The answer
The strongest alternative to Nabla for a clinic that wants more than the note is Wai, which drafts the note, letters, coding and cited answers from each consultation and runs the front desk, booking and payments on one record. The table sets Wai beside the other names buyers compare, each read from its own pages and dated.
Every rival cell in the table is footnoted to that company's own page as it read on 16 October 2026. The Wai cells come from our own product and pricing pages. Read the table first, then the reasons below.
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| What you get | Nabla | Abridge | Freed | Wai |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published price | Not published. Talk to its team, or start a trial from its site8 | Not published. Sold through its sales team9 | Starter $39 a month, down from $59, Core $79, Premier $119 or $104 a month billed annually, Groups custom10 | Clinician Plus $550 and Clinician $350 a clinician a month, both published |
| Note drafted from the consultation | Yes, ambient notes and dictation8 | Yes, a structured note for review at the end of the visit11 | Yes, 40 notes a month on Starter, unlimited from Core10 | Yes, in the room or on video, for the clinician to sign |
| Referral and clinic letters | Letters to another doctor, drafted from the note12 | Referral letters and handoffs drafted by Abridge Assistant13 | Patient instructions, letters and referrals on Premier10 | Referral and clinic letters, prescriptions and result explanations |
| Coding suggested from the note | E/M and ICD-10 suggestions8 | ICD-10 and HCC codes in the visit, E/M level calculated14 | ICD-10, CPT and E/M code suggestions on Premier10 | Yes, drafted from the note for the clinician to sign |
| Cited answers to clinical questions | Not listed on its site8 | Questions answered in the context of the chart, with cited sources13 | Clinical Evidence from Core, cited answers from 50+ trusted sources10 | Yes, cited to current guidance and peer-reviewed papers |
| Calls and patient messages answered | Not listed on its site8 | Not listed on its site15 | Freed Front Desk, an AI receptionist in beta that answers calls with two-way SMS, $149 a month per block of 250 calls16 | Calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp in one thread per patient, replies drafted for approval |
| Patients book online | Not listed on its site8 | Not listed on its site13 | Front Desk schedules appointments on calls, with EHR cancellations in beta for eCW, Athena and Practice Fusion17 | Yes, booking links that read each doctor's calendar, with waitlist backfill |
| Deposits and payments at booking | Not listed on its site8 | Not listed on its site15 | Not listed on its site16 | Yes, deposits, invoices and memberships through the clinic's own Stripe |
| Connects to records systems | Epic, athenahealth, Oracle, NextGen, Greenway and Altera among those named, notes pushed into EHR templates18 | Runs inside Epic as Abridge Inside. A Cerner deployment is named19 | One-click push to any browser-based EHR, on Premier and Groups10 | Google, Outlook and Apple calendars connected. Signed notes and letters export to your record |
Why clinics look beyond Nabla
Nabla drafts ambient notes and takes dictation, suggests E/M and ICD-10 codes, and drafts letters to another doctor from the note. The reason to look further is rarely the note. It is the rest of the day. Nabla's own site lists no cited answers, no front desk, no online booking and no payments, and its price is not published.
Why Wai is the alternative to start with
A scribe writes the note. Wai runs the clinic. From one consultation, in the room or on video, Wai drafts the note, the referral and clinic letters, prescriptions, result explanations, the coding and cited answers for the clinician to sign.
The front desk on the same record. Calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp land in one thread per patient with replies drafted for approval. Patients request appointments through links that read each doctor's calendar, cancellations backfill from the waitlist, and deposits and invoices run through the clinic's own Stripe.
Every AI action that affects a patient is drafted for a person to review and approve. The clinician signs the note, the letter and the codes, and the front desk approves each reply before it goes.
The evidence behind Wai's method
The note is one part of the day the evidence measures. In a randomised trial of 238 outpatient physicians across 14 specialties at UCLA Health, the ambient scribe with a significant effect cut the time spent writing each note by about 41 seconds, against 18 seconds in usual care.1 At The Permanente Medical Group, 3,442 physicians used an ambient scribe across 303,266 encounters in its first 10 weeks, and reported more personal conversations with patients and less clerical work after hours.2 Wai is built on that finding, so it takes on the letters, the replies, the booking and the follow-up as well as the note.
