Key differences
- Access: Heidi has Free, Clinician, and Practice plans; Dragon Copilot is organizational licensing only.
- Pricing: Heidi publishes prices; Microsoft publishes Flex consumption pricing but not the Per User seat price.
- Retention: Heidi deletes audio by default with 1 to 90 day auto-delete; Dragon Copilot retains up to 90 days.
- Certifications: Heidi lists ISO 27001 and 42001; Microsoft lists SOC 1/2 Type II with ISO 27001 pending for Dragon Copilot.
- Dictation: Dragon Copilot includes Dragon dictation; Heidi Desktop also supports dictation anywhere on screen.
Company background
Heidi Health
Heidi was founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 2021 by Dr. Thomas Kelly (a former vascular surgical resident), Waleed Mussa, and Yu Liu, and began launching products in early 2024 (TechCrunch). In October 2025 it closed a $65 million Series B led by Point72 Private Investments at a $465 million valuation, bringing total funding to $96.6 million (Heidi press release). At that time Heidi reported more than 2 million consults a week in 110 languages across 116 countries; its homepage now cites 175M+ patient interactions supported worldwide. Heidi sells both self-serve (Free, Clinician, Practice) and enterprise plans, and lists health system customers such as Beth Israel Lahey Health and MaineGeneral Health on its site.
Microsoft Dragon Copilot (formerly DAX Copilot)
Dragon Copilot is Microsoft's clinical AI assistant, announced March 3, 2025, combining Nuance Dragon Medical One dictation with DAX Copilot ambient listening and generative AI. Microsoft acquired Nuance in 2022. Dragon Copilot became generally available in the US on May 1, 2025 and in Canada on June 1, 2025, with the UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands following. At launch Microsoft said DAX had assisted over 3 million ambient conversations across 600 healthcare organizations in a single month. It is sold through Microsoft and certified partners to organizations, with role-based experiences for physicians, nurses, and radiologists.
Side-by-side comparison
Prices in USD unless noted. "Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor)" means the vendor does not publish it. Each cell carries an evidence label; see how we label evidence. No hands-on clinical testing has been done yet.
| Feature | Heidi | Dragon Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Note quality and accuracy | Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested | Not yet independently tested by ClinicalAIWeekly Not yet independently tested |
| Pricing tiers (exact, as published) | Free $0; Clinician $150/mo monthly or $110/mo billed yearly; Practice $180 per seat/mo billed yearly; Max seat upgrade $409/mo monthly or $299/mo yearly (Clinician) and $399/mo (Practice); Enterprise: custom (US prices) Documentation reviewed | Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) for the Physician Per User license. Physician Flex: per-user dictation license plus pay-as-you-go AI-Assisted Sessions at 25 consumption units ($0.25) each, with 10 sessions per license per month included (Microsoft licensing guidance) Not verified |
| Free tier / trial | Yes. Free plan with unlimited transcription and standard templates; Ask Heidi and advanced templates limited Documentation reviewed | No free plan; organizational licensing only Documentation reviewed |
| EHR integrations | Native athenahealth integration (schedule sync, structured writeback); Epic via SMART on FHIR; desktop app integrations; EHR integration is an add-on on some plans Vendor-reported | Epic (embedded, including Haiku and Rover), plus athenahealth and MEDITECH listed on Microsoft's health solutions pages; other EHRs via integration Vendor-reported |
| Specialties and templates | Standard templates on Free; advanced templates and team template sharing on paid plans; template configuration 1:1 on higher tiers Vendor-reported | Specialty-specific, customizable notes across ambulatory, inpatient, and ED; nursing flowsheets; radiology reporting Vendor-reported |
| Languages | Vendor reports use in 110 languages (Series B release); research cites transcription across 77 languages Vendor-reported | Microsoft Learn release notes cite multilingual capture (including mixed English and Spanish in Epic mobile); output in English Vendor-reported |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, and Heidi Desktop for macOS and Windows Documentation reviewed | Desktop, web, iOS (17+), Android (13+), and embedded in Epic mobile apps Documentation reviewed |
| In-person, telehealth, offline | In-person and telehealth (Desktop captures call audio directly). Offline recording: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported | In-person and on-demand recording; telehealth support per deployment. Offline recording: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported |
| Note styles (SOAP/DAP/BIRP) | Template library includes SOAP and specialty formats; named DAP/BIRP availability: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported | Specialty templates and customizable sections; named DAP/BIRP: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported |
| Editing and customization | Template editor, word library, auto-edit rules, and "note insights" that propose fixes from your edits Vendor-reported | Customizable notes, voice editing with Dragon dictation, activity timeline for verification Vendor-reported |
| Coding and billing help | Coding listed as a paid-plan feature on the pricing grid Vendor-reported | Coding suggestions listed as a feature Vendor-reported |
| Patient instructions and letters | Drafts referrals, letters, care plans, and patient recaps from the note; recaps wait for clinician approval Vendor-reported | Referral letters and after-visit summaries Vendor-reported |
| Data retention and deletion | Audio deleted once the transcript is created unless you enable a recording-saving feature. Organization auto-deletion configurable from 1 to 90 days; otherwise retained until deleted. Flexible retention on team plans. Documentation reviewed | Audio, recognized text, transcripts, and flowsheet values retained up to 90 days; deletion via Microsoft Purview lifecycle management; customer data deleted when the contract expires Documentation reviewed |
| HIPAA BAA (and which plan) | Yes. Heidi states it makes a BAA available to every covered entity it works with; plan-level conditions: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed | HIPAA commitments are in the Microsoft Products and Services DPA and Product Terms; confirm BAA coverage in your enterprise agreement Documentation reviewed |
| SOC 2 / ISO / HITRUST | SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001, Cyber Essentials Plus (privacy policy). HITRUST: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported | SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, C5, NEN 7510; ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701 listed as certification pending in the FAQ. Microsoft cloud also lists HITRUST and others. Vendor-reported |
| Where data is stored | Regional hosting; US customer data hosted in the United States (also AU, UK, EU, Canada, Switzerland) Documentation reviewed | Microsoft cloud as a Core Online Service, per Microsoft's data location terms Documentation reviewed |
| Data used for model training? | Safety page says identifiers are stripped before processing. Explicit model-training policy for customer data: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Vendor-reported | Customer data is de-identified or anonymized before use for model improvement; not used to train general LLMs Vendor-reported |
| Consent features | Patient consent resources published; in-app consent capture: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor) Documentation reviewed | Transparency documentation requires patient consent per organization policy before recording Documentation reviewed |
| Support | Priority support, guided onboarding, and dedicated customer success on higher tiers Vendor-reported | Microsoft and certified partner support Vendor-reported |
| Contract terms | Monthly or yearly self-serve; Practice billed yearly; Enterprise offers custom terms and hosting Documentation reviewed | Enterprise licensing via Microsoft or partners; Flex requires a linked Azure subscription Documentation reviewed |
Workflow walkthrough
Heidi
With Heidi you open a session (on web, phone, or the desktop app), record or dictate, and a note is generated from the template you pick. The desktop app can dictate into any window and capture telehealth audio without a second login. After the visit Heidi can draft follow-on documents such as referral letters, care plans, and patient recaps, and its newer agent features can prep charts before clinic. Notes reach the EHR by copy and paste, by the athenahealth or Epic integrations, or through desktop app integrations, depending on plan.
Dragon Copilot
For most clinicians Dragon Copilot shows up inside their EHR (often Epic) or as a desktop and mobile app tied to the organization's Dragon admin center. You start an ambient session or dictate, the draft note lands in the EHR for review, and you can ask questions of the transcript and trusted references. Because it unifies Dragon dictation and ambient AI, clinicians who already dictate can keep doing so in the same tool. Administration, licensing, and retention are managed centrally by IT.
Psychiatry and behavioral health fit
Two federal rules matter for behavioral health. HIPAA treats psychotherapy notes (kept separate from the medical record) as a special category, so check that a scribe's default note does not blend process notes into the chart. Federally assisted substance use disorder programs are also covered by 42 CFR Part 2; the 2024 final rule aligned Part 2 more closely with HIPAA, with a compliance date of February 16, 2026 (HHS). None of the vendors here publicly describe Part 2 specific controls, The rule states that segregating Part 2 records is not required, and it creates a new category of SUD counseling notes that need separate patient consent, much like HIPAA psychotherapy notes. Part 2 programs should get written answers on how each tool handles consent, counseling-note content, and redisclosure before use.
