5.0Top-rated on the athenahealth Marketplace · 45+ reviews
Comparison

CarePilot vs. Heidi, side by side.

A comparison for athenahealth practices. Heidi is a genuinely good, free, global ambient scribe used across hundreds of specialties. This page says exactly where it leads, and where an athena-first practice is better served.

The honest verdict

Heidi is the better choice for a clinician who wants a free, flexible ambient scribe that works in any specialty, any language, and across almost any EHR with no integration project. CarePilot is the athenahealth clinical-action platform for practices that want depth in one EHR: it writes notes, ICD-10 and E&M codes, and orders into athenaOne's own discrete fields, triages the inbox, and goes live in 1 to 2 business days with packaging that includes the integration rather than charging for it.

At a glance.

Dimension
CarePilot
Heidi
Built for
Independent and ambulatory practices on athenahealth. An athena-first product a practice can buy and run on its own.
Individual clinicians in any specialty, anywhere. Product-led and adopted bottom-up, doctor by doctor, with a free tier that needs no contract.
EHR focus
Built end to end for athenaOne, with native API read and write to the chart's discrete fields.
EHR-agnostic by design: a browser widget, Chrome extension, and one-click Magic Paste move the note into almost any system. Direct EHR integration is a paid add-on; athenahealth, Epic, and Cerner are supported, with MEDITECH in progress.
Where the note lands
Discrete SOAP fields (HPI, ROS, exam, assessment, plan) in your own athenaOne templates and macros.
Generates a structured note you review, then drop into the EHR with Magic Paste or the browser widget. Excellent notes; the hand-off is a paste rather than a discrete-field write-back unless you buy the integration add-on.
Coding support
Coder attaches ICD-10 specificity and the E&M level in-visit, while the assessment is still on screen.
Suggests billing codes on the paid Clinician tier, with a HIMSS26 R1 partnership adding payer and revenue-cycle intelligence at the point of care. Strong direction; codes still land back in the chart by hand for most users.
Orders & prescriptions
CarePilot drafts the orders and prescriptions the conversation produced into athenaOne's queues. The clinician signs.
Centered on documentation, evidence, and patient comms. Generates referrals and handouts, but writing orders and e-prescriptions into the EHR queue is not its published focus.
Inbox & patient messages
Inbox triages results, refills, and messages for providers and staff, as a dedicated per-seat product.
Heidi Comms handles outbound patient communication: call confirmations, follow-ups, and scheduling. There is no provider-side results, refill, and message triage inbox.
Pricing transparency
Packaging published for notes, coding, orders, and the inbox as one platform. Per provider, per seat, with no implementation or per-note fees, and EHR integration included.
Published tiers from a free-forever plan up to Clinician and Enterprise, which is genuinely transparent. EHR integration, coding, and team controls sit behind paid tiers and add-ons.
Free trial
30 days, free, the full platform. Billing starts when you decide to roll out.
Free forever for core transcription, plus 14-day trials on the paid tiers. The easiest product on this page to start using at no cost.
Implementation
One to two business days from yes to live, writing into athenaOne. Providers chart on day one, with no IT project.
Sign up and scribe in minutes with no integration. Deep athenaOne write-back, however, depends on the separate EHR-integration add-on rather than the free product.
Footprint & scale
Focused depth for solo to mid-size athenahealth practices that want the full clinical-action loop in one EHR.
Global reach: 2.7M+ patient visits a week, 200+ specialties, 110+ languages, used in nearly every country. Breadth is the headline strength.
Recognition
Rated 5.0 with 45+ verified five-star reviews from athena practices on the athenahealth Marketplace.
KLAS Emerging Company Spotlight where 100% of surveyed customers said they would buy Heidi again; ~$86.6M raised at a reported $465M valuation.
Security posture
SOC 2 Type II audited, HIPAA compliant, with BAAs across every customer, subprocessor, and model provider.
SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, GDPR, and NHS-DSP compliant, with audio streamed and not stored. A broad, internationally certified posture.

Heidi details from heidihealth.com (Scribe, Pricing) and third-party coverage including Sacra, KLAS, and HIMSS26 reporting, reviewed June 2026. Vendor capabilities and pricing tiers change; verify current specifics before purchase.

Where Heidi is strong.

Credit where due

Free, global, and product-led

Heidi has a genuinely free forever tier and grew bottom-up to 2.7M+ patient visits a week, used in nearly every country. For a clinician who wants to start scribing today at no cost, with no contract and no IT, that reach is real and worth crediting.

Specialty and language breadth

200+ specialties, thousands of configurable templates, and transcription in 110+ languages. For multilingual care or a specialty CarePilot has not tuned for, Heidi's breadth is a genuine strength.

An expanding AI care partner

Heidi is building past the note with Evidence (ad-free clinical decision support on Claude) and Comms (patient outreach), plus an R1 partnership for revenue-cycle intelligence. The roadmap is ambitious and moving fast.

Where CarePilot pulls away.

For athenahealth practices

Built for athenaOne, not paste-in

Heidi is EHR-agnostic: a great note that lands via Magic Paste, a widget, or a paid integration add-on. CarePilot is built end to end for athenaOne and writes notes, codes, and orders into athena's own discrete fields, problem list, orders queue, and charges.

