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Veterinary · head to head

Hippo Manager vs Instinct Science

Hippo Manager logo

Hippo Manager

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management software with flat per-user pricing

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Instinct Science logo

Instinct Science

Veterinary

Veterinary EMR built for emergency and specialty hospitals, plus Plumbs drug reference

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real 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.; Instinct Science no pricing is published at all, so a practice cannot compare it against published competitors without a demo and a sales conversation.
  • They diverge on capability: Hippo Manager covers Cloud patient records, Instinct Science covers Instinct Treatment Plan.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hippo Manager and Instinct Science actually diverge.

Attributes where Hippo Manager and Instinct Science differ
AttributeHippo ManagerInstinct Science

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Veterinary).

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 Hippo Manager

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

Only in Instinct Science

  • Instinct Treatment Plan
  • Charge capture from treatments
  • Instinct EMR
  • Primary care edition
  • Plumbs drug reference
  • ScribbleVet
  • Standards

What people use each for

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

Hippo Manager

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

Instinct Science

  • A twenty four hour emergency hospital where treatments are ordered on a sheet and currently reconciled to invoices by hand at dischargenot Hippo Manager
  • A specialty referral centre running multiple services on one hospitalised patient that needs a shared, current treatment plan across shiftsnot Hippo Manager
  • A hospital losing measurable revenue to missed charge capture on inpatient treatments and fluidsnot Hippo Manager
  • A practice that already relies on Plumbs for dosing and wants drug reference and interaction checking inside the record rather than in a separate tabnot Hippo Manager

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Instinct Science

  • No pricing is published at all, so a practice cannot compare it against published competitors without a demo and a sales conversation.
  • The design centres on inpatient treatment sheets, so an appointment driven general practice pays for strength in a workflow it barely uses and should evaluate the primary care edition on its own merits rather than the hospital reputation.
  • Retail, inventory and reminder marketing workflows are thinner than in long established general practice systems, so a practice with a significant shop or food business may need workarounds.
  • Plumbs and ScribbleVet are separately licensed even though the same company owns them, so the tidy single vendor story still arrives as more than one line on the invoice.
  • It is a smaller vendor than the corporate owned incumbents, which is an advantage on responsiveness and a risk on acquisition, and veterinary software has consolidated heavily in recent years.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Instinct Science

On request
  • Instinct EMR$undefined/year
    • Quoted through a demo and sales process, nothing published
    • Priced by practice size and modules taken
    • Plumbs and ScribbleVet are separately licensed products from the same company

Which should you pick?

Choose Hippo Manager if

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

Choose Instinct Science if

  • You need instinct treatment plan.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want charge capture from treatments.
Instinct Science review

Questions people ask

Is Hippo Manager or Instinct Science better?
Neither clearly leads. Hippo Manager starts at On request and Instinct Science at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hippo Manager or Instinct Science?
Hippo Manager starts at On request and Instinct Science at On request.
Does Hippo Manager or Instinct Science run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Hippo Manager best used for?
Hippo Manager is most often used for a new clinic opening with no server, no it provider and a need to be running within weeks, a mobile or house call veterinarian working from a tablet between appointments, a two doctor practice replacing a legacy on-premise system and wanting predictable monthly cost, a veterinary teaching programme needing many inexpensive logins on shared records. Of those, a new clinic opening with no server, no it provider and a need to be running within weeks and a mobile or house call veterinarian working from a tablet between appointments are not what Instinct Science is typically brought in for.
What can Hippo Manager do that Instinct Science cannot?
Hippo Manager covers Cloud patient records, Scheduling, Invoicing and payments, Inventory. Instinct Science covers Instinct Treatment Plan, Charge capture from treatments, Instinct EMR, Primary care edition.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Instinct Science: Is Instinct only for emergency hospitals?

No, there is a primary care edition, but the product design and its main advantage come from inpatient treatment sheets and hospital workflows.

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.

Instinct Science: Is pricing published?

No. Everything runs through a demo and a quote.

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.

Instinct Science: Does it include Plumbs?

Instinct Science owns Plumbs, but it is licensed separately rather than bundled into the EMR by default.

Hippo Manager: Is there an on-premise version?

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

Instinct Science: What is the main reason practices switch to it?

Charge capture. Treatments recorded on the digital treatment sheet become charges automatically, which recovers revenue that paper sheets lose.

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