CareStack is a cloud-based dental practice management system that puts scheduling, charting, clinical notes, insurance claims, payments, patient texting and analytics in one browser-based product. The vendor says more than 3,000 dental practices use it and sells it to everyone from startups to large DSOs. Its pricing page lists two bundles starting at $829 and $1,299 per month (checked October 21, 2026), and none of the pages we saved mention a business associate agreement (BAA).
Quick verdict
CareStack suits a practice or group that wants to drop several add-on tools and run the front desk, billing and clinical charting in one cloud system. On Capterra, most reviewers in our sample praise the support, onboarding or account staff, and many call it easy to use once learned. The price of all those features is a learning curve: many reviewers say it takes time to learn, and several find the ledger, billing statements or insurance posting hard to follow.
Before you sign, get a written quote that lists which modules are included, ask for a BAA in writing, and ask to see the ledger and insurance posting with your own kind of cases. One 3-star reviewer in June 2022 says “There was no way to demo the accounting and insurance” before switching, and says they would not have switched if they had seen it.
CareStack at a glance
CareStack is cloud practice management software with published starting prices of $829 and $1,299 per month. Aeka Imaging, CareStack’s imaging product, is FDA 510(k) cleared (K253111, March 13, 2026); the practice management software itself has no FDA listing. The vendor says it holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications, and Capterra users rate it 4.8 out of 5 as of October 21, 2026.
| Vendor | CareStack (the site’s copyright line names Good Methods Global Inc.) |
|---|---|
| What it does | Cloud practice management: scheduling, charting and perio charting, clinical notes, treatment plans with e-signatures, claims and eligibility, card payments through CS Pay, patient portal, texting and reminders, analytics |
| Who it’s for | Enterprise DSOs, emerging groups, private practices, specialty offices (ortho, perio, endo, oral surgery, pediatric), dental startups and mobile dentistry, in the vendor’s own categories |
| Pricing | Essentials starting at $829/month; Intelligence (Essentials plus AI clinical notes, AI voice perio charting and Overjet AI X-ray tools) starting at $1,299/month; custom plans available. The vendor says price depends on locations, chairs and providers, and an implementation fee may apply (checked October 21, 2026) |
| FDA status | Aeka Imaging: FDA 510(k) cleared, K253111 (March 13, 2026), applicant Good Methods Global, Inc. The clearance covers web-based dental image acquisition and management, not the practice management software or the Overjet AI tools. The pricing page says its native imaging is “FDA-Cleared” but names no device (searched October 21, 2026). |
| HIPAA / BAA | The vendor says CareStack is fully compliant with HIPAA and holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications. No mention of a BAA on the pages we saved. |
| Integrations | The vendor lists Aeka, Apex, Apteryx Imaging, Birdeye, Blue pay, Carestream, Dentaleye, DentalXChange, Dexis, Dolphin, DoseSpot, DTX Studio, Durr Dental, GoDental.AI, Heidi, Adyen, Jive, Medx, Mi Pacs and Newtom, plus open APIs, Google Analytics and Reserve with Google |
| User rating | 4.8 out of 5 from 223 reviews on Capterra (checked October 21, 2026) |
| Data checked | October 21, 2026 |
What is CareStack?
CareStack is an all-in-one, cloud-based practice management system for dental offices. The vendor says it handles all the major functions of a practice “with no upsells or add-on software required,” and its features page pitches it as a way to drop third-party vendors and cut monthly subscription costs. It runs in a browser, so there is no server in the office.
Around the core system, CareStack sells a set of named add-on services and products. VoiceStack is an AI phone system that, per the vendor, analyzes and transcribes calls. Aeka is described as AI-powered cloud imaging. CS Pay handles card and ACH payments, CareRevenue is an outsourced revenue cycle management (RCM) service, VirtualAssistant is outsourced front office help, and CS Membership runs in-house membership plans. The home page also lists an “AI team” of assistants: Connie, which confirms appointments by call, text and email, and Colby, which follows up on patient balances, are marked available now, while assistants for recall, treatment follow-up and filling cancellations are marked launching soon.
The home page cites a Forrester Total Economic Impact study saying CareStack pays for itself within 6 months. Its fine print says Forrester Consulting conducted it on behalf of Straumann in October 2023, and that its results come from a composite organization with 10 locations over three years. So the payback figure describes a modeled group, and it is best read as a marketing claim.
Key features
CareStack’s feature list is long, split by the vendor into practice growth, patient experience, operations, clinical workflows, revenue cycle and analytics. Below are the parts its saved pages describe in the most detail.
