Is Open Dental or CareStack cheaper?

Open Dental has the lower entry price — Open Dental starts at $0/mo and CareStack at $829/mo.

Does Open Dental or CareStack support HIPAA?

HIPAA support — Open Dental: Yes; CareStack: Yes. Confirm current scope with the vendor.

Open Dental vs CareStack

A sourced, side-by-side comparison for dental software. Open Dental has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.

Open Dental has the lower entry price — Open Dental starts at $0/mo, CareStack at $829/mo. Free tier: Open Dental Yes, CareStack No. HIPAA: Open Dental Yes, CareStack Yes.

As of 2026-06-15 · figures link to their source below

Side by side

Open Dental

$0/mo entry

Entry price$0/mo (Developing Countries / Dental Schools (Free))

Free tierYes

HIPAA (BAA)Yes

SOC 2—

GDPR—

Best forcost-conscious single-location practices

CareStack

$829/mo entry

Entry price$829/mo (Essentials)

Free tierNo

HIPAA (BAA)Yes

SOC 2—

GDPR—

Best forgrowing multi-location groups

Sources — Open Dental: opendental.com (verified 2026-06-15) · CareStack: carestack.com (verified 2026-06-15)

Key features

Open Dental: Open-source codebase with community-driven development; Self-hosted model giving practices full data control; 100+ imaging bridge integrations; Free for dental schools and developing-country practices

CareStack: Native integrations across imaging, clinical, RCM, and patient engagement; AI-powered clinical notes and X-ray analysis (Intelligence tier); No per-user licensing — priced per location; Published, transparent per-location pricing

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