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Podium vs. PatientNow

Podium is an AI Operating System built specifically for aesthetics, with a full EMR, patient communications, marketing, CRM, and AI Employees built in.

PatientNow offers EMR, practice management, and marketing tools for aesthetics, plastic surgery, dermatology, and wellness practices, with additional AI capabilities through Recura.

Compare their clinical tools, AI capabilities, and everyday workflows below.

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What are customers saying about PatientNow?

The user interface is clunky, unintuitive, and often requires too many steps for basic functions. Even more disappointing was the lack of effective customer support—requests for help were met with long delays or generic responses that didn’t address the actual problems

Theressa, NP

G2 Review

Theressa, NP

G2 Review

Recura is not communicating with PatientNow. So I've got people that are scheduling and there's already a patient scheduled and it's a train wreck. I'm having to constantly check the phone even on the weekends because we've got people scheduling to come in and there's nobody in the office.

Anonymous

G2 Review

Anonymous

G2 Review

Podium

PatientNow

App Store Rating*

4.7

32K+ ratings

3.3

16 ratings

Google Play Store Rating*

4.4

3.5K+ ratings

Not enough ratings

G2 Rating*

4.5

2.1K+ ratings

3.0

20 ratings

* App Store, Google Play Store, and G2 data as of October 2026

How Podium and PatientNow compare

See how Podium and PatientNow compare across the tools you use to run your practice, from clinical charting and patient communications to marketing, AI, and reporting.

1. EMR and practice management

Podium is an AI Operating System with a full EMR and practice management tools built in. Manage patient records, clinical charting, consent forms, treatment photos, scheduling, online booking, payments, memberships, packages, inventory, and ePrescribe in the same platform as your communications, CRM, marketing, and AI Employees.

PatientNow offers an established EMR and practice management platform for medspas, plastic surgery, dermatology, and wellness practices. Its capabilities include charting, scheduling, patient records, payments, inventory, memberships, packages, ePrescribe, labs, and insurance billing, with availability depending on the product and plan.

2. Ease of use

Podium’s modern, easy-to-use interface brings your team’s daily workflows together. Front desk staff can manage conversations and appointments, providers can document treatments, and owners can review performance within the same platform.

PatientNow offers extensive clinical and operational tools, with additional capabilities through products such as Recura and RxPhoto. Your team’s experience depends on the products and configuration you use.

3. Patient communications and phones

Podium includes a full VoIP phone system and two-way texting, with calls, texts, emails, webchat, form leads, and social messages brought together in one inbox. Your team can see conversation history and respond to patients within the same AI Operating System as your EMR.

PatientNow offers automated SMS and email communications. Two-way SMS is available as an add-on for PatientNow Essentials and select EnvisionNow packages. Additional offerings include voice services and Recura’s unified inbox for calls, texts, and webchat, with availability depending on your products and package.

4. CRM, lead management, and marketing

Podium’s built-in CRM brings leads from calls, texts, emails, webchat, web forms, and social media messaging into one place. Your team can organize leads into funnels, track their progress, and manage follow-up without connecting a separate CRM.

Avery helps move those leads toward booking by responding, answering questions, and following up automatically.

Email and text marketing are built into the same platform, helping your practice nurture leads, promote services, and bring existing patients back.

PatientNow offers lead capture, automated follow-up, and email and text marketing. Advanced nurturing and campaign capabilities depend on your plan.

For additional CRM and sales workflows, PatientNow offers integrations with HighLevel and Aesthetix CRM.

5. AI capabilities

Podium’s AI Employees work inside of its AI Operating System, connecting them directly with your EMR, CRM, patient communications, marketing, and scheduling.

Avery is your AI front desk agent that responds to inquiries 24/7, answers questions, qualifies leads, follows up, and books appointments directly on your calendar. It also handles rescheduling and cancellations. Through AI Studio, your team can give feedback, test responses, and adjust Avery’s playbooks and policies directly.

