Home → DrinCloud vs IntakeQ and PracticeQ: an h…
DrinCloud vs IntakeQ and PracticeQ: an honest comparison
IntakeQ builds the best patient intake forms in this market and it is not close: conditional questions, scored questionnaires, consents the patient signs on their phone, and PracticeQ wraps all of it in scheduling, payments and insurance claims. DrinCloud is the US edition of a clinic system with 12+ years and 8,000+ clinics in 14 countries, built for practices paid directly by the patient. Two facts decide this page and we print both. IntakeQ has no AI scribe of any kind, so AI-drafted notes mean a second tool and copy and paste. And from two practitioners up, IntakeQ is cheaper than we are: at six people they bill $234.90 and we bill $407. Prices on pricing, the rest in all comparisons.
IntakeQ and PracticeQ are one company: IntakeQ is the forms product at $54.90, PracticeQ the full practice management product at $84.90, with extra practitioners at $20 or $30. What they do better than anyone, us included, is intake: conditional questions that hide and show themselves, rating scales the software totals for you, intake packages, a form you can send back with comments on single answers, e-faxing, and since August 2026 an AI that writes a questionnaire from a prompt. They also file insurance claims and sell e-prescribing at $65 per prescriber. If your bottleneck is the paperwork at the front of the visit, buy IntakeQ.
The math matters in both directions. One practitioner with AI notes is $69 here against $84.90 there with no AI at all. Then it flips, because they charge $30 per added practitioner and have no AI to sell: three people is $179 against $144.90, six is $407 against $234.90. Above one practitioner they are the cheaper invoice and we will not hide it. The difference buys a scribe per provider, unlimited telehealth, a patient CRM with campaigns and surveys, operating room and inpatient modules, and the software and reminders in Spanish or Portuguese.
What each one really costs (November 2026)
| Pricing | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $49/moEssential, annual; $59 monthly. One provider | $54.90/moIntakeQ Forms Only. No calendar, portal or payments |
| The plan most practices buy | $107 · $119 · $287 · $574Solo, Clinic 1 to 3, Medical Center 4 to 30, Large Clinics 31 to 50 | $84.90/moPracticeQ. Low-volume rates $29.90 and $59.90 |
| How the price scales | ✓ By practice size band4 to 30 users never changes the $287 bill | ✗ Per practitioner$20 on Forms, $30 on Practice Management |
| Cost of each added practitioner | ✓ $0 to $45$45 for the 4th and 5th, then $0 up to 30 | ✓ $30/mothe lowest of the nine platforms we track |
| AI note drafting, what it costs | ✓ $20/moper provider, one button | ✗ Not soldno scribe at any price |
| Cheaper than DrinCloud from two practitioners up | ✗ Nowe win at one provider and lose after that | ✓ Yes$144.90 at three, $234.90 at six |
| Free trial before you pay | ✗ Nodemo environment, or pay one month | ✓ 14 daysno card. A straight win over us |
| Two months free when you pay annually | ✓ Yes12 months at the price of 10 | Not documented |
| Same clinical core on every plan | ✓ Yesrecord, superbill and the AI option on every plan | ✗ Nothe forms plan has no calendar or payments |
| All prices published openly | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| No setup fee, no minimum term | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yesno contract |
| Block score · Pricing and transparency (20%) | 3.9 | 2.8 |
Sources: intakeq.com/pricing, forms.intakeq.com/pricing and drincloud.com/pricing, checked November 2, 2026. Note: the comparison table lower down their pricing page still quoted $49.90 for the forms product while the plan box above it quoted $54.90. We use the plan box.
Read the models, not the stickers. We charge by practice size and sell the scribe at $20 per provider; they charge per practitioner and sell no scribe at all. That makes us the cheaper invoice in exactly one case, a solo provider who wants AI notes, and the dearer one from the second practitioner on. Their $30 a head is the lowest price in this market. They hand us three honest losses here: a real trial, a low-volume rate, and a cheaper team bill. Ours are on pricing.
