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Alternative guide · updated July 2026The Cerbo alternative for practices that don't want to configure an EHR for a year
Short answer: Cerbo is deep, flexible, and genuinely beloved by functional-medicine veterans — and it submits insurance claims, which we don't yet. If claims are your backbone, stay. If your depth currently comes from custom fields you configured over years, CareOS is the Cerbo alternative that ships that depth as product: protocols with dose steps and monitoring cadence, biomarkers trended against optimal ranges, native memberships and programs, AI charting drafted from clinical context, and per-state eligibility gating. $0/provider + 2% of collections (or flat from $119/mo, month-to-month) versus roughly $281/provider either way — plus free migration and a self-serve trial you can start today.
Where practices outgrow Cerbo
Cerbo's strength and its cost are the same thing: it will do almost anything you configure it to do. The friction shows up in four places.
- Depth as configuration, not as product. A GLP-1 titration or TRT protocol needs dose steps, hold conditions, monitoring labs on a cadence, and an administration log. When that lives in custom fields, it belongs to whoever built it — it's hard to audit, hard to hand to a new provider, and it doesn't travel to your second location.
- Recurring revenue isn't native economics. Memberships, packages, and program billing are the business model of a modern wellness practice. They belong in the system of record next to the chart, not in a parallel tool you reconcile by hand.
- No eligibility gating. Multi-state telehealth with Schedule III prescribing — TRT especially — means per-state licensure, DEA, and PDMP obligations. Recording a license in a document folder isn't the same as blocking an ineligible booking or prescription before it happens. See the TRT compliance checklist for what that actually requires.
- The interface shows its age. This one is subjective and you should judge it yourself on a demo — but it's the reason most often given by practices that leave, particularly those hiring younger clinicians who expect to learn a chart in a day.
Cerbo vs CareOS, honestly
| CareOS | Cerbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Built first for | Protocol-driven whole-person wellness (1–2 person clinics up) | Functional & integrative medicine, incl. insurance practices |
| Structured protocol engine (titrations, monitoring cadence, admin log) | ✓ Native | Via custom fields/configuration |
| Biomarker trending vs optimal ranges | ✓ Native | ✓ (configurable) |
| Memberships, packages & programs | ✓ Native | ✗ Not native economics |
| AI charting from protocol + lab context | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-state eligibility gating (booking & eRx) | ✓ Native | ✗ |
| Insurance claims submission | Roadmap (superbills today) | ✓ |
| Entry price | $0 + 2% of collections (or $119 flat, month-to-month) | ~$281/provider/mo* |
| Self-serve trial | ✓ 14 days, no card | ✗ Sales-led |
| Annual contract required | Never | Varies |
| Migration | Free, white-glove, every plan | — |
*Sources: public pricing pages and third-party reviews, verified June 2026, re-checked July 2026. Vendor capabilities change; verify current details with each vendor. Spot an error? Email support@careos.help and we'll fix it.
Who should stay on Cerbo
Honesty cuts both ways. Stay on Cerbo if: insurance claims submission is your revenue backbone today; you have years of configuration that genuinely fits your medicine and a team fluent in it; or you need a specific integration you've already built against. CareOS produces superbills but direct claims are still on our roadmap — if that's non-negotiable, we're not your platform yet.
Switching without drama
- Export everything from Cerbo first — patients, notes, documents, labs — and write down the five custom-field workflows you'd miss most.
- Create a CareOS workspace self-serve (about two minutes, free 14 days, no card) and check those five workflows against native features before you talk to anyone.
- Run five to ten consented patient workflows in parallel for two weeks, including one full protocol cycle from order to follow-up.
- We migrate your data white-glove, free, on every plan — in writing.
- Cut over on a Monday after a light week; keep read-only Cerbo access for 90 days.
More context: the 2026 buyer's guide covers the full capability checklist, the comparison page puts CareOS next to Healthie, OptiMantra, Practice Better, and SimplePractice too, and the functional medicine page shows how root-cause charting works natively.