AVImark Alternatives: For Practices That Liked Owning Their Software

Disclosure first: we build OpenVPM, one of the alternatives below, clearly labeled. Product and API claims use vendor-owned sources; numeric prices appear only when a vendor currently publishes them.

AVImark, now part of Covetrus, is a long-established locally installed system used by independent practices. Its local deployment can keep core records available without a cloud connection. Covetrus does not publish a broadly documented open API or current rate card in the reviewed material. The practical question for an AVImark practice is whether it wants to keep local operation, the product itself, or both.

If you want to keep the ownership model

This is the road almost nobody tells AVImark practices exists, because there is no commission on it. The modern version of owning your software is open source.

OpenVPM (that is us) is AGPLv3-licensed veterinary practice management you can run on your own server. The software has no license fee and includes connected scheduling, SOAP notes, estimates and invoices, inventory with lot tracking, communication history, selected controlled-substance workflows, a targeted REST API, and an optional configured AI agent. Hosted SMS is a controlled one-location pilot that requires carrier activation, consent controls, clinic approval, and admin enablement. Managed OpenVPM Cloud is $79 per month per location with unlimited staff.

The honest trade: you or your IT person applies updates and keeps backups running, the way you already do for AVImark, and OpenVPM is a young product without AVImark's decades of edge cases. Run the demo at demo.openvpm.com against your messiest real workflows before you decide anything.

If you are ready to let someone else run it

If the server itself is the thing you are done with, the cloud systems below are the credible landing spots, ordered roughly by how AVImark-shaped they are.

DaySmart Vet is the closest in spirit: its official pricing page publishes plans starting at $123 per month, and it targets smaller practices that want a cloud system without enterprise depth. Shepherd markets a SOAP-centered workflow with unlimited users, training, and veterinary-experienced support but no current numeric rate card. Digitail publishes plan structure and emphasizes built-in AI, while current numeric prices require confirmation. Cornerstone is the deeper IDEXX option, but its current price also requires a quote.

Side by side

Getting your data out of AVImark

AVImark stores records in a proprietary local database, so whichever direction you pick, budget for a conversion step. Ask your destination vendor exactly what they convert from AVImark and what it costs; ask Covetrus in writing what an export includes and whether there is a fee. Because your data is already on your own server, you are in a stronger position than most switchers. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise.

The instinct that made you keep AVImark this long, that your practice should own its tools and its records, was correct. In 2026 you no longer have to choose between that instinct and modern software.