Free telehealth software is enough when you mostly do simple 1:1 video consults and keep your booking, notes and billing elsewhere. A paid platform pays off when you need what sits around the call — group sessions, built-in scheduling, and payments. The honest answer to “free or paid?” is: it depends on how much you want the tool to do.
Here’s how to work out which side of the line you’re on.
What you typically get for free
A good free telehealth tool covers the consult itself:
- Secure 1:1 video that works in the browser
- A simple way for the patient to join (ideally a texted link, no app or account)
- Basic in-consult tools — screen share, chat, sharing a photo or PDF
- Encryption and sensible data handling
Some platforms are free at the entry level and charge for more — doxy.me, for example, has a free tier plus paid plans. Others are free for the core consult full stop. Either way, “free” almost always means the call, not a whole practice suite.
What a paid suite adds
Paid platforms bundle the things a free tool usually leaves out:
- Group and multi-party sessions — family meetings, group therapy, case conferences
- Built-in scheduling — appointment booking inside the same tool
- Payments — taking a fee or gap at the time of the consult
- Clinical apps and assessments — structured tools inside the call
- Deeper integrations with practice management systems
Coviu is the clearest example of the all-in-one approach; GP Consults is another paid Australian option that bundles extras. None of this is fluff — for the right practice it removes real double-handling. The question is whether you need it.
When free is enough
Free is usually enough if:
- You mostly run 1:1 consults — follow-ups, results, mental health reviews, medication reviews, stable chronic disease
- Your booking, notes and billing already live in a practice management system you’re happy with
- You don’t need group sessions or in-call payments
- You value simplicity and low patient friction over a long feature list
For a large share of GPs, psychologists and allied health clinicians, that describes most of the week.
When a paid platform pays off
Paid earns its keep if:
- You regularly run group or multi-party sessions
- You want scheduling and payments in the same tool as the video
- You rely on in-call clinical apps or assessments
- You want a tighter integration than “run it beside your PMS”
If two or three of those are true, a subscription can save enough time to justify itself. Work out the total cost for the way you consult, and check each provider’s current pricing on their own site rather than trusting figures you read elsewhere.
Does free mean less secure?
No — and this is worth being clear about. Price and privacy are separate questions. Whatever you use, paid or free, you’re handling health information, and the Australian Privacy Principles expect reasonable steps to protect it regardless of what you paid (OAIC). A free tool can be Australian-hosted, encrypted and never recorded; a paid tool can be hosted offshore. Judge security on its merits, not its price tag.
“Free” and “cheap and nasty” aren’t the same thing. The right question isn’t “how much does it cost?” but “does it do what I need, and does it protect my patients?” Sometimes the answer to both is a tool that happens to be free.
A side-by-side
| Free tool | Paid suite | |
|---|---|---|
| Core video consult | Yes | Yes |
| Group / multi-party | Usually no | Yes |
| Scheduling & payments | No — use your PMS | Built in |
| Clinical apps / assessments | Rare | Often |
| Best fit | Simple 1:1, existing PMS | Group work, all-in-one |
The RACGP’s telehealth video consultations guide is a good grounding on running quality video consults whichever way you go (RACGP). And if you want a structured scoring method, see how to choose telehealth software.
Count the time cost, not just the fee
Price isn’t only what’s on the invoice. A free tool that drops calls or confuses patients costs you real time and goodwill, which can outweigh a modest subscription. Equally, paying for a suite whose group rooms and payment features you never touch is money spent on shelfware. The honest comparison weighs the fee against the time saved or lost: how many minutes each consult takes to start, how often you’re troubleshooting, and how much double-handling the tool removes.
For a low-volume 1:1 practice that already runs a good PMS, a reliable free tool usually wins on total cost of ownership. For a busy group program, the minutes a paid suite saves across scheduling, payments and group sessions can dwarf its subscription. Neither is a moral choice — it’s arithmetic against your own workflow.
MedCall: the focused, flat-price option
MedCall sits between the two: a paid tool, but a deliberately simple one. It’s one plan — $15 per doctor per month including GST, with a 1-month free trial — does video consults with up to 4 people, and pairs with the practice management software you already use rather than trying to replace it. Patients join by a texted link with no app or account, calls are end-to-end encrypted and never recorded, and it’s Australian-hosted with Ahpra-registered accounts. It’s built and run by Telehealth Australia Group, whose own doctors use it every day.
If you need group sessions, scheduling or payments, a paid platform like Coviu is the better tool, and doxy.me is a global option with its own free tier. If you want the call done well at a flat price, you can try it free for 7 days and keep everything else exactly as it is. There’s more on how the platform is positioned on the telehealth software page.
The bottom line
Don’t pay for capacity you won’t use, and don’t cut corners on privacy to save money — they’re different decisions. If your work is mostly simple 1:1 consults on top of an existing practice system, a free tool is genuinely enough. If you need group sessions, scheduling or payments in one place, a paid suite will likely pay for itself. Map your real workflow first, then pick the side of the line that fits. For the bigger picture on telehealth in Australia, see the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
Sources & further reading
This article is general information for Australian clinicians and patients and reflects the rules and sources current at the date of publication. It is not medical, legal or billing advice, and it is not a substitute for the official guidance of Services Australia, the Department of Health and Aged Care, AHPRA or your professional college. Always check the primary sources linked above for the current position.
The MedCall Team
MedCall is secure telehealth video software built and run by Telehealth Australia Group, a registered Australian telehealth practice. We write these guides for the clinicians who use MedCall every day.