Zanda Review: Practice Management System 2026

ZandaHealth (the new name for Power Diary as of November 2024) is a comprehensive cloud-based practice management system for allied health professionals. It combines appointment scheduling, billing, client records and communications in one platform.

Capterra summarises Zanda as "a complete practice management platform" offering appointment management, online bookings, automated SMS & email reminders, invoicing, note templates, optional AI-powered transcription and clinical notes, telehealth, and more.

Today we'll check whether this platform delivers on its promises in 2026. Let's start with the main features.

Overview of Zanda's Best Features

Intuitive Calendar Management

The calendar is Zanda's home screen, letting you book and view appointments by day, week or month.

To create an appointment, you click an empty slot and fill in details (date/time, location, practitioner, client, and optionally referral or notes). Appointments can be marked as Client (one-on-one), Personal (private time off), or Group/Class (multi-client sessions). The system also supports recurring appointments, color-coded calendar flags, and multi-location scheduling.

Zanda includes appointment conflict alerts: if you try to double-book a time or room, the system will notify you. Multiple-practitioner views let you see all clinicians' calendars side-by-side (available in higher-tier plans).

Pros

• The calendar is intuitive and flexible. You can easily drag and drop appointments, set multiple availability blocks per day, and jump to any date. The three appointment types help you mix patient bookings with personal tasks and group classes.
• New waitlist functionality lets you add clients to a queue and send them availability texts when slots open. Once an appointment is created, you can send instant SMS/email reminders or telehealth links without leaving the card. The calendar flags and filters (by clinic/location or custom tags) keep things organised.

Cons

• A few limitations remain. There is still no "undo" button: if you delete or move an appointment, you must manually recreate it.
• The booking form doesn't have a built-in field for a referral source or marketing channel (so tracking how clients found you requires manual notes or external reports). And although you can sort and colour appointments, the interface still lacks any visual charts or graphs summarising schedules.

Advanced SMS & Email Communication to Keep Clients Engaged

Zanda provides robust client messaging via SMS and email. From any client record you can send a free-form email or text, or use automated templates.

Importantly, Zanda supports two-way SMS chat with clients, so you can receive replies and continue the conversation in-app, which many other systems lack. You can set up to three automated appointment reminders (text or email) per booking and even allow clients to confirm or cancel by reply: incoming replies can automatically update the appointment status in Zanda.

Zanda also integrates with MailChimp (and native bulk email tools), so you can export client contact lists and run email marketing campaigns from one interface. All outgoing messages use secure, encrypted channels (the system is ISO 27001 and HIPAA/GDPR compliant).

Pros

• You can text a client from Zanda, and they can text you back without needing personal phones. This is very handy for quick follow-up questions or notifying staff of issues.
• Automatic reminders (up to three per appointment) help reduce no-shows. You can customise reminder content and timing (from 1 to 7 days ahead).

Cons

• Zanda uses a pay-per-message model: SMS messages cost $0.09 each (US pricing). Incoming replies are free. This can add up quickly for high-volume clinics.
• Zanda still lacks any internal staff messaging; clinicians cannot chat with each other in Zanda (you would need a separate tool).
• If you want unlimited texts, you will need to subscribe to a dedicated number (about $5/month in the US for 35 free messages, then $0.09 additional). Keep these costs in mind when budgeting.

Integrated Telehealth for Seamless Virtual Care

Zanda includes built-in telehealth via Zoom. Patients can join video calls right from their appointment card: no downloads or logins are needed on their end. There are two plans: a free Telehealth Lite (one-on-one calls, no cost) and a paid Telehealth Plus (group calls, screen sharing, chat, etc.).

Telehealth video sessions are fully encrypted and compliant with international security standards (HIPAA, ISO 27001, GDPR). Each account gets 100 free telehealth minutes per month; after that, excess time is charged by the minute ($0.01 per participant-minute). You can also link a Zanda telehealth call to Stripe for integrated online payments.

Pros

• The system is very patient-friendly. Clients click a link in their appointment reminder to join, without installing anything. It works on any device (computer, tablet, phone) with a camera and mic.
• Because Zanda's telehealth is ISO/HIPAA-certified, you can use it internationally.

Cons

• The free version doesn't support group calls; that requires Telehealth Plus or migrating to Zoom Telehealth Pro ($9/user/mo).
• Long sessions incur extra costs above 100 minutes.

Client Management with Comprehensive Profiles

Zanda's Client/CRM module stores all contacts, clients, referrals and third parties in one secure database. Each client profile can include demographics, insurance details, provider numbers, and referral sources.