Operator is your AI Business Manager. It analyzes your data, finds insights, identifies revenue opportunities, recommends next steps, and can do the work for you. For example, Operator can find overdue patients who could fill appointment openings and prepare personalized outreach.

Podium also includes AI voice charting to help providers document visits.

PatientNow offers AI Scribe for clinical documentation, as well as AI-powered business insights & analytics in their Catalyst plan. AI lead response is available via integration with Recura, which it acquired in 2025.

Recura can respond to inquiries, follow up, book appointments, and reactivate patients through its connection with PatientNow.

6. Reporting and analytics

Podium includes reporting for appointments, sales, revenue, memberships, inventory, and other practice metrics.

Operator provides on-demand insights, custom analysis, and visual reports. You can also schedule reports to be delivered at your preferred cadence.

Operator recommends actions based on your practice’s data and goals and does the work for you. For example, it can recommend a new package, create it in Podium, and reach out to clients who are a good fit. Operator is included with Podium, with monthly usage credits.

PatientNow offers practice dashboards and AI Analytics. Its AI Business Analyst answers questions, generates reports, and recommends next steps.

AI-powered business insights are listed in the Catalyst plan, and AI Analytics is also offered as an optional add-on.

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Podium vs. PatientNow at a glance

Before Podium

Podium

PatientNow

EMR and practice management

Full EMR and practice management built into its AI Operating System

Established EMR and practice management platform; capabilities vary by product and plan

Ease of use

Modern interface connecting clinical, communication, CRM, and AI workflows

Experience depends on the PatientNow products and configuration used

Patient communications and phones

Full phone system and shared inbox for calls, texts, emails, webchat, forms, and social

SMS and email tools, a VoIP offering, and a unified patient inbox through Recura

CRM, lead management, and marketing

Built-in CRM, lead tracking, marketing, and Avery follow-up

Available via integrations and add-ons

AI capabilities

Built-in AI Employees: Avery for lead response, follow-up, and booking; Operator for business management

Recura for patient engagement, AI Scribe for documentation, and AI Business Analyst for insights

Reporting and analytics

Standard reports plus Operator for custom analysis, recommendations, and action; included with usage credits

Dashboards plus AI Analytics through eligible plans or an add-on

Get started with Podium

Choose Podium if…

You want your EMR, patient communications, marketing, CRM, phones, and AI employees in one AI Operating System.

You want your core workflows and AI built together by Podium, without relying on separate product integrations to connect them.

You want a modern, easy-to-use platform for your team.

You want to coach your AI directly and use Operator to turn practice insights into action.

Choose PatientNow if…

Your primary need is an EMR and practice management platform, and you don’t need additional AI patient engagement or communication tools.

Your primary need is an EMR and practice management platform, and you don’t need additional AI patient engagement or communication tools.

You prefer to select additional products and add-ons as your needs grow.

You prefer to select additional products and add-ons as your needs grow.

You need specific clinical workflows available in PatientNow’s offerings.

You need specific clinical workflows available in PatientNow’s offerings.

What switching from PatientNow to Podium looks like

Podium’s onboarding team helps your practice move to its AI Operating System, including data migration, account setup, team training, and ongoing support after launch.

1. Migrate your data

Podium helps move supported data from PatientNow so you don't have to rebuild everything from scratch.

2. Set up your practice

Configure your scheduling, clinical workflows, forms, payments, memberships, CRM, communications, phones, and AI employees around how your team operates.

3. Train your team

Your staff receives guided training on the workflows they’ll use every day, including scheduling, charting, patient conversations, AI Studio, Avery, and Operator.

4. Go live

Launch with help from your onboarding team once your account, supported data, and staff are ready.

5. Get ongoing support

After launch, your dedicated Customer Success Manager helps your practice get value from Podium. Support is available seven days a week by phone, text, or chat.

Speak with a Podium specialist