The answer
SimplePractice is a practice system your team runs the day in, and wai is a clinical operating system that does much of that work for them. wai drafts the note and letters in 60 languages for the doctor to sign, drafts every reply for your team to send, and runs booking, deposits, payments and the patient app on the same record, with a SOC 2 Type II report on request and The Wellness in London running on it every day.
The table below compares SimplePractice and wai row by row on the record, booking, payments, the note, letters, the front desk and cited answers. Every SimplePractice cell is footnoted to SimplePractice's own page as it read on 16 October 2026, and the wai cells come from our own product and pricing pages.
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoWill your clinicians still be finishing letters at nine tonight? Fifteen minutes shows the evening without them.
| What you get | SimplePractice | wai |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | Starter $49, Essential $79 and Plus $99 a month, 50% off for the first 3 months8 | Clinician Plus $550 and Clinician $350 a clinician a month, both published |
| Clinical record and notes | Yes, with a template library for therapists9 | One record for the consult, the front desk and the patient's own profile |
| Patients book online | Yes, clients request or schedule appointments online within set availability10 | Yes, booking links that read each doctor's calendar, with waitlist backfill |
| Deposits and payments at booking | Yes, card payments and AutoPay through the Client Portal, processed by Stripe11 | Yes, deposits, invoices and memberships through the clinic's own Stripe |
| Note drafted from the consultation | AI Note Taker add-on at $35 a month, or within Care Aide at $59 a month8 | Yes, in the room or on video, for the clinician to sign |
| Referral and clinic letters | Not listed on its site9 | Referral and clinic letters, prescriptions and result explanations |
| Calls and patient messages answered | Secure client messaging and group announcements. No phone answering listed12 | Calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp in one thread per patient, replies drafted for approval |
| Cited answers to clinical questions | Not listed on its site9 | Yes, cited to current guidance and peer-reviewed papers |
Where wai is ahead
The consultation writes up as it happens. wai drafts the note, the referral and clinic letters, the coding and cited answers from the consultation for the clinician to sign, on the same record as the booking. SimplePractice's own pages list no letters, no phone answering and no cited answers.
The front desk answers. Calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp land in one thread per patient with replies drafted for approval, so the clinic answers the patient who would otherwise ring the next practice on the list.
One record for the consult, the front desk and the patient's own profile, with booking links that read each doctor's calendar, waitlist backfill, and deposits, invoices and memberships through the clinic's own Stripe. Every AI action that affects a patient is drafted for a person to review and approve. The clinician signs the note, the letter and the codes, and the front desk approves each reply before it goes.
The evidence behind wai's method
The note is one part of the day the evidence measures. In a randomised trial of 238 outpatient physicians across 14 specialties at UCLA Health, the ambient scribe with a significant effect cut the time spent writing each note by about 41 seconds, against 18 seconds in usual care.1 At The Permanente Medical Group, 3,442 physicians used an ambient scribe across 303,266 encounters in its first ten weeks, and reported more personal conversations with patients and less clerical work after hours.2 wai is built on that finding, so it takes on the letters, the replies, the booking and the follow-up as well as the note.
A draft stays a draft until a person signs it. Article 14 of the EU AI Act requires high-risk AI systems to be designed so that people can oversee them effectively,3 and in the UK the MHRA and NHS England publish guidance on ambient voice technology in health and care.45 wai holds every draft until the doctor signs it, and every reply until a person at the clinic sends it.
The patient's own language. In a systematic review of 33 studies, 76% found at least one outcome better when patient and physician shared a language other than English.6 wai works in 60 languages, so the consultation can happen in the patient's own and the signed note is still written for the record.
Measured in a working clinic. At The Wellness in London, which runs on wai every day, every clinician has 15 hours a week back, as published in the customer story.7
Moving from SimplePractice to wai
Start with one clinician, alongside what you use today. Request a demo and bring one real consultation. In fifteen minutes you see the note, the letter and the codes it produces, on your own workflow.
Your history can stay in SimplePractice while wai runs the consultation and the front desk alongside it. Signed notes and letters export to your record, and calendars connect from Google, Outlook and Apple. The switching checklist covers what to move, and when.
Then a 90 day pilot shaped around your team, which ends with three numbers from your own clinic, revenue, hours saved and patients cared for. The decision is then made on your data, not ours.
What it costs
wai publishes its prices. Clinician Plus is $550 a clinician a month, with bespoke templates, a records sync and a larger allowance, and Clinician is $350, with the note, letters, coding and cited answers from every consultation. Admin, the front desk, is priced per location after a demo.
SimplePractice's published price, as its own page showed it on 16 October 2026, is in the first row of the table with its source. Set the seat against what it replaces. An hour of a clinician's evening, a letter that waits a day, a call that goes to voicemail and a patient who books elsewhere each cost more than the line on the invoice, which is why the comparison worth making is the whole day, not the note.
Would one real consultation settle it? Bring one, and see the note, the letter and the codes it produces.
Frequently asked questions
Is SimplePractice or wai better for a private clinic?
For a clinic that wants more than the note, wai. It drafts the note, letters, coding and cited answers from each consultation and runs the front desk, booking and payments on the same record.
What does wai take off the team's day?
wai drafts the note and letters from the consultation for the clinician to sign, and drafts every reply to calls, WhatsApp and email for the team to send, on the same record as booking, deposits and payments. It holds a SOC 2 Type II report, sent on request.
How much does SimplePractice cost compared with wai?
SimplePractice, from its own page on 16 October 2026. Starter $49, Essential $79 and Plus $99 a month, 50% off for the first 3 months. wai Clinician Plus is $550 and Clinician is $350 a clinician a month, both published, and Admin is priced per location after a demo.
Does SimplePractice answer the phone or take bookings?
SimplePractice on calls and messages, from its own pages on 16 October 2026. Secure client messaging and group announcements. No phone answering listed. For booking, yes, clients request or schedule appointments online within set availability. wai answers calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp in one thread per patient, with replies drafted for approval, and takes bookings and deposits on the same record.
Can we move from SimplePractice to wai without losing records?
Yes. Start with one clinician alongside SimplePractice. Signed notes and letters export to the record you already keep, so nothing has to be switched off on the first day, and a 90 day pilot ends with revenue, hours saved and patients cared for from your own clinic.
Sources
- Ambient AI Scribes in Clinical Practice, A Randomized Trial, read 23 October 2026
- Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribes to Alleviate the Burden of Clinical Documentation, read 23 October 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the Artificial Intelligence Act, Article 14, human oversight, read 23 October 2026
- Ambient voice technology enabled products, read 23 October 2026
- Guidance on the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing products in health and care settings, read 23 October 2026
- A Systematic Review of the Impact of Patient-Physician Non-English Language Concordance on Quality of Care and Outcomes, read 23 October 2026
- The Wellness, customer story, read 23 October 2026
- SimplePractice, simplepractice.com/pricing, read 16 October 2026
- SimplePractice, simplepractice.com, read 16 October 2026
- SimplePractice, simplepractice.com/features/online-booking, read 16 October 2026
- SimplePractice, simplepractice.com/features/credit-card-processing, read 16 October 2026
- SimplePractice, simplepractice.com/features/hipaa-compliant-secure-messaging, read 16 October 2026
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