You can tag and classify clients in many ways (e.g., treatment type, marketing source, status, cancellation reason) using custom lists. Zanda even lets you define custom gender/pronoun options for inclusivity.

All client data is centralised. Within a profile you can view/send emails/SMS, manage appointments, invoices, documents and notes. There's also a client recall feature to schedule follow-ups and automated event reminders (e.g., birthdays).

Pros

• Zanda provides fine-grained customisation of client records. You can set each client's preferred reminder types or notice periods, classify them for campaigns, or merge data into letters automatically.
• An especially useful tool is the Waitlist/Notification: you can add clients to a waitlist and notify them of openings, which many clinics find invaluable.
• Storing insurance and billing info is robust (with built-in Medicare/DVA and clearinghouse integration in Australia/US).

Cons

• Some users wished for more specialised billing tags (e.g., NDIS specifics in Australia).
• Zanda offers unlimited client profiles, but you can't currently lock down notes by practitioner: all providers in a diary can see each client's full record. Role-based access controls confidentiality rather than per-note locks.

Flexible Online Booking and Client Portal

Zanda's Client Portal gives patients 24/7 self-service booking. You create a unique web link (or embed the portal on your site) and configure which practitioners, services and appointment types they can see. Clients can register, pick a practitioner/date/time, and even pay or deposit at booking.

The portal is brandable: you can add your logo or header image and colour scheme. You can enforce custom rules like minimum booking notice, cancellation policy or payment requirement. Once booked, clients automatically get confirmation and reminder messages.

Pros

• The portal is very flexible. You choose which diaries or services are bookable online and can allow new patient registration automatically.
• The ability to force online payments or deposits (via Stripe) can streamline cash flow. Clients love the convenience of booking anytime.

Cons

• One limitation is tracking marketing: the booking form doesn't ask new clients how they heard about you, so you can't automatically track referral channels.
• Branding is mostly limited to the logo/header: you cannot fully customise every portal page or embed terms/FAQs beyond the basic text.
• Also, Zanda does not block online bookings by country or IP (so if patients book appointments, you'll incur an SMS confirmation fee regardless of location).

Customisable Clinical Notes and Online Forms

Zanda's Clinical Notes tool lets you document each session with customisable templates. You can build forms with text fields, checkboxes, multiple choice, yes/no, images (body charts), signatures, etc.

There are 187+ pre-built note templates in the library (for various therapies) that you can clone and edit. You can upload your own images (e.g., anatomical charts) and annotate them with arrows or text. Notes autosave as you type to prevent data loss. All notes become part of the client's record and can be printed or exported.

Similarly, Online Forms let you collect intake or outcome data via the web: you can create forms or use templates, send them by SMS/email, and the responses automatically save to the client's file. Clients can fill intake forms on any device, and you can add signature fields or generate PDFs of completed forms.

Pros

• The huge template library is a major time-saver. Even if no template fits exactly, you can tweak a similar one rather than starting from scratch.
• Embedding images/body charts and capturing signatures directly in Zanda notes is a plus. Online forms keep intake digital and paperless.

Cons:

• The editor is somewhat basic. For example, you cannot apply rich text styling (no bold/underline buttons) or auto-bullets.
• Importing your own documents is limited; you can only import from Zanda's template system, not arbitrary Word/PDF forms.
• Finally, any practitioner with access can open any client's notes (there is no per-note locking), which some users would like for privacy.

Reporting & Analytics to Drive Medical Practice Growth

Zanda includes a full Reporting module covering operational, financial and client metrics. There are over 26 built-in report types, such as appointment lists, sales, payments, aged receivables, client retention and referral logs.

Most reports can be filtered by location, date, practitioner or appointment status and can be exported to CSV/Excel/PDF. For example, you can run a "Client List" report segmented by new vs returning patients or a "Gross Sales" report for a date range. You can also log marketing campaign usage or see which referrers brought in new clients.

Pros

• Reports are very detailed and configurable. The export and print options make it easy to share data with colleagues or accountants.
• The practice operations manual (an included feature) is a kind of living protocol that helps staff follow the same procedures and track compliance (a unique Zanda tool).

Cons

• There are no built-in charts or dashboards: all outputs are tabular. Users who want visual analytics (graphs, trend lines, pie charts) may find this limiting since you would have to export and create charts manually.

That said, a "BizzyAI Insights" feature is slated to launch, which will offer AI-driven reports in future updates (coming soon on the Zanda roadmap).

Financial Reporting and Business Growth Metrics

Beyond the standard appointment and client reports, Zanda's financial reporting tools are particularly valuable for practice managers tracking revenue health. The aged receivables report lets you identify outstanding invoices quickly, while the gross sales and payments reports give a clear picture of monthly and yearly income by practitioner or location.

