Best Dental Practice Software for Small & Solo Practices (2026)

For a dental practice with one to five chairs the shortlist in 2026: Dentally or EXACT in the UK and Ireland, Dentrix or Eaglesoft if you are a US practice that wants the established names, Open Dental for a low flat fee with a desktop install, Curve Dental for an all-in-one cloud suite with imaging, and Relatica, our own product, if you are in Cyprus or Greece, work in Greek or Russian, or want to start free as a solo dentist. Cliniko and Zanda appear on dental lists but have no tooth chart; see when they are enough below. Prices are from each vendor's public pages; where a vendor publishes none, we say so.

The comparison at a glance

Most "best dental software" lists are written for large US groups and rank products by the length of their feature list. A small practice has different questions: how much for one or two dentists, does it need a server, will it work in my language and with my payers, and what happens when I need help. This list answers those questions for seven dental products, including our own, and says plainly where each one is the wrong choice.

1. Dentally: best cloud system for the UK and Ireland

Dentally is a cloud practice management system from Kent, England, used widely in the UK and also sold in Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Pricing is per practice site by number of surgeries, with unlimited users: Starter from £125 a month for one surgery, Essentials from £220 and Pro from £320, all excluding VAT. Essentials adds the patient portal with online booking and digital forms, digital imaging and multi-site support; Starter does not include online booking. Source: dentally.com.

• Choose it if you are in the UK or Ireland, do NHS work, and want a mature dental-specific system in the browser.
• Look elsewhere if you are outside its five countries, need Greek or Russian, or want online booking on the cheapest tier.

2. EXACT (Software of Excellence): best known name in UK dentistry

EXACT is the practice system from Software of Excellence, part of Henry Schein One, and describes itself as the UK's number one dental practice software. It covers NHS-only, private, mixed and multi-site practices, and around it sit cloud tools for performance analytics, a patient portal, online booking, imaging (Examine Pro) and AI-assisted second opinions. Prices are not published; you get a quote after a demo. Source: softwareofexcellence.com/uk.

• Choose it if you are a UK practice with NHS contracts and want the system most UK dental staff already know.
• Look elsewhere if you want to see a price before a sales call, or you work outside the UK.

3. Dentrix and Dentrix Ascend: the established US choice

Dentrix from Henry Schein One is the name most US dentists know: the site says more than 35,000 practices use it and that Dentrix-connected systems process over 100 million insurance claims a year. Dentrix runs on premises; Dentrix Ascend is the cloud version. Both cover scheduling, charting, imaging with AI detection, insurance eligibility and claims, billing, patient engagement and analytics. The site serves the US and Canada and does not publish prices; you request a demo. Source: dentrix.com.

• Choose it if you are a US or Canadian practice that bills dental insurers every day and wants the system new hires already know.
• Look elsewhere if you are outside North America, or a solo dentist who wants a published monthly price.

4. Eaglesoft: the Patterson Dental system

Eaglesoft is Patterson Dental's practice management system for US practices: charting with periodontal templates, scheduling, imaging, billing and accounting, installed on the practice's own server. It is usually bought together with Patterson's equipment and support, and pricing is available on request rather than published. Source: Patterson Dental product pages.

• Choose it if you already buy equipment and support from Patterson in the US and want one vendor for both.
• Look elsewhere if you want a browser-based system without a server in the practice.

5. Open Dental: lowest flat fee for a full dental system

Open Dental is a long-established desktop system from the US with a low, flat monthly fee: $199 a month per location for the first year in the US and $149 after that, covering up to three providers, with additional providers at $20 a month; outside the US and Canada the published rate is $89 a month. The first contract is twelve months. Online booking, reminders and similar tools are a separate eServices bundle at $165 a month, and cloud hosting is priced separately. The software is proprietary despite the name. Source: opendental.com.

• Choose it if you want a full dental clinical system at a low base price and do not mind a desktop install or a hosted desktop.
• Look elsewhere if you want a browser-only product with booking and reminders included, or a month-to-month start.

