Updated November 4, 2026Advertiser Disclosure
The short answer
Dental practice management software is the one system your whole office runs on, and it’s the hardest thing here to leave, so choose it by how you’d get out as much as by what it does. The best fit depends on your office. An independent owner who wants control fits Open Dental, an office leaving its server behind fits Dentrix Ascend or Curve Dental, and a group fits Denticon. New practices should compare the first-year offers from tab32, Oryx and Dentrix Ascend, and an office staying on its own server has Dentrix and Eaglesoft. Before you sign anything, find out how long you’re committed, what moving in costs and exactly how your records come back out.
Prices checked November 1, 2026 on each company’s own website.
Nobody buys a rank here. We place every company using our own scoring system, built on many factors, from what real customers tell us to what the contract asks of you. That’s our verdict, but yours is the one that counts. The best choice is the one that fits your practice, and we’re here to help you find it.
Start with what this software does in an ordinary day, what the words mean and what you need to buy before your first patient.
What it’s forSee how long each contract holds you, what moving in costs and how your charts, X-rays and balances get out again.
Moving & leavingOne table with the order, who each system fits, the price and customer ratings, plus our grades on what matters most.
The 5-minute briefDental practice management software is the system everyone in your office has open from the moment the lights come on. Your front desk books in it, your hygienist charts in it, your dentist writes the treatment plan in it, and whoever handles billing lives in it all afternoon. It holds every patient’s appointments, chart, X-rays, insurance and balance. When it’s slow, the whole office feels it. When it’s down, you’re looking at a full schedule with no idea who’s coming in.
That’s why this purchase isn’t like buying a new phone or a new chair. You can change almost anything else in a dental office over a weekend. Changing this means moving years of charts, images and account balances, retraining every person on your team, and trusting that the money still adds up on the other side. Many offices stay on software they’ve stopped liking for that reason alone. So the question isn’t only which system looks good in a demo. It’s whether you can live with it for a long time, and whether you can get your patients’ records back if you can’t.
This guide compares ten systems by fit, from a dentist opening a first office to a group with many locations. For each one, you’ll see the price where there is one, how long the contract runs, what moving in takes and how your data comes back out, all taken from each company’s own pages. Where a company’s pages don’t answer something, we write “Ask before you sign,” so you know exactly what to raise before you put your name on anything. If a word sounds like software talk, we explain it where it appears, and our list of dental software words in plain English is there whenever you need it.
The 5-minute brief on dental practice management software
Among dental practice management software, Open Dental is the best fit for an owner who wants prices you can see and a signed HIPAA agreement you can download, while Dentrix Ascend and Curve Dental are the best fit for an office that wants the cloud and no server. Five of the ten publish a regular price. Curve Dental, Dentrix and Eaglesoft sell by quote, and Dentrix Ascend publishes only a first-year offer for new practices. Denticon shows one starting price with no unit attached.
| System | Best fit for | Plan to start with | Price | Customer review ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1Denticon | Groups with several locations | Denticon package | By quote | G2 4.7 out of 5Capterra 4.5 out of 5 |
| #2Oryx | Startups and small offices that want it all included | Oryx Pro | $650 a month | G2 4.8 out of 5 · no Capterra rating shown |
| #3tab32 | Small offices watching every dollar | Alpine | $125 first year, then $225 | G2 3.3 out of 5Capterra 4.3 out of 5 |
| #4Open Dental | Independent offices that want control | License and support | $199 a month, then $149 | G2 4.3 out of 5Capterra 4.6 out of 5 |
| #5CareStack | Busy offices and specialists wanting one platform | Essentials | From $829 a month | G2 4.7 out of 5Capterra 4.8 out of 5 |
| #6Dentrix Ascend | Offices wanting cloud from a familiar name | Ascend Essentials | By quote | G2 4.3 out of 5Capterra 4.1 out of 5 |
| #7Eaglesoft | Established single offices on their own server | Service Club plan | By quote | G2 4.2 out of 5Capterra 4.1 out of 5 |
| #8Dentrix | Single offices happy on their own server | Dentrix with Connected Care Essentials | By quote | G2 4.1 out of 5Capterra 4.3 out of 5 |
| #9Curve Dental | Single offices and small groups going to the cloud | Curve subscription | By quote | G2 4.6 out of 5Capterra 4.4 out of 5 |
| #10Archy | Offices that want one flat price and no seat counts | Archy Platform | $899 a month | G2 4.1 out of 5Capterra 4.7 out of 5 |
Our grades for dental practice software
Star ratings tell you whether people like a system. They don’t tell you what happens when you try to cancel, or whether the company will hand your records back. So we graded each company on the seven things that decide whether you’ll be glad you signed or sorry you did, the way a report card would.
A Good doesn’t mean perfect, and a Poor doesn’t mean a bad company. It means this is where you should slow down and look closer before you sign. “Not enough information” never counts against anyone. You’ll see it on Happy customers, because only CareStack and Curve Dental have enough recent reviews for us to grade fairly, and the other eight show “Fewer reviews so far” under their names, which means a company’s place could move as more reviews come in. It also shows where a company’s terms couldn’t be read, or where nothing published tells us whether a system stays up, because we don’t grade what we can’t see. Canceling fairly looks at what a company’s terms actually allow, so a long term with no early exit earns a low grade even when it’s stated clearly.
The report card: dental practice management software
Scroll inside the card to see all 10
Grade details
Denticon
The only price shown is a $795 a month starting figure with no unit, and your real package comes by quote. Implementation, conversion and training fees are set in your order, with no amounts published.
Its contract promises 99.5% uptime a month, with 10% back if it falls short and 20% back below 98%. Its public status page lists incidents by date.
Admins control rights by user or group, with a detailed audit trail. Go-live training is two days, virtual or on site, and its help center is public. Expect about 60 days to get started as a solo office and 8 weeks per location for groups.
Support is mainly by ticket, with the team calling you back, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern.
It renews by itself a year at a time unless you give 30 days’ notice. Leaving early takes 60 days’ notice and you owe the rest of the term. You own your data, though a $995 fee may apply to some patient and imaging exports.
One patient record across offices, batch claims, automatic insurance checks and a HIPAA agreement built into the contract. It’s made mainly for groups, and a solo office can buy it but has no plan or price of its own.
Grade details
Oryx
Prices are published per location for up to 2 providers: Pro $650, Automate $899 and AI $1,399 a month. Offices moving in pay setup and conversion fees with no amounts published, and card payments can add up to 3%.
Roles are set by position, with read, write and delete levels, and every chart opened is logged. You get live group training by Zoom and an assigned customer success manager after go-live. Plan on 2 to 3 months to get started.
Call +1 (206) 900-8082, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central. A public help center and a response time aren’t published.
The first term is 12 months with no exit for convenience, and committed fees stay owed. Give 30 days’ written notice before the term ends. You get one data export, up to 30 days after the contract ends.
Cloud in a browser, with eligibility and claims on Pro and a HIPAA agreement built into the contract. It covers startups, small offices and groups on Enterprise.
Grade details
tab32
Start-Up is $125 a month in year 1, then $225, and Established is $225. Claims, insurance checks and AutoRemind add to that, and moving your data in is by quote.
It labels a 99.9% uptime figure and has a status page, though no credit is stated and its terms don’t promise uninterrupted service.
It states role-based access and a full audit trail, with live remote training sessions. A dedicated account manager comes on a higher plan, and a searchable help center isn’t published.