- Charting: a color-coded odontogram with adult or child dentition, customizable “care panels” and explosion codes for common treatment plans, plus charting opened from the patient profile or the scheduler
- Periodontal charting: pocket depth, gingival margin, mobility, bleeding and more, with teeth charted as missing, crowned or implanted showing the same way on the perio chart
- Clinical notes: templated or blast notes that can launch automatically when a CDT code is proposed or completed, conditional “Smart Logic” questions, a pending-notes list by provider, and password sign-off
- E-prescribing from the chart through the DoseSpot integration
- Insurance: electronic claim submission and posting, electronic eligibility verification and centralized claims management
- Payments through CS Pay: card and ACH processing, tokenized cards on file, payment plans with automatic charges, and a payment plan tracker. The vendor’s FAQ says you don’t have to use its merchant service.
- Appointment reminders by text, email or automated voice call, with per-patient preferences, custom templates and a dashboard showing reminders sent and confirmed
- Patient-facing tools: online self-scheduling that can go on any website, a patient portal for forms and payments, online forms, a self check-in kiosk, curbside check-in and teledentistry
- Analytics: preloaded dashboards for collections, provider productivity and patient visits, custom dashboards, role-based views and roll-ups across locations, which the vendor says update in real time
- Backups: the vendor says data is copied to a backup instance on Microsoft Azure as it is entered, with no local backups for staff to run
- Other listed modules: referral management, implant tracker, lab case management, provider payroll, reputation management, membership plans, CS Learn for staff training and a mobile app
CareStack vs. what a practice management tool should have
CareStack’s own pages cover almost every item on our practice management checklist, including cloud hosting, imaging integrations, reporting and patient communication. The gaps are a BAA and detail on data conversion from your current system, which the saved pages barely describe.
Must have
| Feature | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling | Listed | Multi-location scheduling and online self-scheduling with provider and location choice |
| Clinical charting (perio, restorative, treatment plans) | Listed | Odontogram, perio charting, treatment planning with e-signatures |
| Insurance claims and eligibility | Listed | Electronic claims and eligibility verification; several reviewers find insurance posting hard to follow |
| Patient billing and payments | Listed | CS Pay, payment plans, electronic statements, text and email payment reminders |
| Data migration from the current system | Partial | The vendor mentions implementation specialists; no detail on which systems it converts from |
| BAA offered / security and HIPAA information published | Partial | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 claims published; no BAA mentioned |
Should have
| Feature | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud hosting (no local server) | Listed | Browser-based, hosted on Microsoft Azure per the vendor |
| Imaging integrated or built in | Listed | Imaging integrations listed (Apteryx, Carestream, Dexis, DTX Studio and others) and the vendor’s own Aeka product |
| Reporting and analytics | Listed | Preloaded and custom dashboards |
| Patient communication (reminders, texting) built in or integrated | Listed | Reminders, two-way texting, patient portal |
| Public pricing | Listed | Starting prices for two bundles; the vendor says the final price depends on locations, chairs and providers |
| Training and onboarding | Listed | CS Learn and a learning center; most reviewers praise the onboarding or support staff |
Nice to have
| Feature | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| AI features (notes, charting, insurance) | Listed | Intelligence plan lists AI-powered clinical notes and voice perio charting; also an AI phone system, AI imaging and AI assistants for confirmations and collections |
| Multi-location support | Listed | Multi-location scheduling, cross-location payments and analytics roll-ups |
| Open API / third-party integrations | Listed | Open APIs and a named partner list |
FDA status and privacy
Aeka Imaging, CareStack’s imaging product, is FDA 510(k) cleared: K253111, decision date March 13, 2026, with the FDA finding it substantially equivalent. The applicant is Good Methods Global, Inc., the company named in the copyright line on CareStack’s site. The FDA lists it under the radiology panel, product code LLZ. Its indications describe a web-based interface for acquiring and managing dental images, operated by dental professionals. Per the FDA indications, it receives images from dental acquisition devices or the user’s computer and can display, process, edit, annotate, review, store, print and distribute them.
That clearance covers Aeka Imaging only. It doesn’t cover the CareStack practice management software as a whole, and it says nothing about the Overjet AI tools in the Intelligence plan. CareStack’s pricing page lists “FDA-Cleared Native Imaging” in its Essentials plan but doesn’t name the device. On October 21, 2026 we searched the FDA’s 510(k) database for applicant CareStack, applicant Good Methods Global, device name CareStack and device name Aeka, and its PMA database for applicants CareStack and Good Methods Global, through openFDA; K253111 was the only entry found.
