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Healthcare · head to head

Doctolib vs GNU Health

Doctolib logo

Doctolib

Healthcare

Patient booking and practice management for European healthcare professionals

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: Doctolib availability is limited to France, Germany and Italy, so a clinic group operating outside those markets cannot use it at all and a multinational provider cannot standardise on one booking system.; 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: Doctolib covers Patient booking marketplace, 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 Doctolib and GNU Health actually diverge.

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

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 Doctolib

  • Patient booking marketplace
  • Practice agenda
  • Teleconsultation
  • Automated reminders
  • Electronic patient record
  • Carte Vitale and reimbursement
  • e-Prescription
  • Doctolib Team

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.

Doctolib

  • A French general practice that wants new patients to find and book it without a phone call, and needs Carte Vitale billing in the same toolnot GNU Health
  • A German physiotherapy clinic replacing a paper diary and cutting no-shows through automated SMS remindersnot GNU Health
  • A dental group with several sites that needs one shared agenda and per-site patient routingnot GNU Health
  • A specialist starting a new practice in Paris or Berlin who has no existing patient list and needs the directory as a source of referralsnot GNU Health

GNU Health

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

Where each one falls short

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

Doctolib

  • Availability is limited to France, Germany and Italy, so a clinic group operating outside those markets cannot use it at all and a multinational provider cannot standardise on one booking system.
  • No pricing is published anywhere on the site; every plan routes to a sales form, so a practice cannot budget or compare against alternatives without giving up contact details and sitting through a call.
  • Contracts run on a twelve month commitment per practitioner, so a practice that hires a locum or loses a partner mid-term keeps paying for the seat.
  • The commercial value is the marketplace listing rather than the software, which means leaving Doctolib costs a practice its inbound patient discovery, not just a data export; that asymmetry weakens the practice in every renewal negotiation.
  • Clinical depth is thinner than a dedicated electronic health record, so practices with complex documentation, coding or research requirements often run Doctolib for scheduling alongside a second clinical system and reconcile the two by hand.

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

Doctolib

On request
  • Doctolib Pro$undefined/month
    • Marketplace listing and patient booking
    • Practice agenda
    • SMS and email reminders

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 Doctolib if

  • You need patient booking marketplace.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want practice agenda.
Doctolib 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 Doctolib or GNU Health better?
Neither clearly leads. Doctolib 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, Doctolib or GNU Health?
GNU Health has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Doctolib and Free for GNU Health.
Does Doctolib or GNU Health run on more platforms?
Doctolib 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. Doctolib starts at On request.
What is Doctolib best used for?
Doctolib is most often used for a french general practice that wants new patients to find and book it without a phone call, and needs carte vitale billing in the same tool, a german physiotherapy clinic replacing a paper diary and cutting no-shows through automated sms reminders, a dental group with several sites that needs one shared agenda and per-site patient routing, a specialist starting a new practice in paris or berlin who has no existing patient list and needs the directory as a source of referrals. Of those, a french general practice that wants new patients to find and book it without a phone call, and needs carte vitale billing in the same tool and a german physiotherapy clinic replacing a paper diary and cutting no-shows through automated sms reminders are not what GNU Health is typically brought in for.
What can Doctolib do that GNU Health cannot?
Doctolib covers Patient booking marketplace, Practice agenda, Teleconsultation, Automated reminders. GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Hospital management, Laboratory information system, Social medicine modules.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Doctolib: Can I use Doctolib in the UK or the US?

No. Doctolib operates in France, Germany and Italy only. There is no English-market offering.

GNU Health: Who develops GNU Health?

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

Doctolib: Does Doctolib publish its prices?

No. Every tier on the site routes to a contact form, and quotes are per practitioner per month with a twelve month commitment.

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.

Doctolib: Is Doctolib a full electronic health record?

Not really. It covers consultation notes, documents and prescribing, but practices with heavy clinical documentation needs usually keep a separate EHR.

GNU Health: What is it built on?

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

Doctolib: What happens to my patient bookings if I leave?

You keep your patient data on export, but you lose the public listing, which is where a large share of new bookings originate.

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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