Sunwave 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.

Sunwave is a cloud-based behavioral health software designed to help substance abuse treatment centers and mental health facilities manage patient records, admissions, billing, and more.

Activity Dashboard

Alerts/Notifications

Appointment Scheduling

Calendar Management

Charting

Chat/Messaging

Claims Management

Claims Scrubbing

Client Database

Client Portal

Clinical Notes

Clinic Interoperability

Coding Assistance

Communication Management

Compliance Tracking

Confirmations/Reminders

Customizable Forms

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Security

Decision Support

Document Management

Document Storage

Electronic Payments

Electronic Signature

Employee Management

EMR/EHR

E-Prescribing

File Sharing

For Mental/Behavioral Health

Forms Management

For Substance Abuse Therapy

HIPAA Compliant

Initial Assessments

Insurance Eligibility Verification

Inventory Management

Medical Billing

Medication Management

Mobile Access

Multi-Location

Multi-Provider Practice

Notes Management

Patient Database

Patient Intake

Patient Portal

Patient Records Management

Payment Processing

Practice Management

Progress Notes

Progress Tracking

Reminders

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Role-Based Permissions

SMS Messaging

Staff Management

Task Management

Telemedicine

Template Management

Therapy Notes

Third-Party Integrations

Treatment Planning

Workflow Management

Proprietary

Sunwave

Web-based

iPhone

Android

iPad

Kipu

Mental health careWest Oaks Hospital

It has been a strong EMR solution for behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment  Its integrated platform and specialized features are significant advantages that has helped me .

Accounts Payable and General Ledger Associate

Although it was easy to navigate, there seemed to be a few times where there were too many options to click through.

Outpatient Clinician

The Sunwave team was there with us every step of the way...and you know you've struck gold when you ask repeat questions and you're met with patience and guidance.

The cost can be of concern for smaller business

Director of Admissions

I like everything about this software from the billing, reports that can be customized and the customer service!

Case Manager

I enjoy the customizations and accessibility. Once you got a hang of the platform, it has a pretty good flow to it.

User Interface

Integrations

Pricing

Customer Support

Large Enterprises

Small Business

Mid-size Business

BestNotes

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

Alleva

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

Clinical Director

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.

Program Director

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.

Accounts Receivable

Annotations

Batch Processing

Billing & Invoicing

Cash Flow Management

Claims Tracking

Compliance Management

Credit Card Processing

Customer Database

Dashboard Creation

Data Import/Export

Data Verification

Denial Management

Documentation Management

EHR/EMR Integration

Email Marketing

Financial Management

Forecasting

For Group Therapy

For Healthcare

For Medical Purposes

Historical Reporting

ICD-10 Compliance

In-Patient Management

Invoice Management

Lab Integration

Lab Results

Live Chat

Medication Alerts/Warnings

Monitoring

Monitoring Device Integration

Outcome Assessment Tools

Patient Communications

Patient Scheduling

Payment Collection

Prescription Management

Records Management

Reimbursement Management

Remittance Advice

Remote Treatment Planning

Revenue Management

Revenue Recognition

Scheduling

Search/Filter

Secure Messaging

By industry, Kipu reviewers are most commonly professionals in mental health care (42%). The most frequent use case for Kipu cited by reviewers is substance abuse EMR (60% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Kipu is an electronic medical records program offering key features such as HIPAA compliance, EMR/EHR functionality, document management, and charting, among others.

Windows

Chromebook

Linux

TherapyNotes, LLC

Medesk

Accountant Assistant

I appreciate the structured templates and the ability to customize notes to fit our workflow.

Disconnected Appointment and Documentation Integration: Calendar and appointment data do not automatically sync with documentation fields, such as date of service or time.

Child Care Administrator

I like being able to share documents with Clients' parents, allow them to review the documents online, and have the parent sign the document even though they are not in the same room with you.

This results in forms auto-populating with the current date and time, leading to manual corrections and added frustration during documentation.

Admin

Additionally, certain workflows may require extra steps, which can slow things down at times.

Marketing Director

I like that we have a reputable and solid EMR system with many features that will allow us to manage our clients as we grow.  

Some features—like treatment planning—can be complex and take time to fully learn or use effectively.

Nurse Practitioner

The history and physical is kind of limiting and does not fully incorporate psych components for admissions

Clinical director

It can feel a little clunky to use, which takes additional time when charting.

However you can use check box options to get around this.

Office Manager

Scheduling is easy and provides a layout that is supportive for quick viewing with settings such as day, week and even monthly.

CDCA

VP Staff Development

Also, recent feature added was that allows you to enter dosage range now for meds.

Behavioral Health Technician

Not being able to see a list of all client schedules at once or all client rooms or all client therapists.

Residential Technician

Passing meds and charting is so much easier, we used to keep track of meds on paper and this is preferable.

Stay away . When you need your records for an audit they will not allow you to access them if you don’t have an active account !

Peer Support Recovery Coach

I am able to complete a Master Recovery Plan and complete the reviews as needed and it remains an active document to add new goals and update existing.  

Kipu is a secure software to use and one that keeps you updated.

Therapist

KIPU's seamless end to end system allows me to chart the progress of my patient, write progress notes, treatment plans, intakes, discharges, medical charts, clinical assessments all in one place.  

I know billing and other departments have some issues within the system.

I like how I was able to build or edit my own forms.

Support staff 

I use it for group notes documentation, giving clients meds, checking status on clients, and an overall reference to past things gone on.

Registered Dietitian

I appreciate that KIPU has tabs that appear no matter what page you are on within a client's chart - this makes hopping from one tab to another to access vital information while charting a bit easier.

KIPU is sometimes slow and has glitches but software providers and administrators  work diligently to correct any errors.

Pretty useful for keeping everything easy to access.

Sunwave vs Kipu Comparison (2026)

Sunwave

Kipu

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives