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Healthcare · head to head

GNU Health vs Healthgrades

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
Healthgrades logo

Healthgrades

Healthcare

Provider search and ratings platform for patients

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Healthgrades healthgrades is free for consumers and monetizes through a separate B2B arm (b2b.healthgrades.com) selling 'Claim your profile' provider listings, health-system quality solutions, and life-sciences advertiser placements, none of which publish public pricing, per the vendor's own site structure.
  • They diverge on capability: GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Healthgrades covers Provider Search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where GNU Health and Healthgrades differ
AttributeGNU HealthHealthgrades
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Web, Self-hostedWeb, Mobile
FoundedUnknown1998

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 GNU Health

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

Only in Healthgrades

  • Provider Search
  • Reviews and Ratings
  • Appointment Booking
  • Provider Profiles
  • Insurance Verification
  • Practice management systems
  • HIPAA
  • Cloud deployment

What people use each for

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

GNU Health

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

Healthgrades

  • Patient Carenot GNU Health
  • Medical Recordsnot GNU Health
  • Practice Managementnot GNU Health
  • Telehealthnot GNU Health

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Healthgrades

  • Healthgrades is free for consumers and monetizes through a separate B2B arm (b2b.healthgrades.com) selling 'Claim your profile' provider listings, health-system quality solutions, and life-sciences advertiser placements, none of which publish public pricing, per the vendor's own site structure.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Healthgrades

Free
  • PatientFree
    • Find doctors
    • Read reviews
    • Book appointments

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Healthgrades if

  • You need provider search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want reviews and ratings.
Healthgrades review

Questions people ask

Is GNU Health or Healthgrades better?
Neither clearly leads. GNU Health starts at Free and Healthgrades at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GNU Health or Healthgrades?
GNU Health starts at Free and Healthgrades at Free.
Does GNU Health or Healthgrades run on more platforms?
GNU Health runs on Linux, Web, Self-hosted. Healthgrades runs on Web, Mobile.
Can I use GNU Health for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is GNU Health best used for?
GNU Health is most often used for a public hospital in a low-resource setting that cannot fund commercial emr licensing and has in-house linux capability, a ministry building a national health network where source code inspection and data sovereignty are policy requirements, a university teaching health informatics that needs a complete, inspectable system rather than a vendor demonstration, a community health programme that needs socioeconomic determinants recorded alongside clinical data. Of those, a public hospital in a low-resource setting that cannot fund commercial emr licensing and has in-house linux capability and a ministry building a national health network where source code inspection and data sovereignty are policy requirements are not what Healthgrades is typically brought in for.
What can GNU Health do that Healthgrades cannot?
GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Hospital management, Laboratory information system, Social medicine modules. Healthgrades covers Provider Search, Reviews and Ratings, Appointment Booking, Provider Profiles.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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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