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Healthcare · head to head

Cerner vs GNU Health

Cerner logo

Cerner

Healthcare

Health information technology solutions for healthcare organizations

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
GNU Health logo

GNU Health

Healthcare

Free hospital and health information system from a small NGO, built on the Tryton framework

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only GNU Health has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cerner no published pricing on vendor website; enterprise healthcare software requires custom quotes; GNU Health development depends on GNU Solidario, a very small nonprofit funded by donations and training, so release cadence and long-term continuity are tied to a handful of people rather than to an engineering organisation.
  • They diverge on capability: Cerner covers Electronic Health Records, GNU Health covers Electronic medical record.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cerner and GNU Health actually diverge.

Attributes where Cerner and GNU Health differ
AttributeCernerGNU Health
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, Web, Self-hosted
Founded1979Unknown

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 Cerner

  • Electronic Health Records
  • Revenue Cycle
  • Population Health
  • Patient Engagement
  • HL7
  • FHIR
  • Lab Systems
  • HIPAA

Only in GNU Health

  • Electronic medical record
  • Hospital management
  • Laboratory information system
  • Social medicine modules
  • Tryton business modules
  • Health federation
  • ICD and standards support
  • Modular installation

What people use each for

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

Cerner

  • Hospital and acute care EHR for chart review and clinical documentationnot GNU Health
  • Mobile clinical access for physicians and care teams on point-of-care devicesnot GNU Health

GNU Health

  • A public hospital in a low-resource setting that cannot fund commercial EMR licensing and has in-house Linux capabilitynot Cerner
  • A ministry building a national health network where source code inspection and data sovereignty are policy requirementsnot Cerner
  • A university teaching health informatics that needs a complete, inspectable system rather than a vendor demonstrationnot Cerner
  • A community health programme that needs socioeconomic determinants recorded alongside clinical datanot Cerner

Where each one falls short

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

Cerner

  • No published pricing on vendor website; enterprise healthcare software requires custom quotes

GNU Health

  • Development depends on GNU Solidario, a very small nonprofit funded by donations and training, so release cadence and long-term continuity are tied to a handful of people rather than to an engineering organisation.
  • It is built on Tryton, a framework few health IT staff know, so hiring or contracting people who can extend and maintain it is materially harder than for a mainstream stack.
  • Installation, upgrades and database administration assume Linux and Python competence, which puts the real cost on staffing rather than on licensing and defeats hospitals that lack that team.
  • The interface is functional rather than designed, and clinician acceptance is a genuine deployment risk compared with commercial systems that have invested heavily in usability.
  • Certification, regulatory conformance and interoperability testing that some jurisdictions demand of clinical systems are not provided by a vendor, so the adopting institution has to carry that work and that liability itself.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cerner

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Cerner review.

GNU Health

Free
  • GNU HealthFree
    • GNU GPL licence
    • All modules included
    • No patient, bed or user limits
  • Support and training$undefined/year
    • Paid support and implementation from GNU Solidario
    • Training courses and certification
    • Quoted per institution

Which should you pick?

Choose Cerner if

  • You need electronic health records.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want revenue cycle.
Cerner review

Choose GNU Health if

  • You need electronic medical record.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want hospital management.
GNU Health review

Questions people ask

Is Cerner or GNU Health better?
Neither clearly leads. Cerner starts at On request and GNU Health at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cerner or GNU Health?
GNU Health has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cerner and Free for GNU Health.
Does Cerner or GNU Health run on more platforms?
Cerner runs on Web, iOS, Android. GNU Health runs on Linux, Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use GNU Health for free?
Yes. GNU Health has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cerner starts at On request.
What is Cerner best used for?
Cerner is most often used for hospital and acute care ehr for chart review and clinical documentation, mobile clinical access for physicians and care teams on point-of-care devices. Of those, hospital and acute care ehr for chart review and clinical documentation and mobile clinical access for physicians and care teams on point-of-care devices are not what GNU Health is typically brought in for.
What can Cerner do that GNU Health cannot?
Cerner covers Electronic Health Records, Revenue Cycle, Population Health, Patient Engagement. GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Hospital management, Laboratory information system, Social medicine modules.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cerner: Does Cerner publish its pricing?

No, Cerner does not publish standard pricing. As an enterprise healthcare EHR vendor (now acquired by Oracle), pricing is customized per healthcare organization based on size, bed capacity, modules required, and implementation scope. Contact Oracle Health for pricing.

Source
GNU Health: Who develops GNU Health?

GNU Solidario, a Spanish nonprofit NGO, as an official GNU package under the GPL.

GNU Health: Is there commercial support?

Yes, in a limited form, from GNU Solidario itself and a small number of implementers. It is not a vendor support organisation.

GNU Health: What is it built on?

Tryton, a Python business application framework, which is where its accounting, stock and HR modules come from.

GNU Health: Is it suitable for a large hospital?

It is deployed in hospitals, but the deciding factor is whether you have internal Linux, Python and Tryton capability rather than the size of the institution.

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