Softwr

Healthcare · head to head

Bahmni vs Lunit

Bahmni logo

Bahmni

Healthcare

Open source hospital information system and EMR for low-resource hospitals, built on OpenMRS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lunit logo

Lunit

Healthcare

FDA cleared and CE marked AI for mammography, tomosynthesis and chest radiography

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Bahmni has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bahmni the licence is free and the implementation is not; configuration, data migration, training and multi-year support from a partner routinely cost far more than a small commercial system would have, and hospitals that budget only for hardware stall.; Lunit the regulatory permission differs by product and by region, and INSIGHT Risk has been filed with the FDA but not cleared, so a buyer who reads a corporate press release rather than the specific clearance for their product and jurisdiction will plan a deployment they cannot legally run.
  • They diverge on capability: Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Lunit covers Lunit INSIGHT MMG.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bahmni and Lunit actually diverge.

Attributes where Bahmni and Lunit differ
AttributeBahmniLunit
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, AndroidWeb

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 Bahmni

  • OpenMRS clinical record
  • Configurable clinical forms
  • Laboratory integration
  • Billing and inventory
  • Imaging
  • Inpatient management
  • Offline-capable clinical app
  • Reporting

Only in Lunit

  • Lunit INSIGHT MMG
  • Lunit INSIGHT DBT
  • Lunit INSIGHT CXR
  • Volpara density assessment
  • Volpara RiskPathways
  • Volpara dose tracking
  • PACS and mammography workstation integration

What people use each for

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

Bahmni

  • A mission or charitable hospital in India or East Africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real EMR rather than papernot Lunit
  • A ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised Digital Public Goodnot Lunit
  • An NGO health network wanting one clinical record across several facilities with reporting that can feed a national DHIS2 instancenot Lunit
  • A hospital that needs the clinical record, laboratory, pharmacy and billing to share one patient identity rather than running four disconnected systemsnot Lunit

Lunit

  • A national breast screening programme evaluating AI as a second reader to reduce double reading workload where two human readers are currently mandatednot Bahmni
  • A breast centre that moved to tomosynthesis and now has reading times it cannot staff, wanting detection support on DBT specificallynot Bahmni
  • An American breast imaging centre needing automated volumetric density assessment to meet patient density notification requirements, which is what Volpara is bought fornot Bahmni
  • A tuberculosis or lung screening programme in a high volume, radiologist scarce setting using chest radiography triage to prioritise filmsnot Bahmni

Where each one falls short

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

Bahmni

  • The licence is free and the implementation is not; configuration, data migration, training and multi-year support from a partner routinely cost far more than a small commercial system would have, and hospitals that budget only for hardware stall.
  • There is no single vendor with an obligation to you unless you contract one, so upgrade timing, security patching and defect resolution depend on whichever partner you hired and how long they stay engaged.
  • It integrates four substantial open source systems, which means an upgrade touches OpenMRS, OpenELIS, Odoo and the imaging stack together, and hospitals with heavy customisation often freeze on an old version rather than risk it.
  • Skilled Bahmni implementers are concentrated in a small number of firms in India and a few African countries, so a hospital outside those markets may find nobody local who can support it.
  • Funding for the coalition and its shared engineering comes from donors and member contributions rather than licence revenue, which makes the pace of core development dependent on grant cycles rather than on customer demand.

Lunit

  • The regulatory permission differs by product and by region, and INSIGHT Risk has been filed with the FDA but not cleared, so a buyer who reads a corporate press release rather than the specific clearance for their product and jurisdiction will plan a deployment they cannot legally run.
  • Detection AI changes recall rates in screening, and the downstream cost of additional diagnostic workup lands on the programme rather than on the software budget, which is the cost most screening business cases omit.
  • Performance is sensitive to the mammography vendor and acquisition protocol, so published results from a Hologic estate do not transfer to a GE or Siemens estate without local validation the buyer must fund.
  • MMG, DBT and CXR are licensed separately and Volpara modules are separate again, so a breast centre wanting detection, density and risk pathways is assembling four line items rather than buying one product.
  • Using AI as a replacement for one of two human readers is a workforce and liability decision that regulators and professional bodies treat differently in each country, so the saving that justifies the purchase may not be permitted where you operate.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bahmni

Free
  • BahmniFree
    • AGPL open source, no licence fee
    • All modules included
    • Community support via forum and documentation

Lunit

On request
  • Lunit INSIGHT$undefined/year
    • Priced per study or per annual examination volume by product
    • MMG, DBT and CXR licensed separately
    • Volpara density and RiskPathways modules quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Bahmni if

  • You need openmrs clinical record.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Android.
  • You also want configurable clinical forms.
Bahmni review

Choose Lunit if

  • You need lunit insight mmg.
  • You also want lunit insight dbt.
Lunit review

Questions people ask

Is Bahmni or Lunit better?
Neither clearly leads. Bahmni starts at Free and Lunit at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bahmni or Lunit?
Bahmni has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Bahmni and On request for Lunit.
Does Bahmni or Lunit run on more platforms?
Bahmni runs on Web, Linux, Android. Lunit runs on Web.
Can I use Bahmni for free?
Yes. Bahmni has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lunit starts at On request.
What is Bahmni best used for?
Bahmni is most often used for a mission or charitable hospital in india or east africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real emr rather than paper, a ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised digital public good, an ngo health network wanting one clinical record across several facilities with reporting that can feed a national dhis2 instance, a hospital that needs the clinical record, laboratory, pharmacy and billing to share one patient identity rather than running four disconnected systems. Of those, a mission or charitable hospital in india or east africa that cannot fund a commercial hospital information system licence but needs a real emr rather than paper and a ministry of health standardising district hospitals on one system and required by donors to use a recognised digital public good are not what Lunit is typically brought in for.
What can Bahmni do that Lunit cannot?
Bahmni covers OpenMRS clinical record, Configurable clinical forms, Laboratory integration, Billing and inventory. Lunit covers Lunit INSIGHT MMG, Lunit INSIGHT DBT, Lunit INSIGHT CXR, Volpara density assessment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bahmni: Is Bahmni free?

The software is, under an open source licence. Implementation, hosting, configuration, training and support are charged by whichever partner you engage.

Lunit: Is Lunit FDA cleared?

Yes for specific products. INSIGHT MMG, INSIGHT DBT and INSIGHT CXR Triage hold FDA 510(k) clearances. INSIGHT Risk, the five year risk prediction model, has been filed but was not cleared at the time of writing.

Bahmni: Who owns and governs Bahmni?

Thoughtworks transferred ownership in October 2017 to the Bahmni Coalition, under the fiscal sponsorship of the non-profit OpenMRS Inc. Thoughtworks remains on the governing committee.

Lunit: Can Lunit replace a second human reader in screening?

That depends entirely on your jurisdiction and professional body guidance, not on the software. The CE mark permits clinical use; it does not authorise a workforce model.

Bahmni: What does an implementation actually cost?

It varies by hospital size and country, but expect the dominant costs to be partner services, training and multi-year support rather than software or hardware. Get a fixed-scope quote covering upgrades, not just go-live.

Lunit: What did the Volpara acquisition add?

Volumetric breast density measurement, dose tracking and RiskPathways high risk programme management, which are the things American breast centres buy for density notification compliance rather than for detection.

Bahmni: Is it a recognised Digital Public Good?

Yes, Bahmni is on the Digital Public Goods Alliance register, which is increasingly a condition of donor funding for health information systems.

Lunit: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted per study or per annual volume, by product, with on premises and cloud priced differently.

Bahmni: Where is it used?

More than 500 implementations across roughly 50 countries, concentrated in South Asia and Africa.

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