On security, the vendor says CareStack is fully compliant with HIPAA and holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications. We didn’t see the audit reports or certificates. On its backups page, CareStack says it uses Microsoft Azure to copy all data to another instance, that all CareStack team members are trained on HIPAA compliance guidelines, and that moving data to the cloud removes the risk of your patient data being encrypted and held for ransom. That last point is the vendor’s claim, with no detail behind it on the page. For card payments, the vendor says CS Pay doesn’t store card numbers directly and uses tokenization and point-to-point encryption.
None of the pages we saved mention a business associate agreement. Ask for a BAA in writing before any patient data moves, and ask for the SOC 2 report.
Pricing
CareStack publishes two bundles, both priced “starting at” (checked October 21, 2026). The page doesn’t say whether the monthly price is per location or per practice. Its FAQ says pricing depends on factors including the number of locations, chairs and providers, and asks you to book a demo for customized pricing. Custom plans are also available.
- Essentials, starting at $829 per month: multi-specialty scheduling, online appointments, charting and treatment planning, native imaging (the vendor says it is “FDA-Cleared” but doesn’t name the device; CareStack’s Aeka Imaging is 510(k) cleared, K253111), a digital patient portal and forms, electronic eligibility and verification, insurance claims management, emails, MMS and bulk texting, lab cases, team chat and a daily huddle dashboard, “and much more”
- Intelligence, starting at $1,299 per month: everything in Essentials plus AI-powered clinical notes, AI-powered voice perio charting, AI-powered X-rays and AI-powered clinical diagnosis. The comparison table credits the X-ray analysis and clinical diagnosis tools to Overjet and marks all four as not included in Essentials.
The pricing FAQ lists the conditions. CareStack may charge an implementation fee in certain cases, depending on how complex your data migration is and how much extra training your office needs, and says there are no other additional charges. Licenses are usually set by number of locations and providers, so you can add users without buying a license for each. CareStack says it doesn’t charge you for using a third-party application with an active integration, but it charges the third-party provider a fee, which that provider may pass on to you. VoiceStack, CareRevenue and ACE DSN are listed as optional add-ons with no price shown, and API pricing is on a separate page. Ask for a written quote that names your plan, the implementation fee and each add-on.
Capterra reviewers give a mixed picture of cost. Several call it good value or like the all-in pricing; one in September 2025 says it has “one price and no limits on storage.” Two others point the other way: one in September 2025 says the cost of some add-on services “was very high” for a single office, and one in September 2020 objects to fees from the merchant partner CareStack recommended at the time. Two reviewers mention limits on outbound text messages. Ask what message limits, merchant fees and add-on charges apply to you.
Pros (from user reviews)
CareStack’s strongest point on Capterra is its people. Most reviewers in our sample praise the support, onboarding, training or account staff, often by name. Many also call it easy to use, like having one system in place of several, and praise the reporting and cloud access. Most of the sample was written from 2024 to 2026.
- Support and onboarding get praise from most reviewers, who describe trainers, onboarding specialists and customer success managers as patient and quick to respond. Many single out the onboarding or training itself.
- Many call it easy to use, user-friendly or intuitive, often once the first weeks are over.
- One system for everything comes up in many reviews: scheduling, charting, billing, claims, texting and forms in one place, with fewer separate subscriptions.
- Reporting, analytics and KPI dashboards please many reviewers.
- Many like that it is cloud-based and that they can check the schedule or work from home.
- Many say CareStack listens to feedback and adds features or updates often.
- Patient tools get praise from several reviewers: the portal, online booking, reminders and curbside check-in. Several name text-to-pay as a favorite.
- Insurance and claims tools get praise in several reviews. Several others say it can be customized to their practice, and several run more than one location on it, including a group of nine pediatric dental centers (January 2026).
- CareStack University, the training videos and the resource center come up in several reviews, and several call the system fast or stable.
- A few like the VoiceStack call transcription. One reviewer in May 2026 says the AI part of the X-ray module is worth the cost.
Cons (from user reviews)
CareStack’s most common complaints on Capterra are the learning curve and the billing screens. Many reviewers say it takes time to learn, and several find the ledger, statements or insurance posting hard to follow. Several also describe a rough transition, too many clicks or uneven support.
- Many say there is a lot to learn and that it feels overwhelming at first. One in April 2026 writes, “Better training before going live is highly recommended.”
- The ledger, billing statements, payment posting or insurance workflows confuse several reviewers, and two say patients struggle to read their statements. One adds that a later update helped, and another that extra training did.
- The move itself was rocky for several reviewers. Several say data, forms, note templates or treatment plans didn’t come over and staff had to redo them; one in November 2024 says the sales team didn’t mention the practice would have to convert its own patient forms and note templates.
- Support draws complaints in several reviews: slow tickets, staff with uneven knowledge of the software, or a language barrier on the phone. One reviewer in February 2022 writes, “I’ve had a support ticket in for seven months.”
- Too many clicks or steps is a complaint in several reviews. A 1-star review from April 2026 says “basic tasks require excessive clicks, with virtually no keyboard shortcuts”.
- Reports confuse several reviewers, or lack one they need; one in May 2026 wants provider production per hour.
- Having too many ways to do the same thing bothers several reviewers, and several mention glitches or slow loading.
- Codes are a sore point for several: a code must be attached to every transaction, or a completed code has to be deleted and re-entered in the chart to change it.
- Customization stops short for several reviewers on specific settings; one says online booking is English only. Several report gaps in the patient portal.
- A few report imaging integration gaps, including no way to take and save CBCT images. A few say updates arrive without enough warning or cause problems, a few say it is weak on phones or iPads, and a few note it stops when the office internet goes down.
- Two reviewers complain about the ortho case module. One in April 2025 says it counts production twice.
Capterra flags just over half of the reviews in our sample as incentivized, and many reviews praise a named staff member. Keep both in mind when you read the star rating.
Who it’s for
CareStack fits practices and groups that want one cloud system for the front desk, billing, clinical charting and patient texting, and are willing to spend real time on setup and training. Single offices, specialty practices and multi-location groups all show up among the reviewers, and the vendor markets to each of them.
It’s a weaker fit if your team needs a simple ledger it can read at a glance, or if you can’t free up staff time before go-live. Several reviewers say staff had to redo data, forms or note templates that didn’t come over, and one dentist-owner in March 2025 says go-live took a fair amount of their own time setting up parameters and checking data. If you run an ortho practice, look closely at the ortho case module. Ask for a demo that walks through your own insurance posting and patient statements, get the BAA and the full quote in writing, and ask who your trainer will be after go-live.
FAQ
Is CareStack FDA cleared?
Partly. Aeka Imaging, CareStack’s imaging product, is FDA 510(k) cleared (K253111, March 13, 2026, applicant Good Methods Global, Inc.) as web-based software for acquiring and managing dental images. The clearance doesn’t cover the practice management software as a whole or the Overjet AI tools in the Intelligence plan. The pricing page’s “FDA-Cleared Native Imaging” doesn’t name the device.
How much does CareStack cost?
CareStack’s Essentials plan starts at $829 per month and its Intelligence plan, which adds AI notes, voice perio charting and Overjet AI X-ray tools, starts at $1,299 per month (checked October 21, 2026). The vendor says the final price depends on locations, chairs and providers, and an implementation fee may apply. Capterra reviewers disagree on cost: several call it good value, while two complain about the cost of add-on services or merchant fees. Ask for a quote that lists every module.
Does CareStack sign a BAA?
The pages we saved don’t say. The vendor says CareStack is fully compliant with HIPAA and holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications. Ask for a business associate agreement in writing before moving patient data.
Does CareStack work with my imaging software?
The vendor lists integrations with Apteryx Imaging, Carestream, Dexis, DTX Studio, Durr Dental, Mi Pacs and Newtom, among others, and sells its own Aeka imaging product. Its charting FAQ says your imaging software integrates and opens from the patient’s chart. A few Capterra reviewers report imaging gaps, so confirm your exact system.
Is CareStack hard to learn?
Many Capterra reviewers say yes, at first. They describe a learning curve because there is so much in it, and several find the ledger and insurance posting hard to follow. Most reviewers also praise the onboarding and support staff who help with that.
Can CareStack run more than one location?
Yes, the vendor says it can. It lists multi-location scheduling, payments taken for any location and analytics that roll up across a group. Several Capterra reviewers run more than one office on it.
How this review was put together
We didn’t use CareStack ourselves. Our CareStack review draws on ten CareStack web pages, the FDA’s 510(k) and PMA databases, and 200 of the 223 CareStack reviews on Capterra, written between September 23, 2020 and October 14, 2026. All sources were checked on October 21, 2026.
The vendor pages were the home page, the pricing page, the features overview, the FAQ, and the feature pages for analytics, appointment reminders, backups, charting, clinical notes and credit card processing. We searched the FDA databases through openFDA. The Capterra reviews were taken in Capterra’s default order, and we counted a theme only when a review stated it. We didn’t search PubMed for this review.
Sources
- CareStack: home page, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: pricing, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: features, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: FAQs, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: analytics, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: appointment reminders, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: backups, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: charting, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: clinical notes, accessed October 21, 2026
- CareStack: credit card processing, accessed October 21, 2026
- FDA 510(k) database: K253111, Aeka Imaging (Good Methods Global, Inc.), accessed October 21, 2026
- openFDA device APIs (510(k) and PMA), accessed October 21, 2026
- Capterra: CareStack reviews, accessed October 21, 2026
