Category · updated 2026-08-01

Dental patient communication software

Two-way texting, reminders and recall — built in on the cloud platforms, almost always an add-on on the on-premise ones.

This is the single most commonly bolted-on category, and the one that most distorts price comparisons. Practice-Web publishes $90/month for two-way texting; Open Dental charges $5/month plus $0.04 per message plus $25/month for confirmations. An all-in-one cloud platform that includes messaging is not really more expensive once you add those lines up.

Patient messaging support, system by system

SoftwarePatient messagingRecall / reactivationEntry price
tab32 Built in Built in $125/month
Oryx Dental Software Built in Built in $650/month
CareStack Built in Built in $829/month
Dentrix Ascend Built in Built in Quote only
Curve Dental Built in Built in Quote only
Denticon Built in Built in Quote only
Adit Built in Built in Quote only
ABELDent Built in Built in Quote only
iDentalSoft Built in Built in Quote only
Practice-Web Paid add-on Built in $179/month
Open Dental Paid add-on Built in $199/month
Dentrix Paid add-on Built in Quote only
Eaglesoft Paid add-on Built in Quote only
DentiMax Paid add-on Built in Quote only

Built in

9 systems include patient messaging in the core product: tab32, Oryx Dental Software, CareStack, Dentrix Ascend, Curve Dental, Denticon, Adit, ABELDent, iDentalSoft.

Sold as an add-on

Practice-Web, Open Dental, Dentrix, Eaglesoft, DentiMax charge separately for this. Add it to the monthly figure before comparing against an all-in-one platform — see what these systems really cost.

All systems, by price

Software Deployment Published entry price Built for Links
tab32 tab32 Cloud $125/month per practice, up to 3 providers Solo · 2–4
Practice-Web Practice-Web, Inc. On-premise $179/month per office Solo · 2–4
Open Dental Open Dental Software, Inc. On-premise $199/month per location, up to 3 providers Solo · 2–4 · Group · DSO
Oryx Dental Software Oryx Dental Software Cloud $650/month includes 2 providers Solo · 2–4
CareStack CareStack Cloud $829/month starting at 2–4 · Group · DSO
ABELDent ABELDent Inc. Cloud or on-premise Quote only Solo · 2–4
Adit Adit Cloud or on-premise Quote only Solo · 2–4 · Group
Curve Dental CD Newco, LLC (backed by Battery Ventures) Cloud Quote only Solo · 2–4 · Group
Denticon Planet DDS Cloud Quote only Group · DSO
DentiMax DentiMax Cloud or on-premise Quote only Solo · 2–4
Dentrix Henry Schein One On-premise Quote only Solo · 2–4 · Group
Dentrix Ascend Henry Schein One Cloud Quote only 2–4 · Group · DSO
Eaglesoft Patterson Dental On-premise Quote only Solo · 2–4 · Group
iDentalSoft iDentalSoft Cloud Quote only Solo · 2–4 · Group

Prices are the vendor’s own published figures, each read on its source page and dated on that product’s review. “Quote only” means the vendor publishes no price at all — we do not substitute third-party estimates. How we compare.