Confidant vs Heidi
Heidi is a cloud AI scribe built for clinicians broadly — physicians, nurses, therapists. Confidant is built specifically for therapy, runs entirely on your computer, and costs $359 once. If you need a general-purpose clinical scribe that works across specialties, Heidi does that well. Confidant does one thing: generates therapy notes privately, on your computer. Here's what that difference actually means.
Heidi is HIPAA compliant and offers a BAA — that's the baseline for any cloud tool handling clinical data. But HIPAA compliance governs how data is handled, not whether it stays on your device or how many parties it passes through. Heidi processes session audio on their servers. Your recordings are deleted after transcription, but the processing still happens in the cloud, on infrastructure outside your practice. With Confidant, there are no servers at all. Nothing leaves your computer, so there's nothing to process, retain, or share.
Confidant has no servers. Your audio, transcripts, and notes never go anywhere — not because we have good security, but because there's nowhere for them to go. We can't sign a BAA because we're not a Business Associate under HIPAA. We never touch your clients' PHI. You can verify this by turning off your wifi. Confidant works exactly the same.
Cloud platforms' terms change — sometimes quietly, especially after an acquisition or a new round of funding. When they do, data already collected gets brought under the new terms. That's often how it gets monetized: a policy update lands in an inbox, nobody reads it, and the data quietly moves. Confidant is bootstrapped. Two people, no investors, no acquirer who might renegotiate what happens to your data. And more to the point: our architecture can't change without you noticing. Confidant runs on your computer. That's not a policy. It can't be overridden by a board decision.
Heidi's plans start at $40/month — $480 per year — and go up to $150/month ($1,800/year). Confidant costs $359 once. At any paid tier, Heidi costs more in year one than Confidant does for life. By year two, you'd spend more on Heidi than Confidant costs for life. Confidant's optional update plan ($179/yr) adds new software features after year one — but Confidant keeps working whether or not you add it. No monthly bill, no note caps, no tiers.
Try Confidant free for 14 days. No credit card required.
Common questions
Note: Pricing and feature information is based on publicly available data as of June 2026 and is subject to change. Please consult each company's website for current details. Disclaimer: This comparison is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or compliance advice. Consult professional guidelines and your relevant regulatory bodies for specific HIPAA requirements.