26 February 2025

Online doctor's appointments: Direct comparison of providers (updated)

(Update from 26/02/2025. This article was originally published on 14/03/2019)

The option of booking doctor's appointments online is becoming increasingly standard and is being offered by more and more practices. At the end of 2023, the industry association bitkom reported that 36 per cent of patients book their appointments online. It can therefore be assumed that there are significantly more of them today. Of course, we are also seeing a growing interest among our customers in digital appointment solutions that make the practice process more efficient and increase patient convenience. Especially when setting up a new practice, it is now almost invariably standard to use online appointment solutions from the outset.

In this article, we will therefore introduce you to various online doctor appointment providers and show you how they differ from one another. This will give you as a doctor an initial basis for deciding which provider is right for you and your Practice marketing could bring us forward.

Firstly, the following information:
Our overview does not claim to be exhaustive. The focus is on providers who specialise specifically in online appointments for doctors.

We are aware that some practice software providers, such as Dampsoft or medatixx, also offer integrated online appointment booking systems. However, for the sake of clarity, we will not include them here. Instead, we will present these providers in a separate article: Practice management software: a comparison of providers.

Online doctor appointments provider comparison

By the end of 2023, more than one in three people will have made their doctor's appointment online (bitkom, 01.11.2023). Today, this figure is likely to be significantly higher.

Online appointment booking

We took a closer look at the following providers for online doctor's appointments:

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Online doctor's appointments

Direct comparison of providers

We contacted the providers mentioned and asked the following questions:

  • What cost models are available?
  • Is an additional fee charged for successful patient referrals?
  • Is there a specific contract term?
  • Is there an evaluation function for doctors?
  • If the appointment booking tool on the Practice homepage integrate?
  • Are there smartphone apps for patients and doctors?

Arzttermine.de and Doctena.de did not respond to our enquiry, despite multiple requests by email and via the contact form. On 1 March 2019, we made another attempt by telephone to obtain information about the costs and contract term, but they were unwilling to provide us with any information over the phone and once again referred us to the contact form. We don't understand why they are keeping quiet here and making a secret of the conditions, but ok (if you are an employee of Doctena.de or Arzttermine.de and your data is missing in our overview, please feel free to contact us).

As the offers and scope of services can differ significantly in some cases, a direct comparison of providers is of course only possible to a limited extent. Our overview is therefore only intended as an initial decision-making aid and to show which providers are available.

Online doctor's appointments

(Please click on the picture to enlarge)

* Unfortunately, we have not received any information on this.
** Integration on the practice homepage is only partially possible. Patients can search for free appointment slots directly on the practice homepage via the integration, but are redirected to an external Jameda page to book an appointment.

Overview of the services included in the respective packages of the providers:

1 Doctena: Overview of offers (PDF)
2 Doctolib: Overview of offers
3 Jameda: Package overview
4 Samedi: Package overview
5 TerMed: Package overview (PDF)
6 Dubidoc: Package overview
7 Dr Flex: Overview of offers

Unique selling point? Interfaces to the practice software?

We also asked the providers whether there is a unique selling point and whether interfaces to practice software providers are available. We would like to quote the answers here.
  • Does the portal have a unique selling point?

    Arztterminine.de

    "Regardless of which variant is used, the practice not only benefits from the arzttermine.de platform. Arzttermine.de has been part of Germany's largest healthcare portal network ÄRZTE.DE since 2018.
    With over 5 million patients and more than 485,000 doctors and healthcare professionals, we have been a reliable and personal consultant for doctors and healthcare professionals in the areas of practice marketing, patient acquisition, reputation management and practice organisation for more than 10 years."

