A free AI scribe sounds like the obvious way to try ambient documentation without a budget meeting. Several are genuinely free, some with no note limit at all. But “free” can mean very different things, and the differences matter more for a medical practice than for most software: the tool will hear your patients.
This guide explains what the free tiers available to US clinicians actually include, based on each vendor’s own terms and pricing pages as of November 13, 2026, and gives you the five questions to answer before you record a single patient. We sell an AI scribe ourselves, and it is not free, so we have no free tier to promote here.
The five questions to ask about any free scribe
- Is a business associate agreement (BAA) in place on the free tier, and how? A scribe that receives patient audio or notes is a business associate under HIPAA, and HHS guidance says it needs a BAA, even if it encrypts the data. Some vendors include the BAA automatically in their terms when you sign up; some only offer it on paid plans; some don’t mention it.
- Is your data used to train AI models? Read the terms, not the marketing page. Several free tiers allow the vendor to use de-identified data from your notes to train or improve its models. That can be lawful, but you should know it, and you may want to tell patients.
- What happens to the audio? Is the recording deleted once the note is drafted, kept for a set number of days, or kept until you delete it? Who sets the default?
- How does the note get into your chart? Most free tiers end with copy and paste. That means a second login, a second place your patients’ information lives, and a note written without reading the chart’s medications, allergies or problem list.
- What happens when free ends? Is it a permanent free plan or a 7-day trial? Are you charged automatically? What does the next tier cost?
What the free tiers include (November 2026)
Everything below comes from each vendor’s own terms, privacy pages, help articles or pricing pages, read on November 13, 2026. Terms change often, so treat this as a starting point and check the current version before you sign up.
| Tool | What “free” is | BAA on the free tier | Training on your data | Into the chart | Next paid tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heidi | Permanent free plan, notes not capped; extra features limited | Yes: accepting the terms includes the BAA | On the free plan, de-identified information from your content may be used to train models; paid individual plans are excluded | Copy and paste | Price not shown on the pricing page |
| Doximity Scribe | Free for verified US physicians, NPs, PAs and medical students | Yes, accepted when you register | The terms give Doximity a broad license to use content submitted to its AI tools to train models; whether this extends to patient information is not clear from the public text | Copy and paste | No paid tier |
| OpenEvidence Visits | Free for verified US clinicians | Yes, built into the terms | Terms say protected health information is not used for AI training | Copy and paste (EHR connections for institutions) | No individual paid tier |
| Chartnote | Permanent free plan, 15 notes a month | Yes: the vendor says free and trial accounts are covered from first use | Vendor says data is never used to train models | Browser extension into web-based EHRs | $39.99 a month |
| Scribeberry | 3 days unlimited, then 20 uses a month | Yes, agreed on login | Vendor says no user data is used for training | Push to some web EMRs | $99 a month (currency not stated) |
| Freed | 7-day trial, no card | Yes; a signed copy can be requested during the trial | Uses de-identified data; the help center and terms describe opt-out differently | EHR push included in the trial | From $39 a month |
| Twofold | 7-day trial | Yes, accepted at signup, covers trials | Not used for training; anonymized data used to improve the service | Copy and paste | $69 a month, or $49 billed annually |
| Nabla | 30-day trial | Built into the terms; trials not mentioned specifically | De-identified data used to train its internal model | Not stated | $119 a month |
DeepScribe, Microsoft Dragon Copilot, Abridge and Commure Ambient offer demos or enterprise contracts rather than a free tier for an individual clinician.
What the table tells you
- “Free” often means you pay with data. It is common for a free plan to allow training on de-identified information while paid plans do not. That is a fair trade for some practices and not for others. Decide on purpose, not by default.
- The contract beats the blog. On several vendors’ sites, a marketing page and the terms of service describe audio retention or training differently. When they disagree, the terms and the BAA are what bind the vendor. Read those, and ask for the answer in writing.
