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Practice Fusion vs Pabau

Why is Pabau the right Practice Fusion alternative for you?

This page will unpick some of the key differences between Practice Fusion and Pabau so that you can decide which is the best fit for your business. 

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Main differences between Practice Fusion and Pabau

Practice Fusion

Practice Fusion is a cloud-based, browser-based electronic health record (EHR) built primarily for small, independent primary care practices in the US, and it holds ONC Health IT certification.

It was long known as a free, advertising-supported EHR — showing pharmaceutical adverts to clinicians inside the clinical workflow — before moving to a paid subscription following a 2020 settlement with the US Department of Justice over that advertising model.

It handles the fundamentals an ambulatory practice needs well: e-prescribing, primary-care charting templates, scheduling, a patient portal, and lab and imaging connections. What it is not is a platform built for aesthetic, medical and multi-service clinics — there is no before-and-after photo management, digital consent, or marketing automation, and no native mobile app.

Pabau

Pabau offers an all-in-one cloud software solution tailored to seamlessly manage the unique workflows in med spas, healthcare businesses and aesthetic practices of all sizes. It’s intuitive and easy-to-use enough that new businesses can get it up and running in no time, but it’s comprehensive enough to help practices scale and grow.

It supports businesses with everything from online booking, patient management, forms, automated recalls/reminders, pre- and post-care, POS, and marketing.

It’s not just there to simplify running your business, it’s designed to help you drive revenue and grow.

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Pricing

Practice Fusion

Practice Fusion was historically free, funded by pharmaceutical advertising shown to clinicians. After its 2020 Department of Justice settlement it moved to a paid subscription and no longer offers a free version.

Practice Fusion does not publish pricing on its website, so you will need to contact their sales team for a quote for your practice.

Pabau

Pabau charges a flat monthly fee based on the number of users and clients. For that, you get an incredibly feature-rich system with online bookings, digital client records, robust client records, inventory, point of sale, marketing builder, and lots more. For more information visit our pricing page. 

Pabau’s core functionality is built-in, and we don’t charge extra for essential features. There are some optional fees and upgrades like credits for SMS, telehealth and Pabau Scribe and Marketing Plus (which are super useful!), but everything you need day-to-day is built in.

Pabau offers 12, 24 and 36-month contracts, but they are optional.

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Feature comparison

Why Choose Pabau Over Practice Fusion
Practice Fusion

Purpose-built for clinics, not general primary care

Practice Fusion is a general ambulatory EHR designed around primary-care visits. Pabau is built for aesthetic, medical and wellness clinics, with the tools that world runs on — online booking, before-and-after photos, digital consent, payments and marketing — included as core, and it is HIPAA-ready for US clinics.

Built-in before and after photos

Pabau’s before-and-after feature comes with every plan. It lets you store photos in the client card, share them with clients, and track progress visually.
As a general primary-care EHR, Practice Fusion has no dedicated before-and-after photo tool — something aesthetic and skin clinics rely on every day.

No advertising inside your clinical software

Practice Fusion built its business on showing pharmaceutical advertising to clinicians inside the EHR — a model that led to a 2020 Department of Justice settlement.
Pabau is funded entirely by subscriptions: no ads, and no third-party influence on what you see while you work.

Built-in customizable reports and analytics

Practice Fusion’s reporting is oriented around the clinical and front-end billing needs of a primary-care practice.
Pabau ships with more than 40 pre-built reports you can customize or build your own — covering bookings, revenue, rebooking and marketing — at no extra cost, with charts and graphs so it is more visual.

A patient portal built for the full clinic journey

Practice Fusion includes a patient portal focused on primary-care essentials.
With Pabau, clients get a portal on mobile and desktop to book, cancel and reschedule, complete forms and consent, pay invoices, view treatment notes and progress photos, and manage their own details.

E-prescribing on both sides — plus the clinic tools around it

E-prescribing is one of Practice Fusion’s genuine strengths.
Pabau also prescribes — fully electronic to pharmacies in the UK, and via fax in the US — and wraps it in the booking, consent, photos and marketing an aesthetic or private clinic runs on day to day.

