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Veterinary · head to head

RxWorks vs VIA Veterinary

R

RxWorks

Veterinary

Server-based practice management with a corporate group heritage in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

From
On request
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: RxWorks it is a legacy line inside Covetrus, which promotes Pulse as its strategic cloud product, so the practical question is not capability but how long the system will be supported and on what notice.; 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: RxWorks covers Multi-site group operation, VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which RxWorks and VIA Veterinary actually diverge.

Attributes where RxWorks and VIA Veterinary differ
AttributeRxWorksVIA Veterinary
PlatformsWindowsWindows, Web, iPadOS

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

  • Multi-site group operation
  • Dispensing and stock control
  • Client accounts
  • On-premise database
  • Regional configuration
  • Laboratory 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.

RxWorks

  • A practice joining an Australian, New Zealand or United Kingdom group that already standardises on RxWorksnot VIA Veterinary
  • A group that needs consolidated reporting and centrally controlled price lists across many sitesnot VIA Veterinary
  • A mixed or large animal practice that runs account customers on credit terms rather than payment at the time of servicenot VIA Veterinary
  • A site that cannot rely on its internet connection and needs the clinical record held locallynot VIA Veterinary

VIA Veterinary

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

Where each one falls short

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

RxWorks

  • It is a legacy line inside Covetrus, which promotes Pulse as its strategic cloud product, so the practical question is not capability but how long the system will be supported and on what notice.
  • It is a Windows server product, so the group carries hardware, database, patching and backup costs that never appear in the software quotation.
  • Its relevance is regional: outside Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom the installed base and the support and consultant network are thin, which matters for a group expanding into new markets.
  • Remote and mobile working is poor compared with cloud systems, which is a growing problem as groups centralise administration and clinicians expect record access away from the practice.
  • The eventual migration off it will be a full data conversion with retraining across every site, and at group scale that project cost should be modelled now rather than treated as a future problem.

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

RxWorks

On request
  • RxWorks$undefined/year
    • Quoted per site, normally under a group agreement
    • Annual support and maintenance charged separately
    • Server infrastructure is the responsibility of the practice or group

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 RxWorks if

  • You need multi-site group operation.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want dispensing and stock control.
RxWorks 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 RxWorks or VIA Veterinary better?
Neither clearly leads. RxWorks starts at On request and VIA Veterinary at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, RxWorks or VIA Veterinary?
RxWorks starts at On request and VIA Veterinary at On request.
Does RxWorks or VIA Veterinary run on more platforms?
RxWorks runs on Windows. VIA Veterinary runs on Windows, Web, iPadOS.
What is RxWorks best used for?
RxWorks is most often used for a practice joining an australian, new zealand or united kingdom group that already standardises on rxworks, a group that needs consolidated reporting and centrally controlled price lists across many sites, a mixed or large animal practice that runs account customers on credit terms rather than payment at the time of service, a site that cannot rely on its internet connection and needs the clinical record held locally. Of those, a practice joining an australian, new zealand or united kingdom group that already standardises on rxworks and a group that needs consolidated reporting and centrally controlled price lists across many sites are not what VIA Veterinary is typically brought in for.
What can RxWorks do that VIA Veterinary cannot?
RxWorks covers Multi-site group operation, Dispensing and stock control, Client accounts, On-premise database. VIA Veterinary covers Clinical flowsheets, Integrated SOAP, DICOM imaging, Laboratory results.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

RxWorks: Should a new practice adopt RxWorks today?

Generally no, unless you are joining a group that already runs it. A new independent practice should be evaluating cloud systems instead.

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.

RxWorks: Is it still supported?

Covetrus supports it, but Pulse is the stated strategic product. Ask for the support commitment and the end-of-life notice period as written contract terms.

VIA Veterinary: Is pricing published?

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

RxWorks: Where is it actually used?

Mostly Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, heavily within corporate practice groups. It has very little presence in the United States.

VIA Veterinary: Can it run in the cloud?

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

RxWorks: What does migration off it involve?

A full clinical and financial data conversion per site plus retraining. At group scale that is a programme of work, not a weekend.

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.

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