Free clinic software? Ten questions to ask before you choose a clinic system
When doctors in Egypt search for clinic software, "free" is often the first word they type. It's a fair question: the software sits in every visit, for years. But price is one question out of ten, and most of the others aren't answered on any vendor's page. We read the pages that come up first in Egyptian search results and collected what you should ask before you sign. At the end there's a list you can copy and send to every vendor as it is.
1. What does "free" actually mean?
On the pages we read, the word means one of three things, and sometimes two of them on the same website:
- A free trial for two weeks or a month, then a subscription.
- A limited free plan: one clinic, a number of appointments a month, or a single user. The limits may be written down, or they may not.
- A word in the headline with nothing behind it on the pricing page.
On more than one site we found the product page saying "start free" and the pricing page saying "30-day trial". So ask for the free plan's limits in writing: how many patients, how many appointments, how many users, and what happens to your data when you go over them. As for "free" desktop programs downloaded from forums and file-sharing sites, don't put a single patient's file on one. Nobody updates them, and nobody knows what's inside.
2. Is the price per doctor, or for the whole clinic?
A monthly price on its own doesn't tell you much. The prices published in Egypt in October 2026 start in the hundreds of pounds a month, and most vendors don't publish a price at all and ask you to get in touch. Before you compare two numbers, make sure they count the same thing:
- Is the price per doctor, for the whole clinic, or for a set number of doctors?
- Is there a one-time setup or training fee? How much?
- Are the pharmacy, lab, radiology or WhatsApp sold as separate modules?
- Does each plan cap WhatsApp messages or appointments per month?
- How much does paying yearly save? (Commonly, ten months' price.)
- Does the contract renew on its own? How many days' notice do you need to give if you don't want it to?
3. Who owns the data, and how do you take it with you if you leave?
We didn't find this answered in writing on any vendor page we read. The guide to health-record contracts published by the US Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in 2016 says very few standard contracts include any terms for moving to another vendor. Ask for four things in the contract:
- The data belongs to the clinic alone. The vendor uses it only to provide the service, and doesn't sell it or analyse it for its own purposes, even with names removed, unless you agree.
- No cutting off your access to the data over a dispute or a late payment. The same guide says a vendor's refusal to accept this term may be a reason to look elsewhere.
- A full export in a standard format, by a deadline. Every patient, every visit, every image and file, in a format another program can read, within a period written into the contract. Without a deadline, your data can arrive in batches over weeks.
- Exit fees known today. Fixed or capped, not "depending on the case".
And try an export before you need one: export a test patient's file in the first month, and open it.
4. Where is your patients' data kept?
Egypt's Personal Data Protection Law (No. 151 of 2020) treats health data as "sensitive data". Processing it needs the person's explicit written consent, except where the law allows otherwise, and whoever stores or processes it needs a licence from the Personal Data Protection Center. Storing it outside Egypt counts as a cross-border transfer, with its own conditions and permit. The executive regulations were issued in November 2025 (Decree No. 816 of 2025), and the grace period to comply ends around November 2026. Ask the vendor:
- Which country are the servers in? Do you hold the Center's licence, or have you applied for it?
- Who at your company can open a patient's file, and is that logged?
- How often are backups taken, and when was a restore last tested?
- If data leaks, when will you hear about it? The law requires notifying the Center within 72 hours.
Does a single-doctor clinic need its own licence from the Center? We found no official answer published so far. That's a question for a lawyer, not for the vendor.
5. What happens when the internet goes down?
Scheduled power cuts stopped in July 2024. But the Ramses exchange fire on 7 July 2025 brought Egypt's connectivity down to about 62% of normal and cut fixed internet in parts of Greater Cairo for days. Ask: can the doctor finish the visit with the internet down? What's saved on the device until the connection comes back? What stops completely? WhatsApp booking and the patient's page need a connection in any program. What matters is that writing in the file of the patient in front of you never stops.
6. What does the secretary see?
In an OB/GYN clinic, the words "ICSI" or "miscarriage" showing on the front-desk screen already reveal something. Ask: does every user see everything, or only what their work needs? Can the secretary book and take payment without reading the visit? Is there a log of who opened which file, and when?
