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Healthcare · head to head

Halaxy vs Hippo Manager

Halaxy logo

Halaxy

Healthcare

Practice management for allied health that charges nothing for the software and earns on payments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Hippo Manager logo

Hippo Manager

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management software with flat per-user pricing

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Halaxy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Halaxy the software being free does not mean the platform is cheap: a clinic taking most payments by card pays roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus a fixed fee on every transaction, which on a high volume practice comfortably exceeds what a flat AUD 60 per practitioner subscription would have cost.; Hippo Manager pricing is per user, so a practice with a rota of part-time technicians and relief veterinarians pays full seats for people who log in a few times a month.
  • They diverge on capability: Halaxy covers No licence fee, Hippo Manager covers Cloud patient records.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Halaxy and Hippo Manager actually diverge.

Attributes where Halaxy and Hippo Manager differ
AttributeHalaxyHippo Manager
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree software, revenue taken on payments and creditsquote
Free tierYesNo
CategoryHealthcareVeterinary

Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Halaxy

  • No licence fee
  • Integrated claiming
  • Credit-based extras
  • Online booking
  • Clinical notes and templates
  • Card payments
  • Multi-practitioner diary
  • Patient portal

Only in Hippo Manager

  • Cloud patient records
  • Scheduling
  • Invoicing and payments
  • Inventory
  • Laboratory results
  • Reporting

What people use each for

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

Halaxy

  • A solo psychologist starting out who wants Medicare and private health claiming without committing to a monthly subscription before there is any incomenot Hippo Manager
  • A physiotherapy clinic that wants patient reminders, online booking and card payments reconciled against invoices in one systemnot Hippo Manager
  • An NDIS provider that needs claim generation and service agreement tracking built into the same record as clinical notesnot Hippo Manager
  • A multi-location allied health group in Australia that wants one diary across sites without paying per practitioner licencesnot Hippo Manager

Hippo Manager

  • A new clinic opening with no server, no IT provider and a need to be running within weeksnot Halaxy
  • A mobile or house call veterinarian working from a tablet between appointmentsnot Halaxy
  • A two doctor practice replacing a legacy on-premise system and wanting predictable monthly costnot Halaxy
  • A veterinary teaching programme needing many inexpensive logins on shared recordsnot Halaxy

Where each one falls short

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

Halaxy

  • The software being free does not mean the platform is cheap: a clinic taking most payments by card pays roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus a fixed fee on every transaction, which on a high volume practice comfortably exceeds what a flat AUD 60 per practitioner subscription would have cost.
  • Credits are prepaid and consumed by ordinary daily activity including SMS reminders and Medicare claims, so running out mid-week silently stops reminders going to patients, which shows up as no-shows rather than as an error message.
  • Features that competitors treat as standard, including two-way calendar sync, API access and a dedicated SMS number, are locked behind the credit subscription, so the headline free tier is thinner than it first appears.
  • Claiming, funding and payment integrations are deeply Australian, so practitioners in the UK, Canada or the United States get the diary and notes but very little of the automation that makes the product worth choosing.
  • Because the vendor earns on payment volume, its interests and yours diverge on card processing: switching to a cheaper acquirer breaks the automatic reconciliation that is the main operational reason to stay on the platform.

Hippo Manager

  • Pricing is per user, so a practice with a rota of part-time technicians and relief veterinarians pays full seats for people who log in a few times a month.
  • Inpatient and treatment sheet workflows are lighter than in systems built for referral and emergency hospitals, which pushes overnight care onto paper.
  • The integration catalogue is short relative to the larger cloud platforms, so a practice with an existing imaging, communications or payment preference may find no connector.
  • Multi-location reporting is basic, which limits its usefulness to a group beyond a handful of sites that wants consolidated production figures.
  • As a browser only system it stops when the internet does, and a practice without a backup connection loses records, scheduling and invoicing at the same time.

Pricing, plan by plan

Halaxy

Free
  • HalaxyFree
    • Unlimited practitioners with no subscription fee
    • Diary, patient records, clinical notes and invoicing
    • Online booking page
  • Premium subscription$25/month
    • Priced at 25 credits per month, so roughly AUD 4 to 6 depending on credit rate
    • Two-way calendar sync
    • White-label branding

Hippo Manager

On request
  • Hippo Manager$undefined/month
    • Flat monthly subscription charged per user
    • Core clinical, billing and inventory functionality included
    • Data conversion and onboarding quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Halaxy if

  • You need no licence fee.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want integrated claiming.
Halaxy review

Choose Hippo Manager if

  • You need cloud patient records.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want scheduling.
Hippo Manager review

Questions people ask

Is Halaxy or Hippo Manager better?
Neither clearly leads. Halaxy starts at Free and Hippo Manager at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Halaxy or Hippo Manager?
Halaxy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Halaxy and On request for Hippo Manager.
Does Halaxy or Hippo Manager run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Halaxy for free?
Yes. Halaxy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hippo Manager starts at On request.
What is Halaxy best used for?
Halaxy is most often used for a solo psychologist starting out who wants medicare and private health claiming without committing to a monthly subscription before there is any income, a physiotherapy clinic that wants patient reminders, online booking and card payments reconciled against invoices in one system, an ndis provider that needs claim generation and service agreement tracking built into the same record as clinical notes, a multi-location allied health group in australia that wants one diary across sites without paying per practitioner licences. Of those, a solo psychologist starting out who wants medicare and private health claiming without committing to a monthly subscription before there is any income and a physiotherapy clinic that wants patient reminders, online booking and card payments reconciled against invoices in one system are not what Hippo Manager is typically brought in for.
What can Halaxy do that Hippo Manager cannot?
Halaxy covers No licence fee, Integrated claiming, Credit-based extras, Online booking. Hippo Manager covers Cloud patient records, Scheduling, Invoicing and payments, Inventory.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Halaxy: Is Halaxy genuinely free or is there a hidden subscription?

The core practice management software has no subscription fee for any number of practitioners. Halaxy earns from card processing fees, prepaid credits for SMS and claiming, and an optional premium subscription priced at 25 credits a month.

Hippo Manager: Is this veterinary software?

Yes. Hippo Manager is a veterinary practice management system for animal clinics, unrelated to similarly named products in other software categories.

Halaxy: What does it actually cost a busy clinic?

Budget for card fees of roughly 1.5 to 1.9 per cent plus 75 cents to a dollar per transaction, plus credits at about AUD 0.15 to 0.22 each for every SMS, claim and telehealth session. A clinic with heavy card volume can pay more in total than a flat-rate competitor.

Hippo Manager: How is it priced?

As a flat monthly fee per user with the feature set included, rather than a base licence plus paid modules.

Halaxy: Can I use it outside Australia?

Yes for the diary, notes, invoicing and booking. No for Medicare, DVA, NDIS and Australian health fund claiming, which is where most of the value sits.

Hippo Manager: Does it suit an emergency or referral hospital?

Not well. Inpatient workflow depth is limited and specialist practices should look at systems built for that setting.

Halaxy: Does it handle NDIS?

Yes, including NDIS claim generation, service agreements and plan management alongside clinical records.

Hippo Manager: Is there an on-premise version?

No. It is browser only, which means no server to maintain and no offline working.

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