Hinge Health vs Sword (2026)
Both sell a digital musculoskeletal program to employers and health plans, with an app, a care team and AI in the exercise sessions. Hinge Health's AI centers on TrueMotion, its own computer vision, built on its 2021 acquisition of wrnch. TrueMotion tracks more than 100 reference points from a phone or tablet camera, gives feedback on form, and feeds HingeScore, a progress measure that also uses questionnaire answers. Robin is a virtual care assistant for members, and Enso, an FDA cleared nerve stimulation device for pain relief, is offered through the program. Sword sells Phoenix, an AI care specialist that guides exercise from motion sensors and the device camera and supports members between sessions. A licensed clinician oversees each care plan, and the member privacy notice says Phoenix makes no autonomous clinical decisions. Programs cover musculoskeletal care, pelvic health, cardiometabolic care and behavioral health. Sword sells on outcome based pricing with contractual ROI guarantees. Choose Hinge Health for an in house motion model and programs from pelvic health to fall prevention; choose Sword for written limits on camera images and model training, and fees tied to outcomes.
- You want the motion model built in house, on technology Hinge Health acquired in 2021.
- Your population needs programs for migraine or balance and fall prevention as well as joint pain.
- You want a nerve stimulation device for pain offered inside the same program.
- You want it in writing that raw camera images are not stored.
- Identifiable member data should stay out of large language model training.
- Part of the fee should depend on measured results.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Hinge Health and Sword 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 | Hinge Health | Sword |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Remote Monitoring & Chronic Care | Remote Monitoring & Chronic Care |
| Founded | 2014 | 2015 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States | New York, New York |
| Website | hingehealth.com | sword.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph states what the AI Health Index verified about the vendor, with the caveats attached.
The AI Health Index grades Hinge Health A on Deployment Model and Data Residency, and B on AI Centrality, Autonomy and Oversight Model, Model and Technology Transparency, Clinical and Operational Evidence and Setting and Specialty Coverage. It grades C on AI Safety and PHI Stewardship, HIPAA and BAA Posture, Security Certifications and Trust Center, FDA and Regulatory Status, AI Governance and Bias Disclosure, EHR and Interoperability Depth, Commercial Transparency and Model Supply Chain Disclosure, and D on AI Liability and Recourse. The distinctive asset the AI Health Index records is objective measurement: motion assessment from an ordinary smartphone camera feeding joint angles, symmetry and endurance into a composite score, in a field where established musculoskeletal outcome measures rely on patient self report. The grade to read alongside it is governance: pose estimation models as a class carry documented accuracy variation across skin tone and body size, and the AI Health Index has not located published subgroup accuracy from this vendor.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
The AI Health Index grades Sword Health A on Autonomy and Oversight Model and A on Security Certifications and Trust Center, and B on AI Centrality, Clinical and Operational Evidence and Setting and Specialty Coverage. It grades C on FDA and Regulatory Status, HIPAA and BAA Posture, AI Safety and PHI Stewardship, Model and Technology Transparency, AI Governance and Bias Disclosure, Deployment Model and Data Residency, EHR and Interoperability Depth, Commercial Transparency and AI Liability and Recourse, and D on Model Supply Chain Disclosure, the lowest grade either company carries. The A on autonomy and oversight is the one that separates the pair: a licensed clinician stays in the loop for every member rather than the AI operating unattended, which is the specific structure the AI Health Index grades at the top of that axis. The supply chain grade is the counterweight, since the model providers and subprocessors behind the AI care specialist are not disclosed where a buyer can retrieve them.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
Hinge Health vs Sword Health: which is better for a self insured employer?
Both sell to the same buyer and both pair AI with licensed clinical teams, so the AI Health Index frames the choice around which failure mode the buyer is trying to avoid rather than around which vendor is stronger overall.
If the failure mode is trusting self reported outcomes, Hinge Health is the starting point: its motion assessment produces objective measurement from an ordinary smartphone camera in a field where the established outcome measures rely on patient self report. If the failure mode is AI care operating without a named clinician attached to every member, Sword Health is the starting point, and the AI Health Index grades it A on Autonomy and Oversight Model for exactly that structure against Hinge Health at B.
One caution the AI Health Index attaches to both: every outcome and scale figure either company publishes in this lane is vendor published and has not been independently validated by this index.
Do Hinge Health or Sword Health publish pricing?
Neither publishes rates. Both price by contact, and the AI Health Index grades both C on Commercial Transparency, meaning a self insured employer or health plan cannot establish a cost basis before a sales engagement with either company.
Savings figures do circulate in this lane, including per member annual musculoskeletal savings claims, but the AI Health Index records those as vendor published claims rather than as pricing, because a claimed return is not a rate and cannot be used to build a budget.
Is Hinge Health or Sword Health FDA cleared?
Neither company holds clearance for the AI itself, and the distinction matters more here than the headline suggests. The AI Health Index grades Hinge Health C and Sword Health C on FDA and Regulatory Status. Hinge Health holds a clearance covering a wearable hardware adjunct for pain relief, which is a device clearance rather than a clearance of the motion assessment or the care model.
A buyer reading a clearance claim in digital musculoskeletal care should establish which component it covers, because in this lane it is usually hardware rather than the software doing the assessment.
Do these digital musculoskeletal platforms publish subgroup accuracy?
Neither does, and the AI Health Index grades both C on AI Governance and Bias Disclosure for that reason. This is the disclosure gap that matters most in this specific category. Pose estimation models as a class carry documented accuracy variation across skin tone and body size, so a motion assessment that performs differently across a covered population would produce different care recommendations for different members without anyone in the workflow being told. The AI Health Index has not located published subgroup accuracy from either vendor, and recommends asking for it directly, along with the composition of the population the models were validated on.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers.
Both records were reviewed on this site in September 2026. Neither publishes a price. Hinge Health's privacy policy and its Notice of Privacy Practices both say member information trains its AI. Hinge Health does not say whether exercise video is kept. Enso's FDA clearance covers the stimulation device, not TrueMotion, HingeScore or Robin. Hinge Health states no regulatory position for the AI. Sword shows a CE mark beside its security marks, and names no US clearance or listing on the pages read. Hinge Health's outcome studies evaluate the whole program, so they do not show how accurately the camera measures. Its claim that TrueMotion "eliminates doubt that the exercises are working" has no accuracy study behind it. Sword's savings figure of $3,177 per member a year and its 3:1 return publish no method or comparison group. Neither publishes motion tracking accuracy by body size or skin tone. Neither publishes when its member assistant hands a member to a clinician. This page covers Sword's programs for employers and plans, not its consumer app.
Ask Hinge Health whether exercise video is kept and how HingeScore is built, and ask Sword for the measure and baseline behind its ROI guarantee.