What a DPC Tech Stack Costs Per Month
A full direct primary care tech stack costs roughly $249 to $439 a month for a solo doctor, $747 to $971 for a two-clinician clinic, and $1,707 to $2,503 for a growing group of four clinicians, using only vendors' published prices. Card processing, ePrescribing and one-time setup fees sit on top, and they can matter as much as the subscriptions.
Every number below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, checked on each vendor's site in November 2026. We've left out anything that's only available by quote, and we flag the fees you should ask about on the demo.
What counts as a full stack
A stack here means the software a member touches from sign-up to renewal. For the jobs behind each line, see the best direct primary care software, job by job. In cost terms, every clinic pays for the same five things.
- An EMR for the chart, labs and ePrescribing.
- Membership billing, either inside the EMR or as its own platform.
- Messaging and phones, so members can text and call your team.
- Forms and signatures for intake and your membership agreement, unless your EMR handles them.
- A booking link for meet-and-greets, if you want people to book before they're members.
Then there are the costs that don't show up on a pricing page's headline number. Card processing is a percentage of every payment. ePrescribing can carry setup and annual fees. Some plans charge per patient past a limit, and messaging tools usually charge per teammate, so adding a front desk hire adds a seat.
Solo doctor stacks
These assume one doctor, no staff yet, and a panel that's still filling. Each stack covers every job above, though in some of them the EMR does double duty for billing or forms.
Solo stack A, lowest monthly cost
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Charm Provider plan | $200/mo |
| Charm eRx add-on | $15/mo |
| Spruce Basic (1 user) | $24/mo |
| Calendly Standard | $10/mo |
| Monthly total | $249/mo |
Charm runs recurring card charges for simple memberships, so there's no separate billing platform. Spruce adds a one-time $19.50 fee to turn on outbound texting. If you're opening with very few patients, Charm's free plan (one provider, up to 50 encounters a month) could take the EMR line to zero for a while.
Solo stack B, memberships first
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Hint Launch (1 clinician, unlimited members, EMR included) | $290/mo |
| Spruce Basic (1 user) | $24/mo |
| Calendly Standard | $10/mo |
| Monthly total | $324/mo |
| Card processing | 3% + $0.30 per payment |
Hint charges nothing until your practice launches, which helps in the months before your first member. On Launch, card processing is 3% plus $0.30 and ACH is 1% plus $0.25.
Solo stack C, one price with dispensing
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Atlas.md (1 provider, unlimited patients) | $300/mo |
| Atlas.md eRx renewal ($400 a year) | $33.33/mo |
| Spruce Basic (1 user) | $24/mo |
| PracticeQ Forms Only, low volume | $29.90/mo |
| Calendly Standard | $10/mo |
| Monthly total | $397.23/mo |
| One-time eRx setup and PDMP setup | $475 + $525 |
Atlas.md's processing is the lowest in this guide at 2.1% plus 30¢ for cards and 1.1% plus 30¢ for ACH. The first year carries $1,000 in one-time ePrescribing and PDMP setup, so budget for it before launch.
A charting-first solo version would swap the EMR for Elation's Standard DPC plan at $375 a month, which brings the same stack (with Spruce, a low-volume PracticeQ plan and Calendly) to about $439 a month, with ePrescribing included.
Ask every vendor for a first-year total, not a monthly price. Setup fees, ePrescribing and PDMP charges land in year one and can add $1,000 or more to a solo stack.
Two-clinician clinic stacks
These assume two clinicians and one front-desk teammate, so messaging tools are priced for three users. That third seat is where small clinics often notice per-user pricing for the first time.
Clinic stack A, automation inside the EMR
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Akute Premium (2 clinicians, 300 patients) | $550/mo |
| Hint Core billing add-on, Premium | $110/mo |
| Akute EPCS add-on | $15/mo |
| Spruce Basic (3 users) | $72/mo |
| Monthly total | $747/mo |
| Patients past 300 | $0.85 each/mo |
Akute includes telemedicine, lab ordering and portal messaging on its plans. The per-patient charge past 300 is what to model, since a panel of 500 adds $170 a month.
Clinic stack B, Hint for billing and the chart
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Hint Launch, first clinician | $290/mo |
| Hint Launch, second clinician | $290/mo |
| Spruce Communicator (3 users) | $147/mo |
| PracticeQ Forms Only (+1 practitioner) | $74.90/mo |
| Cal.com Teams (3 users, yearly) | $36/mo |
| Monthly total | $837.90/mo |
Communicator adds API access and after-hours triage over Basic. Launch has unlimited members, but it doesn't include employer billing, so a clinic that signs an employer contract would look at Pro instead.
Clinic stack C, charting first
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Elation Standard DPC (2 providers) | $750/mo |
| Elation telehealth (2 providers) | $50/mo |
| Spruce Basic (3 users) | $72/mo |
| Jotform Gold (billed annually) | $99/mo |
| Monthly total | $971/mo |
| Membership card payments | 2.99% of collections |
Elation includes office staff at no extra cost and runs memberships through Membership Management, which needs a Stripe account. Spruce can sync texts and voicemails into the Elation chart.