    Doctena.de
    • "Doctena.de is available in six different languages
    • Online appointment booking, video consultation and reviews
    • Customised appointment notes configurable
    • Sending of file attachments possible with appointment confirmation"
    Dubidoc.com

    "dubidoc takes care of many tasks for your employees in the background: appointment allocation through online scheduling regardless of practice opening hours, automatic sending of e-mails, automatic appointment search, self-check-in for patients and much more. All the advantages at a glance:

    • Maximum flexibility to meet the needs of the practice, including flexible organisation of working hours and lockdown periods as well as contingency planning.
    • Intelligent appointment proposals based on individual focal points increase the profitability of the practice.
    • The simple and clearly organised online calendar helps you to keep track of all appointments at all times.
    • Automating the registration and information request process with the user-friendly dubidoc Self-Check-In also reduces the workload for the specialists.
    • Appointment reminders, video consultations, sending documents to patients by e-mail and a digital waiting room with predicted waiting times enable new ways of patient care.
    • The online appointment booking can be integrated directly on your own website.
    • Integration with other digital tools, such as a digital telephone assistant, is possible.
    • Quick and easy to set up during operation.
    • An integrated connection to the practice management system used.
    • Competent, personalised service: via chat, e-mail and telephone.
    • Data protection compliant in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR and other applicable data protection guidelines."
    Doctolib.de

    "57,000 healthcare professionals use Doctolib in Germany. More than 60 million patients have an account to book appointments, 6.5 million of them in Germany.

    • No hidden costs, all inclusive
    • Complex space and resource management can be mapped
    • Appointment chains and chain appointments are possible
    • Additional information for patients in the booking screen and additionally as information about the appointment
    • Assistance system for highlighting free appointments when they are allocated at the registration desk
    • Video consultation
    • Direct support: With Doctolib, healthcare institutions have a personal contact person on site who provides comprehensive advice on optimisation options during the changeover, trains the entire practice team and implements the system. In addition, a service hotline is available by telephone on weekdays at no extra cost.
    • Referral network: An integrated referral function allows patients to be referred directly to another doctor easily and free of charge - provided they have given their consent
    • KHZG
    • Doctolib Hospital covers all mandatory criteria within the scope of the patient portal and other eligibility criteria
    • Vaccination management: 100% integrated into the regular Doctolib calendar, dedicated reasons for visits for various authorised vaccines, automated appointment reminders for follow-up vaccinations and digital patient communication"
    Dr-flex.de
    • "A user (patient) does not have to create a user account.
    • Fastest booking process with secure SMS-TAN procedure."
    Jameda.de

    "Around 7 million patients search for a suitable doctor on jameda every month - more than on any other German portal. This means that doctors benefit from the wide reach that jameda offers them. In addition to more efficient practice processes and significant time savings, the jameda online appointment system, which is available on both jameda and the practice homepages, also reduces missed appointments in the practice - thanks to automatic appointment reminders, among other things.

    Other plus points: the document upload, with which new and existing patients automatically receive the medical history form with the appointment confirmation, for example, the powerful jameda appointment calendar, with which doctors can easily manage the appointments in their practice and the appointment booking for the virtual doctor's visit via jameda video consultation."

    Samedi.de
    • "Precisely customisable, tailored to the requirements of every institution. From practice to MVZ or clinic. -> 40+ available modules
    • Expertise since 2008
    • Highest data protection standards -> No data protection incident since 2008"
    TerMed.de

    "All-in-one provider for everything related to practice / patient communication

    • Own online reception
    • Own form system
    • Own video consultation

    All interface solutions are developed together with our software partners so that nothing else needs to be used in day-to-day business besides the familiar PVS user interface."

  • Are there interfaces to certain practice software?

    Arztterminine.de

    "Yes for Visita premium, which will be launched around the beginning of 2022."

    Doctena.de

    "Yes, Doctena has new interfaces to ifa, Quincy, Ivoris, Fidus, Cronofy and Charly Solutio (from Q4 2021). Other providers will follow. Alternatively, practices can also use the Doctena calendar for complete appointment management."

    Dubidoc.com

    "Yes, dubidoc can be integrated with more than 30 PVS. In general, any PVS that offers a GDT interface can be integrated with dubidoc."

    Doctolib.de

    "Yes. An interface can be set up for various systems if required, but this is not normally necessary as processes are often independent of each other."

