Best Dental Software · head-to-head
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.
At a glance
- Price: Open Dental $0/mo vs CareStack $829/mo — Open Dental is cheaper to start.
- Free tier: Open Dental Yes; CareStack No.
- HIPAA: Open Dental Yes; CareStack Yes.
Side by side
| Open Dental | CareStack | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $0/mo (Developing Countries / Dental Schools (Free)) | $829/mo (Essentials) |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| HIPAA (BAA) | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 | — | — |
| GDPR | — | — |
| Best for | cost-conscious single-location practices | growing 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