Growing group stacks
These assume four full-time clinicians, three staff and about 600 members, including some employer-sponsored ones. At this size, employer billing, data access and seat counts start to drive the bill.
Group stack A, Hint Scale
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Hint Scale (1 clinician, 500 members) | $770/mo |
| 3 more clinicians at $232 | $696/mo |
| 250 more members | $140/mo |
| Hint API add-on | $100/mo |
| Spruce Communicator (7 users) | $343/mo |
| Monthly total | $2,049/mo |
| Paid onboarding (required on Scale) | $500 one-time |
Scale includes employer billing and three eligibility autosync feeds, and its card rate drops to 2.6% plus $0.30. The API add-on is optional, but it's how a group connects Hint to reporting or other tools.
Group stack B, Elation plus Hint Core
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Elation Standard DPC (4 providers) | $1,500/mo |
| Elation telehealth (4 providers) | $100/mo |
| Hint Core Growth (100 members) | $110/mo |
| 500 more members (10 × $45) | $450/mo |
| Spruce Communicator (7 users) | $343/mo |
| Monthly total | $2,503/mo |
Hint and Elation sync contact and demographic details both ways, and each member's plan and status show up in Elation. Card processing on Core Growth is 2.75% plus $0.30. Whether Core Growth includes employer billing isn't on the pricing page, so ask Hint before you count on it.
Group stack C, Atlas.md with Weave
| Line item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Atlas.md (4 providers) | $1,200/mo |
| Atlas.md eRx renewals (4 × $400/yr) | $133.33/mo |
| Weave (starting price) | $199/mo |
| PracticeQ Practice Management (+3 practitioners) | $174.90/mo |
| Monthly total | $1,707.23/mo |
Weave's $199 is a starting price, so a seven-person team should get a written quote. PracticeQ's Practice Management plan adds a booking widget and payments on top of forms.
The costs that hide outside the subscription
Processing fees deserve their own line. On a panel of 600 members paying $75 a month by card, the difference between 2.1% and 3% is about $400 a month, which is more than many of the subscriptions above.
| Platform | Card rate | ACH rate |
|---|---|---|
| Atlas.md | 2.1% + 30¢ | 1.1% + 30¢ |
| Hint Scale | 2.6% + $0.30 | 0.6% + $0.25 |
| Hint Launch | 3% + $0.30 | 1% + $0.25 |
| Elation memberships | 2.99% | 1% + $0.25 |
| Stripe (self-built) | 2.9% + 30¢ | 0.8% |
Failures and disputes add up too. Hint charges $7.50 per dispute or ACH return, Atlas.md charges $15 per card chargeback and $5 per failed ACH payment, and Stripe charges $15 per dispute and $4 per failed ACH payment. Moving members to ACH lowers fees on almost every platform, and our membership billing guide covers how clinics approach that.
There's also the cost no invoice shows, which is the time your team spends moving information between these tools. A stack that's $100 cheaper but needs an hour a day of copying is not cheaper. Read do your DPC tools talk to each other? before you lock in a combination.
How to use these numbers
Pick the stack shape that matches how you want to work, then rebuild it with your own panel size, team size and processing mix. Price it at the panel you expect in two years, not the one you open with, because per-patient and per-member charges grow quietly. And ask each vendor to put setup, ePrescribing and add-ons in writing, since those are the lines most likely to change between the website and the contract.
The part most guides skip
Every tool in a DPC clinic is good at its own job, and none of them were built to talk to each other. A patient text turns into a refill in the chart, which needs a review, which needs a reply, and the follow-up lives in someone's head. That isn't anyone's fault. The tools just don't share a to-do list.
That's the job Tabflows does. Tabflows is a dedicated tech team for DPC clinics. We connect the tools you already chose and give your team one place for chat, tasks and patient context, with managed workflows for the repeat work like refills, lab follow-ups and onboarding. You keep every tool you picked.
Frequently asked questions
How much does software cost for a solo DPC doctor?
Built from published November 2026 prices, a full solo stack (EMR with memberships, messaging and a booking link) runs about $249 to $439 a month before card processing. One-time ePrescribing and setup fees can add several hundred dollars in the first year.
What is the cheapest software stack for direct primary care?
The lowest published stack in our examples starts with Charm's $200 Provider plan plus its $15 eRx add-on, Spruce Basic at $24 and a $10 Calendly link, for about $249 a month. Charm also has a free plan for one provider with up to 50 encounters a month.
Do card processing fees count as part of the software cost?
They should. At around 2% to 3% plus 30 cents per card payment, processing on a few hundred members can rival the subscription itself, so compare each platform's rate along with its monthly price.
Does DPC software get cheaper per doctor as a clinic grows?
Sometimes. Hint charges $232 a month for each extra clinician on Pro and Scale and lowers its card rate on bigger plans, while per-provider EMRs like Elation and Atlas.md stay at the same price per provider.