The real math: three scenarios
| Scenario | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Solo practitioner with AI notes | $69/moEssential $49 plus the $20 scribe | $84.90/moand no AI notes at any price |
| 3 practitioners, AI for everyone | $179/moClinic $119 covers 1 to 3, plus 3 x $20 | $144.90/mo$84.90 + 2 x $30, no AI. $34 cheaper |
| 6 practitioners, AI for everyone | $407/moMedical Center $287 covers 4 to 30, plus 6 x $20 | $234.90/mo$84.90 + 5 x $30, no AI. $172 cheaper |
Arithmetic with the rates on intakeq.com/pricing and drincloud.com/pricing, checked November 2, 2026. DrinCloud figures are the annual rate; monthly billing runs $59, $143 and $344. SMS and the booking chatbot are in neither column.
This is the table a vendor would bury, so here it is near the top. At one provider we are $16 cheaper and include AI notes. At three they are $34 cheaper and at six $172 cheaper, every month, because $30 a head is very low and they sell no AI. So the question is not which is cheaper. It is whether a scribe for every provider, plus telehealth, the CRM and the surgery modules, is worth $172 a month at six people.
Charting, notes and the AI that drafts them
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Customizable clinical notes and forms | ✓ Yesour own builder per specialty | ✓ Yesthe strongest form builder here, by a distance |
| Ready-made note formats such as SOAP | Partialyou build it once; no SOAP or BIRP catalog | ✓ Yesboth plans |
| AI turns the recorded visit into a draft note | ✓ Yesreview and sign; $20 per provider | ✗ Nono scribe, no ambient documentation, nothing |
| AI clinical assistant for differentials and interactions | ✓ Yesincluded on every plan | Not documentedits AI is about building forms |
| AI that writes the forms themselves | ✗ No | ✓ YesAI Forms, and a PDF turned into a digital form |
| Voice dictation into the note | Not documented | Chrome onlydocumented as Google Chrome only |
| Fields that carry history forward | ✓ Yesallergies, history and medication follow the patient | Not documented |
| Pre-visit forms the patient completes before arriving | ✓ Yesfrom the portal, in the patient's language | ✓ Yeswhat they are famous for |
| In-visit procedures billed on top of the visit fee | ✓ Yescharged separately from the consultation | Not documented |
| One-click follow-up recall from inside the note | ✓ Yesan automatic 'come back in 3 months' | Not documentedrecall lives in Engage, not the note |
| Informed consents with remote e-signature | ✓ Yessigned on the patient's phone | ✓ Yesclient and provider signatures |
| Block score · Clinical record and AI (25%) | 3.9 | 2.5 |
Sources: forms.intakeq.com/features/ai-forms, support.intakeq.com (Questionnaires, Treatment Notes, Consent Forms, AI Form Builder, '10 IntakeQ Features You May Not Know About') and drincloud.com/features, checked November 2, 2026.
The heaviest block, and the one with the clearest hole. IntakeQ has real AI, but it points at the forms, not the notes: it writes a questionnaire from a prompt and converts a PDF into a digital form, both genuinely useful. What it does not do is listen to the visit and draft the note, the largest single block of clinician time in the day. Their answer today is dictation that only runs in Chrome. Ours is the AI scribe at $20 per provider plus a clinical assistant on every plan.
