Open Dental vs Oryx

PickMyPMS Editorial · Last reviewed Oct 13, 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Open Dental if you want to own the database, you are comfortable with a Windows server or a hosted option still in limited release, and you want the lowest published monthly fee. After the first year its support fee is $149 per location per month, and the data sits in MySQL that you control.

Pick Oryx if you want a browser system with imaging, texting, online scheduling, eligibility and claims in one published monthly price, and you are opening a practice that can use the $0 startup offer.

Both publish prices and both go month-to-month after year one.

What the price covers

The two lists are not like for like. Open Dental’s fee is for support on software you run yourself. Oryx’s fee is for a hosted product with the clinical and front-desk tools bundled.

Open Dental charges $199 per location per month for the first 12 months, then $149. That covers up to 3 dentists. Each additional dentist is $20 a month. Open Dental’s own fee page is the source, checked 2026-09-26.

Oryx lists three plans. Pro is $650 a month, Automate is $899 and AI is $1,399, and each includes 2 providers. Extra providers cost $100 a month on Pro or Automate and $200 on AI. Oryx’s pricing page is the source, checked 2026-09-26.

For a new customer, Oryx says payments on Pro start 3 months after signup.

What is extra

Open Dental’s published fee does not include everything a front desk uses day to day. The eServices bundle is $165 per location per month. Texting access is $5 a month on an assigned number or $20 a month on a landline, plus a per-message charge.

Online scheduling and e-prescribing are also recorded as add-ons. Online forms, recall automation, claims, eligibility, perio charting and reporting are included.

Oryx records texting, eligibility, claims, online forms, online scheduling and e-prescribing as included. API access and multi-location reporting are recorded as higher tier, so a group that needs either should ask which plan carries them. Perio charting is unclear on the pages we checked, which is not the same as absent.

Oryx’s Automate plan adds collection sequences, reputation management and marketing campaigns on top of Pro. The top plan, priced at $1,399, adds voice perio charting, transcription, exam charting and imaging integration, all machine assisted.

Startup and hosted options

Oryx publishes a startup offer. New practices with up to 2 providers pay $0 a month on Pro or Automate, with a $1 setup fee. The regular price starts at 200 patients or 12 months after signup, whichever comes first. On the AI plan the startup rate is $400 a month on the same limits.

Open Dental has no free tier. A practice that does not want to run a server can look at Open Dental Cloud, the hosted option. It is $430 a month for 1 provider, with additional providers at $150 a month and a one-time $400 migration fee. Open Dental describes that option as limited release, so ask about availability before you plan around it.

The cost calculator takes your provider count and shows the base figures side by side.

Contracts and cancelling

Open Dental has a 12-month initial term, then month-to-month. It also gives a 90-day money-back guarantee on support fees.

Oryx has a 12-month initial contract, then month-to-month. We found no stated notice period or early termination fee for Oryx in our record, so confirm both before you sign.

Getting your data out

Open Dental’s data sits in an open MySQL database that the practice controls. That helps a practice that plans to hire a developer, run its own reports or move later. API access is listed as included.

Oryx says an export can be requested at any time or at termination. Structured data comes as CSV, and documents, images, radiographs and DICOM files come in their original formats. Oryx says it does not delete data at termination until the practice has had time to export, and it states no export fee.

A CSV export is a file, not a live database. Ask your next vendor’s conversion team whether it carries everything they need.

Switching in

Open Dental publishes its conversion price. Data conversion is $1,450 per database, with X-rays at $900, documents at $850 and $400 for each extra clinic. That is the only conversion price either vendor publishes.

Oryx says setup, data conversion and image conversion fees all apply to offices converting from other software. It does not publish the amounts. Ask for all three in writing.

Imaging and integrations

Oryx lists native imaging. It states that diagnostic AI from Pearl and from Overjet is built directly into its imaging, per Oryx’s own site, checked 2026-10-02.

Open Dental has no native imaging record in our data, so imaging is a separate decision. Flex Dental states it is built for Open Dental and writes eligibility results back in real time. Open Dental does not publish a partner directory.

Open Dental names DentalXChange among its recommended clearinghouses. NexHealth lists both Open Dental and Open Dental Cloud as supported systems. Oryx has no NexHealth record in our data, which means unclear, not unsupported.

What reviewers say

Open Dental has a 4.6 rating on Capterra from 89 reviews. That is a third-party figure and an estimate of sentiment, not a vendor claim. Reviewers cite a learning curve, a dated interface and paying for live support.

Oryx has no review-site rating in our data. We cannot say how its users rate it, and we do not want to infer one from the vendor’s own claims.

On scale, Oryx claims 15,000+ clinicians and more than 2,500 practices. A third-party directory puts Open Dental at about 20,000 practices from 2021, and we class that figure as unverified.

Adding providers

The two vendors count providers differently, and the difference shows up as a practice grows.

Open Dental’s support fee covers up to 3 dentists at a location. The fourth dentist adds $20 a month, and each one after that adds another $20. Hygienists and other staff are not priced in the fee list we recorded.

Oryx includes 2 providers on every plan. A third provider adds $100 a month on Pro or Automate and $200 a month on the AI plan.

That makes Open Dental cheaper to scale on the fee list alone. It does not account for the add-ons above, so price the full set of tools you plan to use before you compare. Neither vendor’s list in our record says what happens at a second location beyond Open Dental’s per-location fee and the $400 charge for each extra clinic’s data conversion.

Usability scores

Capterra also publishes sub-scores. Open Dental scores 4.6 for ease of use, 4.6 for customer service, 4.5 for features and 4.6 for value, all from 89 reviews. These are third-party figures.

Oryx has no Capterra sub-scores in our data. Until it does, the only way to judge its usability is a live demo and reference calls. Oryx runs an ambassador program that credits current users for qualified reference calls, so a reference you are offered may come from someone who earns credit for giving it. Ask for a reference you chose yourself as well.

Questions to ask before you sign

For Open Dental, ask who hosts and backs up the server, whether Open Dental Cloud is open to your practice yet, and which add-ons your front desk will need from the list above.

For Oryx, ask for the setup, data conversion and image conversion amounts in writing if you are switching, and ask which plan carries API access and multi-location reporting.

For both, ask for the exact export format and a test export before the contract term starts.

Who should pick which

Pick Open Dental if you:

• Want the lowest published monthly fee and can pay the add-ons you need.
• Want direct access to your data in MySQL and an API.
• Have, or will hire, someone who can run a Windows server.

Pick Oryx if you:

• Want a browser system and one published price that includes texting, scheduling, claims and eligibility.
• Are opening a practice and qualify for the startup offer.
• Want AI diagnostic tools built into imaging.

If neither fits, the Find my PMS quiz scores both against your specialty, size and budget. For another hosted option, see Archy vs CareStack.