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Healthcare · head to head

Bahmni vs Woebot Health

Bahmni logo

Bahmni

Healthcare

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Woebot Health logo

Woebot Health

Healthcare

Conversational CBT chatbot that withdrew from consumer distribution and now sells only to payers and providers

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.; Woebot Health the company withdrew its consumer app in June 2025 after concluding FDA marketing authorisation was not achievable at acceptable cost, which is a plain signal about both regulatory position and commercial durability.
  • They diverge on capability: Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Woebot Health covers Scripted CBT dialogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Bahmni and Woebot Health differ
AttributeBahmniWoebot Health
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, AndroidiOS, Android, Web

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 Woebot Health

  • Scripted CBT dialogue
  • Mood tracking
  • Crisis routing
  • Between-session support
  • Payer deployment
  • Provider copilot positioning
  • Research licensing
  • Population reporting

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

Woebot Health

  • A health plan wanting a low intensity behavioural health option for members on a waiting list for therapynot Bahmni
  • A provider organisation offering structured between-session CBT practice to patients already in treatmentnot Bahmni
  • A research group running a trial that needs a clinically scripted rather than generative conversational agent for safety reasonsnot Bahmni
  • A payer targeting a specific population such as postpartum members where scripted CBT content already existsnot 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.

Woebot Health

  • The company withdrew its consumer app in June 2025 after concluding FDA marketing authorisation was not achievable at acceptable cost, which is a plain signal about both regulatory position and commercial durability.
  • It is not an FDA cleared treatment for any indication, so it cannot be positioned to members as therapy and cannot substitute for a covered behavioural health benefit.
  • The scripted, non-generative design that makes it safe also makes it feel rigid next to current conversational AI, and engagement drops off quickly once users hit the edges of the script.
  • Published evidence is short-horizon symptom change in selected populations, mostly young adults, with little evidence of durable benefit or effect at whole-population scale.
  • With consumer distribution gone, the remaining business depends on a small number of payer and provider contracts, so a buyer should assume real vendor continuity risk over a multi-year term.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bahmni

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

Woebot Health

On request
  • Woebot for payers and providers$undefined/year
    • Contracted per member per month or as a population licence
    • Sold to health plans and provider organisations, not to employers or individuals
    • No consumer purchase route since the app closed in June 2025

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 Woebot Health if

  • You need scripted cbt dialogue.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want mood tracking.
Woebot Health review

Questions people ask

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

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.

Woebot Health: Is Woebot still available?

Not to consumers. The consumer app closed in June 2025. The company continues to offer the product to payers, providers and researchers.

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.

Woebot Health: Is it FDA cleared?

No. It held Breakthrough Device designation but never obtained marketing authorisation, and the founder cited the cost of that pathway as the reason for closing the consumer app.

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.

Woebot Health: Is it generative AI?

Historically no. The dialogue is clinician-written and rule-based, a deliberate safety choice that limits how naturally it converses.

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.

Woebot Health: What does the evidence show?

Randomised studies reported reduced depressive symptoms over short periods in selected populations, notably young adults. That is symptom change in a trial, not demonstrated population outcomes.

Bahmni: Where is it used?

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

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