Softwr

Healthcare · head to head

GNU Health vs Healthie

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
Healthie logo

Healthie

Healthcare

EHR, scheduling and client engagement for nutrition, wellness and virtual-first care

From
$19/month
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: 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.; Healthie the Core plan is capped at ten active clients, which no working practice stays under, so the real entry price for anyone with a caseload is the 49 dollar Essentials tier or higher.
  • They diverge on capability: GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Healthie covers Active client based tiers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where GNU Health and Healthie differ
AttributeGNU HealthHealthie
Starting priceFree$19/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer month by active client count
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Web, Self-hostedWeb, iOS, Android, API

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 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 Healthie

  • Active client based tiers
  • Charting and templates
  • Telehealth
  • Food and symptom journalling
  • Programmes and courses
  • Public API
  • ePrescribing
  • Insurance claims

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 Healthie
  • A ministry building a national health network where source code inspection and data sovereignty are policy requirementsnot Healthie
  • A university teaching health informatics that needs a complete, inspectable system rather than a vendor demonstrationnot Healthie
  • A community health programme that needs socioeconomic determinants recorded alongside clinical datanot Healthie

Healthie

  • A registered dietitian in private practice who needs charting, scheduling, superbills and a client food journal in one subscriptionnot GNU Health
  • A virtual care startup using the API as a compliant clinical backend rather than building charting and scheduling from scratchnot GNU Health
  • A wellness group practice selling packaged twelve week programmes with group video sessions and course contentnot GNU Health
  • A health coaching business that bills clients directly and needs card payment, intake forms and messaging without insurance complexitynot 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.

Healthie

  • The Core plan is capped at ten active clients, which no working practice stays under, so the real entry price for anyone with a caseload is the 49 dollar Essentials tier or higher.
  • Insurance billing is not native: claim submission runs through a separately priced ClaimMD integration starting around 30 dollars a month, so a practice that bills payers is buying and reconciling two systems.
  • Costs stack quickly beyond the headline plan, with ePrescribing at 40 dollars per clinician per month, inbound fax at 10 dollars, additional Group clinicians at 50 dollars each and card processing at 2.9 per cent plus 30 cents.
  • Client counting is based on active clients, and the definition of active is set by the vendor rather than by you, so seasonal or intermittent caseloads can push a practice into a higher tier for clients it is barely seeing.
  • It is built around ambulatory wellness and virtual care, so specialties needing lab ordering, imaging, in house dispensing or complex care coordination will find the clinical model too thin and will not find those modules to buy.

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

Healthie

$19/month
  • Core$19/month
    • Up to ten active clients
    • Scheduling and payments
    • Charting and telehealth
  • Essentials$49/month
    • Up to 250 active clients
    • Custom forms
    • CMS 1500 generation
  • Plus$129/month
    • Unlimited active clients
    • Group telehealth
    • Online programmes
  • Group$149/month
    • Unlimited active clients
    • Shared calendar and team management
    • Roles and permissions

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 Healthie if

  • You need active client based tiers.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want charting and templates.
Healthie review

Questions people ask

Is GNU Health or Healthie better?
Neither clearly leads. GNU Health starts at Free and Healthie at $19/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GNU Health or Healthie?
GNU Health has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for GNU Health and $19/month for Healthie.
Does GNU Health or Healthie run on more platforms?
GNU Health runs on Linux, Web, Self-hosted. Healthie runs on Web, iOS, Android, API.
Can I use GNU Health for free?
Yes. GNU Health has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Healthie starts at $19/month.
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 Healthie is typically brought in for.
What can GNU Health do that Healthie cannot?
GNU Health covers Electronic medical record, Hospital management, Laboratory information system, Social medicine modules. Healthie covers Active client based tiers, Charting and templates, Telehealth, Food and symptom journalling.

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.

Healthie: Is the API available without an enterprise contract?

Yes. API access is available on standard published plans, which is why digital health startups use it as a clinical backend.

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.

Healthie: Can Healthie submit insurance claims?

Only through the separately priced ClaimMD integration. Native CMS 1500 generation is included, but submission is an add-on.

GNU Health: What is it built on?

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

Healthie: What does an active client mean for billing?

It is a client with recent activity in the platform, not everyone in your database. Tiers are set by that count, not by seats.

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.

Healthie: Is it HIPAA compliant?

Yes, and a business associate agreement is available. The client-facing mobile app and portal are covered.

Share

Related pages

More on GNU Health

More on Healthie

Keep looking

Other head to heads