Summary
Six alternatives a UK private practice actually shortlists. Jump EHR, Carebit and WriteUpp publish full rate cards in pounds. Cliniko publishes only in United States dollars. Pabau, iaptus and Semble itself publish no figure at all. Wai is not a lower priced practice management system and does not claim to be, because it is priced on the enquiries and the letters rather than on the record.
Semble is the incumbent in UK private practice and the scale is real. Over 16,000 healthcare professionals across 80 specialities use it, stated on semble.io and read on 16 September 2026. Most practices looking at alternatives are not unhappy with the record. They want a number, or they want something the record does not reach.
The number is the harder part. On 16 September 2026 semble.io had no pricing page, no pricing link in its navigation and no figure on its homepage, so every Semble price circulating online comes from somebody else. That is the single most common reason a practice starts looking, and it is worth saying plainly that it is a commercial choice rather than a fault in the software.
What follows is the six alternatives a UK clinic actually shortlists, what each publishes, and what it costs, each read from the vendor's own page on the date given. Where a vendor publishes nothing, the entry says so rather than repeating a figure somebody else guessed.
A price you can read is the difference between a shortlist on a Sunday and a fortnight of calls.
Book a demo| Product | Published entry price | Publishes in pounds | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jump EHR | £100 per user a month | Yes | Seven volume bands down to £70 at 201 users |
| Carebit | £79 per clinician a month plus VAT | Yes | Starter capped at 18 bookings a month |
| WriteUpp | £19.95 a month | Yes | Scribe £23.95 per user, booking £4.95 per clinic |
| Cliniko | $45 a month, 1 practitioner | No, dollars only | Flat practitioner bands, lowest cost at scale |
| Pabau | Not published | No figure shown | Five plan sizes, priced by location and user count |
| iaptus | Not published | No figure shown | Commissioned services, quoted per service |
| Semble | Not published | No figure shown | No pricing page on its own site |
Why practices look
Three reasons come up repeatedly, and only one of them is about the software. The first is the price, because a practice cannot budget or compare against a figure that arrives in a conversation, and a renewal is the moment that becomes urgent.
The second is fit. Semble now describes AI-powered notes, automated reminders and letters, and integrations with other business tools on its own site. A practice should test those workflows against its actual phone and inbox coverage before assuming it needs another system.
The third is fit, which is the honest one. An aesthetics clinic marketing to its own patient list, an allied health group with twenty practitioners and a single consultant doing clinics two days a week are three different purchases, and the incumbent is not automatically wrong for any of them.
The ones that publish a figure
Jump EHR publishes more of its price than anyone else in this set. £100 per user a month at 1 to 5 users, stepping down through seven bands to £70 at 201 and above, with annual billing 20% below monthly, read on usejump.co.uk on 13 September 2026. It also publishes the awkward numbers, £2,500 for onboarding and migration from Semble specifically, £850 a training day, 0.5% on card payments and 5p a patient SMS.
Carebit publishes three tiers on carebit.co, read on 8 September 2026. Starter at £79 per clinician a month plus VAT and capped at 18 bookings, Core at £119 paid yearly or £149 monthly, Pro at £215 yearly or £269 monthly. The cap on Starter is the figure to read first, because a consultant seeing five patients a week passes it inside a month.
WriteUpp publishes the fullest ladder in pounds at the small end, from £19.95 a month, with the AI scribe at £23.95 per user and online booking at £4.95 per clinic, read on writeupp.com on 12 September 2026. Full detail is in WriteUpp vs Wai.
The one that publishes, in dollars
Cliniko publishes six practitioner bands from $45 a month, read on cliniko.com on 12 September 2026, and states its figures in United States dollars with no pound equivalent anywhere. A UK clinic is billed in dollars, so the sterling cost moves with the rate and most cards add a non sterling fee.
For a larger allied health group it is still the lowest priced serious option here, because the bands are flat rather than per seat. A twenty five practitioner clinic on the $295 band pays under $12 a practitioner a month, which nothing else in this set approaches. The arithmetic is set out in Cliniko pricing in the UK.
