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Healthcare · head to head

OpenClinica vs Philips IntelliSpace PACS

OpenClinica logo

OpenClinica

Healthcare

Clinical trial EDC with a genuinely open source community edition alongside a quoted commercial platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Philips IntelliSpace PACS logo

Philips IntelliSpace PACS

Healthcare

Enterprise radiology PACS and diagnostic image viewing from Philips

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: OpenClinica the free community edition is a different and older product line from the commercial platform, so evaluating the open source build tells you little about what the paid product actually does.; Philips IntelliSpace PACS philips has consolidated its imaging marketing under Philips Enterprise Imaging and several IntelliSpace PACS regional pages now redirect to a generic medical imaging page, so a buyer signing a long PACS term should demand a written product lifecycle and version support statement before committing.
  • They diverge on capability: OpenClinica covers Open source community edition, Philips IntelliSpace PACS covers Diagnostic reading client.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpenClinica and Philips IntelliSpace PACS actually diverge.

Attributes where OpenClinica and Philips IntelliSpace PACS differ
AttributeOpenClinicaPhilips IntelliSpace PACS
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, iOS, AndroidWeb, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 OpenClinica

  • Open source community edition
  • Electronic data capture
  • eConsent
  • eCOA and ePRO
  • Randomisation
  • EHR-to-EDC
  • Audit trail
  • Reporting and analytics

Only in Philips IntelliSpace PACS

  • Diagnostic reading client
  • Zero footprint web viewer
  • Enterprise archive
  • Advanced visualisation
  • IntelliSpace Radiology on AWS
  • Worklist and workflow
  • AI results integration

What people use each for

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

OpenClinica

  • An academic coordinating centre running investigator-initiated trials that needs Part 11 compliant capture without an enterprise eClinical budgetnot Philips IntelliSpace PACS
  • A registry or observational cohort study collecting structured data across many sites over yearsnot Philips IntelliSpace PACS
  • A small device sponsor that needs eConsent and ePRO in the same system as its case report formsnot Philips IntelliSpace PACS
  • An informatics group that wants to self-host the open source edition for a non-regulated internal studynot Philips IntelliSpace PACS

Philips IntelliSpace PACS

  • A hospital replacing an end of life PACS that already runs a large Philips CT and MR estate and wants modality and reading integration in one support contractnot OpenClinica
  • A radiology group consolidating several departmental archives into one enterprise archive with a single radiologist worklistnot OpenClinica
  • A health system that wants to move diagnostic reading off local workstations into a cloud hosted environment via the AWS listingnot OpenClinica
  • Sites that need server side advanced visualisation so radiologists can do 3D and vessel work without dedicated 3D workstationsnot OpenClinica

Where each one falls short

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

OpenClinica

  • The free community edition is a different and older product line from the commercial platform, so evaluating the open source build tells you little about what the paid product actually does.
  • The vendor provides no support or services at all for the community edition, which means outages, patching, database upgrades and validation documentation are entirely your problem.
  • Commercial pricing is not published, so you cannot benchmark it against alternatives without entering a sales process, and third-party figures around USD 1,000 a month are indicative rather than contractual.
  • Study build is skilled work: complex edit checks, randomisation schemes and integrations usually mean paying for vendor or consultant configuration services on top of the licence, which is a frequently underestimated line in the budget.
  • As a smaller vendor than the large eClinical suites it has a thinner partner and consultant ecosystem, so finding experienced build staff or a CRO already fluent in the platform is harder than with the market incumbents.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS

  • Philips has consolidated its imaging marketing under Philips Enterprise Imaging and several IntelliSpace PACS regional pages now redirect to a generic medical imaging page, so a buyer signing a long PACS term should demand a written product lifecycle and version support statement before committing.
  • Advanced visualisation is licensed by concurrent user separately from the base PACS, so a department that sizes concurrency from average use finds radiologists blocked at the morning peak and buys more licences after go live.
  • The deepest integration is with Philips modalities, so sites running mixed GE and Siemens scanner fleets get less of the workflow benefit than the demonstration environment implies.
  • Third party AI findings arrive through a results interface rather than natively in the hanging protocol, so radiologists context switch to see algorithm output and adoption of purchased AI is lower than expected.
  • Data migration from a legacy PACS is a separate, large and often underquoted professional services line, and migrations of a decade of priors routinely run longer than the go live plan allows.