The full clinical action loop

Heidi centers on documentation, evidence, and patient comms. CarePilot drafts orders and prescriptions into athenaOne's queues, attaches ICD-10 and E&M in-visit, and runs a dedicated inbox that triages results, refills, and messages, each ending at the clinician's sign-off.

Integration included, not an add-on

With Heidi, deep EHR write-back and coding live behind paid tiers and a separate integration add-on. CarePilot ships notes, coding, orders, and the inbox as one published package, with the athenaOne integration included rather than billed extra.

Live and writing back in days

Starting Heidi takes minutes, but native athenaOne write-back depends on its integration add-on. CarePilot goes fully live on athenaOne, writing to the chart, in 1 to 2 business days with no IT project and a 30-day trial of the whole platform.

The short version.

Heidi sells reach and freedom. A free, flexible ambient scribe that works in 200+ specialties, 110+ languages, and almost any EHR, adopted bottom-up by clinicians around the world. If you want a great note with no contract and no integration project, that breadth is real, and this page won't pretend otherwise.

CarePilot sells depth for one EHR. The note is step one of a loop that also places the codes, drafts the orders, and works the inbox, all inside athenaOne's own fields, live in 1 to 2 business days, with the integration included rather than sold as an add-on. If your practice isn't on athenahealth, CarePilot isn't your product.

For the athenaOne practice that wants the full workflow written into the chart, run the 30-day trial next to Heidi and anything else you're evaluating. The chart will tell you.

From providers who shopped around.

Verified Marketplace reviews · verbatim
★★★★★

As did many of the other reviewers, I tried quite a few other AI scribes - Suki, Sunoh, Freed, Heidi, Nabla among them. I found that CarePilot offered the absolute best combination of Athena integration with relevant, professional-sounding output, customizability, and ease of use of all. Plus, their customer support and technical support is outstanding. Some of the scribes (Suki, Nabla) offered comparable speech recognition and output, some were customizable, some were deeply integrated, most offered 24/7/365 support (Sunoh didn't) but only CarePilot was successful in offering everything in one package. Very happy with the product.

VerifiedProvider · practice size 2 · Nov 2025
★★★★★

I recently implemented CarePilot at my four provider primary care office and what a difference it has made! My time spent on documentation has been reduced by 75% and my note quality has increase significantly as CarePilot picks up additional details that I may not take the time to document on my own due to time constraints. The interface is very easy to use and setup took me about 20 minutes before I was able to start using it. Literally I set it up over lunch one day! Forget a 2-3 week prolonged, agonizing implementation process like I have experienced with other 3rd party vendors. Carepilot's customer service has been stellar. Their team responds quickly (within 2-3 minutes typically) when any issues are raised.

VerifiedProvider · practice size 7 · Feb 2025
FAQ

The switch questions.

Is CarePilot better than Heidi?

For independent athenahealth practices, CarePilot is the better fit: it writes notes, ICD-10 and E&M codes, and orders into athenaOne's discrete fields, triages the inbox, and goes live in 1 to 2 days with the integration included. For a clinician who wants a free, EHR-agnostic scribe across many specialties and languages, Heidi is the stronger choice.

What is the difference between CarePilot and Heidi?

Heidi is a free, product-led ambient scribe and emerging AI care partner that works across almost any EHR via Magic Paste, a browser widget, or a paid integration add-on. CarePilot is an athenahealth-native clinical-action platform that writes notes, codes, and orders into athenaOne's own fields and adds dedicated inbox triage.

Is CarePilot cheaper than Heidi?

Heidi has a free forever tier, which is hard to beat on price, but coding, team controls, and EHR integration sit behind paid tiers and a separate add-on. CarePilot publishes packaging that covers notes, coding, orders, and the inbox as one platform with the athenaOne integration included, priced per provider with no per-note or implementation fees.

Can CarePilot replace Heidi?

For athenahealth practices, yes. CarePilot captures the ambient note Heidi produces and completes the coding, orders, and inbox work directly inside athenaOne, with the integration included. Clinicians who need a free, multilingual scribe across many EHRs and specialties may prefer Heidi.

Who should use Heidi instead of CarePilot?

Clinicians who are not on athenahealth, who need transcription in many languages or a specialty CarePilot has not tuned for, or who want to start scribing free with no contract and no integration project, are a better fit for Heidi. CarePilot is built specifically for athenahealth ambulatory practices.

Does Heidi integrate with athenahealth?

Heidi supports athenahealth among several EHRs and has a deep integration that powers its agentic clinical calling and appointment reminders, but direct EHR write-back is a paid add-on, and the default hand-off is a one-click Magic Paste. CarePilot is built end to end for athenaOne, writing to its discrete fields, problem list, orders queue, and charges as a native integration with no add-on fee.

Does Heidi do order entry and inbox triage?

Heidi centers on ambient documentation, clinical evidence, and patient comms such as call confirmations and follow-ups; it generates referrals and handouts but writing orders and e-prescriptions into the EHR queue is not its focus, and it has no provider-side results and refill inbox. CarePilot drafts orders and prescriptions into athenaOne's queues and runs a dedicated results, refill, and message inbox.

The next move

Run the trial next to it.

30 days free, live on athenaOne. Put CarePilot next to Heidi. The chart decides.