Cliniko is allied health practice management — physiotherapy, osteopathy, podiatry, massage — with clinical records, treatment notes, and a reputation for being reliable and unfussy. It also publishes its full pricing ladder openly, which is rarer than it should be. Mako is the business platform for a service company, without a clinical records layer. The two overlap on booking and payments and diverge sharply either side of that.
Cliniko: Published and banded by practitioner count. 1 practitioner $45/month, 2–5 $95, 6–8 $145, 9–12 $195, 13–25 $295, 26–200 $395. You can move up and down the bands as your team changes, which is genuinely fair.
Mako: Pulse is free. Basic at $139/month — the complete platform with three team members. Team at $249/month — fifteen team members, advanced reporting, QuickBooks sync. Enterprise at $999/month — unlimited members. Roughly 20% off annually, no contract.
The crossover: at one practitioner Cliniko is $45 against $139 — Cliniko comfortably. At 2–5 it is $95 against $139, still Cliniko. At 6–8 it is $145 against Mako Team at $249 — Cliniko again. At 13–25 practitioners Cliniko is $295 against Mako Team at $249, and Mako edges ahead. Cliniko is cheaper across most of the range, and it is worth saying so.
Cliniko holds clinical records: treatment notes, patient history, and documentation structured for regulated allied health. Mako does not, and does not market itself as doing so.
If your practice needs that — physiotherapy, osteopathy, anything where a regulator or insurer may review your records — Cliniko meets the requirement and Mako does not. That decides it. Check the specifics against your own licensing body rather than any vendor's page.
If your practice is wellness rather than clinical, the records layer is not what you are buying, and business operations decide instead.
Proper treatment notes and patient history for regulated practice, in the same system as the diary.
The full ladder is on the page, and moving between bands as your team changes is straightforward. That is unusually honest for this category.
From one practitioner to twelve, Cliniko is cheaper than Mako on the software line. Not marginally — clearly.
Cliniko does allied health and does not sprawl. Practitioners consistently report it simply working.
Profit per service after practitioner pay and consumables, cash-flow forecasting, unit economics. Cliniko reports appointments and revenue; it is not built to tell you which service lines carry the clinic.
Percentage splits varying by service and practitioner, tips, timesheets and payouts — native, and calculated against the rate in force on the day of the appointment.
Products, supplements, and consumables with stock levels and margin per item.
If you run classes, memberships, or a second business alongside treatments, Mako handles them on the same platform.
Pulse costs nothing, imports from other systems, and compares your rebooking against market averages — usable alongside Cliniko without switching anything.
Pick Cliniko if:
Pick Mako if:
Your practice is a business. Not a hobby, not a side project, not a calendar with a cash register. It deserves software that treats it accordingly. If your platform cannot tell you whether you are financially healthy, it is not doing its job. And in 2026, you have better options.
See Mako in action — no sales call required
Mako is built for independent practice owners who would rather spend their time on clients than on demo calls. Open the live demo, poke around, and see exactly how booking, payments, and financial intelligence come together in one place.
Try the demo: https://app.makocrm.so/demo
Self-serve. Instant access. No forms, no calendars, no "talk to sales."