The ones that quote
Pabau names five plan sizes and shows no figure against any of them, stating that pricing depends on location and user count, read on pabau.com on 13 September 2026. It is strong software for aesthetics and for marketing to an existing patient list, and a clinic buying that should shortlist it regardless of how the price arrives. Detail in Pabau pricing in the UK.
iaptus prices through commissioned services quoted per service, which suits the specialist providers it is built around and makes a like for like comparison with a per user product difficult by design.
For any vendor that quotes, four things are worth getting in writing before comparing, the per user monthly figure in pounds, what sits outside the base plan at that tier, the minimum seat count, and what the rate becomes in year two. A published rate card answers all four before a buyer makes contact.
What moving actually costs
The subscription is the smaller number. Migration is the one every vendor underestimates and every practice remembers, and Jump EHR is unusual in publishing a figure for it at £2,500 for onboarding and migration from Semble, which at least gives a practice something real to budget against.
Beyond the fee, cost the two weeks where staff run both systems, the appointments that have to be rekeyed, and the recall lists that do not export cleanly. A practice that has been on an incumbent for five years is moving more history than it expects.
None of that argues for staying. It argues for doing the move once, deliberately, at a quiet point in the year rather than in a renewal panic.
Where Wai is different
Wai is not a lower priced practice management tool and it does not claim to be. Every product above stores the diary, the record and the invoice, and a person still answers the enquiry, takes the booking, chases the result and drafts the letter.
Wai is priced on that work instead. The enquiry is answered, the booking is taken, the note is composed from the encounter and the letter is drafted for approval, on one record, at a figure published in pounds on our pricing page. That is why it costs more than a diary and why the comparison is not licence against licence.
A practice whose binding constraint is the monthly software bill should buy Jump, Carebit or WriteUpp and stop reading here. Clinicians still decide what enters the record and what reaches a patient.
What we are not claiming
We are not claiming to know what Semble, Pabau or iaptus cost. None of the three published a figure on the dates above and we will not repeat a number somebody else guessed at.
We are also not claiming Semble is poor software. It is the incumbent in UK private practice on its own published numbers, its integration surface is genuinely valuable to a practice already wired into those suppliers, and a clinic that is happy with it has no reason to move.
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Book a demoFrequently asked questions
What are the main alternatives to Semble in the UK?
Jump EHR, Carebit, WriteUpp, Cliniko, Pabau and iaptus are the six a UK private practice usually shortlists. Jump, Carebit and WriteUpp publish prices in pounds, Cliniko publishes in United States dollars, and Pabau and iaptus quote after a conversation.
How much does Semble cost?
No figure is published. On 16 September 2026 semble.io had no pricing page, no pricing link in its navigation and no figure on its homepage. Every Semble price circulating online comes from a third party rather than from Semble, so treat any number you find as somebody's estimate.
Which Semble alternative is cheapest?
On published entry price, WriteUpp at £19.95 a month for a single user. At scale Cliniko has a low cost per clinician because its bands are flat rather than per seat, though it prices only in dollars. The lowest licence price is not the same as the full running cost, which depends on staffing and the tools a clinic needs.
What does it cost to move off Semble?
Jump EHR publishes £2,500 for onboarding and migration from Semble specifically, read on usejump.co.uk on 13 September 2026, which is the only public figure for that move we have found. Budget beyond it for the fortnight of running both systems and for recall lists that do not export cleanly.
Is there a UK alternative that publishes its whole price?
Jump EHR comes closest. Seven volume bands from £100 down to £70 per user a month, the annual discount, £2,500 onboarding, £850 a training day, 0.5% card fees and 5p a patient SMS, all on one public page read on 13 September 2026.
Do any of these include an AI scribe?
WriteUpp sells one as an add-on at £23.95 per user a month. Semble connects to third party scribes rather than shipping its own. Wai composes the note from the consultation as part of the clinician price rather than as an extra line.
Should a small clinic move off Semble at all?
Not for its own sake. If the record and diary work and the price is acceptable, staying can be the lower cost decision. Test the workflows that matter, including enquiries, letters and after-hours appointments, before considering a move.
See it on your own clinic
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