Scheduling and patient communication
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-provider, multi-room calendar | ✓ Yesshifts tie the provider to the room | ✓ Yeson Practice Management only |
| Online booking with real-time availability | ✓ Yesby provider and specialty, on your own site | ✓ Yesits own booking site |
| Payment or deposit taken at booking | ✓ Yespaid when the slot is reserved | Not documented |
| Waitlist that fills cancelled slots | ✓ Yesthe gap offers itself instead of sitting empty | Not documented |
| Email appointment reminders | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Text reminders, what they cost | $36 per 30012 cents a message | ✓ 300 includedper practitioner a month, then 1 cent. A win over us |
| WhatsApp reminders | ✓ Yes$40 a month | Not documented |
| Telehealth | ✓ Unlimitednever metered; from Solo, $10 on Essential | ✓ Yesin Practice Management |
| Task management for the team | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Self check-in kiosk and waiting room screen | ✓ Yestablet check-in, visit rating, a screen that calls them in | Not documented |
| Surgery scheduling and inpatient admissions | ✓ Yesoperating room calendar, patients by floor and room | Not documented |
| Block score · Scheduling and patient communication (15%) | 4.8 | 2.7 |
Sources: forms.intakeq.com/pricing, support.intakeq.com (Appointment Management, Telehealth, 'SMS Pricing and Limits') and drincloud.com/features, checked November 2, 2026.
Give them the reminder row without an argument: 300 text segments per practitioner a month are in the Practice Management price and extras cost a cent, against our $36 packs of 300. The rest of the block goes our way because it comes from running physical clinics: money taken at booking, a waitlist that refills itself, tablet check-in, an operating room calendar. Note too that their calendar does not exist on the $54.90 forms plan.
Getting paid without an insurer in the middle
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Charge at the desk, online or by payment link | ✓ Yesabout 20 seconds from the calendar | ✓ Yes |
| What the card processing costs | ✓ 2.9% + 30cyour own Stripe account, nothing on top; discounts stay yours | Not documentedrates not published |
| Charge the visit or a deposit at booking | ✓ Yes | Not documented |
| Recurring payments, packages and memberships | Not documentedwe invoice packages, not recurring cards | ✓ Yesa real win for membership practices |
| Superbill with NPI, EIN, CPT and ICD-10 | ✓ Yesa PDF with the balance; your own codes | ✓ Yes |
| Prices per service, specialty and provider | ✓ Yesas many rate cards as you need | ✓ Yes |
| Sliding scale fees per patient | ✓ Yesthe rate sits on the patient | Not documented |
| Product sales with stock deducted from the invoice | ✓ Yescounts fall as you sell | ✓ Yeswith stock counts and lot numbers |
| Quotes and treatment plan estimates the patient signs | ✓ Yesapproved before you start | Partialinvoice a package up front; no signed estimate |
| Automatic receipts and patient statements | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Block score · Getting paid (15%) | 4.5 | 3.3 |
Sources: forms.intakeq.com/pricing, support.intakeq.com (PQ Payments, Invoicing & Billing, Product Inventory) and drincloud.com/features, checked November 2, 2026. Standard Stripe US rates are 2.9% + $0.30 online and 2.7% + $0.05 in person.
Closer than people expect, because PracticeQ is a complete billing product and not a forms toy. They take two rows outright: recurring payments and subscriptions, which is what a membership practice runs on, and product inventory with lot numbers, which is more than we track. We take the rows a cash-pay clinic lives in: a deposit at booking, a sliding scale on the patient, signed estimates, and a card rate you can read, because the Stripe account is yours. Our superbill carries NPI, EIN, CPT and ICD-10.
Languages, support and keeping patients coming back
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Interface language per user | ✓ YesEnglish, Spanish, Portuguese and more | ✗ Noits help center says the admin area is English only |
| Forms and system labels in other languages | ✓ Yesforms, documents and portal follow the patient | Partiallabels in four languages; your questions translated by hand |
| Communication language per patient | ✓ Yesreminders and documents follow it | Not documented |
| Support in Spanish and Portuguese | ✓ Yes | Not documentedno language stated |
| A live support channel beyond email | PartialWhatsApp with video, business hours. No phone line | ✓ Yesdedicated phone support on Practice Management |
| Patient portal with no app to download | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yeson Practice Management |
| Post-visit satisfaction surveys with statistics | ✓ Yesafter each visit, charted | Partialbuild it as a form and read the analytics |
| Recall and birthday messages | ✓ Yesgreetings, and recall from the note | ✓ Yesin Engage, whose price is not published |
| Automated campaigns by patient event | ✓ Yesif X happened, send Y after Z days | Partialpaid Engage tiers; event triggers not described |
| Referral source recorded per patient | ✓ Yeshow each patient found you | Not documented |
| Large US user base and peer community | ✗ Nowe are new to the US market | ✓ Yeslong established in chiropractic and functional medicine |
| Block score · Languages and patient experience (10%) | 4.3 | 2.5 |
Sources: support.intakeq.com ('Support for Multiple Languages' article 235; the Engage articles on recall and birthday reminders; PQ Phone Support) and drincloud.com/features, checked November 2, 2026.