Its pages describe direct phone support and report a fast average answer time. We couldn’t open its site to confirm the number and hours on the day we checked, so get both before you sign.
Start-Up has no long-term contract, but its main User Agreement isn’t public, so renewal, notice and refund terms can’t be confirmed. One FAQ promises a full export with no export fees, with no format or steps given.
It’s fully cloud and priced for small offices, but claims and insurance checks cost extra each time. Its privacy pages say it works as a HIPAA business associate for providers who sign that same User Agreement, and that agreement isn’t public.
Grade details
Open Dental
It’s $199 a month per location for 12 months, then $149, for up to 3 providers, with $20 for each extra one. Add-ons, training and moving your data are priced on its site too, such as about $1,450 to convert a database.
On its standard setup the system runs on your own server, so staying up is largely in your hands. It has no uptime promise and no separate status page, though it posts outages and fixes on its Announcements page.
User groups and a security admin permission set who can do what, and there’s an audit trail in the software. Setup after a conversion is included for 30 days, with free webinars and an online manual. Live training costs $80 an hour online.
Phone support runs Monday to Thursday, 5 a.m. to 5:25 p.m., Friday to 5 p.m., Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific, with urgent after-hours help until 9 p.m.
The first 12 months are a set term, and then fees continue month to month. The notice it takes and the cost of leaving early aren’t published, and neither is any refund for unused time.
It states an answer on all six key needs, with a signed HIPAA agreement you can download and claims and insurance checks in the software. One database can run several clinics. The help and fee for moving your data to another company aren’t published.
Grade details
CareStack
It starts at $829 and $1,299 a month, and its FAQ says that’s per location, but your real bill needs a quote. Implementation, taxes and add-ons are extra, with no amounts published.
Most offices reviewing it on Google over the past year praise its setup and support, and some found the move from their old system hard going, so plan your switch with care.
Its status page showed all systems running, but no uptime promise, credit or list of past outages is published.
You can restrict access by module, and there’s a full audit trail. A single office rollout takes about 4 to 5 weeks, with 4 to 5 live training sessions, an implementation lead and then a customer success manager.
Call (407) 305-3481, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, with chat or email on weekends. It guarantees a live person by chat and phone in under one minute.
Its US contract isn’t public, so the term, the notice and the cost of leaving aren’t stated, and neither is how a full export works when you go. Get all of that in writing.
Cloud only, with eligibility and claims included, and it publishes its own HIPAA agreement. It fits startups through groups. How you get a full export when you leave is the open key need.
Grade details
Dentrix Ascend
New practices see $199 a month for the first year, but the price after that isn’t published, and Essentials, Pro and Accelerate are by quote.
Its status page is public, but the uptime figures shown disagree, and any credits sit in service terms behind a password, so we can’t confirm a promise.
It has customizable roles and security rights, plus an audit log report. A project manager runs the move, with full-day hands-on training, and user guides and Ascend Academy back that up.
Call 855-232-9493, option 2. Its help guide says Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, while marketing pages say 24/7, and it says calls are answered in under 90 seconds on average.
Cloud only, with no server, and packages from new practices to groups. A signed HIPAA agreement for Ascend and a full export when you leave are the two things to ask about, because they depend on terms behind a password.
Grade details
Eaglesoft
No dollar price is published. Plans are 10% to 50% off a Service Club rate you only get from sales.
Security profiles set who can do what, and an audit trail records changes on the schedule. A customer success manager guides setup, with free webinars and a knowledge portal open 24/7. Conversions typically take 4 to 6 weeks.
Call 800.475.5036, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central, with limited holiday hours. Emailed questions are answered within one business day.
Fees are non-cancelable and non-refundable, and its plans carry a 24-month enrollment. The notice it takes isn’t published.
It runs on a server in your office, and a HIPAA agreement comes with the license. Electronic claims run through outside services and it isn’t clear if they cost extra, and moving a full database to another company isn’t described.
Grade details
Dentrix
No price or unit is published. The software, the support plan and the add-ons are all quoted, and electronic claims carry a $15 monthly minimum.
It has per-user security rights and an audit trail report, with a project manager and a full-day hands-on training session, plus a Resource Center and help guide.
Call 800.336.8749, Monday to Thursday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain, with no weekend hours. Support covers the latest two versions only.
Its plan runs 12 months and renews for 12 more. Give 60 days’ written notice before the term ends, and leaving mid-term may owe the rest. All fees are non-refundable.
A long-running desktop system on your own server, with electronic claims and insurance checks as paid add-ons. We found no current HIPAA agreement that names it, and how a full export works when you leave isn’t published.
Grade details
Curve Dental
It’s priced by quote, per provider, with no dollar figure published. One-time services and onsite days cost extra, and those amounts aren’t published either.
Dental offices on G2 and Google over the past year were more pleased than not, which gives a fair read on how offices feel after living with it.
It has a status page listing five systems, but no uptime promise, credit or list of past outages is published.
It has user and location permissions and audit logs. You get live webinars, an implementation project manager and 90 days with an account manager.
Call 888-910-4376, option 1, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern on weekdays, with emergency help 24/7. Weekend help is for emergencies, so ask what counts as one.
A 12-month term renews by itself a year at a time. Give 90 days’ written notice before the term ends, and leaving early means paying the rest. Fees for one-time work aren’t refundable.
Cloud only, with unlimited electronic claims and eligibility, and a HIPAA agreement built into its terms. Its data policy says you can download a copy any time, though images aren’t mentioned.
Grade details
Archy
It’s $899 a month per location, with no seat or provider pricing. That’s before taxes, suites, add-ons, payment processing and any setup fee, and not all of those amounts are published.
Its public status page listed 10 unplanned incidents from May to November 2026. Its contract promises reasonable efforts, with no uptime figure or credit.
Remote, recorded team training is offered, but staff roles, audit logs, free onboarding and setup time aren’t published, and its help center sits inside the app.
Its contact page says its listed phone number isn’t a support channel. Support goes through the help center inside the app, and no response time is published.
Give 30 days’ notice before the term ends. There’s no exit for convenience, so the full term stays owed, and fees aren’t refundable even if you end for cause. One free export comes only if you ask in writing by the termination date.
Cloud only, with unlimited claims and eligibility checks, one price however many users you have, and a HIPAA agreement built into its contract. Your one export comes in a common format, with imaging support.
Top 10 dental practice management software
Each of these dental practice management software systems earns its place for a different kind of office, so read who it fits before you read the rank. Ratings on each card come from G2 and Capterra, two independent sites where verified customers rate business software out of 5. Prices are for the plan named, and the unit is given, because some companies charge by location and others by dentist.
Best fit for groups with several locations
One patient record across every office, with an uptime promise and credits written into its contract. It’s built with groups in mind, though a single practice can buy it too.
Read on DenticonBest fit for startups and small offices
A cloud system with published prices per location and a written limit on how much the price can rise. New offices with no patients yet can start on a very low first-year offer.
Read on OryxBest fit for a low flat monthly price
A low flat monthly price for a small office, with a 14-day free trial, though claims and insurance checks are charged one at a time. Its main contract isn’t public.
Read on tab32Best fit for owners who want control
A full practice system with its prices on the website and its HIPAA agreement ready to download. The database sits on your own server unless you choose its cloud option, so your records stay in your hands.
Read on Open DentalBest fit for one platform across specialties
A cloud platform with scheduling, imaging, claims and forms in one plan, plus case tools for orthodontics and oral surgery. It publishes its HIPAA agreement, while its US contract isn’t public.
