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Healthcare · head to head

eClinicalWorks vs GNU Health

eClinicalWorks logo

eClinicalWorks

Healthcare

Comprehensive EHR and practice management platform

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: eClinicalWorks pricing details not disclosed on website; requires sales consultation or demo; 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: eClinicalWorks 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 eClinicalWorks and GNU Health actually diverge.

Attributes where eClinicalWorks and GNU Health differ
AttributeeClinicalWorksGNU Health
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Cloud-basedLinux, Web, Self-hosted
Founded1999Unknown

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 eClinicalWorks

  • Electronic Health Records
  • Practice Management
  • Revenue Cycle
  • Patient Portal
  • ePrescribing
  • Telehealth
  • HL7
  • FHIR

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.

eClinicalWorks

  • EHR and practice management for multi-specialty medical practicesnot GNU Health
  • Patient engagement through telehealth (healow) and secure messagingnot GNU Health
  • Revenue cycle management with 98%+ first-pass acceptance ratenot GNU Health
  • AI-powered clinical documentation with Sunoh.ai medical scribenot GNU Health

GNU Health

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

Where each one falls short

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

eClinicalWorks

  • Pricing details not disclosed on website; requires sales consultation or demo
  • No published technical system requirements specified
  • Cloud-based solution requires reliable internet connectivity for clinics

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

eClinicalWorks

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the eClinicalWorks 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 eClinicalWorks if

  • You need electronic health records.
  • You work on Web, Cloud-based.
  • You also want practice management.
eClinicalWorks 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 eClinicalWorks or GNU Health better?
Neither clearly leads. eClinicalWorks 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, eClinicalWorks or GNU Health?
GNU Health has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for eClinicalWorks and Free for GNU Health.
Does eClinicalWorks or GNU Health run on more platforms?
eClinicalWorks runs on Web, Cloud-based. 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. eClinicalWorks starts at On request.
What is eClinicalWorks best used for?
eClinicalWorks is most often used for ehr and practice management for multi-specialty medical practices, patient engagement through telehealth (healow) and secure messaging, revenue cycle management with 98%+ first-pass acceptance rate, ai-powered clinical documentation with sunoh.ai medical scribe. Of those, ehr and practice management for multi-specialty medical practices and patient engagement through telehealth (healow) and secure messaging are not what GNU Health is typically brought in for.
What can eClinicalWorks do that GNU Health cannot?
eClinicalWorks covers Electronic Health Records, Practice Management, Revenue Cycle, Patient Portal. GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Hospital management, Laboratory information system, Social medicine modules.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

eClinicalWorks: What does eClinicalWorks EHR cost per provider?

eClinicalWorks EHR costs $449/month per provider with no startup costs. This includes the electronic medical record system, mobile access, patient portal, messaging, document management, prescribing, reporting, and 24/7 support with cloud hosting.

Source
GNU Health: Who develops GNU Health?

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

eClinicalWorks: What is the cost of eClinicalWorks with Practice Management?

eClinicalWorks EHR with Practice Management costs $599/month per provider with no startup costs. This adds practice management functionality and billing implementation services.

Source
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.

eClinicalWorks: What is eClinicalWorks' Revenue Cycle Management pricing?

eClinicalWorks RCM as a Service costs 2.9% of practice collections with no startup costs. It covers claim processing, denial management, appeals, and accounts receivable visibility.

Source
GNU Health: What is it built on?

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

eClinicalWorks: Is there a cost for data migration to eClinicalWorks?

No, eClinicalWorks offers free data migration for practices switching from other EHR systems.

Source
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.

eClinicalWorks: Are training costs included with eClinicalWorks?

Initial training is included for practices with 1-9 providers. Additional fees apply for larger practices.

Source
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