Pricing, plan by plan

OpenClinica

On request
  • Community Edition$undefined/year
    • Free and open source under the LGPL
    • Self-hosted, on the older 3.x line
    • No vendor support or services of any kind
  • OpenClinica Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Pricing only through a sales process
    • Hosted and validated instance
    • EDC, eConsent, eCOA, randomisation and analytics modules

Philips IntelliSpace PACS

On request
  • IntelliSpace PACS$undefined/year
    • Priced by annual study volume and concurrent diagnostic users
    • Advanced visualisation licensed separately by concurrent user
    • Storage and archive tiering priced by capacity

Which should you pick?

Choose OpenClinica if

  • You need open source community edition.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android.
  • You also want electronic data capture.
OpenClinica review

Choose Philips IntelliSpace PACS if

  • You need diagnostic reading client.
  • You work on Web, Windows.
  • You also want zero footprint web viewer.
Philips IntelliSpace PACS review

Questions people ask

Is OpenClinica or Philips IntelliSpace PACS better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenClinica starts at On request and Philips IntelliSpace PACS at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpenClinica or Philips IntelliSpace PACS?
OpenClinica starts at On request and Philips IntelliSpace PACS at On request.
Does OpenClinica or Philips IntelliSpace PACS run on more platforms?
OpenClinica runs on Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android. Philips IntelliSpace PACS runs on Web, Windows.
What is OpenClinica best used for?
OpenClinica is most often used for an academic coordinating centre running investigator-initiated trials that needs part 11 compliant capture without an enterprise eclinical budget, a registry or observational cohort study collecting structured data across many sites over years, a small device sponsor that needs econsent and epro in the same system as its case report forms, an informatics group that wants to self-host the open source edition for a non-regulated internal study. Of those, an academic coordinating centre running investigator-initiated trials that needs part 11 compliant capture without an enterprise eclinical budget and a registry or observational cohort study collecting structured data across many sites over years are not what Philips IntelliSpace PACS is typically brought in for.
What can OpenClinica do that Philips IntelliSpace PACS cannot?
OpenClinica covers Open source community edition, Electronic data capture, eConsent, eCOA and ePRO. Philips IntelliSpace PACS covers Diagnostic reading client, Zero footprint web viewer, Enterprise archive, Advanced visualisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpenClinica: Is OpenClinica free?

There is a genuinely free, LGPL licensed community edition you host yourself with no vendor support. The commercial platform with eConsent, eCOA and a validated hosted instance is quoted and paid.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS: Is IntelliSpace PACS being discontinued?

It is still sold and supported, but Philips has moved its marketing to Philips Enterprise Imaging and some regional IntelliSpace product pages now redirect. Ask Philips for the written lifecycle statement before signing a multi year term.

OpenClinica: Is the open source version still maintained?

Yes, releases on the 3.x line continued through 2025, but it is a separate and older architecture from the commercial product.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS: Can I run it in the cloud?

Yes. Philips lists IntelliSpace Radiology on AWS Marketplace, and Philips also offers a managed hosted deployment. Both are quoted rather than self service.

OpenClinica: Does it meet 21 CFR Part 11?

The commercial hosted platform is built for Part 11 and GCP compliance. If you self-host the community edition, compliance and validation are entirely your responsibility.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS: Does Philips publish pricing?

No. Pricing is by study volume, concurrent diagnostic users and storage, and is usually negotiated alongside modality capital.

OpenClinica: What does the commercial version cost?

Not published. Third-party listings suggest enterprise arrangements from around USD 1,000 per month, but real cost depends on study count, subjects, modules and build services.

Philips IntelliSpace PACS: Will it read images from non Philips scanners?

Yes, it is a standard DICOM archive and viewer. The gap is in advanced visualisation and modality workflow integration, which is deeper on Philips equipment.

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