Read on CareStackBest fit for cloud from a familiar name
The browser-based system from the company behind Dentrix, sold in packages from new practices to groups. Its service terms sit behind a password, so the contract details are ones to ask for up front.
Read on Dentrix AscendBest fit for established server-based offices
Patterson Dental’s desktop system, which runs on a server in your office and keeps working when the internet doesn’t. Plans are priced as a discount off a monthly rate you get from sales.
Read on EaglesoftBest fit for offices on their own server
The long-running desktop system, installed on your office computers with your data on your own server. It suits an office that wants to stay put and already knows how it works.
Read on DentrixBest fit for cloud with no office server
Charts, X-rays, billing and patient texting in a web browser, with patient messaging built into the subscription. You sign a 12-month term and buy by quote, based on how many dentists you have.
Read on Curve DentalBest fit for one flat price per location
One monthly price per location with unlimited users, claims, insurance checks and texting, so hiring someone doesn’t change your bill. The first contract term is set on an order form that isn’t public.
Read on ArchyHow they landed here
Our order comes from many factors. Here are a few highlights that shaped where each company sits among these dental practice management software systems.
Dental practice management software by practice type
Every dental office needs the same basics: a schedule, charts, X-rays, claims and a way to take payment. After that, what you need depends on where your practice is in its life. Find the step below that sounds like you. Some picks need a higher plan than the one we show, so check the company’s section before you buy.
What the system means to you: you’re signing a lease, buying chairs and hoping the schedule fills. Every monthly bill feels heavy, and you have nothing to move yet, which is a luxury you’ll never have again.
What matters most: a low cost while you have few patients, no server to buy, and a clear answer on what the price becomes when the first-year offer ends. Choose as if you’ll stay for a decade, because moving later is much harder than starting clean.
Start with: Oryx, Open Dental and Curve Dental, then compare tab32 and Dentrix Ascend on first-year price.
Which one for you?
What the system means to you: it holds everything your practice has built. Your front desk knows every shortcut, your ledger balances are right, and the thought of a move makes everyone tired.
What matters most: a clean move of charts, X-rays and balances, and a team that won’t lose a week to learning new screens. If you’re happy where you are, staying is a fair choice too.
Start with: Open Dental and Curve Dental. Offices staying on a server can stay close to home with Dentrix or Eaglesoft.
Which one for you?
What the system means to you: the phone doesn’t stop, hygiene is booked out, and one slow screen at checkout backs up the whole hallway. You’ve outgrown doing things by hand.
What matters most: insurance work that takes less staff time, reports that show production and collections without an evening in a spreadsheet, and a bill that doesn’t jump each time you add a dentist.
Start with: Curve Dental, Oryx and Open Dental, then Archy if flat pricing appeals.
Which one for you?
What the system means to you: a patient who moves across town should still be your patient, and you shouldn’t need four logins to see how last month went.
What matters most: one patient record across locations, reports you can read by office or all together, and billing that can sit in one place. Ask how each new location gets added to your contract.
Start with: Curve Dental and Denticon, then Dentrix Ascend and tab32 once you’ve asked about their agreements.
Which one for you?
What the system means to you: it’s how you run many offices the same way. A DSO, a dental support organization, has an operations team, an IT lead and a board asking for numbers by location.
What matters most: a security report your IT lead can read, single sign-on, roles that limit who sees what, a contract with uptime credits, and a company that has moved large groups before.
Start with: Denticon, then ask about Oryx Enterprise and Open Dental’s pricing for 10 or more offices, both by quote.
Which one for you?
What the system means to you: your day doesn’t look like general dentistry. A pediatric office runs on parents and family scheduling, an ortho office on long payment plans, and an oral surgeon on referrals coming in.
What matters most: charting and scheduling built for your procedures, tools for referrals, and proof the company works with offices like yours. Few companies here state their specialty fit in detail, so see it in a demo.
Start with: Oryx for pediatrics, Open Dental or Denticon for orthodontics, and tab32 or CareStack for oral surgery.
Which one for you?
How your software needs change as your team grows
Your stage of practice is only half the picture. Companies also charge in very different ways, by location, by dentist or by how many people are logged in at once, so the number of people you have changes both what you need and what you pay.
Find your situation
Your practice type and team size tell you what you need. Where you are right now tells you what to do first. Most dental offices are in one of these four spots.
Looking at your phones as well? Our guide to Phone Systems for Small Business compares office phone service, and our Dental Answering Service guide covers after-hours calls.
Free personalized guidance
Your software runs the chair. Who runs the phones?
Tell us your providers, operatories and locations, the software you use today, must-have features and timeline. Our telecom consultant can help you compare dental practice management software before you commit.
A clear next step for your practice software
Request Free HelpWe’ll help guide your switch from start to finish.
What dental offices really use practice management software for
Dental offices use practice management software to run the schedule, record what happened in the chair, get paid by insurers and patients, and bring people back for their next cleaning. Few owners care about the software itself. They care about what happens at 7:45 AM when the first patient is on the way and the schedule needs to be right.
An ordinary day on dental practice software
Here’s what all of that looks like in practice, using a made-up office with two dentists and two hygienists. The details change from one system to the next, but the day may feel familiar.
Most of this works on any system in this guide, but some pieces, such as online forms, texting and automatic insurance posting, depend on the company and the plan. Each company’s section below tells you what’s included.
Dental practice management software 101
Dental practice management software, often called a PMS, either runs on a server in your office or in the cloud through a web browser. A server is a computer in a closet that holds your database, and your office looks after it. Cloud software lives at the company’s data center, so there’s nothing to maintain, but it needs the internet. Dentrix and Eaglesoft run on your own server. Curve Dental, Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, CareStack, Oryx, tab32 and Archy are cloud. Open Dental normally runs on your server, and it has a cloud option in limited release.
Neither is the right answer for everyone. A server keeps your data under your roof and can keep working when the internet drops, but backups and security fall to you. Cloud takes that work off your plate, and in exchange your office stops when your connection does, and your records sit with the company, which makes the contract matter more.
How a patient visit moves through dental practice software
Dental software words in plain English
Dental software companies have their own language, and they don’t all use the same words for the same thing. These are the ones you’ll see most often when you compare dental practice management software.
What every dental practice system should cover
Whatever you buy, and however small you are, these eight things should be there. If a plan is missing one, or a company won’t answer on one, slow down before you sign.
How many licenses do you need?
Start by asking how the company counts, because they don’t all count the same thing. Open Dental, Oryx and Archy charge by location, and Open Dental and Oryx add a charge for dentists above a set number, with hygienists not counted. Curve Dental counts providers, which means licensed dentists, plus any hygienist who treats patients on their own without a dentist’s supervision. tab32 charges a flat price up to a set number of dentists. Dentrix Ascend’s pages describe a limit on how many people are logged in at the same time.
Buy for the team you have today, with room for the next hire. Adding someone is easy on these systems, but cutting back during a term often isn’t. Ask what happens to your bill if a dentist leaves, because most companies don’t publish that.
How to switch without losing your records
If you already have years of charts, the move matters more than almost anything else in this guide. It’s routine when you do it in this order, and most of the stress comes from skipping a step.
Equipment, internet and rules for dental practice software
Most dental offices already own much of the equipment dental practice management software needs, though what you buy depends on whether you choose cloud or an office server. The monthly plan is only one piece, and a few rules apply no matter how small you are. Here’s what to buy, what to skip and what you can’t ignore.