    Dr-flex.de

    "Provider with the most interfaces of all (currently 23). Interfaces to all market-leading medical and dental information systems, including: Medistar, Turbomed, CGM-Praxistimer, Quincy, x.isynet, x.concept, Dampsoft, Z1, Charly, Evident, Ivoris, and many more.

    Jameda.de

    "Our appointment diary solution is compatible with many common PVS systems used by practices, meaning that our service represents real added value and time savings for practices. We also have partner interfaces to samedi and Dampsoft, Germany's largest PVS for dentists."

    Samedi.de

    "Over 40 bidirectional interfaces to around 40 PVS systems that seamlessly integrate samedi."

    TerMed.de

    "INDAMED MEDICAL OFFICE, abasoft eva, MedOrganiser, Terminiko"

Which provider is best found on Google?

When using an online appointment provider, most doctors and dentists think first and foremost of integrating the booking function on their own website. Practice homepage. However, many providers also operate external portals where patients can search for available appointments with registered doctors independently of the practice website.

These platforms therefore offer an additional opportunity to create new Attracting patients and appointments - without any direct interaction with the practice's own website. Whether this works well essentially depends on whether the providers' portals are well positioned on Google.

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Which doctor appointment portals are particularly easy to find on Google? Image: www.giphy.com 

In order to be able to assess this, we used the SEO tool Sistrix, an evaluation of the respective Visibility index made. Put simply, a high visibility index means that the provider in question can be found on Google using a large number of relevant search terms (e.g. "dentist Berlin", "gynaecologist Munich" etc.), which also have a high visibility index. Search volume have a low visibility index. A low visibility index means that the provider in question can only be found via very few relevant search terms on Google.

RankProviderVisibility
-Index
TendencyQuantity
Keywords
1Doctolib.de34,761.248.040
2Jameda.de13,991.593.506
3Doctena.de1,39199.093
4Dr-Flex.de0,7760.140
5Samedi.de0,4732.774
6Arztterminine.de0,2453.792
7TerMed.de0,04▶︎3.352
8Dubidoc.com0,00▶︎1.060

Source: Sistrix.com, analysed on 26/02/2025

Doctolib.de ▲ 34.76

Doctolib has now overtaken all of its competitors in terms of visibility on Google. While Jameda achieved the best score by far in our last evaluation in 2021 (also by 30 points), it is now Doctolib with a strong 34.76 points. The chart also shows only one direction: upwards.

best online doctor appointment provider
Jameda.de ▼ 13.99

Jameda's visibility has been falling continuously since the end of 2023 (last peak at around 52 points). The current score of 13.99 points is a far cry from the former peak in 2019 (approx. 70 points). At least in terms of visibility on Google, Jameda's transformation from a review portal to an appointment portal has not been successful.

best online doctor appointment provider
Doctena.de ▲ 1.39

Compared to Doctolib and Jameda, Doctena does not play a major role in terms of the visibility of the portals. Nevertheless, the development over the last few years has been positive. In addition, Doctena focuses more on handling appointments within the practice websites (and not outside, as is the case with Doctolib and Jameda).

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Dr-Flex.de ▲ 0.77

The development of Dr Flex's visibility is similar to that of Doctena. Unlike Doctolib and Jameda, Dr Flex focuses less on its own portal and more on the functionality of appointment booking, which takes place on the practice website itself. This is reflected in the comparatively low visibility score.

best online doctor appointment provider
Samedi.de ▲ 0.47

Although Samedi operates a patient portal, this does not really play a role in the external perception and is only found on Google if you search for it specifically.

best online doctor appointment provider
Arzttermine.de ▼ 0.24

Although the conditions for a good Google ranking should actually be favourable thanks to the clever choice of domain, Arzttermnine.de has always flown under the radar. Visibility has never come close to that of its competitors.

best online doctor appointment provider
TerMed.de ▶︎ 0.04

Although TerMed.de's visibility index has recently shown some upward spikes, these are not significant in the overall context, as the value of 0.04 points is very low compared to the other providers.

