Freed vs OrbDoc (2026)
Two products aimed at the clinician who will buy software with a credit card and no security review, which makes published disclosure the entire protection. Freed publishes tiers, includes an agreement on every one of them, names its hosting and residency and pushes the note into any browser based record system. OrbDoc is iOS first and does two things nobody else at this size does: it names the speech model supplier processing the audio, and its audit trail records which models were used on a given note. Those are real disclosures. The problem is that OrbDoc's own pages contradict each other on integrations and on data handling, and its security claim describes compliant hosting rather than a certification it holds. Confirm the specifics in writing, or take the product that publishes them consistently.
- Pricing is published in full with a genuine no credit card trial, and a business associate agreement applies on every tier, so the cheapest plan is a viable production configuration.
- United States data residency is stated with the hosting provider named, alongside independent audits and federal cryptographic standards.
- The browser push reaches any web based record system, which for a small practice is the difference between a note in the chart and a note on the clipboard.
- It names its speech model supplier explicitly, which is the most specific supply chain disclosure in this tier and lets a buyer reason about who processes the audio.
- The audit trail records which models were used on a given note, which is a mechanism rather than a policy and is rare at this size.
- Coverage is unusually wide for a small product, spanning emergency, inpatient and outpatient settings and more than one region.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Freed and OrbDoc are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Freed | OrbDoc |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Ambient Scribes | Ambient Scribes |
| Founded | 2022 | 2023 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California | Not recorded |
| Website | getfreed.ai | orbdoc.com |
Side by Side
Each record in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph states what the AI Health Index verified about the vendor, with the caveats attached. Generated from this pair’s live capability grades, so it moves when a grade moves.
The AI Health Index awards Freed its top capability grade on several axes, including AI Centrality, HIPAA and BAA Posture and Security Certifications and Trust Center. Set against OrbDoc, Freed grades higher on several axes, including HIPAA and BAA Posture, Security Certifications and Trust Center and FDA and Regulatory Status. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, August 2026
The AI Health Index awards OrbDoc its top capability grade on AI Centrality, Model Supply Chain Disclosure and Setting and Specialty Coverage. Set against Freed, OrbDoc grades higher on Model and Technology Transparency, Model Supply Chain Disclosure and Setting and Specialty Coverage. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, August 2026
Questions buyers ask
Should we choose Freed or OrbDoc?
On the axes where the AI Health Index separates them, Freed grades higher on several axes, including HIPAA and BAA Posture, Security Certifications and Trust Center and FDA and Regulatory Status, and OrbDoc grades higher on Model and Technology Transparency, Model Supply Chain Disclosure and Setting and Specialty Coverage. Freed leads on the greater share of scored axes, but the split means the decision turns on which constraint is binding rather than on an overall winner.
Where do Freed and OrbDoc differ most?
The widest separation the AI Health Index records between Freed and OrbDoc is on Security Certifications and Trust Center, where Freed grades A and OrbDoc grades C. That axis sits in the Regulatory and Compliance group, so it should carry the most weight for a buyer whose binding constraint is where regulatory exposure sits and who carries it.
Where do Freed and OrbDoc grade the same?
The AI Health Index grades Freed and OrbDoc the same on several axes, including AI Centrality, Autonomy and Oversight Model and Clinical and Operational Evidence. Neither holds an advantage the index can evidence on those axes, so they should not carry weight in a selection between these two.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Ambient Scribes page.
OrbDoc's own sources disagree with each other on integration and on data handling, with landing pages describing named integrations that the rest of the site does not support, so get the specifics confirmed in writing rather than relying on the marketing surface. Its security claim also conflates hosting on compliant infrastructure with holding a certification, which are different things. Freed states its models train on de identified customer notes, which is not the same as not training on customer data. Neither publishes an accuracy figure or a subgroup analysis.