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Veterinary · head to head

Shepherd vs Vetstoria

Shepherd logo

Shepherd

Veterinary

Cloud veterinary practice management built by a practising vet

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: Shepherd quote-only pricing with no published rates; 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: Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, 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 Shepherd and Vetstoria actually diverge.

Attributes where Shepherd and Vetstoria differ
AttributeShepherdVetstoria
Starting priceOn request£199/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by clinician band
PlatformsWeb, CloudWeb

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 Shepherd

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

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.

Shepherd

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

Vetstoria

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

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

Shepherd

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Shepherd review.

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 Shepherd if

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

Choose Vetstoria if

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

Questions people ask

Is Shepherd or Vetstoria better?
Neither clearly leads. Shepherd 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, Shepherd or Vetstoria?
Shepherd starts at On request and Vetstoria at £199/month.
Does Shepherd or Vetstoria run on more platforms?
Shepherd runs on Web, Cloud. Vetstoria 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 Vetstoria is typically brought in for.
What can Shepherd do that Vetstoria cannot?
Shepherd covers Consultation-first records, Charges from treatment, Inventory, Cloud-based. Vetstoria covers Real-time PIMS write-back, Appointment triage rules, Deposits and payments, Regional currency pricing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Shepherd: What does Shepherd cost?

Pricing is quoted per practice and not published.

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.

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.

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.

Shepherd: Is it cloud-only?

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

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.

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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