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Healthcare · head to head

Cliniko vs VIA Veterinary

Cliniko logo

Cliniko

Healthcare

Clinic management software for health practitioners

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
VIA Veterinary logo

VIA Veterinary

Veterinary

Medically oriented veterinary practice management, now owned by Antech and Mars Veterinary Health

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cliniko has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cliniko priced in practitioner bands rather than per seat, so a clinic adding a sixth practitioner jumps from $95 to $145 a month; VIA Veterinary the vendor is owned by Mars Veterinary Health through Antech, the same group that owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA, so a practice is buying its record system from its diagnostics supplier and its competitor in the consolidation market.
  • They diverge on capability: Cliniko covers Appointment Scheduling, VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cliniko and VIA Veterinary actually diverge.

Attributes where Cliniko and VIA Veterinary differ
AttributeClinikoVIA Veterinary
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWindows, Web, iPadOS
CategoryHealthcareVeterinary
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Cliniko

  • Appointment Scheduling
  • Online Booking
  • Client Management
  • Invoicing
  • Patient Portal
  • Telehealth
  • Payment processors
  • Online forms

Only in VIA Veterinary

  • Clinical flowsheets
  • Integrated SOAP
  • DICOM imaging
  • Laboratory results
  • VIA Cloud
  • VIA Touch
  • Multi-site
  • Open standards integration

What people use each for

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

Cliniko

  • Practice management for allied health clinicsnot VIA Veterinary
  • Appointment scheduling and online bookingsnot VIA Veterinary
  • Clinical notes and patient recordsnot VIA Veterinary
  • Telehealth consultationsnot VIA Veterinary
  • Invoicing and payment tracking for a multi-practitioner clinicnot VIA Veterinary

VIA Veterinary

  • An emergency and critical care hospital that runs on treatment flowsheets and a live whiteboard rather than an appointment calendarnot Cliniko
  • A multi-doctor specialty referral practice needing DICOM imaging and lab results inside the medical recordnot Cliniko
  • A practice already committed to Antech diagnostics that wants first-party laboratory and imaging integrationnot Cliniko
  • A multi-site hospital group consolidating separate practice management installations onto one systemnot Cliniko

Where each one falls short

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

Cliniko

  • Priced in practitioner bands rather than per seat, so a clinic adding a sixth practitioner jumps from $95 to $145 a month
  • The top published band stops at 200 practitioners
  • SMS is charged separately at 10 cents a message
  • Telehealth requires entering card details before it unlocks, even during the trial
  • There is no free tier, only a 30 day trial

VIA Veterinary

  • The vendor is owned by Mars Veterinary Health through Antech, the same group that owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA, so a practice is buying its record system from its diagnostics supplier and its competitor in the consolidation market.
  • No pricing is published at all, so licence, implementation, conversion, hardware and support costs all arrive through a sales process and cannot be compared against alternatives before you engage.
  • It remains substantially a Windows on-premises product with a cloud option layered on, so hardware, network and backup remain your operational problem in the traditional deployment.
  • Integration depth with IDEXX diagnostics is the obvious risk given the ownership, and a practice with in-house IDEXX analysers should test that path explicitly rather than assume parity with Antech.
  • The clinical emphasis means front-of-house and client engagement features, including online booking and marketing automation, tend to arrive through third-party integrations rather than natively.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cliniko

Free
  • 1 Practitioner$45/month
  • 2-5 Practitioners$95/month
  • 6-8 Practitioners$145/month
  • 9-12 Practitioners$195/month

VIA Veterinary

On request
  • VIA Veterinary$undefined/year
    • Pricing available only through a sales process
    • On-premises or VIA Cloud deployment
    • Implementation, data conversion and training quoted per hospital

Which should you pick?

Choose Cliniko if

  • You need appointment scheduling.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want online booking.
Cliniko review

Choose VIA Veterinary if

  • You need clinical flowsheets.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iPadOS.
  • You also want integrated soap.
VIA Veterinary review

Questions people ask

Is Cliniko or VIA Veterinary better?
Neither clearly leads. Cliniko starts at Free and VIA Veterinary at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cliniko or VIA Veterinary?
Cliniko has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cliniko and On request for VIA Veterinary.
Does Cliniko or VIA Veterinary run on more platforms?
Cliniko runs on Web, Mobile. VIA Veterinary runs on Windows, Web, iPadOS.
Can I use Cliniko for free?
Yes. Cliniko has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. VIA Veterinary starts at On request.
What is Cliniko best used for?
Cliniko is most often used for practice management for allied health clinics, appointment scheduling and online bookings, clinical notes and patient records, telehealth consultations. Of those, practice management for allied health clinics and appointment scheduling and online bookings are not what VIA Veterinary is typically brought in for.
What can Cliniko do that VIA Veterinary cannot?
Cliniko covers Appointment Scheduling, Online Booking, Client Management, Invoicing. VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets, Integrated SOAP, DICOM imaging, Laboratory results.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cliniko: How much does Cliniko cost for a practice?

Cliniko uses per-practitioner pricing: 1 practitioner $45/month, 2-5 practitioners $95/month, 6-8 practitioners $145/month, 9-12 practitioners $195/month, 13-25 practitioners $295/month, 26-200 practitioners $395/month.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Who owns VIA?

VIA Information Systems is an Antech company and part of Mars Veterinary Health, the group that also owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA.

Cliniko: Does Cliniko offer a free trial?

Cliniko is free to try for the first 30 days with no credit card required initially. A credit card is required to unlock features like Telehealth after the trial begins.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Is pricing published?

No. Licence, implementation, conversion and support costs come only through a sales process.

Cliniko: What is included in all Cliniko plans?

Every Cliniko subscription includes complete feature access, unlimited admin and reception users, unlimited locations, unlimited file storage, unlimited patients, 24/7 monitoring, automatic backups, regular updates, and 24/7 customer support.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Can it run in the cloud?

Yes, VIA Cloud is offered alongside traditional on-premises installation, with cloud backup included.

Cliniko: Does Cliniko charge extra for SMS and what discounts apply?

SMS messaging costs 10 cents per message (pre-paid credits required). Annual billing includes one month free every year. Charities and educational institutions qualify for free access. Cliniko commits to no feature-specific fees beyond SMS and offers no annual commitment discounts.

Source
VIA Veterinary: What kind of practice is it built for?

Medically intensive practices: emergency, specialty, referral, equine and multi-doctor small animal hospitals where flowsheets and whiteboards drive the day.

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