More than 500 implementations across roughly 50 countries, concentrated in South Asia and Africa.

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