Efficient no-show management with flexible, automated deposits

Pabau lets you set deposits by service or client and combine them with cancellation and no-show fees to protect revenue, backed by automated reminders and confirmations. Booking and payment tooling like this sits outside what a primary-care EHR such as Practice Fusion is designed to provide.

Flexible and intuitive calendar

Pabau gives you a flexible calendar you can view by day, week or month and tailor to how your team works, with a clean, intuitive layout that is quick for new staff to pick up.

Having Pabau implemented into the clinic is certainly a relief. It just reduces a whole lot of stress in the clinic.

Amish Patel, Owner / Director / Lead clinician
Intrigue Cosmetic Clinic
Read the case study
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G2 Leader
G2 Likely To Recommend

Top 5 reasons to choose Pabau over Practice Fusion

1. Intuitive, easy-to-use system

Pabau is a modern and intuitive system that is a no-brainer for businesses of all sizes. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly features allow users to find everything they need with just a few clicks.

Many of our clients who are solo practitioners or small businesses have stated that they started using our intuitive and user-friendly system from the get-go.

Practice Fusion is also known for being quick to learn, but it is designed around primary-care visits rather than the booking-, photo- and consent-driven workflows of an aesthetic or wellness clinic.

2. Practice management solution for practices of all sizes

Pabau is great for solo practitioners, new businesses, and big businesses alike. It’s an affordable option for teams of one, and it’s also robust enough to grow with you and handle large clinics.

Practice Fusion is aimed at small, independent primary-care practices; reviewers also note limited scalability as a practice grows or adds providers, and there is no native mobile app — it works through a mobile browser only.

3. An all-in-one solution for med spas and aesthetic practices

Pabau is a superb solution for the aesthetic industry. It has everything you need to run your business: a robust client card, detailed face mapping, e-prescriptions (for the UK) and prescriptions via iFax (for the US), automated recalls for easier client/calendar management, and smart allergy tracking with SNOMED. It also comes with a secure payment terminal for easier payments, and it is HIPAA-ready for US clinics.

Practice Fusion is a general ambulatory EHR built for primary care. It does the clinical basics well, but it does not offer the aesthetic-specific tooling above — before-and-after photos, face mapping, digital consent and clinic marketing — that med spas and aesthetic clinics depend on.

4. Core functionalities built-in

With Pabau, everything you need to run your business is built in, so you won’t have to pay extra for things like before-and-after photos, detailed and customizable reports, review management, or the client portal. There are some optional fees and upgrades, but everything you need day-to-day is built in.

Practice Fusion covers core primary-care EHR needs, but a growing aesthetic or multi-service clinic typically has to add separate tools for online booking, marketing, consent and before-and-after photos, and coordinate external partners for full revenue-cycle billing.

5. A richer, more convenient client experience

Pabau’s robust client portal keeps your clients engaged, reducing no-shows while improving treatment outcomes. Clients can easily book/cancel/reschedule appointments online, pay invoices, find treatment notes, see progress photos, and view and edit their medical histories with just a click.

Practice Fusion offers a patient portal geared to primary-care essentials. It is not designed around the online booking, deposits, progress photos and self-service rescheduling that keep an aesthetic clinic’s calendar full.

Customers That Chose Pabau Over Others

“A clinical CRM that meets all of my needs and makes my life a lot easier! [I love] having my patient’s journey all in one place. Being able to manage marketing and new leads, which previously required juggling various systems.

Pabau has allowed me to streamline my business and gave me more time — which is invaluable.”

Craig H.

Small-business owner

G2 review

“[We love] the ability to free up the clinic of paper once and for all. Having tried a number of different software systems there has always been some paper somewhere. Pabau completely eliminates this. It has every feature you could dream of to reduce the workload.

There’s always someone available if you need help with the system as well.”

Lee H.

Medical practice manager

GetApp review

“Our previous system was OKAY but we needed too many additional “add-ons” to continue to grow our business and service our customers. Pabau is a one-stop shop.”

Carissa P.

Health, wellness, and fitness manager

Capterra review

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Practice Fusion is a registered trademark of Practice Fusion, Inc. Last updated on 07.23.2026

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