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Veterinary · head to head

Shepherd vs Techcyte

Shepherd logo

Shepherd

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management built by a practising vet

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Techcyte logo

Techcyte

Healthcare

AI digital pathology across clinical, veterinary and environmental laboratory disciplines

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Shepherd quote-only pricing with no published rates; Techcyte regulatory status runs the opposite way to what most buyers assume: the products are CE marked and clinically deployed in Europe while several United States offerings including Fusion Parasitology are labelled research use only and not for diagnostic use, so an American laboratory must verify each module individually.
  • They diverge on capability: Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, Techcyte covers Fusion Parasitology Suite.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Shepherd and Techcyte actually diverge.

Attributes where Shepherd and Techcyte differ
AttributeShepherdTechcyte
PlatformsWeb, CloudWeb
CategoryVeterinaryHealthcare

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Shepherd

  • Consultation-first records
  • Charges from treatment
  • Inventory
  • Cloud-based

Only in Techcyte

  • Fusion Parasitology Suite
  • Cervical cytology
  • Haematology
  • Urinalysis
  • Bacteriology and mycology
  • Vetcyte
  • Scanner agnostic ingestion
  • Remote review

What people use each for

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

Shepherd

  • Practices losing revenue to treatment delivered but never billednot Techcyte
  • Clinics replacing on-premise legacy systemsnot Techcyte
  • Independent practices wanting something designed around clinical work rather than administrationnot Techcyte

Techcyte

  • A clinical laboratory that cannot recruit technologists for high volume manual parasitology screening and needs AI pre screening with human releasenot Shepherd
  • A veterinary reference laboratory processing large volumes of faecal and blood smears that wants Vetcyte to triage the normal casesnot Shepherd
  • A European laboratory that can deploy the CE marked products clinically, which is where Techcyte regulatory position is strongestnot Shepherd
  • An environmental testing laboratory needing consistent microscopy classification across analysts and sitesnot Shepherd

Where each one falls short

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

Shepherd

  • Quote-only pricing with no published rates
  • A smaller vendor than the established systems, with a correspondingly shorter track record
  • Cloud-only, so consultations depend on clinic connectivity

Techcyte

  • Regulatory status runs the opposite way to what most buyers assume: the products are CE marked and clinically deployed in Europe while several United States offerings including Fusion Parasitology are labelled research use only and not for diagnostic use, so an American laboratory must verify each module individually.
  • Slide scanning for parasitology, haematology and cytology needs multi plane imaging that a histology scanner may not produce, so a laboratory that already owns a scanner often has to buy new hardware, which becomes the biggest line in the project.
  • Each discipline is licensed separately, so a laboratory wanting parasitology, urinalysis and haematology assembles three modules and three validation studies rather than buying one platform.
  • AI pre screening does not remove the need for a qualified reviewer to release results, so the staffing saving is in review time per slide, not in headcount, and business cases that assume otherwise do not hold.
  • Techcyte covers a very wide set of disciplines, which means depth varies between them, and the maturity of a newer module is not the maturity of the parasitology or cytology products that made the company its name.

Pricing, plan by plan

Shepherd

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Shepherd review.

Techcyte

On request
  • Techcyte$undefined/year
    • Priced per slide or per annual specimen volume by discipline
    • Each discipline module licensed separately
    • Slide scanning hardware bought separately, not included

Which should you pick?

Choose Shepherd if

  • You need consultation-first records.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want charges from treatment.
Shepherd review

Choose Techcyte if

  • You need fusion parasitology suite.
  • You also want cervical cytology.
Techcyte review

Questions people ask

Is Shepherd or Techcyte better?
Neither clearly leads. Shepherd starts at On request and Techcyte at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Shepherd or Techcyte?
Shepherd starts at On request and Techcyte at On request.
Does Shepherd or Techcyte run on more platforms?
Shepherd runs on Web, Cloud. Techcyte runs on Web.
What is Shepherd best used for?
Shepherd is most often used for practices losing revenue to treatment delivered but never billed, clinics replacing on-premise legacy systems, independent practices wanting something designed around clinical work rather than administration. Of those, practices losing revenue to treatment delivered but never billed and clinics replacing on-premise legacy systems are not what Techcyte is typically brought in for.
What can Shepherd do that Techcyte cannot?
Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, Charges from treatment, Inventory, Cloud-based. Techcyte covers Fusion Parasitology Suite, Cervical cytology, Haematology, Urinalysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Shepherd: What does Shepherd cost?

Pricing is quoted per practice and not published.

Techcyte: Is Techcyte FDA cleared?

Not uniformly. Several United States offerings, including the Fusion Parasitology Suite, are labelled research use only and not for diagnostic use in the United States. Check the regulatory status of each specific module for your country before purchase.

Shepherd: What makes it different from other veterinary systems?

It was designed by a practising vet around the consultation workflow, so charges accrue from recorded treatment rather than being entered as a separate billing step.

Techcyte: Can we use it clinically in Europe?

Techcyte solutions are CE marked and clinically deployed across Europe, which is where its regulatory position is strongest. Confirm the current certificate for the specific module.

Shepherd: Is it cloud-only?

Yes, which removes server maintenance and makes connectivity a dependency.

Techcyte: Does it eliminate the need for a technologist?

No. AI pre screens and prioritises, but a qualified reviewer still releases results. The saving is in review time per slide.

Techcyte: Do we need a specific scanner?

Techcyte works with several scanner vendors, but disciplines such as parasitology and haematology need multi plane imaging that many histology scanners cannot produce, so confirm hardware compatibility early.

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