A draft stays a draft until a person signs it. Article 14 of the EU AI Act requires high-risk AI systems to be designed so that people can oversee them effectively,3 and in the UK the MHRA and NHS England publish guidance on ambient voice technology in health and care.45 Wai holds every draft until the doctor signs it, and every reply until a person at the clinic sends it.
The patient's own language. In a systematic review of 33 studies, 76% found at least one outcome better when patient and physician shared a language other than English.6 Wai works in 60 languages, so the consultation can happen in the patient's own and the signed note is still written for the record.
Measured in a working clinic. At one London clinic on Wai, every clinician has 15 hours a week back, as published in the customer story.7
Moving from Nabla to Wai
Start with one clinician, alongside what you use today. Request a demo and bring one real consultation. In 15 minutes you see the note, the letter and the codes it produces, on your own workflow.
Nothing has to be switched off on the first day. Wai connects to Google, Outlook and Apple calendars, and signed notes and letters export to the record you already keep, so Nabla can run in parallel while you compare. The guide to switching scribe without losing records covers the order of steps.
Then a 90 day pilot shaped around your team, which ends with 3 numbers from your own clinic, revenue, hours saved and patients cared for. The decision is then made on your data, not ours.
What it costs
Wai publishes its prices. Clinician Plus is $550 a clinician a month, with bespoke templates, a records sync and a larger allowance, and Clinician is $350, with the note, letters, coding and cited answers from every consultation. Admin, the front desk, is priced per location after a demo.
Each alternative's published price, as its own page showed it on 16 October 2026, is in the first row of the table with its source. Set the seat against what it replaces. An hour of a clinician's evening, a letter that waits a day, a call that goes to voicemail and a patient who books elsewhere each cost more than the line on the invoice, which is why the comparison worth making is the whole day, not the note.
Would one real consultation settle it? Bring one, and see the note, the letter and the codes it produces.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Nabla?
For a clinic that wants more than the note, Wai. It drafts the note, letters, coding and cited answers from each consultation and runs the front desk, booking and payments on one record.
Is there an alternative to Nabla with a published price?
Yes. Wai Clinician Plus is $550 and Clinician is $350 a clinician a month, both published. Abridge, from its own page on 16 October 2026. Not published. Sold through its sales team. Freed, from its own page on 16 October 2026. Starter $39 a month, down from $59, Core $79, Premier $119 or $104 a month billed annually, Groups custom.
Which alternatives to Nabla answer the phone?
Wai answers calls, email, web forms and WhatsApp in one thread per patient, with replies drafted for approval. Abridge, from its own pages on 16 October 2026. Not listed on its site. Freed, from its own pages on 16 October 2026. Freed Front Desk, an AI receptionist in beta that answers calls with two-way SMS, $149 a month per block of 250 calls.
Can we switch from Nabla without losing records?
Yes. Start with one clinician alongside Nabla. Signed notes and letters export to the record you already keep, so nothing has to be switched off on the first day, and a 90 day pilot ends with revenue, hours saved and patients cared for from your own clinic.
What does Wai run beyond the note?
The patient app, the front desk, booking, deposits and payments, on the same record as the signed note. The scribe works in 60 languages and the doctor signs every note, and Wai holds a SOC 2 Type II report, sent on request.
Sources
- Ambient AI Scribes in Clinical Practice, A Randomized Trial, read 23 October 2026
- Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribes to Alleviate the Burden of Clinical Documentation, read 23 October 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the Artificial Intelligence Act, Article 14, human oversight, read 23 October 2026
- Ambient voice technology enabled products, read 23 October 2026
- Guidance on the use of AI-enabled ambient scribing products in health and care settings, read 23 October 2026
- A Systematic Review of the Impact of Patient-Physician Non-English Language Concordance on Quality of Care and Outcomes, read 23 October 2026
- The Wellness, customer story, read 23 October 2026
- Nabla, nabla.com, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com/contact, read 16 October 2026
- Freed, getfreed.ai/pricing, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com/platform/clinicians, read 16 October 2026
- Nabla, help.nabla.com/en/articles/987330, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com/platform/assistant, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com/platform/revenue-cycle, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com, read 16 October 2026
- Freed, getfreed.ai/front-desk, read 16 October 2026
- Freed, getfreed.ai/release-notes/front-desk, read 16 October 2026
- Nabla, nabla.com/ehr, read 16 October 2026
- Abridge, abridge.com/customers, read 16 October 2026
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