Their own documentation settles the language rows: forms can carry Spanish, French or Portuguese labels, but you translate your question text yourself and the admin area is English only. Ours is bilingual end to end, per user and per patient. They take the support row, because dedicated phone support is in the Practice Management price and we have no phone line. On retention they have Engage, which does recall and birthdays well, but it is a separate paid module priced off the pricing page.
Intake, forms and insurance billing: buy IntakeQ
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Conditional questions and skip logic in forms | Not documentedno rules engine, so a long form stays long | ✓ Yeshide or show questions and whole consents from earlier answers |
| Scored questionnaires calculated for you | ✗ Nowe score nothing | ✓ Yesmatrix calculations total up rating scales |
| Library of intake packages sent in one go | ✗ Noyou adapt our specialty forms one at a time | ✓ Yespackages, and several consents at once |
| AI that drafts a questionnaire or consent from a prompt | ✗ No | ✓ YesAI Forms, or a PDF made editable |
| Send a submitted form back with comments on single questions | Not documented | ✓ Yeswith a reason and comments on specific answers |
| E-faxing from inside the platform | ✗ No | ✓ Yesin both plans |
| Insurance claim submission through a clearinghouse | ✗ Noby design: we serve practices paid by the patient | ✓ Yesa 47 article help category |
| e-Prescribing with EPCS and PDMP lookup | ✗ Nowe print or send PDFs, which fails in CA, FL, NY, MI, MN and DE | ✓ Yes$65 per prescriber, ID.me proofing included |
| Remote e-signature on consents and intake forms | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Superbill the patient submits for reimbursement | ✓ YesNPI, EIN, CPT, ICD-10 and the balance | ✓ Yes |
| Block score · Intake, forms and insurance billing (10%) | 1.0 | 5.0 |
Sources: support.intakeq.com ('Use Conditional Questions and Skip Logic (Rules)', 'Create an Intake Package', '10 IntakeQ Features You May Not Know About', 'ePrescribe: Benefits and Pricing' article 483, Insurance category), forms.intakeq.com/features/ai-forms and drincloud.com, checked November 2, 2026.
This block is not close and no wording fixes it: 5.0 to them, 1.0 to us. Intake is what IntakeQ was built to do and ten years of work shows. Skip logic alone changes a practice: the asthma questions appear for the asthmatic and nobody else, so forms get shorter and get finished. Add scored scales, intake packages, rejection with comments, a drawing on a body diagram, then claims and e-prescribing. If the paperwork at the front of the visit is your bottleneck, buy IntakeQ and close this tab.
Integrations, data ownership and compliance
| Feature | DrinCloud | IntakeQ / PracticeQ |
|---|---|---|
| Free self-service import from Excel or XML | ✓ Yesyou run it; a bad import is deleted and redone | Not documentedan API, no spreadsheet importer |
| Public API for developers | Not documentedwe publish none | ✓ Yesincluding a questionnaire API |
| Documented third-party integrations | ✓ YesStripe and Google Calendar | ✓ Yesa 23 article category, plus Fullscript |
| Full data export, free | ✓ YesCSV and PDF, including the day you leave | ✓ YesPDF, CSV or Dropbox |
| Role-based permissions and non-practitioner accounts | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes2 assistant accounts in both plans |
| Patient data never used to train the AI models | ✓ Yeswritten down, not implied | Not documented |
| HIPAA with a BAA on every plan | ✓ Yesencryption in transit and at rest | ✓ Yesin both plans |
| A public page for the practice with booking inside | ✓ Yes$10 on Essential, included from Solo | ✓ Yesa booking site, not a full website |
| Your data after you cancel, no retention period | ✓ Yesfree export, nothing to wait out | Not documented |
| Block score · Integrations and data (5%) | 4.4 | 3.3 |
Sources: forms.intakeq.com/pricing, support.intakeq.com (API, Integrations, Team Management, Account & Subscriptions) and drincloud.com/security, checked November 2, 2026.
