Ask Brigid vs Socrates · for Irish consultants
Socrates alternative for Irish consultants
Ask Brigid is practice management software built in Dublin for Irish private consultants comparing Socrates, with the diary, the record, invoices and dictation in one place, and a clean switch after the practice checks the move.
Socrates, now part of Lanas, sells Socrates GP and Socrates Consultant, and its AI Scribe drafts consultation notes. Its product pages publish no price. Ask Brigid publishes its prices, includes online booking, and hosts records in AWS Dublin (eu-west-1).
Facts about Socrates checked 23 September 2026Primary records in AWS Dublin (eu-west-1)From €129/month + VAT, every seat included
Last updated .
Practice management, records, dictation, an inbox, online booking and card payments — at prices published on this page.
Ask Brigid vs Socrates for Irish private consultants
Socrates is an established Irish system in two editions: Socrates GP for general practice, and Socrates Consultant, a clinic management system it says supports consultants in over 30 hospitals nationwide. It belongs to Lanas Healthcare Technologies, which acquired the Clanwilliam Group in 2025, and it now offers an AI Scribe that drafts consultation notes. What socrates.ie does not publish is a price: its product pages offer a demo request instead (checked 23 Sep 2026). Ask Brigid publishes its prices on this page, with patient booking included.
Published prices
€129/month for Essential, €299/month for Professional, plus VAT, per practice — no demo required to see the number.
Patient booking included
Patients book in the MyBrigid app on every plan, and on your practice's own booking page on Professional. Socrates GP practices book online through Pippo, free since July 2025, or Swiftqueue, a paid add-on.
Where Socrates is ahead today
If you want notes drafted by AI now, Socrates has it: AI Scribe listens to the consultation and drafts a note for the clinician to review and save. In September 2025 Socrates also announced plans to make Heidi Health available inside Socrates for practices with Heidi licences. In Ask Brigid, dictation returns a transcript and nothing is filed or sent until the clinician has reviewed and signed it. A clinic that relies on Socrates Consultant's theatre bookings or its integration with hospital IT systems has a real switching cost to weigh, too.
Clinic-approved migration from Socrates
The move is done for you and checked by you before go-live: import scope, representative records, permissions and rollback are agreed with the practice first. The steps, the Socrates export and the clean switch are set out in switching from Socrates and switching from iMedDoc.
Side by side
What each one is, in their words and ours.
Every Socrates fact names the page it came from and the day it was read.
| Capability | Ask Brigid | Socrates |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing socrates.ie shows no price for Socrates GP or Socrates Consultant; both product pages offer a demo request instead. Source: socrates.ie, checked 23 Sep 2026. | €129/month or €299/month + VAT per practice, every seat included, published | No published price; demo request |
| Practice management and the electronic record Ask Brigid: several consultants in one calendar, every seat included, and one record per patient. Forms go by email, by link or in the patient’s app. Your team works the waiting list, and no patient gets an offer it has not approved. Socrates sells Socrates GP and Socrates Consultant, a clinic management system it says supports consultants in over 30 hospitals nationwide. Source: socrates.ie, checked 23 Sep 2026. | Included | Included |
| Online booking For Socrates GP practices, Pippo, the GP patient app Socrates made free for all users in July 2025, books GP appointments; Swiftqueue online booking is billed at €49.99+VAT per HCP/month full-time (€30+VAT part-time). Sources: socrates.ie, pippo.ie, swiftqueue.com, checked 23 Sep 2026. | Included | GP practices: Pippo (free) or Swiftqueue (paid add-on) |
| Where the records are hosted Socrates Cloud, announced 7 Jul 2025, is the same Socrates system hosted on Microsoft Azure instead of on a server in the practice; the announcement does not name a region. Source: socrates.ie, checked 23 Sep 2026. | AWS Dublin (eu-west-1) | Socrates Cloud: Microsoft Azure |
| Dictation Recording and transcript on both plans, in the record itself. On Professional, dictation works in every field of the practice system, not only in a note. Lanas, Socrates’s parent, sells DictateIT speech recognition as its own product. Sources: lanas.com, dictateit.com, checked 23 Sep 2026. | Included | AI Scribe (below); Lanas also sells DictateIT |
| Patient card payments Ask Brigid: billing starts from the consultation itself, so there is no second system to key it into, and the patient pays by card through a link. The card fee is published on the pricing page, all in. Socrates documents Billink payment links sent to the patient by text, and an integrated Bank of Ireland (BOIPA) card terminal. Source: socrates.ie Billink FAQs and BOIPA guide, checked 23 Sep 2026. | Included | Billink pay-by-text links and a Bank of Ireland card terminal |
How a move works
Three steps, and you can check each one.
- Open the sample practiceThe real app on invented patients: open a chart, dictate a line, prepare an invoice. No sign-up.
- Request early accessTwo questions; we reply by email. Founding practices get the published founding price.
- The ChangeoverYour records moved and checked by you before go-live. Export terms are published: five working days, no fee.
Switching from Socrates, the common questions
Answered from Socrates's own pages and ours.
What is Ask Brigid, next to Socrates?
Ask Brigid is practice management software built in Dublin for Irish private consultants comparing Socrates, with the diary, the record, invoices and dictation in one place, and a clean switch after the practice checks the move. Essential is €129/month and Professional is €299/month, per practice, before VAT, with every seat included. A third plan is coming soon. Insurer claim submission and a Healthmail connection are not in the launch release.
Is Socrates only for GPs?
No. Alongside Socrates GP, Socrates sells Socrates Consultant, a clinic management system for private consulting suites, designed for consultants and clinic secretaries, which it says supports consultants in over 30 hospitals nationwide (socrates.ie, checked 23 Sep 2026).
Does Socrates publish its price?
Not on its product pages: socrates.ie shows no price for Socrates GP or Socrates Consultant, and both pages offer a demo request instead (checked 23 Sep 2026). Ask Brigid publishes two flat prices on this page: €129/month (Essential) and €299/month (Professional), plus VAT, per practice.
Is online booking included, or an add-on?
In Ask Brigid, booking in the MyBrigid patient app and the waiting list are included from Essential, and online booking on the practice’s own page is on Professional. For Socrates GP practices, the Pippo patient app books GP appointments and has been free since July 2025, while Swiftqueue online booking is a paid add-on at €49.99+VAT per HCP/month full-time or €30+VAT part-time (socrates.ie, swiftqueue.com, checked 23 Sep 2026).
How do I move my patient records from Socrates to Ask Brigid?
Record migration is included on every plan. Import scope and mappings are agreed with the practice. Representative patient, clinical and billing records, permissions and rollback are tested before the practice accepts production cutover.
Compare
Compare Ask Brigid with other Irish practice systems
Ask Brigid. Stay a doctor.
Open the sample practice and run a clinic day on invented patients: the chart, a dictated line, an invoice. Nothing is sent, booked or filed until you say so.
Ready to talk? Request early access or write to david@askbrigid.com.
Facts about Socrates on this page were checked on 23 September 2026 against the sources named beside them. Features and pricing change, so check the vendor’s own site before you decide. Socrates is a trademark of its respective owner.