What you need to buy
Rules and must-dos for dental practice software
Phones, texting and your front desk
Dental practice management software runs the schedule and the books, but most of it doesn’t answer your phone, and you should be clear on that before you buy. Open Dental, Curve Dental, Denticon, Oryx, tab32 and Archy don’t sell a phone service of their own on the pages we read. Curve Dental, Denticon, Oryx and Archy each name Mango Voice as a phone partner, and Archy requires a separate Mango Voice account for its calling features.
Three companies here do offer a phone product. Dentrix Ascend sells Ascend Phones, CareStack sells VoiceStack as a paid add-on by quote, and Eaglesoft’s Growth plan lists phones without naming the product. None of those pages tells us enough about 911, so ask before you sign if you plan to use one as your main office line. 911 on an internet phone depends on a registered address, and it’s too important to assume. CareStack’s VoiceStack lists emergency services, without describing how a caller’s location is sent.
Many offices add a front desk tool on top of their practice software. Weave is listed as a connection by Open Dental, Curve Dental, Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix and Eaglesoft, and it combines phones and patient texting in one app. Each company publishes its own list of approved connections, so confirm the connection with both sides before you sign. See plans in our Weave pricing guide, compare more tools in Patient Engagement Software, or let AI catch the calls your team can’t with an AI Dental Receptionist.
Dental practice management software features compared
Every dental practice management software system here handles scheduling, charting and billing, so the table looks at what separates them: where it runs, how it handles imaging and insurance, whether patient texting comes with it, and whether it can run several offices. Where a feature needs a higher plan or an add-on, the table shows it.
| System | Where it runs | Imaging | Claims and eligibility | Patient texting | Several offices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denticon | Cloud, Windows only | Built in, XVWeb | Included, extra cost not stated | Ask before you sign whether it costs extra | Yes, single patient record |
| Oryx | Cloud only | Built in | Included in Pro | Included in Pro | Yes, plans by location |
| tab32 | Cloud only | Built in | Per use, $0.20 a claim | AutoRemind, $69 after the first year | On Summit |
| Open Dental | Your server, or its cloud in limited release | Imaging Module, and bridges to other programs | Claims and insurance checks documented | Add-on, $5 or $20 a month plus per text | Clinics in one database |
| CareStack | Cloud only | Built in, with bridges | Included in Essentials | Built in | Yes, across locations |
| Dentrix Ascend | Cloud only | Built in, 150+ devices | From Essentials, Eligibility Pro from Pro | From Essentials | From Pro |
| Eaglesoft | Your server | Built in | Through Vyne or DentalXChange, from Starter | From Foundations | Separate licenses, not one database |
| Dentrix | Your server | Built-in Dentrix Imaging | Add-on, eClaims $15 monthly minimum | Patient Engage Suite, by quote | Limited, in its own words |
| Curve Dental | Cloud only | Built in | Unlimited claims and basic checks | Included | Yes, shared patient information |
| Archy | Cloud only | Built in | Unlimited claims and checks | Unlimited | Priced per location, shared records not described |
Moving in, contract length and getting your data out
Moving in, contract length and getting your data out are the three things that decide how you’ll feel about dental practice management software in five years, and they’re the hardest to change once you’ve signed. This table states each company’s own published terms. “Ask before you sign” means the company’s pages don’t settle it, or we couldn’t read the document that does, and it never means the answer is no.
| System | Contract length | Canceling | Moving in | Getting your data out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denticon | First year, then renews a year at a time | 30 days’ notice to stop renewal. Early exit takes 60 days and owes the rest | 60+ systems. About 60 days for a solo office. By quote | Your own extract, or a transfer if you ask within 10 business days of ending. $995 per extract may apply to XVWeb exports |
| Oryx | 12 months, then a shorter renewal. Which length: Ask before you sign | 30 days’ written notice before the term ends. No early exit | 50+ platforms. 2 to 3 months in all. By quote | One export, up to 30 days after you end, as CSV plus original files |
| tab32 | Start-Up month to month. Larger plans: Ask before you sign | “Cancel anytime” on Alpine pages. Notice: Ask before you sign | 20+ others named. 2 to 4 weeks. By quote | One FAQ promises a full export with no export fees. Format: Ask before you sign |
| Open Dental | 12 months, then month to month | By phone, after the first 12 months. Cost of leaving sooner: Ask before you sign | 200+ systems. Free test, final typically $1,450 per database | On your own server, your database stays with you. Help moving it to another company: Ask before you sign |
| CareStack | US contract not public: Ask before you sign | US notice and cost: Ask before you sign | 60+ systems, 4 to 5 weeks. A fee may apply | Patient lists as CSV, a spreadsheet-style file. Full export: Ask before you sign |
| Dentrix Ascend | Ask before you sign | Ask before you sign | 25 days to 4 to 6 weeks, by page. Cost not published | Reports and one patient at a time. Full export: Ask before you sign |
| Eaglesoft | 24-month enrollment on plans | 30 days’ written notice in its license. Cost during the 24 months: Ask before you sign | 250+ programs. 4 to 6 weeks. Most X-rays stay in the old software | Reports and your own backup. Moving a full database to another company: Ask before you sign |
| Dentrix | Online services 12 months. Software license: Ask before you sign | Online services 60 days’ written notice, and may owe the rest | Project manager and trial run. Systems and cost: Ask before you sign | Database on your own server. Full export for another company: Ask before you sign |
| Curve Dental | 12 months, then renews a year at a time | 90 days’ written notice before the term ends. Leaving early pays the rest | 90+ products. Final move about 3 business days. Fee not published | Download a copy any time, Excel compatible. Whether X-rays are included: Ask before you sign |
| Archy | Set on your order form: Ask before you sign. Then monthly | 30 days’ written notice before the term ends. No exit during a term | Time and cost: Ask before you sign | One free export, if you ask in writing by your end date. After that, $200 a month for continued access |
Dental practice management software pricing at a glance
Dental practice management software prices with a published figure run from $125 a month for tab32’s first year to $1,399 a month per location for Oryx AI, before taxes, moving costs and add-ons. Five of the ten publish a regular price: Open Dental, tab32, Oryx, Archy and CareStack. Denticon shows one starting price, and Dentrix Ascend shows a first-year offer. Curve Dental, Dentrix and Eaglesoft sell by quote.
Companies charge in different ways, so two prices side by side don’t always mean the same thing. Open Dental at $199 covers a location with up to 3 dentists, while Oryx Pro at $650 covers a location with up to 2, and it includes texting, online scheduling and claims that cost extra on other systems. tab32’s flat $225 looks low, but it charges $0.20 a claim and $1.25 an insurance check, and reminders are $69 a month after the first year. A monthly price also leaves out the one-time cost of moving in, so ask for that in writing too.
Published monthly price for dental practice management software
Showing the 5 systems that publish a regular price, plus their first-year rates. CareStack’s are starting prices with no unit shown. Curve Dental, Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix and Eaglesoft sit under Other plans.
Shown on one Planet DDS page, with no unit stated and no plan named. Your real package is by quote, so ask what this figure covers.
A compliance fee per account, plus $0.0087 per text segment above your package, on a schedule dated March 2024.
Per location, up to 2 dentists, with $100 for each added one. Includes texting, online scheduling, claims and imaging.
Adds KPI dashboards, which are scorecards for your numbers, plus automatic insurance posting and membership plans.
Adds voice gum charting, AI notes, AI imaging and e-prescribing, with $200 for each added dentist.
For new offices with no patients, plus a $1 setup fee, until 200 patients or 12 months. A 12-month paid commitment follows.
