BestNotes vs Kipu

Carepatron

EHRYourWay

SimplePractice

All your healthcare work in one place: Notes, Clients records, Appointments, Billing, Payments, Transcription, Communication & more.

EHR YOUR WAY is a fully integrated behavioral health and clinical care EHR software. It is configurable for mental health and clinical health specific needs and is an ONC certified cloud-based EHR. EHR YOUR WAY is trusted by mental health professionals nationwide and is suitable for behavioral health agencies with 15 or more users.

SimplePractice is an all-in-one practice management solution that helps businesses simplify administrative tasks, such as scheduling, billing, and documentation, allowing health and wellness professionals to focus on providing excellent client care. The platform offers a robust set of features designed to help practitioners thrive.

Outpatient Supervisor

Scheduling can be a big barrier for clients getting services, as providers are quite busy and cannot answer their phone any given moment.

CFO/COO

I like the accessibility of their support team, and willingness to provide training and support.

Director of Operations

I like having the ability to create templates that are suitable for providers without having to contact BestNotes for support. When I have needed to contact support they were very helpful in completing the task I needed, but they also educated me on their system and how to better use it for our needs.

BestNotes is a cloud based electronic health record management solution for the behavioral health and substance abuse industry. Features include: scheduling, patient portal, audit-compliant documentation, medication administration, outcome tracking, e prescribing, lab tracking, and reporting

Activity Tracking

Appointment Management

Appointment Scheduling

Assessment Management

Automated Scheduling

Billing & Invoicing

Calendar Management

Case Management

Charting

Claims Management

Client Management

Client Portal

Coding Assistance

Compliance Management

Compliance Tracking

Confirmations/Reminders

Contact Management

Customizable Forms

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Decision Support

Document Management

Document Storage

Drug Reference Database

Electronic Signature

Employee Management

EMR/EHR

E-Prescribing

For Healthcare

For Mental/Behavioral Health

Forms Management

For Psychiatrists

For Substance Abuse Therapy

Group Notes

Handwriting Recognition

HIPAA Compliant

Initial Assessments

Invoice Management

Meaningful Use Certified

Medical Billing

Medication Management

Multi-Location

Multi-Provider Practice

Notes Management

ONC-ATCB Certified

Patient Portal

Patient Records Management

Physician Management

Practice Management

Progress Notes

Progress Reports

Progress Tracking

Real-Time Reporting

Records Management

Referral Tracking

Reminders

Reporting & Statistics

Role-Based Permissions

Scheduling

Self Service Portal

Task Scheduling

Template Management

Therapy Notes

Treatment Planning

Workflow Management

Proprietary

BestNotes

Web-based

iPhone

Windows

iPad

Android

Kipu

TherapyNotes, LLC

TheraNest

Tebra

ICANotes

Alleva

1-10 Users

11-100 Users

101+ Users

Director of Clinical Operations

We use other products for the patient portal in terms of documents (besides appointment reminders), so I can't provide a comprehensive review on it.

Clinical

The interface often feels outdated and cluttered, which makes navigating between notes, client information, and documentation tools slower than it should be.

APSS CSA

I like how user-friendly BestNotes is—it keeps everything in one place from progress notes, treatment plans, and assessments to scheduling and client communication.”

Quality Services Director

Best Notes is customizable and the Best Notes support is great for brainstorming and creating new forms or edits.

Director of Technology

We've acquired several businesses over this time, and we during the integration periods we have had to interact with other EMR systems from an operational, administrative, and billing perspective.

Admin

I like the color coordination of appts, the ability to pin notes and seeing multiple schedules at once in an orderly way

Chief Operations Officer

The interface is a bit outdated, and the EMAR system can use more updates to streamline the medication input process.

Inability for clients to request appointments/cancellations/reschedules through the platform while looking at availability on provider calendars.

From our experience, BestNotes is an easy system to work with, billing is straight forward, and it's easy to maintain once you've set up a solid foundation. Since we have internal development capabilities, we're able to use the BestNotes API to automate our processes, and it's proven to be a game changer for us.

Director of Clinical Services

Lack of ASAM 4th Edition updates in Clinical paperwork that coincided with the Kentucky start date of 7/1/25 to begin utilizing the 4th Edition.

Quality Assurance Manager

I taught myself a lot with all of Best Notes Instructions/Videos/Support and I can google a question and usually get an answer right away.

There is one adjustment I would really like them to make, to allow the user to use the "command A" shortcut to select all text.