Both sign a BAA and both let your data out, which is the question to ask before you move in. They win the developer row cleanly, with a documented API and a long integrations list where we publish none. We win the move-in row, with a free importer you run yourself on any Excel or XML file, and a written promise that patient data never trains the models. More in alternatives to DrinCloud.
Which one fits you?
IntakeQ or PracticeQ is the better fit if...
- Intake paperwork is your bottleneck. Conditional questions, scored scales, intake packages, rejection with comments and drawing on a body diagram are the best intake engine here, and nothing we ship comes close.
- You have two practitioners or more and want the smaller invoice: $144.90 at three against our $179, $234.90 at six against our $407. More in the IntakeQ and PracticeQ pricing review.
- You bill insurance. Claims go to a clearinghouse from inside PracticeQ and we file none at all.
- You prescribe. ePrescribe is $65 a month per prescriber with EPCS and PDMP lookups; we print or send PDFs, which fails in CA, FL, NY, MI, MN and DE.
- You want a phone number for support and a 14 day free trial before you pay. We have neither.
- You run on memberships with recurring card billing, or need e-faxing and an API.
DrinCloud is the better fit if...
- You want AI to draft the note. They have no scribe at any price; ours is $20 a month per provider with the clinical assistant included. See the AI scribe.
- You are one provider and want AI from day one: $69 a month all in against their $84.90 with none.
- You do video visits: unlimited telehealth, never metered by the minute, included from the $107 Solo plan.
- Part of your schedule speaks Spanish or Portuguese: the software in each user's language, reminders in each patient's. Their admin area is English only.
- You live off repeat visits: campaigns by patient event, satisfaction surveys, birthday greetings and referral-source tracking, from the Clinic plan.
- You want money taken when the slot is booked, and a waitlist that refills cancellations by itself.
- Your front desk is physical: tablet check-in, a waiting room call screen, excuse notes in one click.
- You do procedures or surgery: an operating room calendar with a surgical waitlist, admitted patients by floor and room, before and after photos.
- You want a flat bill above four users: $287 covers 4 to 30 people, so staff member eleven changes nothing.
- You want the import free and the exit open: Excel or XML in, CSV and PDF out, no retention. See pricing.
Questions about this comparison
Does IntakeQ have an AI scribe?
You admit IntakeQ is cheaper for a team. Why would I pay more?
Can I migrate from IntakeQ to DrinCloud?
Will I lose the conditional logic in my forms?
Where does the final score come from?
Is this comparison impartial?
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No sales call and no setup fee. You pick a plan, pay for it and the account is live, and the software's built-in AI assistant walks you through setup in your own language. One month is the smallest commitment we sell.
IntakeQ and PracticeQ are trademarks of their owner. This page is an informational comparison published by DrinCloud (Massive Bionics LLC), not affiliated with or endorsed by IntakeQ, using public data verified on intakeq.com, forms.intakeq.com, its help center at support.intakeq.com and drincloud.com on November 2, 2026. 'Not documented' means the feature does not appear on the vendor's public site or help center on that date, not that it does not exist. Price scenarios are arithmetic with the published rates and the assumptions under each table; IntakeQ columns assume no AI note drafting because none is offered. Card rates quoted for DrinCloud are the standard Stripe US rates for a client's own Stripe account. Scores come only from the table cells, with the published formula. If you represent IntakeQ and find an inaccuracy, write to info@dricloud.com and we will correct the data and the score immediately.
Correction history: first published November 2, 2026.