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Dubidoc.de ▶︎ 0,00

Dubidoc.de is a relatively new and currently still small provider that currently plays no role for Google. A comparison with the other providers is also difficult, as there is no "open patient portal" where you can search for doctors with an open result.

best online doctor appointment provider

Integrate appointment booking on your own practice website or would you prefer to forward it to the provider?

In our view, it is a disadvantage if providers of online doctor's appointments do not allow their customers (doctors) to use the appointment booking interface on their own website. Practice website (this is the case with some providers). In this case, patients have to leave the practice website to book an appointment. This can be disadvantageous for the practice owner for various reasons:

1) Dwell time is reduced

How long visitors stay on a website (the so-called dwell time) is considered a factor for the Google ranking [1, 2]. SEO experts assume that a long dwell time is an indicator of high-quality website content and is therefore an important signal for Google. Even if a long dwell time alone is certainly not sufficient (see SEO for doctors) to get to the top of Google, the longer the better. If patients now have to leave the doctor's website to book an appointment, this naturally reduces the time spent on your own practice website. At the same time, this strengthens the Google position of the provider of online doctor's appointments to which the link must be made - as the time spent there increases in return.

2) Position of the practice homepage is reduced in relation to the provider

In addition, these providers benefit from the external link that must be placed from every practice website to their portals - because this is also relevant for the Google ranking. In a nutshell, the more links to a website, the better it is for the ranking [3]. Here too, doctors weaken their own position in favour of providers who do not allow appointments to be booked on the practice website.

But to what extent does this weaken the practice website's own position on Google? Quite simply, the large portals are gradually displacing the practice websites from the top positions on Google (thanks in part to the thousands of links to their portals). So when patients search for a "dentist in Esslingen", for example, they may not find practice websites at the top, but rather portals for online doctor's appointments.

3) Practice website loses relevance

If you take the above points further, the forced linking to external portals for appointment bookings can of course also lead to patients no longer even visiting their doctor's practice website the next time they book an appointment, but instead going directly to the provider's portal for online doctor's appointments. This also reduces the number of website visitors.

However, doctors who do not attach any importance to a good Google ranking for their practice website anyway and who simply want to enable their regular patients to book appointments online can of course disregard the points mentioned above.

Our experience

"Subjective" impressions of our agency

We have already dealt directly with most providers and have helped our customers, for example, to set up a profile and appointment slots or to integrate the booking interface into their own practice homepage. Below is an overview of our impressions of the collaboration.

Doctena

Some of our customers work with Doctena (the provider took over Doxter some time ago) and the cooperation has always been unproblematic. Doctena employees always contact us to offer support in integrating the appointment booking interface into the practice website. Doctena makes it possible to carry out the entire appointment booking process directly on the practice's own website. From our point of view, this is a clear advantage, as it increases the relevance of your own practice website and increases the length of stay described above. If we have any questions, the support team is always very helpful and gets back to us very quickly with suggestions for solutions. Doctena is also always open to new ideas and suggestions, as we have already seen in various cases.

Doctolib

Doctolib is currently growing very strongly and is described to us by customers as very committed; Doctolib also makes a very good visual impression (doctor profiles, patient portal, booking process, etc.). Customers from NRW in particular often mention Doctolib to us of their own accord (also because Doctolib is very active in acquisition, of course). We find it a bit of a shame that Doctolib does not offer the option of integrating the appointment booking on the practice homepage and carrying it out there (only a button can be integrated that redirects to Doctolib). This presumably also explains why Doctolib's visibility on Google is significantly higher than that of competitors who allow doctors to integrate it on their practice websites. On the other hand, this can also be advantageous: practices that are difficult to find on Google anyway and cannot or do not want to invest in SEO could then benefit from the visibility of the Doctolib portal and receive appointments directly via the portal - without patients having to visit the practice website first.