I love that I can create treatment plan templates that are specific to certain diagnosis and measurable.

It made documentation and communication more efficient, and once I got used to the system, it really streamlined my workflow.

From implementation to daily use, the platform has proven to be reliable, intuitive, and tailored to the complex needs of behavioral health programs.

Client Care Coordinator

User interface could be better and ability to upload multiple documents at one time would be helpful.

Administrator

Bestnotes is very easy to use; when used to its full potential and correctly, it is an amazing tools where clinicians are very happy to spend minimum time on the platform to document interactions and administrative staff can pull the data to analyze.

Clinical Director

I struggle with how the calendar doesn't let you send invitations outside the organization.  

Occasionally it felt like too many clicks to finish a note or find the information I needed quickly.”

Targeted Case Manager

I think that its very well secured, i like that it logs you out after a short period of being away for the clients confidentiality.

Program Director

It saves time compared to doing things on paper and helps with communication across staff.

Intake Coordinator

Not being able to pull up past patients by last name that are no longer with the company.

I used Kipu at another facility but did not know the functionality, from what I saw it seemed like a lot of extra work for underwhelming reporting.

Coach mentor

I've used BN for 5 years now and the interface hasn't undergone major changes, which has allowed me to efficiently document without relearning an application.

Mental Health Counselor

Very glitchy. When navigating client ledgers, it can be hard to find documents, even if you search for them in the search bar/

Billing

The system is customizable, allowing us to tailor documents to our specific needs.  

Bestnotes software is easy to utilize and provides a variety of pathways to document, pull data and analyze it.

Seeing everything from assessments to group notes right on the first screen made it easy to find things.

For example, I can even write a note on a client's file that indicates which bedroom they are staying in.

Very intuitive and professional looking chart notes/reports for use with appropriate external providers.

Clinical Coordinator

It would be much easier for each customer to be able to edit their own templates.

The reminder texts are often the wrong time zone, I would like to be able to go to a clients chart by clicking on their name from the 'tasks'

Administrative Assistant

I don't like that I can't see a report of who is scheduled and who came to their appointments without manually adding it in

DIrector of counseling

We do not use the billing aspect, nor the patient portal.

Intake Doc Coordinator

I love that you can create a Q-log and it will directly notify the person needing that information.

IT Director

The layout is not the most intuitive and there is no cloud version (yet), only the client/app you must install.

I like that if you go between Reports, Contacts, Calendar - it retains what you were previously looking at.

The team at Bestnotes is always there to help, to listen to our suggestions, and to implement in a way that allows us to work smarter, not harder.

Owner

The customer support is excellent; when I have an issue I get to talk to a human right away, and you've usually got an answer for me.

IT BN Administrator

Also the limitations on customizable reporting.  

I like that it keeps everything in one place, making it easier to stay organized and compliant.

HITECH Security Officer and Billing Coordinator

The clearinghouse claims being auto submitted to insurances.

Adult Peer Support Specialist

Working with best notes makes my job a lot more simple and is very time efficient.

I love those areas that can be personalized to meet the needs of our agency.

I wish the patient portal was easier for patients to navigate.

The prescription setting is also not user friendly for our psychiatric provider.

Has a ton of demographic info that can be pulled into reports

Customer support must be contacted to make changes to templates.

Patient Management

Calendar and Scheduling

Customer Support

Ease of Use

Note Taking

Customization

Documentation

Reporting

Integrations

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Our state-of-the-art platform will take your center into the 21st century and streamline the entire process of EMR. Our platform provides more efficient workflows, reducing burn-out, and improving the quality of care. Insights offers real-time data for better business decisions and easier reporting.

Counselor LCDC

When it goes down or has an issue we can’t control the issue and have to wait

Absence of a Dedicated To-Do List: The user interface lacks a straightforward to-do list feature. While there is a dashboard, it is somewhat buried and requires extensive filtering to display relevant information, failing to effectively remind users of tasks like missed notes or cosign requests.

Outstanding customer service and responsiveness for all aspects of business.  

Substance Use Disorder Registered Counselor 

If there was a way to use two separate systems and to still be able to across reference with each without switching  log-in portals, that would be nice, but probably impossible due to security issues.

Kipu offers software for behavioral health organizations, integrating EMR, CRM, RCM, and GRC tools. The platform streamlines workflows with customizable documentation templates, secure messaging for care coordination, and integrated patient billing, while providing compliance management tailored to behavioral health facilities.

BestNotes vs Kipu Comparison (2026)

BestNotes

Kipu

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

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