Hippo Manager Alternatives: The Honest Guide for Practices Finding a New Home

If you are searching for Hippo Manager alternatives, you are probably dealing with a situation you did not choose. In March 2025, Shepherd Veterinary Software acquired Hippo Manager. Hippo Manager as a standalone product is no longer available. Practices that were on it are being migrated to Shepherd.

Most of the comparison articles you will find online were written before March 2025. They still list Hippo Manager as a viable option. Some even recommend Hippo Manager as an alternative to itself. The information is wrong.

This guide is written after the acquisition. It covers where displaced practices are landing, what the real options look like, and what to consider before you sign anything new.

What happened to Hippo Manager

Hippo Manager was a cloud-based veterinary practice management system known for being accessible, affordable (publicly reported around $119 per month), and straightforward enough for small and independent practices. It had a dedicated user base, particularly among solo practitioners and clinics that wanted modern cloud software without enterprise pricing.

In March 2025, Shepherd Veterinary Software acquired Hippo Manager. Shepherd's own site states the matter directly: 'Veterinary practices previously using Hippo Manager have now migrated to Shepherd.' There is no parallel development path. There is no option to stay on Hippo Manager as it was.

For practices that were on Hippo Manager, this is a migration they did not initiate. The software they chose is gone, and the path forward that Shepherd is offering is a new system with different pricing and a different feature set.

You have options beyond Shepherd. Here is what they look like.

What Shepherd offers displaced practices

Shepherd is the natural first stop for Hippo Manager practices because Shepherd's migration team handles the transition. They have the most direct migration path.

Shepherd is a cloud-based PIMS built from the ground up around SOAP-based clinical documentation. The core design insight is that if the clinical note is complete, the invoice should be accurate. Founder Dr. Cindy Barnes built it as a practicing veterinarian, and that shows in the interface design. Shepherd has earned genuine praise for its clean UX and its focus on reducing documentation time.

Shepherd pricing is publicly reported: $299 per DVM per month. For a solo practitioner, that is $299 per month. For a two-DVM practice, $598.

The trade-offs are worth naming honestly. Shepherd is a closed SaaS. Your data lives on Shepherd's servers in Shepherd's format. The export and migration policies are worth reading carefully before you sign. If you leave Shepherd in the future, you will face whatever data export terms their contract includes. Getting burned by an acquisition once is reason enough to ask those questions upfront the second time.

Shepherd is a good product. It is a reasonable choice for many practices that were on Hippo Manager. It is worth evaluating alongside the other options rather than defaulting to it because the migration path is already underway.

Other cloud options worth considering

Digitail

Digitail is an AI-native veterinary platform. It is more feature-rich than Hippo Manager was, with publicly reported pricing of $289 per user per month. Digitail has 10,000+ clinical teams using it and includes 20+ built-in AI workflows covering SOAP dictation, automated discharge notes, patient history summaries, and voice-to-invoice. They claim 70 minutes saved per DVM per day.

Digitail is a serious product. It is also more complex than what most Hippo Manager practices were running. If you have a larger team that will benefit from the AI layer and the additional features, it is worth a demo. If you are a solo or two-doctor practice looking for something lean, the feature depth may be more than you need.

Pricing is per user, which compounds as your team grows.

ezyVet

ezyVet is a cloud-based PIMS with publicly reported pricing starting at $260.50 per user per month. It is a full-featured enterprise-grade system with strong integrations. One thing worth knowing: ezyVet is owned by IDEXX, the same company that owns Cornerstone and a large share of the veterinary diagnostics market. If vendor independence matters to you, that ownership structure is relevant information.

ezyVet is well-suited to multi-location practices and specialty hospitals. For an independent practice that was on Hippo Manager because of its simplicity and value, ezyVet may be more system than the practice needs.

DaySmart Vet

DaySmart Vet is a cloud-based option that serves smaller and independent practices. Pricing is not always publicly listed, but it occupies the lower end of the market relative to Shepherd and ezyVet. It has solid appointment scheduling and client communication tools. The feature set is not as deep as the enterprise options, which is an advantage if you want a system that does not overwhelm staff.

Worth including in your evaluation if budget is a primary concern and you want something closer to what Hippo Manager offered in terms of simplicity.

IDEXX Neo

IDEXX Neo is designed for simplicity and speed, targeted at startups, mobile practices, and clinics that want to minimize IT overhead. It is IDEXX-owned, like ezyVet, which means the diagnostic integration ecosystem is strong if you use IDEXX labs, and the vendor independence question is the same as with ezyVet.

OpenVPM: a different kind of option

OpenVPM is the one option on this list that did not exist when most comparison articles were written. It is also the only one that is open-source.

OpenVPM is AGPLv3-licensed, API-first veterinary practice management software built for independent practices. Patient records, appointments, SOAP notes, invoicing, and inventory are all included. It ships with a documented read-write REST API covering 150+ endpoints and a built-in AI agent layer.

• Self-hosted: You run it on your own server or cloud infrastructure. The software cost is $0. You pay for hosting, typically $20 to $80 per month on a standard cloud provider. Your data lives on your own infrastructure.
• Managed hosting: Coming soon. A hosted option where you get the full OpenVPM platform without running your own server. Join the waitlist at openvpm.com.

The most important thing about OpenVPM from the perspective of a practice that just experienced an unwanted acquisition: the data ownership model is structurally different. Because the code is open-source and the schema is public, there is no format lock-in. If you self-host, your data is already on your own server; there is no export process. There are no exit fees. There is no vendor that can be acquired and redirect your migration path.

You can try the full system at demo.openvpm.com with preloaded sample data, no account required. The code is on GitHub at github.com/evangauer/openvpm if you want to inspect what you are running before you commit.

Comparing your options

A note on the 'Confirm in contract' entries for exit fees: this is not a scare tactic. It is practical advice. You just experienced what happens when a software company gets acquired and the product you chose changes. Asking about exit terms before you sign is not paranoid. It is what the experience of a forced migration teaches you.

Five questions to ask any new vendor before you sign

The Hippo Manager acquisition is a clean case study in what can go wrong when you have not thought about the exit terms. Before committing to any of the options above, ask these questions in writing:

• What formats will my data export in if I decide to leave? A clean database export in SQL or a standard importable format is what you want. PDF exports and proprietary formats are not portable.
• Is there a fee to request a migration package? Ask for the number in writing. VetSoftwareHub has documented exit fees as high as $8,500 in veterinary PIMS contracts. Knowing this before you sign changes the calculation.
• How much notice is required before you start preparing my data export? 30 to 90 days is common. During that time, you may be paying for two systems.
• What happens to my data if your company is acquired? This question feels abstract until it is not. If the answer is unclear or requires reading an acquisition clause, that clause is worth reading.
• Does my contract include any restrictions on connecting third-party software to my records? AI tools, reminder platforms, analytics software. If you want flexibility to connect outside tools, confirm your contract does not restrict it.

Getting started

If you are mid-migration from Hippo Manager to Shepherd and Shepherd is working for your practice, that is a reasonable outcome. This guide is not an argument against Shepherd. It is a case for making an informed choice rather than a default one.

If you want to evaluate alternatives before committing:

• The OpenVPM demo runs in your browser at demo.openvpm.com with sample data. Take it through a full patient workflow.
• Digitail, Shepherd, and DaySmart Vet all offer demos. Book them in the same week and run the same scenario across each one.
• Ask every vendor the five questions above, in writing, before you sign.

A forced migration is an opportunity to make a deliberate choice about where your practice data will live for the next five to ten years. That is worth taking seriously.