6. Curve Dental: cloud all-in-one with imaging

Curve Dental is a cloud all-in-one from Georgia, US: scheduling, charting including perio, native digital imaging, patient engagement with reminders and campaigns, billing, US insurance verification and analytics. Curve does not publish prices; third-party listings put small practices at a few hundred dollars a month. It is strongest where a practice wants imaging inside the same system.

• Choose it if you are in North America and want imaging, engagement and billing under one roof, and are comfortable negotiating a quote.
• Look elsewhere if you want to see the price before a sales call, or you are in Europe and need local payers and languages.

7. Relatica (our product): best free start and best for Cyprus and Greece

Relatica is our product, built in Limassol for clinics in Cyprus, Greece and beyond. It has an FDI tooth chart with surfaces and history, treatment plans with prices per tooth linked to appointments, a public booking page, SMS and email reminders in the patient's language, rooms in the calendar, and GHS and insurer claim tracking. The interface, the booking page and patient messages exist in English, Greek and Russian. Solo is free for one dentist with up to 50 patients; Practice is €49 a month for one practitioner and Team €99 for up to five with 300 SMS included; Clinic is €199 for up to fifteen across three locations. Data is stored in the EU. See Relatica for dental clinics.

• Choose it if you are in Cyprus or Greece, see GHS beneficiaries, or your team or patients read Greek or Russian; or if you want to start free as a solo dentist.
• Look elsewhere if you need digital imaging inside the system, a patient portal with login, e-prescribing, US insurance claims, or a public API. Relatica does not have these yet; see what each feature does not do.

Dental software vs general clinic software: when Cliniko or Zanda is enough

Specialty practices often ask whether they need dental software at all. The test is the chart: if you record findings and plan treatment per tooth, you need an odontogram, and general clinic software does not have one. If your practice is hygiene-led, orthodontic follow-up, or mixed with physiotherapy or aesthetics and the chart lives in another system, a general product can be cheaper and simpler.

• Cliniko is $45 a month for one practitioner with every feature: online booking, treatment notes, invoicing, telehealth, SMS at ten cents. No tooth chart and no dental plans. See our Relatica vs Cliniko page and the Cliniko alternatives list.
• Zanda (formerly Power Diary) is $19 a month for one practitioner with a monthly appointment cap, $49 for Growth plus $19 per additional practitioner, SMS at nine cents. Built for allied health, no dental chart. See the Relatica vs Zanda page.
• Choose dental software the moment you chart teeth, quote treatment plans per tooth or bill dental insurers; choose general software only if none of those happens in your practice.

For a solo dentist

• Lowest cost with a chart: Relatica Solo, free up to 50 patients; then Practice at €49 a month.
• Lowest flat fee for a full desktop system: Open Dental at $89 a month outside North America, with a twelve-month term.
• UK, NHS work: Dentally Starter from £125 a month, without online booking on that tier.
• US, insurance-heavy: Dentrix Ascend or Curve, on a quote.

For a small group with two to five chairs

• Per-chair pricing with unlimited users: Dentally prices by surgery, which suits a practice with many part-time staff.
• Per-practitioner pricing: Relatica Team at €99 a month for up to five practitioners, with rooms in the calendar and Greek and Russian for reception.
• Established UK or US system: EXACT in the UK, Dentrix or Eaglesoft in the US; ask for a quote for your exact number of chairs and providers.
• Imaging in the same system: Curve, Dentrix with imaging, or Dentally Essentials.

How to decide in an afternoon

1. Write down your payers. NHS, GHS, US dental insurers or self-pay decide half the list on their own.
2. Write down the languages your reception and your patients read. Most products on this list are English-only.
3. Count practitioners, not staff. Per-practitioner pricing (Relatica) suits practices with part-time reception; per-site pricing (Dentally, Open Dental) suits practices with many users.
4. Open a trial or the free plan and chart one real case: a finding on tooth 36, a plan with two items, a booked visit, a reminder. If that takes more than twenty minutes, the product is not for a small practice.
5. Ask each vendor what the product does not do. The honest answer is the useful one.