Comparison

NetPractice alternatives: the South African billing software landscape

If you are comparing medical billing software in South Africa, the honest starting point is that almost none of the vendors publish a price. As at 22 August 2026, the South African products are quote-based, so a real comparison means requesting numbers from each one and then working out whether they are even measured the same way.

This page is our attempt at a fair map of the market, including where we are not the right answer. Everything below is drawn from each vendor’s own public material and linked so you can check it.

The South African options

Altron HealthTech (MedeMass / ME+, Elixir Live)

The largest incumbent. Altron HealthTech states its practice-management products serve over 6,000 South African practices, and it owns two of them: MedeMass (ME+) and Elixir Live. If you have been in private practice a while, you have probably used one of these or been quoted for them.

CGM MEDEDI

CompuGroup Medical’s South African billing product, which the company describes as tried and tested over more than two decades, for solo, group and bureau practices. CompuGroup is a large international health-IT group, so this is the option with the most corporate weight behind it.

Medis Technologies

Durban-based, and says it has supplied medical billing software for 34 years. Notably it offers both software and a bureau service, so it can be the answer whether you want to do your own billing or hand it over.

MedX Medical Billing Solutions

A South African billing provider that shows up often in searches. Worth a direct conversation to establish whether their offering is software you run or a service they run for you, because that distinction changes everything about the comparison.

GoodX

A South African practice-management vendor that also publishes a fair amount of public writing about billing-software pricing in this market, which makes it a useful second opinion even while you are evaluating them.

Deliberately no prices or feature tables here. These vendors do not publish pricing, and repeating a third-party directory’s estimate as though it were theirs would be misleading. Ask each one directly, and ask for the number in writing.

International products used in South Africa

  • Cliniko — Australian, popular with allied-health practices, and one of the few that publishes pricing openly - per practitioner per month, in US dollars, which for a South African practice means the cost moves with the rand and with headcount rather than with work done (verified 22 August 2026).
  • Medesk — International, browser-based.
  • CollaborateMD — United States, built around US payers.

These can be good products. The question to put to any of them is not about features, it is: show me a live claim going to a South African medical scheme, and show me the response coming back. Local scheme connectivity, South African tariff-code structures and ICD-10 handling are the hard part of billing here, and they are exactly what a product built for another country does not have.

How to compare them properly

Feature lists will not separate these products, because they all claim claims, billing, patients and reports. Five questions will:

  1. Submit a live claim on the demo and show me the scheme’s response. Real time or batched is the difference between fixing a rejection today and finding it at month-end.
  2. What does it cost, in writing, including anything per-claim or per-scheme? Then compare the models, not just the numbers: a percentage of collections rises with your turnover, a per-user licence charges you for staff, a per-claim fee tracks the work.
  3. How do I get my data out? Patient list, history, balances, in a readable format. Ask before you sign.
  4. Does it handle my discipline’s tariff-code form? Allied and paramedical practices bill their BHF discipline number plus the procedure, so a physiotherapist bills 72303 and not 0303. Getting this wrong produces blanket rejections. Here is how that works.
  5. Who answers the phone at 16:00 on a Friday? A stuck claim is money not arriving.

There is a longer version of this in how to choose medical billing software in South Africa, and if you are moving off an existing system, how to switch without losing money covers the part that actually goes wrong.

Where we differ, and where we are the wrong choice

What we do differently is mostly the pricing model and the feedback loop: R9.50 per claim with the first 10 each month free, published on a page you can read without talking to us, no monthly fee and no contract, and the scheme’s accepted or rejected verdict back in seconds rather than on a batch cycle.

Where you should pick something else:

  • You are outside South Africa. Everything that makes this work is local. It will not help you elsewhere.
  • You want a full clinical EMR. We do notes, scripts, referrals and sick notes. Deep specialty-specific clinical workflow and decision support is a different category of product.
  • You want someone else to do the billing. This is software your practice operates. If nobody has the time, a bureau is a better fit, and several of the providers above offer one.
  • You are very high volume and want a fixed monthly cost. Per-claim pricing scales linearly, so past a certain point a negotiated arrangement may suit you better.

Frequently asked questions

What are the alternatives to NetPractice in South Africa?

The main South African options are Altron HealthTech’s MedeMass (ME+) and Elixir Live, CGM MEDEDI from CompuGroup Medical, Medis Technologies, MedX Medical Billing Solutions and GoodX. International products such as Cliniko and Medesk are also used here, though scheme connectivity is the question to ask of any product not built for South Africa.

Why is it so hard to compare medical billing software prices in South Africa?

Because almost none of the vendors publish one. As at August 2026 the South African products are quote-based, so you have to request pricing from each and the numbers are not directly comparable when they arrive. Third-party directories publish estimated monthly ranges, but those are estimates rather than vendor pricing.

Can I use international practice management software in South Africa?

For scheduling, notes and cash invoicing, often yes. The hard part is submitting claims to South African medical schemes, which needs local scheme connections, South African tariff-code structures and ICD-10 handling. Ask any non-local product to demonstrate a live claim submission to a South African scheme before committing.

What is the difference between billing software and a billing bureau?

Software is a tool your practice operates, and you see every claim outcome yourself. A bureau does the billing for you, usually for a percentage of what it collects, and takes on the scheme relationship along with the admin. Some providers offer both. Which is right depends mostly on whether anyone in the practice has time.

Compare us with the same questions

Create a free account, submit a real claim, and see the scheme’s response yourself. Your first 10 claims each month are free, so evaluating it costs nothing.

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Vendor details on this page were last checked on 22 August 2026 and come from each vendor’s own public material. If something here is out of date or wrong, email info@netpractice.co.za and we will correct it.