7. Does the software write your way, or do you write its way?
Most clinic software comes with one visit form that the OB/GYN and the dentist fill in with the same boxes. Your clinic knows that a pregnancy follow-up isn't a fertility consultation, and neither is follicle tracking. Ask: does each service have its own form? Can it be built from your own sheet, with your headings? Do you choose how you write: with a pen, a keyboard, or your voice? And ask for the demo to run on your form, not the vendor's.
And for prescriptions: are the drugs your country's drugs, under the trade names the pharmacy uses?
8. What about your old files?
Years of paper, photos and tablet notes don't get left in a drawer. Ask: who moves them? Do they go in as they are, or does someone retype them? How long does it take, and what does it cost? Vendors' estimates for moving a small clinic from one program to another range from a few weeks to two months, and most of that time goes on matching and checking. We wrote a full guide on this: Importing your clinic's old files as they are.
9. Can patients book on WhatsApp?
Patients in Egypt message the clinic on WhatsApp before they call. Ask: does the software book on the clinic's own number, or a new one? Does it answer at night? Who pays Meta, and how much? The numbers are in our guide What WhatsApp costs a clinic.
10. The e-receipt: does it apply to you?
Since 15 March 2025, clinics in Greater Cairo and Alexandria have been part of a phase of the e-receipt system, and the obligation applies to those named on the Tax Authority's lists. Look your clinic up on the Authority's inquiry page first. If it's on the list, ask the vendor whether the software issues the e-receipt today, not "soon".
Copy these questions and send them to every vendor
The same questions for every vendor, with answers in writing. A vendor who answers most of them in writing within two days tells you something about the support you'll get after you sign.
- Is the free plan a trial or a permanent plan? What are its limits?
- Is the price per doctor or per clinic? What's the setup fee? Which modules are sold separately?
- Does the contract say the data belongs to the clinic, and that it will be exported in full, in a standard format, by a deadline? What are the exit fees?
- Can my access to the data be cut off over a payment dispute?
- Which country are the servers in? Do you hold the Data Protection Center's licence, or have you applied?
- What works when the internet is down?
- What does the secretary see? Is there a log of who opened each file?
- Does each service have its own visit form? Can it be built from my sheet?
- Who moves my old files, how long does it take, and what does it cost?
- Is WhatsApp booking on my clinic's number? Does the software issue the e-receipt today?
Questions
Is there really free clinic software?
There are limited free plans, for one clinic or a set number of appointments a month, and there are free trials of a few weeks. Ask for the limits in writing, and ask what happens to your data when you go over them or move to a paid plan.
Can I move my data from one program to another?
That depends on the contract. Ask for a clause that obliges the vendor to export all your data in a standard format within a set period, and try an export in the first month.
Does the data protection law require anything of me as a doctor?
Law 151 of 2020 treats health data as sensitive and requires written consent and a licence for whoever processes it, and the grace period to comply ends around November 2026. No official answer has been published yet on what applies to a single-doctor clinic specifically; ask a lawyer.
The demo runs on your sheet, not ours.
Send us the visit form you use today, and we'll show you your clinic on it in the demo, with your ten questions and their answers.
Sources
- The clinic-software pages that come up first in Egyptian search results for «برنامج عيادة نساء وتوليد مجانا» (free OB/GYN clinic software) and «برنامج إدارة عيادات» (clinic management software), and their pricing pages, as we read them on 14 October 2026. We don't name the vendors: the patterns are what matter, and their pages change.
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, EHR Contracts Untangled, 26 September 2016, sections 4.1, 4.3 and 9.1 to 9.3: healthit.gov.
- Egypt's Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020, articles 1, 7, 12 and 14 to 16; and its executive regulations, Decree No. 816 of 2025 (November 2025), as summarised by CMS on 13 January 2026.
- The Ramses exchange fire, 7 July 2025, and its effect on connectivity: NetBlocks, Masaar (masaar.net) and Enterprise, July 2025.
- The end of scheduled power cuts from 21 July 2024: The New Arab, 17 July 2024; and the Ministry of Electricity's statements, June and September 2026.
- Phase seven of the e-receipt system (the health sector in Greater Cairo and Alexandria, from 15 March 2025): Al Borsa News, 13 March 2025. Inquiry: eta.gov.eg.