Comparison
Foveal vs paper vs generic EMR suites.
Facts, not adjectives. Numbers below are what's published or what a clinic told us; check anything you're relying on for a purchase decision.
OPD workflow, side by side
| Paper registers | Generic hospital / multi-specialty EMR | Foveal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for eye care specifically | No — general-purpose by nature | Usually no — one screen set for every specialty, eye-exam fields adapted or bolted on | Yes — refraction, VA, diagnosis fields built for eye OPD |
| Typical price (per clinic, per year) | No licence fee; staff time is the real cost | Varies widely by vendor, module count, extra seats and add-ons such as WhatsApp | From ₹12,000/year (Lite, OPD, launch price), WhatsApp included |
| Returning-patient check-in | Search a physical register or ask the patient to recall their file | Varies by product; often several fields to search a name | Phone-number search, one tap into the queue |
| Prescription legibility | Handwritten — legible only to the writer, sometimes not even that | Typed, but often buried in a general-purpose Rx screen | Typed, printed on the clinic's own letterhead |
| WhatsApp appointment reminders | Manual phone calls, if done at all | Frequently a separate paid add-on | Included in the plan |
| Setup / staff training time | None — but no search, no backups, no legibility either | Often weeks — more modules mean more screens to learn | Same week; front-desk flow is three buttons |
| Data backup | None — one fire, flood or misplaced register and it's gone | Varies by vendor and plan tier | Automatic daily backups |
| Modules you'll never open | — | Commonly yes — pharmacy, radiology, CRM, multi-department billing | No — Lite is OPD only. Pro adds the operation theatre, optical and pharmacy for clinics that need them; IPD is not available yet |
| Data location (India-hosted) | Physically wherever the register is kept | Varies by vendor — ask them where your data is stored | Mumbai, India (AWS ap-south-1) |
Foveal figures are from the product and the pricing page. For other options we describe categories, not named products; check any vendor's current terms before you decide.
What this page deliberately doesn't say
- No claims about clinical outcomes, diagnostic accuracy, or patient safety — Foveal is a record-keeping tool, not a clinical decision system.
- No "best EMR in India" or similar unverifiable superlative.
- No named competitor logos or trademarks reproduced here.