A flat monthly price for up to 3 dentists, with no setup fee, billed month to month.
Up to 5 dentists, listing data, imaging and document migration. The migration cost is by quote.
Claim attachments are $0.50 and insurance checks $1.25. AutoRemind is free for 12 months with Start-Up, then $69 a month.
Per location, covering every computer, for up to 3 dentists, with $20 a month for each one above that. Hygienists aren’t counted. Sales tax is extra.
Online and patient tools as a bundle, per location. Web Sched booking is $75 on its own, and prescribing is $49 to $57 per prescriber.
Hosting on top of license and support, US only and in limited release, with a $400 one-time migration fee.
Scheduling, charting, imaging, patient portal and forms, eligibility, claims, texting and lab cases. CareStack’s FAQ mentions per-location pricing, and the Pricing page shows no unit.
Adds AI clinical notes, voice gum charting and AI X-ray tools. Price depends on locations, chairs and dentists.
Per location, with unlimited users, dentists, claims, insurance checks and texting, plus charting and imaging.
Per location, until 400 patients or 1 year, if you qualify. The page doesn’t state the qualifying rules.
Clinical, Front Office and Marketing suites, plus e-prescribing through DoseSpot.
Other plans
Based on how many providers you have. Startups get “special pricing,” with no amounts shown.
Essentials, Pro and Accelerate. Starter is $199 a month for the first year, or $2,388 for that year.
The software, the Connected Care Essentials support plan and the add-on suites are all quoted.
Plans are 10% to 50% off a Service Club rate that isn’t published, and the rate rose on October 1, 2026.
Oryx Enterprise, tab32 Summit, CareStack custom plans and Open Dental at 10 or more offices.
CareStack’s VoiceStack phones, Denticon’s suites, and Curve Care+ for voice charting.
Dental practice management software cost by team size
Here’s what the plans with published prices cost per month at three common sizes, before taxes, moving costs and add-ons. The three-office column assumes each office has up to 2 dentists on the same plan. CareStack doesn’t state a unit for its starting prices, and Curve Dental, Denticon, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix and Eaglesoft sell by quote, so they aren’t shown.
| Plan | 1 office, 2 dentists | 1 office, 5 dentists | 3 offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| tab32 Established Practice | $225 | $225 | Summit, by quote |
| Open Dental, after 12 months | $149 | $189 | $447 |
| Open Dental, first 12 months | $199 | $239 | $597 |
| Oryx Pro | $650 | $950 | $1,950 at list, or Enterprise |
| Archy Platform | $899 | $899 | $2,697 at list |
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Dental practice management software reviews
Customer ratings for these dental practice management software systems come from G2 and Capterra, two long-running business software review sites. A rating gives you a quick feel, but it can’t tell you how a system fits your office, so each company below also gets a full write-up, plain answers on contracts and canceling, and up to six cards that sum up, in our own words, what reviewers wrote in the past year. Those cards pair each company’s Google Maps listing with one review site. Each one names the reviewer, the month and the site, and links back so you can read it for yourself.
Customer review ratings for dental practice management software
Both sites rate out of 5. Bars start at 3.0, so small differences are easy to see. The number in parentheses is how many customer reviews each rating is based on, over all the years a company has been listed. Ratings checked October 24, 2026, and refreshed every 30 days.
Those ratings build up over many years, and very few of those reviews are recent. Only Curve Dental had enough new reviews for us to grade its customers, 18 on G2 since May 2026. We have three for Oryx, one for Open Dental and four for Archy from April 2026, and none to show yet for the other six. So the cards below show what those individual reviewers wrote, which is one person’s experience each time, and not a verdict on the company. Reviewers rated the practice software here, not any phone service.
One patient record across every office
Denticon, from Planet DDS, is built with dental groups in mind. Think of a dental support organization, or a growing owner with a handful of offices, who wants a single patient record across all of them and the same way of working in each. Its pages speak of groups from 5 to more than 300 offices, and a solo practice can buy it too, though no solo plan or price is published.
Its contract is more open than most. It promises 99.5% uptime each month, with a credit of 10% or 20% of the affected fees if Planet DDS misses that, and you must ask for the credit in writing within 30 days. You’re told plainly that you own your data. You can extract your own copy before you leave, or ask Planet DDS to send it to a secure site before termination or within 10 business days after, with access lasting until 30 days after termination. A fee of $995 per extract may apply to patient and imaging exports from XVWeb, its imaging system.
The term is one year, renewing a year at a time, and you stop it with 30 days’ written notice. You can leave early on 60 days’ notice, but you owe the fees for the rest of the term. Older agreements still on the Planet DDS site have different exit terms, so check which version your order uses. The only published price is a starting figure of $795 a month, on one page with no unit stated, so treat your quote as the real number. Moving in averages 60 days for a solo office and 8 weeks per location for groups, at a cost set in your order.
Not the best fit if: you’re a single office on Macs, or you want to see a price tonight. Denticon’s requirements list Windows only, and its pricing comes through sales.
Denticon customer reviews
From G2 and Capterra, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Consistently Reliable and User-Friendly EMR for Dental Offices
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Good and should be getting better…
Hospital and Health Care
Used the software for: 3‑5 years
RCM Director
Hospital and Health Care
Used the software for: 3‑5 years
It was great until it wasn’t..
Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11 ‑ 50 employees
Used the software for: More than 2 years
Good. Can be better.
Medical Practice, 11 ‑ 50 employees
Used the software for: 1‑2 years
Making appointments easier!
Health, Wellness and Fitness, 201 ‑ 500 employees
Used the software for: 6‑12 months df483d13‑652d-46bf-93df-3ca70556f537
Ask before you sign: what the $795 covers, which agreement version your order uses, a copy of the business associate agreement, how you reach support by phone, and whether patient texting costs extra.
Read more Denticon reviews on Capterra. We didn’t find a Google Maps listing for Denticon or Planet DDS.
Published prices and a written limit on rises
Oryx is cloud software that puts a lot into its entry plan. Oryx Pro, at $650 a month per location for up to 2 dentists, includes two-way texting, reminders, online scheduling, forms, a patient portal, claims, imaging and onboarding. Compare that with buying each piece separately, and the higher monthly price starts to make more sense. Its contract also limits price rises in writing, which few companies here do: up to 5%, once every 12 months.
A new office with no patients yet can use the Startup Offer: $0 a month on Pro or Automate, or $400 a month on AI, plus a $1 setup fee, until you reach 200 patients or 12 months. Read the next step closely, because the contract then starts a 12-month paid commitment by itself, so you could be in for up to 24 months in total. Offices moving from another system pay setup and conversion fees by quote, and onboarding typically takes 2 to 3 months.
Getting out is clearer here than on most lists. You stop renewal with 30 days’ written notice before the term ends, and you get one export for up to 30 days after the contract ends, as CSV files plus your documents and images in their original formats. There’s no early exit, and committed fees stay owed. Oryx’s pricing page describes month to month after 12 months, while its contract describes 3-month renewals unless your order form differs, so check which applies to you.
Not the best fit if: you need a large group plan with published prices, because those are Enterprise and by quote. Its security audit is also still in progress, which may matter to an IT lead.
Oryx customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Easy Treatment Planning and Clear Billing for Dentists
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Simple, User-Friendly, Interactive
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Seamless Integration, New Features, and Easy Documentation
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Oryx’s published Customer Agreement asks customers not to make negative statements about Oryx, including on review sites.