Jameda

As the top dog among doctor rating portals, Jameda is of course no longer a classic start-up compared to the other portals; the processes here are very well developed and the service is among the best. The integration on the practice website works perfectly. The interface is already very familiar to most patients and some of them will already have a user account there for doctor ratings, with which they can also use the appointment function directly. Another advantage is that doctors do not usually have to create new profiles here, as the data is already available. Some doctors may even already be using a premium account and would only have to expect small additional costs for the appointment booking function. The integration of the appointment booking function on the practice website is possible to a certain extent (the next available appointments can be displayed to patients via the integration on the practice website). However, patients must leave the practice website for the final appointment booking process.

Dr Flex

The Berlin-based provider Dr. Flex was only included in our comparison of providers as part of an update in October 2021. We recently got to know Dr Flex in the course of several projects for dental practices and initially found it very good that the entire booking process can be mapped on the practice website.

What stands out particularly positively with this solution, however, is the fact that the integration of the online appointment calendar on practice websites is highly flexible (the name really does say it all).

One example: In the course of online marketing campaigns, so-called landing pages are often used - i.e. target pages for online adverts that are intended to enable quick contact or appointment booking. These landing pages usually only deal with a single topic, e.g. only aligner therapy.

If interested parties who reach the landing page want to be able to book appointments directly there, you can of course also integrate the online appointment calendar here.
In this case, other providers are forced to include the complete appointment diary on the landing page - with all appointment types. Interested parties must therefore first browse through the appointment types until they find "Aligner therapy" as an appointment option (which is how they came to the landing page).
This is different with Dr Flex: Here we can programme the appointment widget so that only "Aligner therapy" appears in the appointment types and all other appointment types are hidden on the landing page. This greatly simplifies the appointment booking process.

Saturday

Samedi made a very good impression on us throughout. The support was very committed, the availability very good and you don't have to wait long for a response by e-mail either. Overall, we also had the impression that this is less about aggressive "customer acquisition" and more about functionality. Samedi makes it possible to fully integrate the appointment booking process into the practice website so that patients don't have to leave it to book an appointment.

Arzttermine.de and TerMed.de

With regard to Arzttermine.de, TerMed.de and Dubidoc, we unfortunately lack sufficient project experience so far, so that we can only refer to the above-mentioned data for provider comparison. However, all the providers mentioned quickly provided us with the information we needed.

Pros and cons

What are the pros and cons of online doctor's appointments?

Pro

  • Patients can be recruited around the clock, regardless of practice opening hours
  • Online appointments can be targeted to times when the practice is usually less busy
  • Relief for practice staff, as the phone rings less frequently
  • Automatic reminders of upcoming appointments via the online appointment portals, resulting in a reduction in downtime
  • Patient acquisition also possible independently of the practice website

Contra

  • Pre-selection of patients only possible to a limited extent
  • Risk of patients unknowingly providing "incorrect" information when making an appointment (e.g. the patient wants to make an appointment for a PZR, but inadvertently selects "initial consultation" as the reason for the appointment)
  • Chaos when making appointments, as the appointment portal works independently of the practice software (in this case, the times must be clearly defined)
  • The inhibition threshold for cancelling appointments is lower, as cancellations can also be made conveniently online

Advantages of online doctor's appointments from the patient's perspective

Online doctor's appointments

Sources

[1] ryte.com 
→ https://de.ryte.com/wiki/Verweildauer (Dwell time, retrieved on 09/10/2020)

[2] omr.com
→ https://omr.com/de/google-machine-learning-ai-seo-time-on-site/ (How Google's focus on machine learning is changing SEO: Will dwell time become the most important KPI? Retrieved 09/10/2020)

[3] sistrix.de
→ https://www.sistrix.de/frag-sistrix/backlinks/ (What are backlinks? Retrieved 09/10/2020)

Photo: © Woman in front of laptop | Pressmaster | elements.envato.com

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Oliver Löw

oliver.loew@docrelations.de

Oliver Löw is the managing partner of Docrelations GmbH - Agentur für Practice marketing and PR. He founded the agency in 2012, initially as a sole proprietorship in Meerbusch near Düsseldorf. In 2013, he moved the headquarters to Düsseldorf and opened a second agency location in Bayreuth in 2015. In 2017, he converted the company into a limited liability company, and since then the agency has operated as Docrelations GmbH. → More information about the person