Why companies offer free software
Software has development, infrastructure and maintenance costs. When the product is free, revenue comes from somewhere else.
The most common model is freemium with usage limits. You start without paying, but the free plan has a cap on active patients, monthly appointments or available features. As the clinic grows, the system stops meeting demand and the migration to a paid plan comes with a cost that wasn't in the original calculation.
There's also the inertia acquisition model. The free version exists to create usage habits and get you to migrate your patient history into the platform. The longer you're inside the system, the harder it is to leave. Before starting, it's worth checking how data export works and whether it's available on the plan you're signing up for.
Where the bill shows up
The problem with free systems rarely appears in the first month. It shows up when operations grow and the plan stops keeping up.
For example, integration with scheduling and financial management usually exists in free versions — but within defined limits: maximum number of active patients, monthly appointment caps, absence of complete financial reports, or blocking of features considered advanced. The integration works up to a point. Anyone who discovers this limit after having trained their team and migrated their history is, in practice, facing a forced change that wasn't in the plan.
Teleconsultation integrated with the EHR is usually absent or restricted in free versions. In practice, remote appointments happen outside the system. The physician switches between the camera and the record during the consultation, loses track of documentation and completes the entry later — when the details have already blurred with other appointments of the day.
Digital prescription with legal validity requires a signature with an ICP-Brasil certificate. Without it, the prescription may be rejected at pharmacies and the physician is exposed to questions about the document's chain of custody. This feature is rarely available in free plans.
Support with a direct channel during business hours is also not guaranteed. When something freezes at 8am with a full schedule, the only option is usually a community forum or a ticket with an indefinite deadline.
What managers calculate too late
If a free plan requires two or three complementary tools to work fully, the real monthly cost is no longer zero. If the team dedicates time daily to manual processes that an integrated system would handle automatically, that time has value. And if the clinic eventually needs to switch platforms and historical data can't be exported without paying for a specific plan, the migration that seemed free just deferred its cost.
The right calculation isn't how much it costs per month. It's the total cost of operating with that system, considering team time, additional tools, growth limitations and future exit complexity.
Before deciding, it's worth asking
- •Does the plan you're signing up for have limits on patients, appointments or features?
- •Are scheduling, EHR and financial management integrated without restrictions, or does that integration have a ceiling?
- •Does support have a direct channel and defined business hours?
- •Does the digital prescription use an ICP-Brasil certified signature?
- •Do the terms of service clearly describe how patient data is stored and processed?
- •How does data export work if you decide to leave?
The answers say more than any list of features.
A choice we make with intention
Salutho does not have a free version or an unguided trial period. Management systems for clinics involve health data, clinical processes and patient history. An evaluation done without understanding the actual operational flow usually results in a poor fit — whether with Salutho or any other system.
What we offer is a demonstration in a structured conversation, led by a specialist consultant, designed to understand your clinic's operational needs before presenting any feature. Not because the decision should be rushed, but because a well-implemented management system starts before the contract is signed.