The short answer
Dental care is exempt from VAT, so most practices can’t reclaim the VAT they pay on software. A price shown as “£29.99 + VAT” costs most practices £35.99 a month: 20% more than it looks.
To compare AI scribes fairly, compare what leaves your account: the price with any VAT added. Practices that also sell taxable goods, such as whitening products, may recover part of the VAT, so ask your accountant.
Why do most dental practices pay the VAT?
HMRC treats dental care and treatment by registered dental professionals as exempt from VAT, “whether or not you provide your services privately or on the NHS” (HMRC VAT Notice 701/57, section 10.1). The same notice says “you cannot normally deduct input tax that relates to your exempt supplies” (section 8.1).
So the VAT on a software subscription is a cost the practice keeps. A practice that also makes taxable sales is partly exempt and can recover a share (section 8.2). How much depends on the practice, which is a question for your accountant, not for us.
What does each published price cost a VAT-exempt practice?
Monthly price per clinician on monthly billing, as each vendor publishes it, read on 15 October 2026. Where a vendor doesn’t say whether VAT is added, we show both figures.
| Plan | Published price | VAT | Exempt practice pays a month | A year, billed monthly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squte Essential | £45 | None to add | £45 | £540 | Our pricing |
| Dentascribe Pro | £29 | Not stated | £29£34.80 if VAT is added | £348£417.60 if VAT is added | Vendor page |
| Kiroku Essential | £29.99 + VAT | Added | £35.99 | £431.88 | Vendor page |
| Dentistry Dashboard | £40.99 | Included | £40.99 | £491.88 | Vendor page |
| OpenDentist | £50 | Not stated | £50£60 if VAT is added | £600£720 if VAT is added | Vendor page |
| Heidi Clinician | £70 | Not stated | £70£84 if VAT is added | £840£1,008 if VAT is added | Vendor page |
| DigitalTCO | £99 + VAT | Added | £118.80 | £1,425.60 | Vendor page |
| Kiroku Pro | £99.99 + VAT | Added | £119.99 | £1,439.88 | Vendor page |
Plans differ in limits and features; this compares price only. Most vendors also offer yearly billing at a lower monthly rate. Prices change, so check the vendor’s page before you buy. The full side-by-side, with trials, is on UK AI dental scribes compared.
What does that come to per visit?
A flat monthly price gets cheaper per visit the busier your diary. Assume a full-time dentist sees about 300 patients a month (around 15 a day over 20 days) and that the plan allows that many:
| Plan | Exempt practice pays a month | Per visit at 300 a month |
|---|---|---|
| Squte Essential | £45 | 15.0p |
| Dentascribe Pro | £29 | 9.7p (11.6p with VAT) |
| Kiroku Essential | £35.99 | 12.0p |
| Dentistry Dashboard | £40.99 | 13.7p |
| OpenDentist | £50 | 16.7p (20.0p with VAT) |
| Heidi Clinician | £70 | 23.3p (28.0p with VAT) |
| DigitalTCO | £118.80 | 39.6p |
| Kiroku Pro | £119.99 | 40.0p |
These figures ignore plan limits: some plans cap visits or recorded hours below 300 a month, and higher tiers include extras such as letters. See a plan’s limits before you work out its cost per visit.
How does per-note pricing compare?
Dentally’s built-in AI notes are priced by the note: 45–90 notes per surgery included, then 20p a note, with VAT added (Dentally help centre, read 15 October 2026). For a practice that can’t reclaim VAT, 20p a note becomes 24p.
Per-note pricing means the bill grows with your diary, while a flat price stays the same. Which works out cheaper depends on how many notes you write beyond the allowance.
What do Squte’s prices include?
Squte is not VAT-registered, so there is no VAT to add: £25, £45 or £79 per clinician a month is the full price, and you get a receipt rather than a VAT invoice. Essential is £39 a month, and Pro £69, billed yearly.
A business must register for VAT once its taxable turnover passes £90,000 over 12 months (GOV.UK). So any small supplier’s no-VAT price, ours included, can change as it grows. Check what your plan will cost when it renews.
What should you check before you compare?
- Is VAT added, included, or not charged? If the page doesn’t say, ask.
- Is the price per clinician, per surgery or per note?
- What are the plan’s limits on visits or recorded hours, and what happens if you go over?
- Does the trial need a card, and what are you charged when it ends?
- Does the plan you’d actually need include the features you want?
- How much of the VAT, if any, can your practice recover? Ask your accountant.
Read next
- UK AI dental scribes compared →Published prices, VAT, what a VAT-exempt practice pays, and trial terms of AI notes tools UK dentists use, each linked to its source.
- Should an AI scribe store audio? →The trade-offs of keeping appointment recordings, how the defence bodies treat them, and what Squte does.
- Is an AI-written dental note defensible? →Who is responsible for an AI-drafted note, what the defence bodies say, and how to review one.
Try it on your own appointments.
Squte is an AI dental scribe for UK dentists. It asks the patient’s consent, records the appointment and drafts a UK 17-section clinical note for the dentist to check, change by voice and sign.
14 days or 100 visits, whichever comes first. Card required, and nothing is charged during the trial. Then from £25 a month, no VAT to add. Cancel before the trial ends and you pay nothing.
Prices were read on each vendor’s public pricing page on 15 October 2026 and are copied as published, with links. We don’t give tax advice: VAT treatment depends on your practice, so ask your accountant.
General information, not legal, clinical or tax advice. Squte makes AI dental scribe software, so we have an interest in this subject; every fact above links to its source. How we write. Found an error? Email hello@squte.co.uk and we correct verified errors within five working days.