Best Veterinary Software of 2026

What is veterinary software?

Veterinary software is a tool designed to assist veterinarians and pet clinics in managing their daily operations. It combines several functions, such as appointment scheduling, patient records management, treatment history tracking, invoicing, and billing, into a centralized system.

In addition, the software provides an organized system to store important medical records digitally, which can be accessed by the veterinary clinic staff when needed.

All the discussed capabilities of veterinary software simplify processes such as booking appointments or keeping track of vaccinations due for pets. Moreover, it allows vets to focus more on animal care by reducing administrative tasks.

What are the core features of veterinary software?

• Appointment scheduling: Allow pet owners or clinic staff to book, reschedule, or cancel appointments online anytime, reducing the need for phone calls. The feature also sends automated reminders about upcoming visits and vaccinations via email or text. It can manage multiple calendars simultaneously if a clinic has numerous doctors for varied services.

• Patient records management: Store and manage all patient information in a centralized system, including the animal’s medical history, vaccination dates, health conditions, planned treatment, and owner information. The feature enables quick data retrieval for appointments to provide efficient care services, even in emergencies.

What are the benefits of using veterinary software?

• Centralizes patient record management: Veterinary software significantly streamlines patient record management by digitizing and centralizing all animal health records. It quickly retrieves past medical histories, lab results, and prescriptions. This eliminates time-consuming paper trails, reduces errors from manual entry, and enhances overall efficiency in providing care to animal patients.

• Simplifies billing and invoicing: Veterinary software automates the billing and invoicing process, eliminating manual tasks. It helps in the timely generation of accurate invoices for various services provided to pets and tracking due or received payments from clients. The system is designed to handle complex fee structures, discounts, or insurance claims, which significantly reduces errors and saves time while improving customer satisfaction levels.

• Improves client communication: Veterinary software provides a centralized platform for sending vaccination reminders, scheduling appointments, and sharing pet health reports with the owners. Doctors or clinic staff can communicate with their clients directly from the system via text messages or emails. This ensures that critical information is shared between the clinic and the client in real time.

What are the potential issues with veterinary software?

• Lack of customization: Veterinary practices have unique needs based on their specialties, size, and client demographics. If the software doesn't allow for specific adjustments to cater to these individual requirements, it may not fully support workflow management, patient care delivery, or specific reporting requirements of a clinic. This can lead to inefficiency in productivity and service quality.

• Limited patient history: A comprehensive medical record, including past visits, treatments, vaccinations, health conditions, and lab reports, is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. Limiting the availability of patient history over a period of time can hinder the ability to track and manage an animal's health. This lack of comprehensive data impacts decision-making in medical care, leading to less effective treatment for animals under care.

• Software compatibility issues: A smooth veterinary software integration with other hospital or practice management systems simplifies workflow and increases operational efficiency. If data sharing isn’t seamless between diagnostic devices or billing systems, this might lead to errors in healthcare and increase workloads for staff members.

How much does veterinary software cost?

Most veterinary software products are priced “per month” basis, and their entry-level pricing plan ranges from $35 to $300+*. An enterprise product priced higher may include additional features such as multi-branch management, reputation management, telemedicine, and an AI assistant.

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of Feb. 05, 2024.

What is veterinary software used for?

A veterinary platform centralizes animal health records, such as reports, prescriptions, and billing for efficient treatment outcomes. However, the software can have multiple use cases based on the data fed into the system and the tool's features leveraged. Some of them are:

• Inventory management: Veterinary software enables tracking and controlling the stock of veterinary equipment, medicines, food products, and other medical supplies required in a clinic or hospital. The inventory management feature helps avoid supply shortages and excess storage costs by always maintaining an optimal inventory level.

• Treatment planning: Veterinary professionals use the software to create, manage, and implement comprehensive treatment plans for animals under care. The capabilities include documenting diagnostics, treatments, medications, and surgery schedules and adjusting the plan based on the changing health conditions of animals. The software is often integrated with medical histories, allowing seamless real-time updates at the time of treatments.

• Payment processing: Veterinary software offers built-in payment systems for accepting and processing payments for the rendered medical services. It supports various payment options, including credit/debit cards, cash, cheques, or digital wallets. Payment processing also involves invoicing for veterinary procedures, treatments, or products sold, with the ability to track all transactions securely.

Which software tools integrate with veterinary software?

A veterinary management tool integrates with various solutions for data export and import. We looked across thousands of reviews from the software users to identify the products users frequently mentioned they integrated with their tools:

• PayJunction online integrates with a veterinary tool to eliminate manual data entry and reconciliation between separate systems, saving time and reducing errors. The integration allows quick and secure payment processing, reducing wait time for pet owners and improving the clinic flow. 

• Weave is an appointment reminder tool that integrates with veterinary software to minimize missed appointments, enhancing scheduling efficiency and revenue. Clients can easily confirm, reschedule, or cancel appointments online, freeing up slots for other patients. The integration also assists in tracking reminder effectiveness and identifying appointment patterns to optimize communication strategies.

• Xero accounting tool integration with a veterinary management system provides access to key financial information, including income, expenses, and profitability. Veterinary staff can make informed financial decisions based on accurate data and trends to avoid budget overruns. Additionally, they can simplify tax filing with the accounting tool’s built-in tax reporting capabilities.

• Rapport loan origination software integrates with a veterinary practice management tool to partner with lenders and offer on-site financing options to pet owners for expensive treatments. Veterinary professionals can also use the tool to manage payment plans, track outstanding balances, and assess the risk of lending to pet owners via their credit scores.

• Vetcove purchase order software integrates with veterinary management software to set reorder rules directly from the system that triggers purchase orders when specific stocks decline. The integration offers access to stock levels and usage to ensure accurate order quantities and prevent unnecessary purchases. The veterinary staff can track purchase history and identify preferred suppliers based on volume, discounts, and past performance.

*We identified these integrations mentioned most often in verified reviews of veterinary software published on Software Advice within the past two years (as of Feb. 05, 2024).

Key considerations when purchasing veterinary software

• Check for integration with lab and diagnostic tools. Integration with lab and diagnostic tools is crucial when purchasing veterinary software. This allows for automatic data transfer into the patient’s record, reducing the risk of manual entry errors while saving time. Integrated systems ensure test results are promptly available, enabling faster diagnosis and treatment planning.

• Ensure the software supports prescription management. Support for prescription management in veterinary software simplifies generating, tracking, and refilling prescriptions. This reduces medication errors, enhances compliance with treatment plans, and provides an efficient means of managing repeat prescriptions, ensuring better treatment outcomes.

• Consider the software's client communication capabilities. The veterinary practice management software tool's client communication capabilities enable clinics to communicate with pet owners efficiently. This capability can help send appointment reminders, share medical records or test results, and distribute animal health education material. Effective communication enhances client satisfaction and aids in building stronger relationships.

Sources

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Software Advice’s veterinary software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in Software Advice's directory that offer them. 

Disclaimer

This veterinary software buyers guide was authored by Software Advice’s content team. We develop our guides using the author's expertise, insights from 2M+ unique user reviews, and our proprietary data science algorithms to identify trends in user sentiment, preferences, and priorities. Some text was generated with assistance from artificial intelligence tools.