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Healthcare · head to head

Bahmni vs Signant Health

Bahmni logo

Bahmni

Healthcare

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Signant Health logo

Signant Health

Healthcare

eCOA-first clinical trial platform that has grown outward into EDC, eConsent and televisits

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Bahmni has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Signant Health no pricing is published, and the software licence is a minority of the real bill once instrument licensing, translations, device provisioning and services are added, so early budget estimates are routinely too low.
  • They diverge on capability: Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Signant Health covers eCOA and ePRO.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bahmni and Signant Health actually diverge.

Attributes where Bahmni and Signant Health differ
AttributeBahmniSignant Health
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: 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 Signant Health

  • eCOA and ePRO
  • Unified platform
  • eConsent
  • Randomisation and supplies
  • TeleVisits
  • Rater training
  • Data surveillance
  • Instrument library

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 Signant Health
  • A ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised Digital Public Goodnot Signant Health
  • An NGO health network wanting one clinical record across several facilities with reporting that can feed a national DHIS2 instancenot Signant Health
  • A hospital that needs the clinical record, laboratory, pharmacy and billing to share one patient identity rather than running four disconnected systemsnot Signant Health

Signant Health

  • A central nervous system or psychiatry trial where the primary endpoint is a rated scale and rater consistency decides the readoutnot Bahmni
  • A global study needing an outcome instrument translated and linguistically validated across a dozen languagesnot Bahmni
  • A decentralised or hybrid protocol combining televisits, eConsent and at-home patient reported outcomesnot Bahmni
  • A sponsor consolidating separate eCOA, eConsent and randomisation vendors onto one platform to cut reconciliation worknot 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.

Signant Health

  • No pricing is published, and the software licence is a minority of the real bill once instrument licensing, translations, device provisioning and services are added, so early budget estimates are routinely too low.
  • Linguistic validation is charged per instrument per language and is on the critical path to first patient in, so adding a country late in start-up produces both a cost and a schedule hit.
  • Provisioned participant devices bring logistics, replacement, shipping and cellular connectivity obligations that persist for the life of the trial and are frequently underestimated.
  • The EDC component is newer than the eCOA heritage, so sponsors with complex data management requirements often keep an incumbent EDC and lose the single-database benefit that justifies the platform.
  • It is priced and scoped for sponsor-grade trials, which makes it a poor fit for investigator-initiated or academic studies that need outcome collection without the services layer.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bahmni

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

Signant Health

On request
  • SmartSignals Unified Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced per study through a sales process
    • Modules selected per protocol: EDC, eCOA, randomisation, eConsent, TeleVisits
    • Instrument licensing paid to scale owners on top of platform cost

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 Signant Health if

  • You need ecoa and epro.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want unified platform.
Signant Health review

Questions people ask

Is Bahmni or Signant Health better?
Neither clearly leads. Bahmni starts at Free and Signant Health at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bahmni or Signant Health?
Bahmni has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Bahmni and On request for Signant Health.
Does Bahmni or Signant Health run on more platforms?
Bahmni runs on Web, Linux, Android. Signant Health runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Bahmni for free?
Yes. Bahmni has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Signant Health starts at On request.
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 Signant Health is typically brought in for.
What can Bahmni do that Signant Health cannot?
Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Configurable clinical forms, Laboratory integration, Billing and inventory. Signant Health covers eCOA and ePRO, Unified platform, eConsent, Randomisation and supplies.

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.

Signant Health: What is Signant best at?

Electronic clinical outcome assessment, particularly rated scales in central nervous system and psychiatry trials, together with rater training and endpoint quality services.

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.

Signant Health: Is pricing published?

No. Everything is quoted per study, and instrument licences, translations and devices sit on top of the platform cost.

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.

Signant Health: Can I use it only for eCOA?

Yes. The modules are selected per protocol, and many sponsors take eCOA and eConsent while keeping an existing EDC.

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.

Signant Health: What drives the timeline?

Translation and linguistic validation of outcome instruments, which is per language per instrument and sits on the critical path to study start.

Bahmni: Where is it used?

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

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