If you are an independent doctor or clinic owner in India, you have probably asked this question: is Practo actually worth what I pay?
The honest answer depends on what stage your clinic is at — and what kind of patient relationship you want.
Here is a straightforward breakdown.
What Practo actually does for a clinic
Practo has two separate products that often get confused.
Practo’s patient app (the marketplace): Patients search for doctors by specialty and city. Your clinic appears in results. When a patient books through the Practo app, Practo charges a fee per booking.
Practo Ray (the clinic management software): This is the software for running your clinic — appointment scheduling, billing, patient records, prescriptions. Practo Ray has a monthly subscription fee.
Most independent doctors use one or both. For a 1–3 doctor clinic in a Tier 2 city, the relevant question is usually about the marketplace: is the patient discovery worth the commission?
What Practo costs an independent clinic
Based on publicly available clinic reviews and comparison articles in 2026, the typical cost per Practo-generated booking ranges from ₹300 to ₹500 for a standard consultation.
At 100 Practo-sourced bookings a month, that is ₹30,000–₹50,000 a year going to Practo — on top of the software subscription.
For some clinics, this is completely worth it. Practo’s patient app brings new patients who would not have found the clinic otherwise. In high-competition specialties in metro cities, this is real and valuable.
For others — especially established clinics in Tier 2 cities where patients come through referrals — the Practo marketplace adds cost without adding proportionate value.
The thing Practo does not give you: your own patient relationship
When a patient finds you through Practo and books through the app, Practo holds that interaction. The patient’s contact details are in Practo’s system, not yours.
When the patient’s next appointment is due, they may open Practo again and find a different doctor. Or Practo recommends another clinic nearby. The patient relationship is with the platform, not with you.
For a clinic that wants long-term patient relationships — which is most clinics — this is a real limitation.
What direct booking looks like instead
A clinic with its own website and WhatsApp booking has a different relationship with patients.
A patient finds you on Google. They visit your website. They click the WhatsApp button and message directly. They book. You get their number. They are your patient — not Practo’s.
Their appointment reminder arrives from your number. Their follow-up comes from you. The relationship builds on your terms.
Clinics that have made this shift report two specific benefits: patients come back to them specifically (not to a platform), and they pay zero commission per booking for patients who were going to find them anyway through Google or word of mouth. Standard payment-processor fees apply.
Where Practo still makes sense
To be fair:
- If you are new to an area and not yet known: Practo’s patient app can genuinely help you build an initial patient base. The discovery value is real in the early months.
- If you are in a high-competition specialty in a metro city: Dermatology, dentistry, and orthopaedics in Mumbai or Bangalore — Practo’s reach in these markets is significant.
- If you need clinic management software:Practo Ray’s appointment and billing features are well-developed. This is a separate question from the marketplace commission.
The question is not “Practo or nothing.” It is “Practo marketplace or my own direct system.”
What the commission actually adds up to
Do this calculation with your own numbers.
If you see 300 patients a month, and 100 of them come through Practo at ₹400 commission each — that is ₹40,000 a year going to Practo on top of your subscription.
If those same patients could find you directly through Google via your own website, you pay ₹0 commission on each of them.
The question is: would those patients genuinely not have found you without Practo? Or would most of them have found you anyway?
What a direct system costs in 2026
A clinic website with WhatsApp booking, appointment confirmations, and advance payments can be up in under an hour using automated tools. The website goes on the clinic’s own domain. Booking happens through WhatsApp. Advance payments go directly to the clinic’s own account.
Purpilot sets this up for clinics at ₹999 a month. No setup fee. Standard payment-processor fees apply. No commission per appointment. If you ever cancel, your website stays live and your domain keeps running until it expires, at no cost. Moving the domain to your own registrar account is optional, ₹299 one-time processing fee.
| Feature | Practo marketplace | Purpilot direct |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | Subscription + per-booking fee | ₹999 flat |
| Commission per booking | ₹300–₹500 | ₹0 |
| Patient contact you keep | Limited | Direct |
| Website on your own domain | No | Yes |
| Website stays if you leave | No | Yes |
| WhatsApp booking | No | Yes |
See how it works for clinics →
The honest summary
If Practo marketplace is currently bringing you new patients you would not find otherwise — keep using it while you build your own presence.
If most of your patients come through referrals or Google — and you are paying Practo commission on those patients anyway — calculate what that commission costs you annually and compare it to what a direct system would cost instead.
The numbers usually favour the direct approach. The patient relationship always does.
Sources: Trustpilot reviews of Practo, verified July–August 2026 (trustpilot.com/review/practo.com). Commission range based on Medisray.com Practo Ray alternative comparison (June 2026) and CareQ clinic software comparison (April 2026). Pricing is illustrative — verify current Practo pricing directly.