- Almost every free tier ends in copy and paste. The scribe hears the room, but it has not read the chart. It does not know the patient’s medication list, allergies or last A1c unless someone says them out loud, and someone has to move the note into the EHR after every visit.
- Check where data is stored. Most of these tools store data in the US; at least one stores it in Canada. That isn’t forbidden under HIPAA, but your BAA and your own risk analysis should cover it.
Before you record a patient: consent
HIPAA itself doesn’t require patient consent to record a visit, but state wiretap laws can. A number of states require every party to a conversation to agree before it is recorded. A 2024 law-firm summary lists California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, with differences in how each applies the rule. Check your own state’s law or ask counsel.
This is not theoretical. Since late 2025, class actions have been filed in California against health systems, alleging that ambient AI tools recorded visits without all-party consent. These are allegations, not rulings, but they show why a plain consent step matters. Our guide to AI scribe patient consent has wording for the front desk and for the chart.
A checklist to keep next to the sign-up page
- ☐ BAA in place before the first real patient, and I have a copy
- ☐ I know whether my data trains the vendor’s models, and I’m comfortable with the answer
- ☐ I know how long audio and notes are kept, and I’ve set deletion to what I want
- ☐ I know where the data is stored
- ☐ Patient consent wording ready, matching my state’s recording law
- ☐ My Notice of Privacy Practices mentions the tool if counsel advises it
- ☐ I review and edit every draft before it goes into the chart
- ☐ I know what happens when the free tier or trial ends
- ☐ I’ve added the tool to my HIPAA risk analysis
For the full vendor-vetting list, see 10 privacy questions to settle before you sign.
Where MedTec fits
MedTec doesn’t have a free AI scribe. Our AI Scribe is a paid add-on that works inside the MedTec EHR, so the draft note is written in the chart with the patient’s record in front of it, rather than pasted in afterwards. Our three-month free trial covers the Clinical Pro EHR plan only; add-ons, including the AI Scribe, are paid during the trial too. Prices are on our AI Scribe add-on page.
If a free scribe does what you need, use it, with the checks above. If the copy and paste is what you want to get rid of, that is the problem we built for.
Frequently asked questions
Are there any free AI medical scribes?
Yes. As of November 2026, Heidi, Doximity Scribe and OpenEvidence Visits offer free access to US clinicians with no published note limit, and Chartnote and Scribeberry have free plans with monthly limits. Others offer 7- to 30-day trials.
Is a free AI scribe HIPAA compliant?
No software is “HIPAA compliant” on its own. What matters is whether the vendor signs a BAA with you on the plan you use, how it protects and keeps the data, and whether your own practice covers the tool in its risk analysis.
Do free AI scribes use my patients’ data to train AI?
Some do, usually in de-identified form, and some say they don’t. It is in the terms of service: read the section on de-identified data and model training.
Can a free AI scribe write into my EHR?
Most free tiers can’t; the note is copied and pasted. A few offer a browser extension or push to web-based EHRs.
Sources (read November 13, 2026)
- Heidi Scribe terms of use (September 29, 2026)
- Doximity terms of service (effective July 20, 2026) and Doximity BAA
- OpenEvidence terms of use (September 17, 2026)
- Chartnote blog posts on BAA coverage and data use (October to November 2026)
- Scribeberry pricing and privacy pages; Freed help center and terms (August 13, 2026); Twofold security page and terms; Nabla terms (June 22, 2026)
- HHS: Guidance on HIPAA and cloud computing
- Fisher Phillips: New class action targets healthcare AI recordings (December 2025)
This article is general information based on each vendor’s public pages on November 13, 2026, not legal advice. Vendor terms change; confirm the current terms, BAA and pricing with the vendor, and check recording-consent rules for your state with your own counsel. An AI scribe drafts the note; the clinician reviews and signs it.
Want to see what a scribe inside the chart looks like? Book a Free Demo: a free 30-minute demo on your own workflows, no sales script.