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Veterinary · head to head

Instinct Science vs Vetstoria

Instinct Science logo

Instinct Science

Veterinary

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vetstoria logo

Vetstoria

Veterinary

Real-time online appointment booking that writes directly into the veterinary PIMS diary

From
£199/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Instinct Science no pricing is published at all, so a practice cannot compare it against published competitors without a demo and a sales conversation.; Vetstoria it is a booking layer and nothing else, so a practice also wanting reminders, two way client messaging, loyalty or marketing buys a second product, most likely a sibling Petvisor brand, and pays two subscriptions.
  • They diverge on capability: Instinct Science covers Instinct Treatment Plan, Vetstoria covers Real-time PIMS write-back.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Instinct Science and Vetstoria actually diverge.

Attributes where Instinct Science and Vetstoria differ
AttributeInstinct ScienceVetstoria
Starting priceOn request£199/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by clinician band
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Instinct Science

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

Only in Vetstoria

  • Real-time PIMS write-back
  • Appointment triage rules
  • Deposits and payments
  • Regional currency pricing
  • Multi-site rules
  • Client-facing booking page
  • Practice websites add-on
  • Analytics

What people use each for

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

Instinct Science

  • A twenty four hour emergency hospital where treatments are ordered on a sheet and currently reconciled to invoices by hand at dischargenot Vetstoria
  • A specialty referral centre running multiple services on one hospitalised patient that needs a shared, current treatment plan across shiftsnot Vetstoria
  • A hospital losing measurable revenue to missed charge capture on inpatient treatments and fluidsnot Vetstoria
  • 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 Vetstoria

Vetstoria

  • An independent small animal practice losing bookings to out of hours calls that go to voicemailnot Instinct Science
  • A three site group that needs different appointment types and clinician rules per branch but one client facing booking pagenot Instinct Science
  • A practice with a high no show rate that wants a deposit taken at the point of bookingnot Instinct Science
  • A practice on ezyVet or Provet Cloud that wants booking to write into the real diary rather than create a manual rekeying job for receptionnot Instinct Science

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Vetstoria

  • It is a booking layer and nothing else, so a practice also wanting reminders, two way client messaging, loyalty or marketing buys a second product, most likely a sibling Petvisor brand, and pays two subscriptions.
  • Pricing bands are set by number of practising clinicians and step up sharply, so a practice adding a fourth or eighth vet crosses a band boundary and takes a large percentage price rise for one hire.
  • In the United States the product is sold as PetDesk rather than Vetstoria, so American buyers comparing the two are often comparing the same underlying company against itself without realising it.
  • Value depends entirely on the depth of your PIMS integration, and the quality varies considerably between systems; on a weaker integration you lose the real time write back that is the entire reason to buy it.
  • Website plans carry one off setup fees running into the thousands of euros on top of a monthly fee, which turns an apparently modest booking subscription into a significant first year cost if you take the bundle.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Vetstoria

£199/month
  • Small Team$199/month
    • Up to two practising clinicians
    • Real-time booking
    • Payments
  • Medium Team$299/month
    • Up to four practising clinicians
    • All Small Team features
  • Large Team$399/month
    • Up to seven practising clinicians
    • All Medium Team features
  • Custom$undefined/month
    • Groups and non-standard configurations
    • Advanced analytics
    • Quarterly business reviews

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Vetstoria if

  • You need real-time pims write-back.
  • You also want appointment triage rules.
Vetstoria review

Questions people ask

Is Instinct Science or Vetstoria better?
Neither clearly leads. Instinct Science starts at On request and Vetstoria at £199/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Instinct Science or Vetstoria?
Instinct Science starts at On request and Vetstoria at £199/month.
Does Instinct Science or Vetstoria run on more platforms?
Instinct Science runs on Web, iOS, Android. Vetstoria runs on Web.
What is Instinct Science best used for?
Instinct Science is most often used for a twenty four hour emergency hospital where treatments are ordered on a sheet and currently reconciled to invoices by hand at discharge, a specialty referral centre running multiple services on one hospitalised patient that needs a shared, current treatment plan across shifts, a hospital losing measurable revenue to missed charge capture on inpatient treatments and fluids, a practice that already relies on plumbs for dosing and wants drug reference and interaction checking inside the record rather than in a separate tab. Of those, a twenty four hour emergency hospital where treatments are ordered on a sheet and currently reconciled to invoices by hand at discharge and a specialty referral centre running multiple services on one hospitalised patient that needs a shared, current treatment plan across shifts are not what Vetstoria is typically brought in for.
What can Instinct Science do that Vetstoria cannot?
Instinct Science covers Instinct Treatment Plan, Charge capture from treatments, Instinct EMR, Primary care edition. Vetstoria covers Real-time PIMS write-back, Appointment triage rules, Deposits and payments, Regional currency pricing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Vetstoria: Does Vetstoria book directly into my PIMS?

Yes, that is the core function. Bookings write into the practice diary in real time rather than queuing as requests, where the PIMS integration supports it.

Instinct Science: Is pricing published?

No. Everything runs through a demo and a quote.

Vetstoria: Who owns Vetstoria?

Petvisor, which also owns PetDesk, WhiskerCloud and Kontak, and which raised over 100 million dollars from Apax Digital in 2023. It is not owned by IDEXX; IDEXX is an integration partner.

Instinct Science: Does it include Plumbs?

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

Vetstoria: Is it available in the United States?

The same company serves the United States, but under the PetDesk brand rather than the Vetstoria name.

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.

Vetstoria: Is there a setup fee?

Not for online booking. The optional website plans do carry substantial one-off setup fees.

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