MedRecPlus vs Cliniko: Which Practice Software Fits Your Clinic?

If you run a physiotherapy, chiropractic, podiatry or psychology practice, Cliniko is probably the first name you hear — and for good reason. It is a mature, well-liked product. But its pricing model means the longer you stay, the more you pay, forever. This is an honest comparison: what Cliniko does better, where a $20 one-time license wins, and who should pick which.

What Cliniko is, and who it is for

Cliniko is practice management software built for allied health — physiotherapy, chiropractic, podiatry, psychology and similar practices. Appointments, treatment notes, billing, online bookings and patient records in one browser-based product (with an iOS app), backed by a 30-day free trial that needs no credit card.

Its reputation is genuinely earned: every plan includes every feature (no gated essentials), admin and reception users are unlimited and free, and locations, patients and file storage are unlimited too. Support is free and human. It is the safe, established choice — and it is priced like one.

The pricing math (this is the whole comparison)

Cliniko charges per practitioner, in bands (USD, as listed on their pricing page — verify before you commit):

• 1 practitioner: $45/month ($540/year). Every feature included.
• 2–5 practitioners: $95/month ($1,140/year).
• 6–8: $145/month. 9–12: $195/month. 13–25: $295/month. 26–200: $395/month.
• SMS reminders cost extra: 10¢ per message on prepaid credits.

Now multiply by 60 months — the five-year cost of staying:

• Solo practitioner: $2,700 over five years.
• A 3-practitioner clinic: $5,700.
• An 8-practitioner clinic: $8,700.

MedRecPlus is a $20 one-time purchase per workspace — no practitioner bands, no monthly meter, no per-seat uplift. The five-year cost is $20. That is not a typo; it is the entire business-model difference. Cliniko rents you the software by headcount. MedRecPlus sells you a license.

When a vendor prices per practitioner, growth is taxed. Every hire raises your software bill — check whether your cost per visit is creeping up as the team grows.

Where Cliniko is genuinely stronger

• Allied-health depth. Treatment notes, practitioner workflows and integrations (Xero for accounting, Rehab My Patient, HealthEngine) reflect years of focus on exactly your kind of practice.
• Support and maturity. Free, human support and a long track record. If something breaks at 8pm before a full day of patients, that matters.
• Multi-location polish. Unlimited locations on every plan, with the operational wrinkles of running several sites already ironed out.

If you run a multi-site allied health group, live in treatment notes, and want accounting integrations today, Cliniko earns its subscription.

Where MedRecPlus wins

• Price, obviously. $20 once versus thousands over five years. The money you do not spend on subscription is a week of receptionist hours — or new equipment.
• No headcount tax. Practitioners, receptionists, locations: adding them costs nothing extra. Your software bill stays flat while your team grows.
• Real apps, not just a browser tab. Native Android and Windows desktop apps with a local database that keeps working offline — useful where internet is flaky, or when you simply do not want your clinic’s records living only in someone else’s cloud.
• Built for Europe. Eight interface languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Indonesian — Cliniko's interface is English-only), VAT-aware invoicing, and a GDPR-first design with audit trails, erasure flows and portable export.
• Your data stays yours. Stop paying a subscription and you can lose access to your own records. A one-time license never holds your patient data hostage.

For the full checklist both options should pass, see our guide to choosing clinic management software.

The honest caveats about MedRecPlus

• It is younger. Cliniko has years of allied-health edge cases baked in; MedRecPlus is still building that depth.
• Fewer integrations. No Xero sync or rehab-exercise library yet — if those are load-bearing in your workflow, check the roadmap before switching.
• Narrower allied-health tooling. If treatment-note depth is your daily bread, trial both side by side before deciding.

We would rather you pick Cliniko for the right reasons than pick us for the wrong ones.

Who should pick which

• Pick Cliniko if you are an allied-health practice that lives in treatment notes, you need Xero or accounting integrations today, you value a mature product with human support, and the per-practitioner subscription fits your budget.
• Pick MedRecPlus if you want to stop paying rent on your own records, you run a small clinic where every dollar of overhead matters, you need offline-capable desktop and Android apps, or GDPR and European invoicing are non-negotiable.