The best Podium alternatives for dental practices (2026)
Full disclosure: we make Patientell, so yes, we're biased. Podium is a good texting and payments platform, and it publishes its prices, which most of this category won't. The usual reasons dentists leave are the 12-month contract and paying for an inbox they barely use.
TL;DR
If you use Podium's inbox and text-to-pay every day, stay. If what you were really buying was Google reviews, a dental-specific reviews tool will usually cost less and fit better. If you want texting and payments but with dental depth, Weave is the closest swap.
- Best for more, longer Google reviews: Patientell (ours)
- Best for reviews plus texting and webchat: Swell
- Best for texting, payments and phones, for dental: Weave
- Best for multi-site reputation: Birdeye
The picks at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Price | Review sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patientell (ours) | More, longer Google reviews, no contract | Quote, no contract | |
| Swell | Dental reviews, texting and webchat | ~$179–$249/mo per location | Google, Facebook, Healthgrades and more |
| Weave | A dental all-in-one with phones and payments | ~$250–$450/mo + setup | Google, Facebook |
| Birdeye | Reputation across many sites and locations | ~$299–$449/mo per location | Google, Facebook, Healthgrades, Yelp and many more |
Why dentists look for a Podium alternative
- The contract. Published plans are on a 12-month term that auto-renews unless you give notice.
- The price for what they use. $399/month is fair if you use the inbox, webchat and payments. It's a lot if you mostly wanted review requests.
- It's not dental-specific. Car dealers and plumbers use the same product. Provider-level reviews and PMS-timed asks depend on how well it connects to your system.
1. PatientellOurs
- Best for
- practices that bought Podium mainly for reviews
- Price
- Quote. No contracts, no setup fees.
- Connects to
- Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Enterprise, Open Dental, Oryx, Eaglesoft, Denticon, Curve Hero, eClinicalWorks and many more.
This is ours. Patientell is reviews-only, built for dental, with a patent-pending flow designed to get patients to finish detailed Google reviews. Texts go out automatically from your practice software, including Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft and many more, or patients scan a QR at checkout.
No contract, no setup fee. What you give up compared to Podium: the shared inbox, webchat and payments.
2. Swell
- Best for
- dental practices that want reviews plus texting and webchat
- Price
- Per location. Dental association offers have run $179–$249/mo, often with 30 days free.
- Connects to
- PMS/EHR integration included in every plan.
Swell covers more of what Podium does than we do: review requests, a texting inbox, webchat, and surveys, all built for dental. PMS integration is included in every plan, and dental offers have run well under Podium's price.
3. Weave
- Best for
- practices that want Podium's texting and payments, plus phones, built for dental
- Price
- Quote. Third-party reports put most dental offices around $250–$450/mo per location, plus a setup fee.
- Connects to
- Dentrix (including Ascend and Enterprise), Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Denticon, Curve, SoftDent and more.
If you liked Podium's inbox and payments but want something built around a dental front desk, Weave is the closest swap. It adds VoIP phones with caller pop-ups, reminders, scheduling and forms.
It's quote-based and usually comes with a setup fee and annual agreement, per third-party reports.
4. Birdeye
- Best for
- groups that need reviews and listings across many sites
- Price
- Quote. Third-party reports put it around $299–$449/mo per location on annual contracts, with onboarding fees.
- Connects to
- Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental and thousands of other apps.
If you're leaving Podium because you need more than Google covered, Birdeye monitors dozens of review sites and manages listings. It's a bigger, more complex product, typically on an annual contract.
When to stay with Podium
If your team answers new-patient texts and webchat in Podium all day and takes payments through it, that's what Podium is for. Keep it, and if reviews are lagging, fix that separately.
Our pick
Bought Podium for reviews: Patientell. Want reviews plus a texting inbox and webchat: Swell. Bought it for texting and payments and want dental depth: Weave.
What we'd do today
- Find your Podium renewal date and the notice deadline. Put it in your calendar now.
- Check how many conversations your team handled in the Podium inbox last month. If it's close to zero, you're paying for reviews.
- Demo one reviews-only tool and one all-in-one, so you can compare honestly.
Questions
How do I cancel Podium?
Check your agreement for the term and notice period. Podium's published plans are on 12-month terms that auto-renew unless you give written notice before the end of the term.
Is there a dental-specific Podium?
The closest are Weave (texting, phones and payments for dental) and Swell (reviews, texting and webchat for dental).
Does Patientell work with my practice management system?
Very likely. Patientell connects to Dentrix through a direct on-prem agent, Open Dental through its API, and Oryx through a cloud report sync. We also support Eaglesoft, Dentrix Ascend, Dentrix Enterprise, Denticon, Curve Hero, eClinicalWorks and many more. If your system isn't listed, ask us. Where there's no integration, the QR flow at checkout works on any system.
Can we only send review requests to happy patients?
No, and you shouldn't want to. Google's review policy says businesses must not selectively ask happy customers for reviews (called review gating), and the FTC's 2024 rule on consumer reviews cracks down on suppressing negative ones. Ask every patient. Any vendor that offers to filter unhappy patients away from Google is putting your profile at risk.
Try Patientell
Patent-pending review system for dental practices. Works with Dentrix, Open Dental, Oryx, Eaglesoft and many more. No contracts, no setup fees, live in under 24 hours.
We checked prices and features for every product here in October 2026. Most of these vendors don't publish prices, so ranges come from third-party reports. This stuff changes constantly, so confirm with each vendor before you sign anything. And we're not your lawyer or compliance officer.