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Healthcare · head to head

Bahmni vs Gleamer

Bahmni logo

Bahmni

Healthcare

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Gleamer logo

Gleamer

Healthcare

CE marked and FDA cleared imaging AI suite for bone trauma and chest, now owned by RadNet

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.; Gleamer radNet, an imaging provider that competes with many independent Gleamer customers, now owns the company and also owns the competing DeepHealth AI portfolio, so roadmap and pricing priorities are an open question for non-RadNet buyers.
  • They diverge on capability: Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Gleamer covers BoneView.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bahmni and Gleamer actually diverge.

Attributes where Bahmni and Gleamer differ
AttributeBahmniGleamer
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, AndroidWeb, Cloud, On-premise

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 Gleamer

  • BoneView
  • ChestView
  • BoneAge
  • BoneMetrics
  • LungCT and BoneCT
  • BreastView
  • Pixyl.Neuro
  • Gleamer Copilot

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

Gleamer

  • An emergency department where junior doctors read plain films before radiology review and missed fractures are a recurring incident themenot Bahmni
  • An urgent care network standardising musculoskeletal reading quality across sites with variable radiology covernot Bahmni
  • A paediatric service automating bone age assessment to remove a slow manual atlas comparisonnot Bahmni
  • An orthopaedic service that needs automated limb alignment and measurement before surgical planning rather than manual measurement on the workstationnot 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.

Gleamer

  • RadNet, an imaging provider that competes with many independent Gleamer customers, now owns the company and also owns the competing DeepHealth AI portfolio, so roadmap and pricing priorities are an open question for non-RadNet buyers.
  • The measured benefit is largest for less experienced readers, so a specialist musculoskeletal service will see far less improvement than the published reader studies suggest.
  • Cleared indications differ per module and per market, and the FDA cleared set is narrower than the CE marked European set, so an American buyer cannot rely on European reference sites.
  • Each additional module adds alert volume into the same worklist, and departments running several Gleamer algorithms report needing local threshold tuning to keep radiologist trust.
  • Pricing is per exam and not published, which makes budgeting difficult for an emergency department whose plain film volume swings seasonally.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bahmni

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

Gleamer

On request
  • Gleamer Copilot$undefined/year
    • Priced per exam analysed or as an annual volume subscription
    • Modules licensed individually or bundled as Copilot
    • Cleared and CE marked indication differs per module and per market

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 Gleamer if

  • You need boneview.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want chestview.
Gleamer review

Questions people ask

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

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.

Gleamer: Who owns Gleamer?

RadNet agreed to acquire Gleamer in February 2026 for around two hundred and fifteen million euros upfront. RadNet also owns DeepHealth, a competing AI portfolio.

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.

Gleamer: Is BoneView FDA cleared?

Yes, BoneView holds 510(k) clearance including for paediatric fracture detection, but the cleared finding set is narrower than the CE marked indication in Europe.

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.

Gleamer: What does the evidence actually show?

Multi-reader studies reported improved reader sensitivity for fracture detection and fewer false negatives, with the gain concentrated among less experienced readers in emergency settings.

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.

Gleamer: Can I buy just BoneView?

Yes, modules are licensed individually, though the commercial pitch is now the Copilot bundle across modalities.

Bahmni: Where is it used?

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

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