CRM · Solution guide
Best CRM for Dental Practices: Compare 8 Tools by Practice Situation
Quick answer
The best CRM for a dental practice depends on what you already run. Your practice management system (PMS) holds the chart and schedule. A patient-communication tool (Weave, Solutionreach, NexHealth) handles recall and reminders. A CRM (GoHighLevel, HubSpot) fits lead capture and follow-up. This guide sorts eight tools by the job they do, with prices from vendor pages checked Oct 21, 2026.
Part of the guide: GoHighLevel expert for dental practices
Key takeaways
- Most dental offices already own a practice management system, so the real question is which gap a CRM fills: new-patient inquiries, lapsed-patient recall, or sales follow-up on big treatment plans. Name the gap before you compare tools.
- Only GoHighLevel and HubSpot are CRMs in the usual sense. Weave, Solutionreach and NexHealth describe themselves as communication or patient-engagement platforms, and Curve and Open Dental describe themselves as dental software for the practice itself.
- Prices on vendor pages Oct 21, 2026: GoHighLevel $97, $297 or $497 a month plus $297 a month for HIPAA; HubSpot Sales Hub free for 2 users, paid seats from $7; Weave from $199 a month; NexHealth, Curve, Solutionreach, Dental Intelligence and Open Dental publish no dollar price.
- A free dental CRM exists in the form of HubSpot's free tier for up to 2 users. It tracks contacts and deals, and it does not book chairs, chart, or sync to your PMS on its own.
- GoHighLevel is the wrong choice when you want a recall engine wired to your PMS schedule, when nobody will own the build, or when you want one vendor to support the whole stack.
You are choosing the best CRM for a dental practice and the lists you find mix three kinds of software under one label. This guide separates them by the job each does, then gives a decision table by practice situation and an honest section on when GoHighLevel is the wrong choice. It sits under our GoHighLevel expert for dental practices page, and it is written as a buyer’s guide, not a pitch for one tool.
Prices and features were read from each vendor’s own page on Oct 21, 2026. Plans change often, so treat every number as a snapshot and get a written quote.
What is the best CRM for dental practices?
The best CRM for a dental practice is the one that fills your specific gap, and for most offices that gap sits beside the practice management system (PMS), not inside it. A PMS holds charts, schedule and billing. A communication platform runs reminders, recall and reviews. A CRM tracks people before they become patients and after they stop coming. The same search (“dental CRM software”, “dental practice CRM”, “best dental crm”) returns all three.
| Tool | What its own page says it is | Closest category |
|---|---|---|
| GoHighLevel | CRM, funnels, texting, calendars, workflows (HighLevel pricing page) | CRM and marketing automation |
| HubSpot | General CRM with a free tier (Sales Hub pricing page) | CRM |
| Weave | “All-in-one communication platform for small business” (home page); pricing page lists texting, phones, recall, reviews, payments | Patient communication |
| NexHealth | Platform for dental and medical practices that syncs with your records system (pricing page) | Patient communication and scheduling layer |
| Solutionreach | Patient engagement platform for dental, eye care and medical practices | Patient communication |
| Dental Intelligence | “Dentistry’s All-in-One Practice Performance Platform”: analytics plus patient outreach | Analytics and outreach; the page never uses the word CRM |
| Curve Dental | Cloud-based all-in-one dental software with charting, billing, claims and a patient engagement module (Curve GRO) | PMS with engagement tools; the page does not say CRM |
| Open Dental | “Dental practice management software” | PMS; the page never mentions CRM |
Source: each vendor’s own page, opened Oct 21, 2026. Category is our reading of those descriptions, not a vendor claim.
If your question is whether Open Dental or a similar PMS can act as your CRM, read Is Open Dental a CRM?. We keep that answer in one place.