Ask before you sign: whether you renew monthly or every 3 months, what moving in costs, and what the Startup Offer’s 12-month commitment will cost you.
Read more Oryx reviews on Google Maps and G2. We didn’t find Oryx Dental on Capterra.
A flat monthly price with a 14-day free trial
tab32 is cloud software for an office watching every dollar, and its Alpine prices are hard to beat at first glance. Start-Up is $125 a month in the first year, then $225, for up to 3 dentists, billed month to month with no setup fee. Established Practice is $225 a month for up to 5. It also offers a 14-day free trial with a card on file, and no charge until it ends.
The low price works because you pay as you go for some of the work. Claims are $0.20 each, claim attachments $0.50 and insurance checks $1.25 each. AutoRemind, its reminder partner, is free for 12 months with Start-Up, then $69 a month with 500 messages included. Do the math for your own claim volume before you compare it with a plan that includes those things. Moving in is by quote, and the FAQ covers your last 2 years of appointments and related records, so ask what happens to the older ones.
The main question with tab32 is paperwork. Its public terms point to a separate Healthcare Provider User Agreement that controls if the two disagree, and that agreement isn’t public. It’s also where tab32’s role as a HIPAA business associate is set out, and we couldn’t find a page where it states it signs an agreement with a practice. One FAQ promises a full data export if you leave, with no export fees, which is a good promise that’s worth getting in writing. Summit, for groups, is by quote.
Not the best fit if: you send a high volume of claims and want one predictable bill. Per-claim fees and reminders can add up, and tab32’s own calculator shows a higher monthly total than its plan price.
tab32 customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
One Cloud Dental Platform with Seamless Imaging
Ask before you sign: a copy of the Healthcare Provider User Agreement, a signed business associate agreement, how to reach support and when, and the free export in writing.
Read more tab32 reviews on Google Maps and Capterra. Only five tab32 reviews from the past year turned up across the two sites.
A full practice system at a price you can see
Open Dental suits the independent owner who likes to know what things cost and who holds the keys. One monthly fee per location covers every computer in the office, for up to 3 dentists, and hygienists don’t count toward that. It’s $199 a month for the first 12 months, then $149, and the fee rose only a handful of times over the years, most recently in February 2026. Picture a two-dentist office that’s tired of quotes: you can work out your own bill from the website before you ever speak to anyone.
The standard setup runs on a server in your office, which means your database stays with you. That’s a strong answer to the question this guide keeps asking, because the records stay in your building. It also means backups, security and a working server are your job, so most offices will want an IT person they trust. If that sounds like too much, Open Dental Cloud starts at $250 a month on top of the license, though it’s US only and in limited release.
The base price leaves some things out. Texting, online booking and prescribing are paid add-ons, so a fully loaded office pays more than $199. Moving in is unusually open, with a free test conversion and a final conversion typically at $1,450 per database, plus typically $900 for X-rays. Open Dental is upfront that some data will be lost, including claims in progress from most systems, and it suggests planning on fewer patients for a week or two afterward.
Not the best fit if: nobody in your office wants to think about a server, or your team runs on Macs, which aren’t listed as supported workstations. A cloud system such as Curve Dental may feel easier.
Open Dental customer reviews
From G2 and Capterra, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Effortless Scheduling and Custom Management
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Best Dental Software EVER!
Open Dental Review
Open Dental
Open Dental software pros and cons.
Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11 ‑ 50 employees
Used the software for: More than 2 years
Reliable and Cost-Effective Dental Practice Management Software
Hospital & Health Care, 11 ‑ 50 employees
Used the software for: More than 2 years
Ask before you sign: what you’d owe if you left between day 91 and month 12, and whether the program keeps running after you stop paying for support.
Read more Open Dental reviews on Capterra and G2. Its Google Maps listing has no customer reviews from the past year.
Scheduling, imaging, claims and forms together
CareStack is a cloud platform that tries to put everything in one plan. Essentials covers scheduling, online appointments, charting and treatment planning, imaging, a patient portal and forms, insurance checks, claims, texting and lab cases. Intelligence adds AI clinical notes, voice gum charting and AI X-ray tools. It also lists case tools for orthodontics, oral surgery and implants, so it’s a natural look for an office doing more than general dentistry, and its pages cover both startups and groups.
Its support page lists weekday hours from 7 AM to 8 PM Eastern, weekend chat and email, and a promise of a live person in under one minute. A single office typically goes live in 4 to 5 weeks, including moving data and training, and CareStack states that documents, X-rays and images come across. It has moved data from more than 60 systems, though it doesn’t name them.
Prices start at $829 a month for Essentials and $1,299 for Intelligence, and the final price depends on your locations, chairs and dentists. CareStack publishes its own HIPAA business associate agreement on its legal pages. Two things still aren’t public: the US contract and how a full export works when you leave. Please ask for both in writing. VoiceStack, its phone add-on, is by quote.
Not the best fit if: you’re a small office that wants the lowest monthly cost, since its starting price sits well above several others here.
CareStack customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
CareStack Streamlines Our Periodontal Practice with an Intuitive, Secure All-in-One Platform
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Carestack’s Reporting and Analytics Make Insights Easy at a Glance
Mid-Market (51‑1000 emp.)
Clear Ledger Breakdown and Easy Claim Tracking
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Ask before you sign: a signed business associate agreement, your contract length and notice, and how a full export of your records works and what it costs.
Read more CareStack reviews on Google Maps and Capterra.
Browser-based, from Henry Schein One
Dentrix Ascend is the cloud system from Henry Schein One, the company behind desktop Dentrix. It runs in a browser on a PC, a Mac or an iPad, with no server in your office. If your team grew up on Dentrix and you’d like to stop looking after a server, it’s the natural place to look, and the company describes a guided move from desktop Dentrix that brings patient data, images and history across.
It’s sold in four packages. Essentials covers payments, claims, patient booking and text and email messaging, Pro adds multi-location management and stronger insurance checks, and Accelerate adds enterprise reporting for bigger groups. All three are by quote. Starter is the exception: new practices pay $199 a month for the first year, or $2,388 in all, with no setup fee, a startup consultant and coaching sessions. What the price becomes in year two isn’t published. Ascend also sells its own phone system, Ascend Phones, which is rare on this list.
The main thing to know is that Ascend’s service terms sit behind a password, so we couldn’t read them. Your contract length, renewal, notice, cancellation cost, price rises and data return all live in that document. None of this means the answers are bad. It means you should ask for a copy before you go further. Ask too about how the count of users is set, because the number of people logged in at once can rise by itself after a 5-week average, and the price of those added users isn’t published.
Not the best fit if: you want to read the full contract at your kitchen table before you speak to anyone. You’ll need sales to send it to you.
Dentrix Ascend customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Fantastic Custom Reports and Easy Multi-Site Management
Mid-Market (51‑1000 emp.)
Bulk Insurance Payments and a Well-Laid-Out Account Ledger
2. Being able to edit insurance payments and insurance adjustments without deleting the payment and re-entering is a must.
3. We need to be able to print a routing slip from the appointment without having to take the extra steps of the routing panel.
4. The Tab function is barely usable, which means my right hand ends up doing almost all the work throughout the day.
5. There are too many steps required to accomplish even basic tasks.
6. When entering insurance payments the order of the payment type changes depending on which screen you come from.
7. The general payment types/tags and credit/adjustment type tags change order as well. They need to be static and unchanged, the same order every time.
8. The PreMed appointment alert should automatically appear if the patient has a premed alert or if it has been manually checked in previous appointments.
