What to Ask Before Choosing an AI Scribe for Your Practice

The veterinary AI scribe market has gotten crowded fast, and most vendor demos are built around the same handful of curated, clean-audio examples. That tells you almost nothing about how a tool performs on a real Tuesday with a barking dog, a chatty owner, and a dropped word here and there. Here's what to actually ask before signing up.

"Can I test it on a real recording, not your demo audio?"

This is the single most useful test you can run. Record (or ask to bring) an actual consult from earlier that week - background noise, interruptions, and all - and see what comes out. If a vendor resists this or only wants to run their own curated samples, treat that as a signal.

"What happens to a dose I say fast or say only once?"

Numbers are where AI scribes fail most often. Say five drug doses at a natural clinical pace during your test recording and check every one against the output. A tool that's 95% accurate on prose but shaky on numbers is genuinely dangerous in a clinical record - always proofread doses regardless of which tool you use, but pick one where that proofreading is quick, not a full rewrite.

"How does pricing actually work at our size?"

Per-seat pricing looks similar across vendors until you multiply by your actual headcount. Ask specifically: is support staff included free, or do they need their own paid seat? Is there a usage cap (notes per month) on the plan you'd actually buy, or is it unlimited? Get the real monthly number for your practice's exact team size before comparing sticker prices.

"What does the free trial actually include?"

Some trials run on the full-featured plan; others quietly trial-test a stripped-down version and only unlock advanced AI models or custom templates after you pay. Ask directly whether the trial reflects the plan you're evaluating, or a lesser one.

"What happens to our data if we cancel?"

Your templates, your writing style calibration, and your historical notes represent real setup investment. Ask what's exportable, in what format, and whether historical notes remain accessible after cancellation - not just whether you "own your data" in the abstract.

"Does this replace or sit alongside our PIMS?"

Some tools are a standalone scribe that pushes notes into your existing PIMS; others are part of a broader practice-management push and want to become your system of record. Neither is wrong, but know which one you're buying before you build workflows around it.

We built a side-by-side comparison of VetStack against the other major veterinary AI scribes with real, verified pricing from each vendor's own site, if you want a starting point for these questions. Try VetStack free →