Which dental CRM should my practice choose? A decision table
Pick the row that matches your situation today.
| Your practice situation | Start with | Add a CRM layer when |
|---|---|---|
| New office, no PMS yet | A dental PMS first (Curve, Open Dental and others) | Ad spend produces inquiries your front desk cannot answer |
| One dentist, PMS in place, front desk misses calls | Your PMS’s or a communication tool’s texting (Weave, Solutionreach, NexHealth) | Missed-call text-back and a lead pipeline are still missing after 30 days |
| Recall list is long and patients lapse | A dental-specific recall tool wired to your schedule | You need multi-step branching or reactivation campaigns the tool cannot run |
| Many new-patient leads from ads and the web | GoHighLevel or HubSpot for the pipeline | Always: this is a CRM job |
| Cosmetic or implant practice selling large treatment plans | HubSpot or GoHighLevel with a named follow-up owner | You track plan value, stage and follow-up dates |
| Multi-location group or DSO | Enterprise plans (Solutionreach lists 6+ locations; others by quote) | You centralize leads across offices |
| Tiny budget, 1 to 2 staff | HubSpot free tier as a lead list | Volume grows past what a list can hold |
These are decision aids from how the products describe themselves, not results from tested practices. Judgment, not a sourced rule: choose the system that holds the schedule and chart first, because moving a patient record later costs more than adding a CRM layer.
How much does dental CRM software cost?
Dental CRM software runs from free to several hundred dollars a month per location, and half the vendors publish no price at all. Prices below come from vendor pages checked Oct 21, 2026.
| Tool | Price shown | Notes from the page |
|---|---|---|
| GoHighLevel | Starter $97, Unlimited $297, Agency Pro $497 a month | HIPAA add-on $297 a month on non-Enterprise plans; calling, SMS and email are usage-based |
| HubSpot Sales Hub | Free for 2 users; Starter $7 per seat; Professional $90 per seat; Enterprise $150 per seat | Professional needs $1,500 one-time onboarding, Enterprise $3,500 |
| Weave | Plans start at $199 a month | Pro, Elite and Ultimate list 1,500, 3,000 and 15,000 bulk texts a month; per-plan prices need a quote |
| NexHealth | No price shown | “Custom plans available”; month-to-month or yearly paid up front |
| Curve Dental | No price shown | Quote on request |
| Dental Intelligence | No price shown | Demo request |
| Solutionreach | No price shown | Request a quote; yearly contracts; 1,750 to 4,500 monthly texts by tier |
| Open Dental | No price shown on the pages we read | Page calls it “affordable” and points to an order page |
Source: vendor pricing pages (gohighlevel.com/pricing, hubspot.com/pricing/sales, getweave.com/pricing, nexhealth.com/pricing, curvedental.com, solutionreach.com/pricing, dentalintel.com, opendental.com), opened Oct 21, 2026. Excludes payment processing, SMS and call usage, setup fees and taxes.
Usage on GoHighLevel is small next to the plan. HighLevel’s own phone pricing guide lists US SMS at $0.00747 per segment and a local number at $1.15 a month (checked Oct 21, 2026, guide last modified Oct 12, 2026). A HIPAA-ready Starter account is $394 a month ($97 plus $297) before usage. Our GoHighLevel for dental practices page works through that cost, and GoHighLevel implementation cost covers the build fee.
Is there a free dental CRM?
Yes, with limits: HubSpot’s free tier for up to 2 users is the one we could verify. It holds contacts, deal stages and notes, which is enough for a lead list. It does not book chairs, chart treatments or take card payments. HubSpot’s catalog lists PHI as permitted sensitive data only with an Enterprise subscription and an accepted BAA, so keep health details out of a free account.
A free CRM fits a practice that wants to see where inquiries come from and who has not booked. It stops fitting when the front desk needs texting inside the same record, or when you need the CRM to know who is already a patient. For HubSpot’s seat prices and limits, see HubSpot pricing and limits 2026.
What should a dental CRM template include?
A dental CRM template needs a short pipeline, a handful of fields and one rule per stage, so every inquiry has an owner and a next date. This is our recommendation, not a vendor standard.
- Stages: new inquiry, contacted, consult booked, consult held, treatment plan presented, accepted, scheduled, lapsed.
- Fields: lead source, treatment interest, insurance yes or no, last visit date, treatment plan value, owner, next follow-up date.
- One rule per stage: for example, “new inquiry gets a reply within the hour during open hours” and “plan presented with no answer in 7 days gets a call.”
- Keep clinical detail out of the CRM unless counsel says your setup covers it. Store the chart in the PMS.
Build it in a spreadsheet for two weeks. If the stages hold up, rebuild them in the tool you pick. Our GoHighLevel setup for dental practices page shows what a built pipeline looks like.
Does a dental office CRM need to be HIPAA compliant?
