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Cliniko vs wai

By the wai teamSeptember 8, 20264 min read

Summary

Cliniko is one of the best value purchases in this category and the price is on the page. $45 a month for 1 practitioner, $95 for 2 to 5, $145 for 6 to 8, $195 for 9 to 12, $295 for 13 to 25 and $395 for 26 to 200, read on cliniko.com on 8 September 2026. SMS is 10 cents a message and prices are stated in United States dollars.

Note the shape of that ladder. A 5 practitioner clinic pays $95 in total rather than per person, which is a fundamentally different curve from per seat pricing and it gets cheaper per clinician as the clinic grows. For a physiotherapy, chiropractic or podiatry group this is very hard to beat on cost.

wai is a different purchase and a more expensive one. Cliniko gives a growing allied health practice an excellent, cheap place to run its diary and its notes. wai answers the enquiries, books the appointments and drafts the letters, and publishes its own price on one page.

Cliniko prices the diary. We price the work that fills it.

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Cliniko and wai side by side
What you getClinikowai
Published priceSix bands, from $45Yes, on one page
Priced byPractitioner band, flatClinician and location
Cost per clinician as you growFalls sharplyFlat
Currency publishedUnited States dollarsUnited States dollars
Allied health workflowsA core strengthNot the focus
Note composed from the encounterTyped by the clinicianComposed, then approved
Phone, email and WhatsAppOutside the recordOne patient record

What Cliniko is good at

Price per clinician at scale. A 25 practitioner clinic on the $295 band pays under $12 a practitioner a month. Nothing else in this comparison set comes close on that measure, and for a large allied health group it is the deciding number.

Simplicity that holds up. Cliniko does the diary, the notes, the online booking and the invoices without a tier maze, and it has been doing them for long enough that the software is quiet. A clinic that wants to stop thinking about its practice management system will get that here.

Honest publishing. Six bands and the SMS rate, on the page, in a stated currency. No quote required.

Where the two models part

Cliniko is a very well made container. The diary, the note and the invoice all have a good place to live, and a person puts them there. That is the whole design and it is why it can cost $95 for five practitioners.

wai is priced on the work rather than the container. The enquiry is answered, the booking is taken, the note is composed from the encounter and the letter is drafted for approval. Those are hours rather than storage, which is why the price is higher and why the comparison is not really about software cost.

The test for a UK reader is currency and cover. Cliniko publishes in United States dollars, so a British clinic is carrying an exchange rate on its practice management line. That is a small point next to the larger one, which is that neither the phone nor the inbox is inside either price until you add the people who handle them.

Which one

Choose Cliniko if you run allied health, you have reception cover, and cost per practitioner is the number you are optimising. At 13 to 25 practitioners for $295 a month it is the cheapest serious option here and we will not argue with that.

Choose wai if the constraint is hours rather than licence cost. See the same trade against a UK product with a published ladder in Jump EHR vs wai.

What we are not claiming

We are not cheaper than Cliniko and we will never be. A clinic whose problem is the monthly software bill should buy Cliniko and stop reading.

We are also not claiming Cliniko's depth in allied health scheduling and multi practitioner rostering. It has been built into that shape for years.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Cliniko cost?

Cliniko publishes six bands on cliniko.com, read on 8 September 2026. $45 a month for 1 practitioner, $95 for 2 to 5, $145 for 6 to 8, $195 for 9 to 12, $295 for 13 to 25 and $395 for 26 to 200. Prices are stated in United States dollars and SMS messaging is 10 cents a message on pre-paid credits. An annual option gives one month free.

Does Cliniko publish prices in pounds?

No. On cliniko.com on 8 September 2026 the pricing page stated that prices are in United States dollars, with no GBP figures shown. A UK clinic therefore carries an exchange rate on the practice management line, which is minor at these amounts but worth knowing before you budget.

Is Cliniko cheaper than wai?

Yes, substantially, and it is priced by practitioner band rather than per seat so it gets cheaper per clinician as the clinic grows. wai is priced above it, published on our pricing page. The two are buying different things, a container for the work against the work itself, so the comparison is not licence against licence.

Is Cliniko good for allied health?

It is one of the strongest options for physiotherapy, chiropractic, podiatry and similar practices. Multi practitioner scheduling, online booking and note templates are built for that shape of clinic, and the flat band pricing suits a group rather than punishing it for hiring.

Cliniko or wai for a UK private clinic?

If you have reception cover and want the lowest predictable software cost, Cliniko. If your enquiries go unanswered after hours, your letters wait a week and your notes get written at home, a cheaper diary does not reach any of that, and wai covers the enquiry, the booking, the note and the letter on one record.

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