Mid-Market (51‑1000 emp.)
Easy to Navigate and Truly Listens to User Feedback
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Comprehensive Tool with Easy Training, Reporting Needs Improvement
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Efficient and User-Friendly PMS, Seamless Cloud Integration
On Google, one Henry Schein One listing covers both Dentrix systems. Its one happy customer review in the past year is shown with Dentrix, further down.
Ask before you sign: a copy of the service terms, the HIPAA business associate agreement for Ascend and anything you add to it, and how a full export of your data works when you leave.
Read more Dentrix Ascend reviews on Google Maps and Capterra. The Google Maps listing belongs to Henry Schein One, which makes both Dentrix products.
Patterson Dental’s desktop system
Eaglesoft, from Patterson Dental, is desktop software that runs on a physical server in your office. It doesn’t need the internet to function, which is a real comfort if your connection drops in the middle of a busy morning, though its online services do need one. Your data sits on your own server, and your backups are your job. Support is open weekdays from 7 AM to 7 PM Central by phone, chat and email, and Patterson describes it as U.S.-based.
Pricing works differently from anything else here. Patterson publishes no dollar amount. Instead, each plan is a discount off a Service Club rate you get from a sales representative: 10% on Starter, 25% on Foundations, 30% on Professional and 50% on Growth, with more tools in each. Reminders and two-way texting start on Foundations, and online scheduling and automatic recall on Professional. Service Club plans need a 24-month enrollment, and Patterson’s notice states that its pricing rose on October 1, 2026, with no amount given.
Moving in takes about 4 to 6 weeks, and the office keeps working in its old software until then. Patterson states it has converted from more than 250 programs, and that most imaging software doesn’t support image conversion, so your X-rays may stay in the original program. Moving out is the question to raise early. Patterson describes reports, patient exports and your own backup, and it doesn’t describe handing a full database to another company, so ask before you sign how that would work. Its license also limits unapproved outside vendors from using the software without written consent, so ask how a new company would get to your data.
Not the best fit if: you’re running several offices on one database, which Patterson doesn’t support, or you want a price you can see. It’s also not for a startup that wants to avoid buying a server.
Eaglesoft customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Easy to Learn, Great Value, and Very Helpful Support
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Easy-to-Use Dental Management, but Claims Tracking Needs Work
On Google, the only 5-star review in the past year was written by a Patterson employee, so there’s no customer praise from Google to show.
Ask before you sign: how you’d move a full database to another company, what leaving during the 24 months costs, and what the Service Club rate will be after it.
Read more Eaglesoft reviews on Google Maps and Capterra. Only three Eaglesoft reviews from the past year turned up. The Google Maps listing belongs to Patterson Companies, which sells Eaglesoft.
Desktop software with more than 30 years behind it
Dentrix is the desktop system from Henry Schein One, with more than 30 years behind it. It’s installed on your office computers, with your data on your own server and your own backups. If your team already knows it, and you have an IT person you trust, leaving a working system alone is a fair choice. Dentrix support is open Monday through Friday by phone and chat, and the company states an average answer time of 2.4 minutes.
Its charting, treatment planning, imaging and lab case tools are all confirmed, and it’s sent out release notes nearly every month. It describes itself as perfect for single-location offices, and it also describes its multi-location support as limited, so a growing group should look closely. Add-ons are where the bill grows: patient texting comes in the Patient Engage Suite, electronic claims carry a $15 monthly minimum, and dashboards sit in a separate suite. Most are priced by quote.
The Dentrix license itself sits inside the install program, and we couldn’t find a public copy. The terms we could read cover online services such as claims and payments: 12 months, renewing for 12 months, with 60 days’ written notice to stop, and no refunds. Those terms don’t name the desktop software. Support covers only the latest two versions, so ask what you lose if you ever stop paying for the Connected Care Essentials support plan. A license can’t be sold on its own, and transfers only with the sale of the whole practice, for a fee.
Not the best fit if: you’re planning more locations, or you don’t want a server to look after. Dentrix Ascend, from the same company, is the cloud option.
Dentrix customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Dentrix Keeps Our Dental Office Organized and Running Smoothly
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Exceptionally Easy to Use
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
A Dentistry Staple That’s Easy and Reliable
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Comprehensive Practice Management, But Updates Can Be Disruptive
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Ask before you sign: a copy of the license and whether the HIPAA business associate agreement covers the desktop software, which systems you can convert from and at what cost, and how a full export for another company works.
Read more Dentrix reviews on Google Maps and Capterra. The Google Maps listing belongs to Henry Schein One, which makes both Dentrix products.
Everything in a browser, on a yearly contract
Curve Dental fits an office that’s done with server closets. It runs in a web browser on a PC or a Mac, with charts, X-rays, billing and scheduling together, and each practice gets its own database at Amazon Web Services. Curve GRO, its patient messaging, comes built in, so reminders, two-way texting, online scheduling, review requests and online payments are part of the subscription, and texts come from your office number. For a one-location office, that’s a lot of tools you won’t have to buy separately.
It also works for more than one office. Curve Dental states that patient information can be shared across locations, with reports for the whole practice or one site and all billing run from a central office. It names Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, PracticeWorks, Easy Dental, SoftDent, MacPractice and Dentrix Ascend among the systems it moves from, with the final move usually taking about three business days. Your X-rays and documents come across after you go live.
The contract asks for real commitment, though. You sign for 12 months and it renews a year at a time, and stopping that renewal takes 90 days’ written notice, so put the date in your calendar the day you sign. If you leave mid-term, you pay the rest of it. Renewal is at the current fees, with no cap, and there’s no published price at all, so you’ll need a quote based on your number of providers. Some tools, including Curve Care+ for voice charting, are paid add-ons.
Not the best fit if: you want to stay free to leave, because there’s no month-to-month option. It’s also a harder fit if your internet is unreliable, since the system needs a connection to work.
Curve Dental customer reviews
From G2 and Google Maps, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Intuitive All-in-One Imaging, Charting, and Treatment Planning
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
A True All-in-One Dental Practice Time-Saver That Changes the Game
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Ask before you sign: whether the data download includes X-rays and documents, what moving in costs, and which of your insurers accept electronic claims through Curve.
Read more Curve Dental reviews on Google Maps and Capterra.
Unlimited users, claims and texting
Archy has the simplest price on this list: $899 a month per location, with unlimited users, dentists, claim submissions, insurance checks and texting. Hire another hygienist, add an associate or send a thousand reminders, and the bill stays the same. For a busy office tired of per-provider math and per-text fees, that’s a real comfort. Qualifying new practices pay $400 a month per location until 400 patients or 1 year, though the qualifying rules aren’t published.
It’s cloud only, with charting, imaging, treatment planning, online scheduling, a patient portal, payments and reports in the one plan. Patients can sign treatment plans from home, and Archy handles your business text registration, a step carriers require, for you. AI tools for notes and voice gum charting come in the Clinical Suite, by quote, and calling needs a separate Mango Voice account.
The exit terms are published and worth reading. Your first term is set on an order form that isn’t public, you can’t cancel during it except for cause, and fees for the full term stay owed. Stopping renewal takes 30 days’ written notice, and renewals after that run a month at a time. You get one free export in a structured format, but only if you ask in writing on or before your end date, so don’t miss it. After that, keeping access costs $200 a month. Archy’s help center wasn’t open to us, so time and cost to move in, and support hours, are ones to ask about.
