Best CRM for dental practices
Dental software splits into full practice management with charting, and communication layers that sit beside it. Compared on price, features and which job each one does.
Open Dental wins for a dental practice that wants full charting and practice management at a published price. Weave wins instead for a practice that already has Dentrix, Eaglesoft or another system for clinical records. It wants a dedicated tool for patient texting, reminders and review requests on top of it.
The short answer
- Open Dental is $199/month per location for the first 12 months, then $149/month. That covers up to 3 providers, with $20/month for each additional provider, per opendental.com/site/fees.html.
- Weave starts from $199/month. Exact tier pricing (Pro, Elite, Ultimate) is gated behind a pricing request. It has no charting or clinical records. It is a communication layer built to sit beside a practice management system, per getweave.com/pricing.
- Dentrix requires a demo request for pricing, with no published number. Its site describes voice-powered SOAP notes, AI caries detection and a Marketing & Patient Experience feature covering recall and reputation management, per dentrix.com.
Dental practice management and communication tools compared
| Tool | Starting price | Seats model | Charting/clinical records? | Own database? | Patient communication/CRM? | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dentrix | Pricing on request | Not published; packages described as customizable | Yes, full charting, imaging and clinical AI | No, hosted or on-premise per Henry Schein One's model | Yes, Marketing & Patient Experience: recall, campaigns, reputation management | A practice wanting full charting with AI-assisted documentation and marketing built in | A practice wanting a published price before a sales call |
| Open Dental | $199/mo per location (first year), then $149/mo | Per location, up to 3 providers, +$20/mo per additional provider | Yes, full odontogram, perio, ortho and imaging | No, hosted; customer-controlled API available | Partial: recall and automated messaging via add-on eServices, no marketing campaigns | A practice wanting full clinical charting at a clear, published monthly price | A practice wanting marketing automation or review management built in |
| Weave | From $199/mo (exact tiers gated) | Not published; base plan includes 2 phones | No, communication layer only, no clinical records | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Yes, the deepest of the three: AI texting, missed-call text-back, review requests, bulk campaigns | A practice with an existing PMS wanting a dedicated patient-communication layer on top | A practice wanting one system that includes charting |
Figures checked on dentrix.com, opendental.com/site/fees.html and getweave.com/pricing, September 2026.
How each one fits a dental practice
Dentrix
Full practice management with voice-powered SOAP notes, AI caries detection and automatic CDT coding. It adds a distinct Marketing & Patient Experience line covering recall campaigns and reputation management, backed by a documented API with 700 endpoints. Every number requires a demo request. Not for: a practice wanting to compare a price before talking to sales.
Open Dental
The only one of the three with a fully published, per-location monthly price. It covers complete charting, perio and ortho tracking, imaging and treatment planning, plus a patient portal and CareCredit payments. Marketing is limited to add-on recall and messaging services, not full campaigns. Not for: a practice wanting built-in reputation management or marketing automation.
Weave
Built specifically around patient communication. AI two-way texting, missed-call text-back, automated and AI-assisted review responses, email marketing and bulk campaigns, plus Text to Pay and tap-to-pay options. It has no charting or clinical record system, so it sits beside a PMS rather than replacing one. Not for: a practice wanting a single system for both clinical records and communication.
When none of these is the answer
A brand-new solo practice with a handful of patients does not need a full practice management system on day one. A simple scheduling tool and paper or basic digital charting covers the earliest stage. The setup and monthly cost of these systems pays off once patient volume makes manual tracking slow.
Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product. It has no charting, no clinical records and makes no HIPAA compliance or BAA claim. It is not a fit for anything involving treatment data. Where it could fit, narrowly, is enquiry and scheduling before a patient's first visit. Tracking new-patient leads and appointment requests, with treatment details staying in the practice's own system. It is not ranked above because that is a much narrower scope than any tool in this list covers.
Questions
- Do I need a practice management system and a separate CRM tool for a dental office?
- It depends on the system. Dentrix and Open Dental are full practice management platforms with charting and clinical records. Both add marketing or recall communication on top. Weave has no charting or clinical record system at all. It is a communication layer that sits beside a practice management system rather than replacing one. A practice on Weave still needs Dentrix, Eaglesoft or a similar system underneath.
- What does Open Dental actually cost per month?
- $199/month per location for the first 12 months, then $149/month. That covers up to 3 providers, with $20/month for each additional provider, per opendental.com/site/fees.html. That is a published number, unlike Dentrix, which requires a demo request.
- Is Dentrix's patient communication as good as Weave's?
- Dentrix has a dedicated Marketing & Patient Experience feature set. It covers recall campaigns, text and email campaigns and reputation management, built into the same system as charting. Weave is built specifically around communication, with AI two-way texting, missed-call text-back and automated review requests. It generally goes deeper on that one job since it is not also running clinical records.
- Can these tools run outbound marketing to attract new patients, not only recall existing ones?
- Dentrix and Weave both have some marketing features (campaigns, bulk texting, review requests). Those are aimed mostly at existing and lapsed patients, not at reaching new prospects who have never been in the practice. None of the three are built for prospecting new patients the way a dedicated outbound CRM is.