For practices focused on growth, the referral and retention reports are worth exploring. The referral log shows which referral sources are generating the most bookings, and the retention report flags clients who haven't returned within a defined period. These two reports alone can inform targeted outreach campaigns and help reduce passive client attrition.

The main gap, noted consistently in user reviews, is the absence of a visual dashboard. All data comes out as tables, which means practice owners who want a quick-glance summary of performance need to export to Excel or a third-party tool like Google Sheets. The upcoming BizzyAI Insights module is expected to address this with automated summaries and trend analysis, but as of 2026 it remains in development.

Integrations: How Zanda Connects to Your Existing Tools

One of the most frequently praised aspects of Zanda in verified user reviews is its integration ecosystem. For allied health practices in Australia and the US, these connections significantly reduce manual admin and billing errors.

Payment Processors. Zanda integrates directly with Stripe for online payments through the client portal and telehealth sessions. Australian clinics can also connect Tyro for in-clinic EFTPOS payments, allowing practitioners to process Medicare and private payments at checkout without switching between systems. Users consistently highlight that this integration has "made the checkout process a lot quicker."

Government Health Schemes. For Australian practices, Zanda supports direct Medicare and DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) claiming. This means practitioners can submit and track claims from within the platform rather than using a separate clearinghouse tool. This is a meaningful time-saver for physiotherapy, psychology, and occupational therapy clinics that process a high volume of government-funded appointments.

Exercise and Outcome Tools. Zanda integrates with Physitrack, a popular exercise prescription and patient engagement platform used heavily by physiotherapists and sports medicine practitioners. This allows practitioners to assign home exercise programs directly from the client's Zanda profile.

Productivity and Marketing. Beyond clinical integrations, Zanda connects with MailChimp for email campaigns, Xero for accounting, and Google Calendar for external calendar sync.

For practices evaluating whether Zanda fits into their existing workflow, the integration list is broad enough to cover most common allied health tech stacks without requiring custom API development.

Zanda Pricing & Plans (2026 Update)

Zanda pricing follows a per-practitioner subscription model with no setup fees. A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required, covering all core features.

Current base plan pricing (USD) breaks down as follows:

Zanda has been running a 50% discount promotion for the first 6 months of new subscriptions. Under this promotion, the Starter plan drops to approximately $9.50/month and the Growth plan to $24.50/month for the first six months.

Additional costs to budget for:

• SMS messaging: $0.09 per outbound message (inbound replies are free). For a clinic sending reminders to 200 patients per week, this adds roughly $72/month in SMS costs alone.
• Dedicated SMS number: approximately $5/month in the US, which includes 35 messages before the per-message rate applies.
• Telehealth Plus: $9/user/month for group video sessions via Zoom. The free Telehealth Lite plan covers one-on-one calls with 100 free minutes per month, then $0.01 per participant-minute beyond that.

There are no reported setup fees or data migration charges, though practices importing large datasets or requiring custom form configuration should factor in internal onboarding time. The per-seat pricing model means costs scale directly with headcount, so larger group practices should model out their expected seat count before committing.

Overall, Zanda pricing is competitive for small to mid-size allied health practices, particularly those that keep SMS volumes manageable and use the built-in telehealth rather than third-party video tools.

Customer Support & Onboarding Experience

Support quality is one of the most significant factors practice managers cite when evaluating practice management software, and Zanda's offering is generally strong, though not without some rough edges.

Available support channels include:

• Live chat (in-app, staffed by human agents during business hours)
• 1-to-1 onboarding sessions (scheduled video calls with a Zanda team member to walk through setup)
• Help centre and knowledge base (searchable articles and video guides)
• Email support for non-urgent issues

The 1-to-1 onboarding option is a meaningful differentiator. Many competitors either rely entirely on self-serve documentation or charge extra for guided setup. Zanda includes onboarding calls as part of the subscription, which is particularly helpful for practices migrating from another system or setting up complex multi-practitioner configurations.

User reviews on Software Advice and Capterra give Zanda a 4.6 out of 5 rating for customer support overall. Positive themes include responsive live chat and knowledgeable staff who can answer clinical workflow questions, not just technical ones. One commonly cited quote: "I can chat with someone in real time for help or schedule a meeting with someone who will guide me in a one-to-one session."

The main criticism in user feedback relates to the automated chatbot that appears when live agents are unavailable. Several reviewers described a frustrating experience where the bot prompted them to gather screenshots, version numbers, and error logs before redirecting them to email support anyway. This is a known gap and worth factoring in if your clinic operates outside standard Australian or US business hours and needs urgent after-hours assistance.

