Abridge vs Empathia AI
Empathia AI posts Premium at $50 per month billed annually or $75 per month billed monthly, backed by a 21-day, 100-encounter trial, and approved medical students and residents use it free. Abridge sells by quote, and third-party estimates run $208 to $600 per clinician per month plus implementation. Empathia is written for US and Canadian clinicians and names athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Epic, Accuro, DrChrono and OSCAR McMaster. It states HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA and SOC 2 Type II compliance and adds a front-desk phone agent. Abridge brings Epic-first notes and Best in KLAS recognition for 2025 and 2026, which its own site lists. A Vancouver family clinic on OSCAR McMaster, comparing Empathia's posted $50 to $75 with a quoted range, finds Abridge the harder purchase. An Epic health system that wants a written BAA has less to go on with Empathia, whose FAQ does not mention one.
AI medical scribes · Reviewed November 2, 2026
Abridge
by Abridge AI Inc. · founded 2018
Enterprise ambient scribe with Linked Evidence traceability.
Empathia AI
by Empathia AI, Inc.
General-purpose ambient AI scribe and documentation platform for US and Canadian clinicians.
When to pick each one
Abridge
- Epic-first notes for health systems
- Best in KLAS 2025 and 2026, per its site
- Third-party estimate $208 to $600 per clinician monthly
Empathia AI
- $50 monthly billed annually, $75 billed monthly
- Names athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Accuro and OSCAR McMaster
- Free for approved students and residents
Score
Each row shows points earned of points available under the published rubric.
Abridge
63of 100
Empathia AI
54of 100
| Dimension | Abridge | Empathia AI | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIPAA / SOC2 / BAA | 13 / 13 | 13 / 13 | 0 |
| EHR integrations (count) | 6.3 / 21 | 10.5 / 21 | -4.2 |
| Top-3 EHR coverage (Epic / Oracle / Athena) | 12 / 12 | 8.4 / 12 | +3.6 |
| Bidirectional write-back | 0 / 5.2 | 0 / 5.2 | 0 |
| Peer-reviewed papers | 4.9 / 7 | 0 / 7 | +4.9 |
| RCT / meta-analysis / systematic review | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 |
| Funding & adoption signal | 12 / 12 | 8.4 / 12 | +3.6 |
| Pricing transparency | 0 / 5 | 5 / 5 | -5 |
| Years in market | 6 / 6 | 0 / 6 | +6 |
Scroll horizontally to see every column.
Pricing
Abridge
Quote only, no public price.
Empathia AI
| Tier | Billing period | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | free trial | Free | 21 days or 100 encounters, all Premium features, no credit card. Pricing page only. The FAQ separately describes a free plan of 10 encounters per 30 days, which the pricing page does not show, so it is not listed here. |
| Premium, billed annually | per month, billed annually | $50 | Marked Most Popular. Per month billed annually. Currency not stated on the page, read as USD. Annual price locked for 12 months, cancel anytime. Free for approved medical students and residents. The "Exclusive Offer Extended" banner has no terms or end date. |
| Premium, billed monthly | per month, billed monthly | $75 | Same Premium tier, billed monthly. Currency not stated on the page, read as USD. |
Verified November 2, 2026 from empathia.ai (opens in new tab).
Evidence
Abridge
Peer-reviewed
4 PubMed records name Abridge.
- Enhancing clinical documentation with ambient artificial intelligence: a quality improvement survey assessing clinician perspectives on work burden, burnout, and job satisfaction. (opens in new tab)
- Ambient listening implementation in primary care and changes in electronic health record documentation metrics: Pre-post study of an ambient listening tool. (opens in new tab)
- Crossover Evaluation of Two Ambient AI Scribe Tools in the Emergency Department. (opens in new tab)
Community
22 posts sourced: 4 positive, 16 neutral, 2 negative.
Empathia AI
No FDA decision, peer-reviewed study or community post in our record.
Compliance and integrations
Documented from each vendor’s own pages.
| Spec | Abridge | Empathia AI |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ||
| HIPAA | ||
| SOC 2 Type II | ||
| EHR integrations | Epic, Cerner, Athena | athenahealth, Accuro, DrChrono, eClinicalWorks, Epic, OSCAR McMaster, Plexia |
| Founded | 2018 | n/a |
| HQ | US | n/a |
Scroll horizontally to see both columns.
Common questions
Open the full ai medical scribes comparison
The best AI medical scribe for most US physicians is Abridge for hospital systems, Freed AI for solo practice (plans from $39 to $119 per month as of October 2026), Heidi Health for multilingual capture, and DAX Copilot for Microsoft-shop hospitals. Each pick below names its primary EHR integration, pricing model, and the clinician communities that surface it most often. Enterprise scribes are quote-based, with third-party estimates of roughly $208 to $600 per provider per month as of October 2026.