Not the best fit if: you’re a very small office where $899 is a stretch, since several systems here start far lower. Its pages also don’t describe sharing records across locations.
Archy customer reviews
From G2, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Seamless Integrations and Simple Scheduling That Make Training a Breeze
1. Integration- It’s integration with Mango, integrated messaging, integrated with Pearl AI means that our team can use these services seamlessly. It’s less passwords to memorize. It’s making calls easier for my team since they don’t need to ask patients for their names and spend time searching up accounts, it pops up automatically. The messaging is already linked to patients accounts which is awesome to keep communication clear. The automatic call notes make it very easy to screen and very callls.
2. Simplification- Archy really did a great to simplify the platform. It’s very few clicks to add a patient in, adding addresses are really easy since it autofills from google maps. Forms send with. click of the button and can be automatically sent and linked to procedures. The ability to use a kiosk is amazing for our older patients that don’t use phones. It’s all very simple and intuitive. You can customize what part team members have access too which makes it easier to to train and easier to use.
3. Schedule guides- this saved my sanity, makes it easy to train non dental people how to book patients when there is a guide on the schedule.
4. Reporting- A lot of the reports I rely on are easy to access and quick to pull in the reporting tab. It’s been nice being able to see the geopgraphic location of my patients on a map as I try to figure out where to expand to. (Actually changed our mind and direction on our second location.
5. Auto verification of insurance is very quick and accurate, has saved my insurance coordinator a lot of time.
6. Customer support has been great, they prefer to email unfortunately but they are thurough no matter how small or big the issue is.
7. Intra-office chat
2. Collections report- It’s simple to pull but hard to verify and track things on it.
3. Transition from denticon- It’s doable, it was worth it but it did not have anything other than patient name, last 5 appointments and contact information transfer from my previous PMS.
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
User-Friendly and Efficient!
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Perfect Software, Seamless for Dental Practices
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Challenges in Transitioning and Usability Hurdles
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Intuitive, Office-Friendly System with Outstanding Support
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Ask before you sign: how long your first term runs, what moving in costs and how long it takes, what converts, and how you reach support.
Read more Archy reviews on Capterra. We didn’t find a Google Maps listing for Archy.
Other dental practice management software we considered
These dental practice management software systems came up in our research, and we haven’t graded them yet. If none of the ten feels right, or you need something more specialized, one of these may be worth a look.
Our Verdict on dental practice management software
There’s no single best dental practice management software for every office, but there is a clear way to choose. Start with how you’d leave, not with the demo. Open Dental is the best fit for an independent office that wants control and a price it can see. Dentrix Ascend and Curve Dental are the best fit for an office ready to give up its server, as long as you’ve read Ascend’s terms and a yearly contract with 90 days’ notice works for you at Curve. Denticon is the best fit for groups. New practices have real first-year offers from Oryx, tab32 and Dentrix Ascend, so compare what each one becomes after that first year.
Whichever you choose, get three things in writing before you sign: your HIPAA business associate agreement, your contract term with the cost of leaving early, and how your full records come back to you. Ask to see your own data in the test conversion, including your messiest family account. Dental offices rarely get hurt by a missing feature. They get hurt by a contract they didn’t read, and by finding out on the way out that their records are harder to reach than they thought.
What dental practice software does well
- Keeps charts, X-rays, treatment plans and balances in one record for each patient.
- Checks insurance and sends claims without paper.
- Lets patients book, fill out forms and pay from their own phone on most systems.
What to plan for
- Moving in costs money and time, and some data may not come across.
- Most contracts have no early exit, and many renew by themselves.
- Add-ons, usage fees and taxes sit on top of the monthly price.
Quick math: first-year software cost for a brand-new office
Showing the plans with a published first-year price. Curve Dental, Denticon, Dentrix and Eaglesoft quote each practice individually.
Totals use the published monthly price for 12 months, and leave out moving costs, hardware, usage fees and add-ons. Oryx’s offer ends at 200 patients or 12 months, then a 12-month paid commitment starts. Archy’s rate runs until 400 patients or 1 year, and you must qualify.
Dental practice management software FAQs
What is dental practice management software?
Dental practice management software is the main system a dental office uses to run its day. It holds appointments, patient charts, X-rays, treatment plans, insurance claims, payments and reports, so your front desk, hygienists, dentists and billing team all work from the same record.
What’s the best dental practice management software for a small office?
There’s no single best one, because it depends on how you want to run your office. Open Dental suits an owner who wants control and published prices, Curve Dental suits an office leaving its server behind, and tab32 has the lowest published first-year price, with usage fees on claims and insurance checks.
How much does dental practice management software cost?
Published prices run from $125 a month for tab32’s first year to $1,399 a month per location for Oryx AI, before taxes, moving costs and add-ons. Curve Dental, Dentrix and Eaglesoft sell by quote. Moving your data is usually a separate charge, and Open Dental’s is typically $1,450 per database.
How hard is it to switch dental software?
It’s the hardest part of owning this software, but it’s routine if you take it in order. Most companies do a test conversion, then a final move. Stated times run from about three business days for Curve Dental’s final move to 2 to 3 months for Oryx’s full onboarding, and you should plan lighter days for a week or two after.
Can I get my data out if I leave?
That depends on the company, so get it in writing. On Open Dental’s standard setup, Dentrix and Eaglesoft, your database sits on your own server, though moving it to another company is a separate question. Oryx gives one export up to 30 days after the contract ends. Archy gives one free export if you ask in writing by your end date. Denticon lets you extract your own copy, or ask for a transfer. For Dentrix Ascend and CareStack, ask before you sign.
How long are dental software contracts?
Curve Dental and Denticon run a year and renew a year at a time. Open Dental runs 12 months, then month to month. Oryx runs 12 months, then a shorter renewal. Eaglesoft plans need a 24-month enrollment. tab32’s Start-Up is month to month. For Dentrix Ascend and CareStack’s US contract, ask before you sign.
Should I choose cloud or an office server?
Cloud spares you a server, backups and updates, and works from anywhere, but it stops when your internet does, and your records sit with the company. A server keeps your data under your roof, and Eaglesoft can run without the internet, but your office takes on the upkeep and security.
Do I need a business associate agreement?
Yes. A dental office can’t share patient information with a company without a signed business associate agreement. Open Dental, Curve Dental, Denticon, Oryx, Archy, Eaglesoft and CareStack state theirs. For Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix and tab32, ask before you sign, and get a copy.
Does dental practice management software include phones?
Usually not. Most systems here connect to a separate phone company, often Mango Voice. Dentrix Ascend sells Ascend Phones, CareStack sells VoiceStack as an add-on, and Eaglesoft’s Growth plan lists phones. Ask about 911 before you use any of them as your main office line.
Is Weave a practice management system?
No. Weave is a front desk tool for phones and patient texting that works alongside your practice software. It doesn’t replace charting, treatment planning or claims. Our Weave pricing guide covers its plans and costs.
Can I keep my old software while I switch?
Yes, and you should. Offices keep working in the old system until the final conversion, and Patterson states this for moves to Eaglesoft. Keep your old system and your own backup until your ledger balances match on the new one, and check your notice period so the two overlap without a surprise bill.
What is the cheapest way to start a new dental practice on software?
Oryx’s Startup Offer is $0 a month on Pro plus a $1 setup fee, for new offices with no patients, and a 12-month paid commitment follows it. tab32’s Start-Up is $125 a month in the first year, and Dentrix Ascend’s Starter is $199 a month for the first year. Compare what each one costs in year two as well.
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