For practices switching from another system, the combination of a guided onboarding session and a comprehensive help centre makes the initial setup manageable. Plan for approximately one to two weeks of ramp-up time before your team is fully comfortable with the platform.

What Allied Health Specialties Benefit Most from Zanda?

Zanda is built specifically for allied health providers rather than general medical or hospital settings. This focus shapes both its feature set and its integrations. The specialties that tend to get the most value from the platform include:

• Physiotherapy practices benefit most, given direct integrations with Physitrack (exercise prescription), Tyro and Medicare/DVA claiming.
• Psychology and counselling practices value the HIPAA-compliant telehealth, clinical note templates tailored to mental health, and the secure client portal for sensitive communications.
• Chiropractic and osteopathy clinics use the body chart annotation tools within clinical notes and the recurring appointment scheduling for ongoing treatment plans.
• Occupational therapy practices running NDIS-funded services use the billing and invoice management tools, though some users note that NDIS-specific billing tags could be more granular.
• Multi-disciplinary clinics benefit from the multi-practitioner calendar views, role-based access controls, and the ability to manage different appointment types and billing rules across disciplines in one account.

Zanda is less suited to GP or specialist medical practices that require e-prescribing, pathology ordering, or deep hospital system integrations. For those use cases, a dedicated clinical EMR would be a stronger fit.

What Users Are Saying: Aggregate Review Summary

Across verified review platforms including Capterra and Software Advice, Zanda holds strong ratings from over 200 verified user reviews:

Themes that appear most often in positive reviews:

• Seamless integrations with Medicare, DVA, Physitrack, Stripe, and Tyro reduce manual admin significantly.
• The client portal is consistently praised for ease of use by both practitioners and patients.
• Onboarding support and live chat responsiveness are frequently highlighted as reasons users would recommend the platform.
• Customisable templates for notes and letters save significant time for solo and small-group practices.

Themes that appear most often in critical reviews:

• SMS costs accumulate quickly for high-volume reminder workflows.
• The automated chatbot experience when human support is unavailable is a notable frustration.
• Some users feel clinical note functionality (particularly rich text editing) is not yet at the level required for specialist report writing.
• System performance is generally rated as reliable, but occasional slowdowns during peak hours have been mentioned in a small number of reviews.

Overall, the balance of feedback suggests Zanda delivers well on its core promise for allied health, with integrations and scheduling reliability being its strongest practical advantages.

Pricing and Plans

Zanda offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required). After that, pricing is per practitioner.

Paid plans start at US$19/month for a single user. Zanda has been running a promotion of 50% off for the first 6 months, so the Starter Plan can be as low as $9.50/month for six months.

1. The Starter Plan includes 1 practitioner, 1,000 appointments and basic features.
2. The Growth (group) Plan is $49/mo (one user) or $24.50 with the discount, adding multi-clinic features and unlimited users.

Additional practitioners can be added (currently $9.50 each under the promo).

Note that SMS messaging is charged separately at $0.09 per message (with replies free). Telehealth Pro (Zoom) is an extra $9/user/month for unlimited group video.

Overall, be aware of the pay-per-user model: you pay for every staff login from day one, even if they're still learning the system. Many users have noted that onboarding (data import, staff training, and form setup) can take time, so plan for ramp-up.

Top 3 Zanda Alternatives

If Zanda doesn't fit your needs, here are a few comparable options to consider. The "Zanda alternatives" conversation comes up frequently among allied health practice managers, with Jane App, Cliniko, and Medesk being the most commonly evaluated options.

Jane App

Jane App is a popular Canadian-built practice management platform widely used by allied health practitioners in Australia, Canada, and the US. It offers a polished interface, strong telehealth capabilities, and an intuitive booking experience that many users praise for its visual design. Jane App tends to appeal to practices that prioritise a clean user experience and strong charting tools. However, it carries a higher per-practitioner cost than Zanda for comparable feature sets, and Australian-specific integrations (such as direct Medicare claiming) are less developed than in Zanda.

Cliniko

Cliniko is an Australian-built practice management system with a loyal following among physiotherapists, massage therapists, and other allied health providers. It is known for its simplicity and reliable performance. Cliniko's pricing is straightforward and does not charge per-message for SMS in the same way Zanda does. The trade-off is a more limited feature set: Cliniko lacks built-in telehealth and has fewer automation options for client communications compared to Zanda.

Have Your Schedule Full with Medesk

Medesk is a UK-based cloud healthcare growth platform with EHR features and ICD-10 coding built in. It offers unlimited users on mid-tier plans (no per-seat fees) and has a free patient portal and marketing link builder (so you can track referral sources easily).