Heidi
Heidi publishes progress note resources on its site (psychiatry-specific templates: Not publicly disclosed, ask vendor), and its configurable retention (1 to 90 day auto-delete for organizations) and default audio deletion suit practices that want short retention of sensitive material. Because Heidi increasingly drafts patient-facing recaps and runs agents over chart data, behavioral health practices should decide which outputs are allowed for sensitive visits and keep patient recaps behind clinician approval (which Heidi says is the default). Heidi does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).
Dragon Copilot
Dragon Copilot's 90-day retention and its use of de-identified data for model improvement are central questions for behavioral health. Organizations should confirm how sensitive encounters are handled, whether ambient capture can be disabled for specific visit types, and how Part 2 records are segregated. Microsoft's documentation addresses HIPAA but does not publicly describe 42 CFR Part 2 specific controls: Not publicly disclosed (ask vendor).
Strengths and weaknesses
Heidi
Strengths
- Real free plan with unlimited transcription
- Native apps on web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows
- Broad certifications (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001)
- Strong multilingual reach
- Letters, recaps, and agents beyond the note
Weaknesses
- Clinician plan ($150/mo monthly) costs more than Freed Core
- Practice plan is billed yearly only
- EHR integration is an add-on on some plans
- Model training policy not stated explicitly on public pages
- Feature set is broad and changes quickly, which can mean more setup
Dragon Copilot
Strengths
- Unified dictation and ambient AI from one vendor
- Broad platform support including Epic-embedded mobile
- Large set of Microsoft compliance attestations
- Nurse and radiology workflows for system-wide rollouts
- Official consumption pricing for Flex sessions
Weaknesses
- No individual plan; enterprise licensing only
- Per User license price not published
- Up to 90-day data retention
- De-identified data used for model improvement
- Setup requires IT and Azure administration
Who should pick which
| Practice type | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Independent practice | Heidi |
| System standardized on Microsoft and Dragon | Dragon Copilot |
| Behavioral health wanting short retention | Heidi |
| Nursing and radiology rollout | Dragon Copilot |
| Multinational group | Heidi, given regional hosting options |
Verdict
Choose Heidi for self-serve access, published prices, and shorter default retention. Choose Dragon Copilot for an enterprise rollout that unifies dictation, ambient AI, nursing, and radiology under Microsoft.
Whichever you choose, sign the BAA before any real patient audio is recorded, set retention to the shortest period that fits your workflow, and test with your own templates during the trial or pilot.
Related reading: Heidi review, Dragon Copilot review and the psychiatry AI scribe guide.
FAQ
Is there a free Dragon Copilot?
No. It is licensed to organizations. Flex includes 10 AI-Assisted Sessions per license per month, then $0.25 per session.
Does Heidi integrate with Epic?
Yes, Heidi lists an Epic integration via SMART on FHIR.
Which uses data for training?
Microsoft uses de-identified data for model improvement. Heidi's training policy is not stated explicitly on its public pages.
Is this medical or legal advice?
No. This is general information. Confirm BAA terms, data use, and consent requirements with each vendor and your compliance advisor before using patient data.
How were facts checked?
Each fact comes from the vendor's official pricing, security, trust, or help pages, checked on 2026-10-12. Where a vendor does not publish something, we say so rather than estimate it.
Sources and last checked
All links checked 2026-10-12 (2026-10). Vendors change prices and terms often; re-verify before buying.
- Heidi pricing (US) (checked 2026-10-12)
- Heidi HIPAA and BAA (checked 2026-10-12)
- Heidi privacy policy (certifications, retention) (checked 2026-10-12)
- Heidi Trust Centre (checked 2026-10-12)
- Heidi Series B announcement (checked 2026-10-12)
- Microsoft Dragon Copilot product page (checked 2026-10-12)
- Dragon Copilot licensing guidance (checked 2026-10-12)
- Dragon Copilot data FAQ (retention, certifications) (checked 2026-10-12)
- Dragon Copilot privacy white paper (checked 2026-10-12)
- Dragon Copilot security white paper (checked 2026-10-12)
- Dragon Copilot announcement (checked 2026-10-12)
- HHS, 42 CFR Part 2 final rule fact sheet (checked 2026-10-12)