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Healthcare · head to head

OpenClinica vs Woebot Health

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
Woebot Health logo

Woebot Health

Healthcare

Conversational CBT chatbot that withdrew from consumer distribution and now sells only to payers and providers

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.; Woebot Health the company withdrew its consumer app in June 2025 after concluding FDA marketing authorisation was not achievable at acceptable cost, which is a plain signal about both regulatory position and commercial durability.
  • They diverge on capability: OpenClinica covers Open source community edition, Woebot Health covers Scripted CBT dialogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpenClinica and Woebot Health actually diverge.

Attributes where OpenClinica and Woebot Health differ
AttributeOpenClinicaWoebot Health
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, iOS, AndroidiOS, Android, Web

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 Woebot Health

  • Scripted CBT dialogue
  • Mood tracking
  • Crisis routing
  • Between-session support
  • Payer deployment
  • Provider copilot positioning
  • Research licensing
  • Population reporting

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 Woebot Health
  • A registry or observational cohort study collecting structured data across many sites over yearsnot Woebot Health
  • A small device sponsor that needs eConsent and ePRO in the same system as its case report formsnot Woebot Health
  • An informatics group that wants to self-host the open source edition for a non-regulated internal studynot Woebot Health

Woebot Health

  • A health plan wanting a low intensity behavioural health option for members on a waiting list for therapynot OpenClinica
  • A provider organisation offering structured between-session CBT practice to patients already in treatmentnot OpenClinica
  • A research group running a trial that needs a clinically scripted rather than generative conversational agent for safety reasonsnot OpenClinica
  • A payer targeting a specific population such as postpartum members where scripted CBT content already existsnot 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.

Woebot Health

  • The company withdrew its consumer app in June 2025 after concluding FDA marketing authorisation was not achievable at acceptable cost, which is a plain signal about both regulatory position and commercial durability.
  • It is not an FDA cleared treatment for any indication, so it cannot be positioned to members as therapy and cannot substitute for a covered behavioural health benefit.
  • The scripted, non-generative design that makes it safe also makes it feel rigid next to current conversational AI, and engagement drops off quickly once users hit the edges of the script.
  • Published evidence is short-horizon symptom change in selected populations, mostly young adults, with little evidence of durable benefit or effect at whole-population scale.
  • With consumer distribution gone, the remaining business depends on a small number of payer and provider contracts, so a buyer should assume real vendor continuity risk over a multi-year term.

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

Woebot Health

On request
  • Woebot for payers and providers$undefined/year
    • Contracted per member per month or as a population licence
    • Sold to health plans and provider organisations, not to employers or individuals
    • No consumer purchase route since the app closed in June 2025

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 Woebot Health if

  • You need scripted cbt dialogue.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want mood tracking.
Woebot Health review

Questions people ask

Is OpenClinica or Woebot Health better?
Neither clearly leads. OpenClinica starts at On request and Woebot Health at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpenClinica or Woebot Health?
OpenClinica starts at On request and Woebot Health at On request.
Does OpenClinica or Woebot Health run on more platforms?
OpenClinica runs on Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android. Woebot Health runs on iOS, Android, Web.
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 Woebot Health is typically brought in for.
What can OpenClinica do that Woebot Health cannot?
OpenClinica covers Open source community edition, Electronic data capture, eConsent, eCOA and ePRO. Woebot Health covers Scripted CBT dialogue, Mood tracking, Crisis routing, Between-session support.

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.

Woebot Health: Is Woebot still available?

Not to consumers. The consumer app closed in June 2025. The company continues to offer the product to payers, providers and researchers.

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.

Woebot Health: Is it FDA cleared?

No. It held Breakthrough Device designation but never obtained marketing authorisation, and the founder cited the cost of that pathway as the reason for closing the consumer app.

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.

Woebot Health: Is it generative AI?

Historically no. The dialogue is clinician-written and rule-based, a deliberate safety choice that limits how naturally it converses.

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.

Woebot Health: What does the evidence show?

Randomised studies reported reduced depressive symptoms over short periods in selected populations, notably young adults. That is symptom change in a trial, not demonstrated population outcomes.

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