Entry pricing starts around $32/month for small clinics, with a free trial. Medesk emphasises built-in analytics and integrations (e.g. no extra fee for acquisition channel stats).

PracticePal for Better Flexibility

A UK system for clinics of all sizes. It includes scheduling, clinical notes, online booking, invoicing and an optional recall/reminder module.

PracticePal is modular: the base is about $34/user/month, with optional add-ons (letters, notes, income module, etc.) at approximately $4/module. It also integrates with Stripe, Xero, Mailchimp, Healthcode and Google Calendar and has multi-channel recall reminders.

If You Need Basics: WriteUpp

A cloud PMS popular in the UK for small/medium practices. It's user-friendly and includes basic scheduling, invoicing and notes.

Integrations include Square, Xero and Physitrack. The core system starts around $21/user/month, with the online booking portal as a paid add-on (approximately $6/month).

Summing It Up

Zanda is a full-featured practice management system that excels in scheduling, client engagement and telehealth. Its strengths include a flexible calendar, a powerful client CRM, and advanced communication tools.

Notably, Zanda's two-way SMS chat and multiple automated reminders greatly enhance patient contact and retention. The built-in telehealth (Zoom-based) and integrated invoicing/insurance claims (with high security standards) make it a true all-in-one solution. There's even a Practice Operations Manual and an upcoming AI assistant ("BizzyAI") to help with notes and reporting.

However, there are trade-offs. Messaging costs can climb if you rely heavily on SMS (at $0.09 each). The lack of an internal staff chat or undo function may frustrate busy clinics. Reporting is data-rich but entirely tabular (no live dashboards). And because pricing is per user, small practices should be mindful of when to add seats.

In summary, Zanda is a robust choice for allied health practices: physiotherapists, psychologists, chiropractors, occupational therapists, and multi-disciplinary teams. It offers comprehensive tools from booking to billing, and its integrations with Medicare, Tyro, Stripe, and Physitrack make it particularly well-suited to Australian clinical workflows. Just be sure to account for messaging fees and plan your subscription level carefully.

FAQs about Zanda Practice Management Software

1. What types of practices is Zanda best suited for?

Zanda is designed primarily for allied health providers such as physiotherapists, psychologists, chiropractors, counsellors, and multi-disciplinary clinics. It works well for solo practitioners up to multi-location practices needing integrated scheduling, billing, clinical notes, and telehealth.

2. How secure is client data in Zanda?

Zanda is fully compliant with international security standards, including HIPAA (US), GDPR (EU), and ISO 27001. All data transmission is encrypted, and user access is role-based to protect client confidentiality.

3. Does Zanda support online booking and telehealth?

Yes, Zanda includes a fully featured online booking portal where clients can book and pay for appointments 24/7. It also offers integrated Zoom-based telehealth with both free one-on-one calls and paid group video sessions.

4. How does Zanda handle multi-practitioner or multi-location setups?

Zanda supports multiple practitioners with calendar views side-by-side and multi-location scheduling. The Growth plan enables unlimited users and multi-clinic management.

5. Is there a free trial available?

Yes, Zanda offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required so you can test all core features before subscribing.

6. How much does Zanda cost per month?

Zanda pricing starts at $19/month for a single practitioner on the Starter plan. The Growth plan is $49/month and includes multi-clinic features. Additional practitioners are added at a per-seat cost, currently $9.50/month under an active promotional discount. SMS messaging and Telehealth Plus are charged separately on top of the base subscription.

7. Can I switch to Zanda from another system without losing my data?

Yes, Zanda supports data migration from other practice management platforms and offers 1-to-1 onboarding sessions to guide you through the import process. Most practices report being fully operational within one to two weeks of starting the migration. It is worth confirming with the Zanda team which data types (client records, clinical notes, invoices) are supported for import from your specific current system.

8. How does Zanda compare to Jane App and Cliniko?

Zanda, Jane App, and Cliniko all target allied health practices, but each has a different emphasis. Zanda offers the strongest Australian-specific integrations (Medicare, DVA, Tyro) and a broader automation toolkit for client communications. Jane App is often preferred for its interface design and charting experience. Cliniko is valued for simplicity and predictable pricing without per-message SMS costs. The best choice depends on your practice location, size, and the integrations you rely on most.

9. Is Zanda suitable for NDIS-funded practices?

Zanda includes invoicing and billing tools that support NDIS-funded service delivery, and practitioners can tag and classify clients for different funding types. Some users have noted that NDIS-specific billing tags could be more granular, so practices with complex NDIS workflows should confirm current functionality with the Zanda team before committing.