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Veterinary · head to head

Onward Vet vs Vetstoria

Onward Vet logo

Onward Vet

Veterinary

Small-vendor cloud practice management sold on flat subscription with unlimited users

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: Onward Vet the vendor is small, so support depth, release pace and the ability to absorb a serious outage are all limited compared with IDEXX, Covetrus or the larger cloud vendors.; 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: Onward Vet covers Flat practice subscription, 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 Onward Vet and Vetstoria actually diverge.

Attributes where Onward Vet and Vetstoria differ
AttributeOnward VetVetstoria
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 Onward Vet

  • Flat practice subscription
  • Cloud hosted
  • Medical records and SOAP
  • Estimates and treatment plans
  • Client communication
  • Laboratory integration

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.

Onward Vet

  • A clinic with a large rota of part-time technicians and receptionists where per-seat pricing is disproportionatenot Vetstoria
  • A single-site practice leaving an ageing on-premise system that no longer wants to maintain a servernot Vetstoria
  • A new practice that needs a working record system quickly without a long configuration projectnot Vetstoria
  • A cost-sensitive clinic that wants cloud practice management without paying for integration breadth it will not usenot Vetstoria

Vetstoria

  • An independent small animal practice losing bookings to out of hours calls that go to voicemailnot Onward Vet
  • A three site group that needs different appointment types and clinician rules per branch but one client facing booking pagenot Onward Vet
  • A practice with a high no show rate that wants a deposit taken at the point of bookingnot Onward Vet
  • 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 Onward Vet

Where each one falls short

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

Onward Vet

  • The vendor is small, so support depth, release pace and the ability to absorb a serious outage are all limited compared with IDEXX, Covetrus or the larger cloud vendors.
  • The integration catalogue is short, so specialist imaging, communication or wellness plan tools that connect to ezyVet or Provet Cloud may need manual handling here.
  • Reporting is basic, so a practice that wants production analysis by veterinary surgeon, detailed inventory valuation or multi-site consolidation will be exporting data to a spreadsheet.
  • There is no on-premise option, so a clinic with an unreliable internet connection has no fallback when the link goes down and the appointment book becomes unreachable.
  • Concentration risk is real with a supplier of this size: acquisition, a change of direction or a funding problem would put your record system into other hands, so test the data export before committing.

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

Onward Vet

On request
  • Onward Vet$undefined/year
    • Quoted as a flat monthly practice subscription
    • Unlimited user accounts
    • Cloud hosting, backup and updates included

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 Onward Vet if

  • You need flat practice subscription.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want cloud hosted.
Onward Vet review

Choose Vetstoria if

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

Questions people ask

Is Onward Vet or Vetstoria better?
Neither clearly leads. Onward Vet 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, Onward Vet or Vetstoria?
Onward Vet starts at On request and Vetstoria at £199/month.
Does Onward Vet or Vetstoria run on more platforms?
Onward Vet runs on Web, iOS, Android. Vetstoria runs on Web.
What is Onward Vet best used for?
Onward Vet is most often used for a clinic with a large rota of part-time technicians and receptionists where per-seat pricing is disproportionate, a single-site practice leaving an ageing on-premise system that no longer wants to maintain a server, a new practice that needs a working record system quickly without a long configuration project, a cost-sensitive clinic that wants cloud practice management without paying for integration breadth it will not use. Of those, a clinic with a large rota of part-time technicians and receptionists where per-seat pricing is disproportionate and a single-site practice leaving an ageing on-premise system that no longer wants to maintain a server are not what Vetstoria is typically brought in for.
What can Onward Vet do that Vetstoria cannot?
Onward Vet covers Flat practice subscription, Cloud hosted, Medical records and SOAP, Estimates and treatment plans. Vetstoria covers Real-time PIMS write-back, Appointment triage rules, Deposits and payments, Regional currency pricing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Onward Vet: How is it priced?

As a flat practice subscription with unlimited users, quoted rather than published, which is why it suits clinics with many part-time staff.

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.

Onward Vet: Is it suitable for a multi-site group?

Not really. It is built for single-site independent clinics; consolidated reporting and cross-site inventory are not its strength.

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.

Onward Vet: What happens if the internet goes down?

You lose access to the appointment book and records. There is no on-premise fallback, so a secondary connection is a sensible precaution.

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.

Onward Vet: Can I get my data out?

Ask for a full export during evaluation and check what format it comes in. With a small vendor this is a question to answer before you sign, not afterwards.

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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