Monthly list price is a poor guide to real cost. Per-provider and per-location units, setup fees, required hardware and annual maintenance can double the three-year total.
From our data: 118 products have enough published pricing to model a 3-year TCO.
What to include
Subscription or license and support; setup, data conversion and training; add-on modules such as texting, online booking and e-prescribing; per-provider and per-location fees; hardware and IT for server software; and staff time lost during the changeover.
Worked example
Open Dental publishes $199 a month for the first year and $149 afterwards. Support alone is $5,964 over three years. Adding a $1,450 conversion, the $165 eServices bundle and e-prescribing for two dentists brings it to about $17,500, nearly three times the headline figure, before a server.