Softwr

Healthcare · head to head

Open Dental vs VIA Veterinary

Open Dental logo

Open Dental

Healthcare

Powerful, Affordable Practice Management

From
$169/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
VIA Veterinary logo

VIA Veterinary

Veterinary

Medically oriented veterinary practice management, now owned by Antech and Mars Veterinary Health

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Open Dental uS support is $199 per month per location on an initial 12 month contract, dropping to $149 per month only after that year; VIA Veterinary the vendor is owned by Mars Veterinary Health through Antech, the same group that owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA, so a practice is buying its record system from its diagnostics supplier and its competitor in the consolidation market.
  • They diverge on capability: Open Dental covers Patient scheduling, VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Open Dental and VIA Veterinary actually diverge.

Attributes where Open Dental and VIA Veterinary differ
AttributeOpen DentalVIA Veterinary
Starting price$169/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWindows, Web, ApiWindows, Web, iPadOS
CategoryHealthcareVeterinary
Founded2003Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Open Dental

  • Patient scheduling
  • Clinical charting
  • Insurance claim processing
  • Treatment planning
  • Digital imaging integration
  • Patient communication
  • Reporting and analytics
  • eServices integration

Only in VIA Veterinary

  • Clinical flowsheets
  • Integrated SOAP
  • DICOM imaging
  • Laboratory results
  • VIA Cloud
  • VIA Touch
  • Multi-site
  • Open standards integration

What people use each for

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

Open Dental

  • Practice management, charting and scheduling for dental officesnot VIA Veterinary
  • Dental insurance claims, billing and treatment planningnot VIA Veterinary
  • Running an open source dental system with direct database accessnot VIA Veterinary

VIA Veterinary

  • An emergency and critical care hospital that runs on treatment flowsheets and a live whiteboard rather than an appointment calendarnot Open Dental
  • A multi-doctor specialty referral practice needing DICOM imaging and lab results inside the medical recordnot Open Dental
  • A practice already committed to Antech diagnostics that wants first-party laboratory and imaging integrationnot Open Dental
  • A multi-site hospital group consolidating separate practice management installations onto one systemnot Open Dental

Where each one falls short

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

Open Dental

  • US support is $199 per month per location on an initial 12 month contract, dropping to $149 per month only after that year
  • The monthly fee covers up to 3 providers per location; each additional provider is $20 per month
  • Fees are charged per location, so a multi site practice pays for every office
  • eServices are charged separately per location, including eClipboard at $45 a month, ODMobile at $35 a month and eConfirmations at $25 a month
  • Electronic prescribing through DoseSpot costs $57 per month per prescribing provider
  • Conversion and implementation fees are not published and require consultation

VIA Veterinary

  • The vendor is owned by Mars Veterinary Health through Antech, the same group that owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA, so a practice is buying its record system from its diagnostics supplier and its competitor in the consolidation market.
  • No pricing is published at all, so licence, implementation, conversion, hardware and support costs all arrive through a sales process and cannot be compared against alternatives before you engage.
  • It remains substantially a Windows on-premises product with a cloud option layered on, so hardware, network and backup remain your operational problem in the traditional deployment.
  • Integration depth with IDEXX diagnostics is the obvious risk given the ownership, and a practice with in-house IDEXX analysers should test that path explicitly rather than assume parity with Antech.
  • The clinical emphasis means front-of-house and client engagement features, including online booking and marketing automation, tend to arrive through third-party integrations rather than natively.

Pricing, plan by plan

Open Dental

$169/month
  • Standard$169/month
    • Full software access
    • Unlimited workstations
    • Technical support
  • Cloud$249/month
    • Everything in Standard
    • Cloud hosting
    • Automatic backups

VIA Veterinary

On request
  • VIA Veterinary$undefined/year
    • Pricing available only through a sales process
    • On-premises or VIA Cloud deployment
    • Implementation, data conversion and training quoted per hospital

Which should you pick?

Choose Open Dental if

  • You need patient scheduling.
  • You work on Windows, Web, Api.
  • You also want clinical charting.
Open Dental review

Choose VIA Veterinary if

  • You need clinical flowsheets.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iPadOS.
  • You also want integrated soap.
VIA Veterinary review

Questions people ask

Is Open Dental or VIA Veterinary better?
Neither clearly leads. Open Dental starts at $169/month and VIA Veterinary at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Open Dental or VIA Veterinary?
Open Dental starts at $169/month and VIA Veterinary at On request.
Does Open Dental or VIA Veterinary run on more platforms?
Open Dental runs on Windows, Web, Api. VIA Veterinary runs on Windows, Web, iPadOS.
What is Open Dental best used for?
Open Dental is most often used for practice management, charting and scheduling for dental offices, dental insurance claims, billing and treatment planning, running an open source dental system with direct database access. Of those, practice management, charting and scheduling for dental offices and dental insurance claims, billing and treatment planning are not what VIA Veterinary is typically brought in for.
What can Open Dental do that VIA Veterinary cannot?
Open Dental covers Patient scheduling, Clinical charting, Insurance claim processing, Treatment planning. VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets, Integrated SOAP, DICOM imaging, Laboratory results.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Open Dental: How much does Open Dental cost?

Open Dental costs $199/month per location or office with a 12-month contract minimum. After the initial 12-month term, pricing continues on a month-to-month basis at a reduced rate.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Who owns VIA?

VIA Information Systems is an Antech company and part of Mars Veterinary Health, the group that also owns Antech Diagnostics, Banfield and VCA.

Open Dental: What does the $199/month fee include?

The monthly fee includes software access, full telephone support, all software releases, imaging and video capture, patient portal and web forms, and automated reminder features for up to 3 dentists per location.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Is pricing published?

No. Licence, implementation, conversion and support costs come only through a sales process.

Open Dental: Does Open Dental offer a money-back guarantee?

Open Dental includes a 90-day money-back guarantee on subscription fees.

Source
VIA Veterinary: Can it run in the cloud?

Yes, VIA Cloud is offered alongside traditional on-premises installation, with cloud backup included.

Open Dental: What additional costs are there?

Data conversions from other dental software systems incur additional fees. Customized training with an Open Dental trainer is also available at extra cost.

Source
VIA Veterinary: What kind of practice is it built for?

Medically intensive practices: emergency, specialty, referral, equine and multi-doctor small animal hospitals where flowsheets and whiteboards drive the day.

Share

Related pages

More on Open Dental

More on VIA Veterinary

Keep looking

Other head to heads