It depends on whether the CRM will hold patient health information, and whether your practice is a covered entity is a legal question we did not re-verify against HHS for this page. If counsel says you are covered, every vendor that handles protected health information for you needs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). This is not legal advice, so confirm with a healthcare attorney.
| Vendor | What we verified on Oct 21, 2026 |
|---|---|
| HighLevel | Accounts are not HIPAA compliant by default. A $297 a month add-on covers ePHI encryption, a BAA, audit logging and MFA enforcement. It cannot be disabled once purchased, and HIPAA must be turned on per sub-account |
| HubSpot | PHI is listed as permitted Highly Sensitive Data, requires an Enterprise edition, and the BAA is accepted in account configuration. Workflows, lists and reporting are not available for PHI |
| NexHealth | Pricing page says HIPAA compliance and security are included in all packages |
| Weave | The home page we read makes no HIPAA claim; ask for the BAA in writing |
| Solutionreach, Curve, Dental Intelligence, Open Dental | No HIPAA statement on the pages we read; ask for BAA terms |
“HIPAA compliant” on a marketing page is not a BAA. Ask for the agreement and which features it covers. The deeper answer for GoHighLevel is in Is GoHighLevel HIPAA compliant?.
Where does GoHighLevel fit for a dental practice?
GoHighLevel fits when your leak is before the first appointment or after the last one, and someone will configure it. It handles inquiry capture, missed-call text-back, reminders, review requests and pipeline stages, and it is flat-priced per account rather than per seat. Our GoHighLevel for dental practices page covers cost, HIPAA and PMS limits in full, and we can build and audit it through GoHighLevel services or contact. aibrevo setup runs $1,499 to $4,999 for a single business, with multi-location quoted.
When is GoHighLevel the wrong choice for a dental practice?
GoHighLevel is the wrong choice in five situations, and we would tell you so on a call.
- You want recall driven by your live schedule. Weave and NexHealth list recall and PMS integration as core features. GoHighLevel needs middleware to read your PMS, and that sync is extra build and extra cost.
- Nobody will own it. GoHighLevel is a toolkit. Without an owner for workflows and reports, it becomes an expensive contact list.
- You need HIPAA features and cost matters. The $297 a month add-on is permanent once enabled and sits on top of the plan. A dental-specific tool that includes a BAA in its package may cost less all-in.
- You want one vendor to support everything. A PMS vendor supports the chart and schedule. GoHighLevel will not support your imaging or claims.
- Your volume is small. A practice with a handful of new inquiries a month may do fine on texting inside its PMS or a free HubSpot list.
In any of these, buy the dental-specific tool first and revisit a CRM when a named gap remains.
How do you evaluate a dental CRM before you buy?
Run the same five-step test on every shortlisted tool.
- Write your top five jobs as sentences, such as “text a patient when a call is missed” or “list patients overdue for recall.”
- Ask for a demo on your own PMS, not the vendor’s sample data.
- Get a written quote with locations, texts, phone lines, onboarding and add-ons.
- Ask three data questions: can I export contacts and message history, who owns each field, and what happens at cancellation.
- Ask for the BAA if counsel says you need one, and which features it covers.
For a general framework outside dental, see how to choose a CRM. For the pros and cons of running a CRM beside a PMS, our GoHighLevel setup for dental practices page lists the integration options.
Founder’s note, Alpit Patel. I would not start with the tool list. I’d start with the question of which gap costs the practice patients: calls nobody returned, lapsed patients nobody contacts, or schedule reminders. The right software follows from that answer, and sometimes it is not GoHighLevel. I founded aibrevo in San Francisco in 2021, and through autoesta I have overseen 320+ GoHighLevel implementation projects across med spas, real estate, healthcare, dental, home services, SaaS and professional-services clients in the US, UK and UAE. About Alpit
Sources
All pages opened Oct 21, 2026.
- HighLevel, pricing: plans, usage-based notes, HIPAA add-on.
- HighLevel, HIPAA compliance article and LC Phone pricing guide: $297 add-on, per-sub-account step, SMS and number rates.
- HubSpot, Sales Hub pricing and product catalog: free tier, seat prices, onboarding, PHI terms.
- Weave, pricing and home page: $199 starting price, features, self-description.
- NexHealth, pricing: custom plans, features, HIPAA statement.
- Curve Dental, pricing: feature scope, no price.
- Dental Intelligence, home page: self-description, features, no price.
- Solutionreach, pricing: packages, text allowances, no price.
- Open Dental, home page: self-description, no price.