What is OpenEMR used for?

OpenEMR is an open-source electronic health records and medical practice management application with scheduling, billing and FHIR support, for clinics and healthcare practices. It is a good fit for small clinics managing patient records, practices replacing proprietary EHR software and integrating health data through FHIR.

Is OpenEMR open source?

Yes. OpenEMR is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at openemr/openemr and is written mainly in PHP.

Yes. OpenEMR is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host OpenEMR?

Yes. OpenEMR can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is OpenEMR an alternative to?

OpenEMR is an open-source alternative to SimplePractice and Jane App.

Is OpenEMR actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to OpenEMR was on 2 October 2026. The project has 5.5k stars on GitHub.

OpenEMR: open-source alternative to SimplePractice, Jane App

About OpenEMR

OpenEMR is free, open-source software for managing electronic health records and the day-to-day running of a medical practice. It brings patient records, scheduling and electronic billing into one application, and it is used by medical providers and organizations looking for an alternative to proprietary systems.

Beyond the core record-keeping, OpenEMR supports internationalization for use in different countries, a documented REST API and FHIR interface for integrations, and a Docker setup for deployment. It runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and other platforms, is written in PHP, and has a community forum and professional support options.

The project is licensed under GPL-3.0, can be self-hosted, and welcomes contributions from developers, medical providers and educators. Security vulnerabilities are reported through a documented process, and building from the code repository requires a recent Node.js version.

Key features

Electronic health records
Medical practice management
Appointment scheduling
Electronic billing
REST and FHIR APIs
Internationalization for multiple countries
Docker-based deployment

Good fit for

→Small clinics managing patient records
→Practices replacing proprietary EHR software
→Integrating health data through FHIR

Built with: PHP
Tags: ehr; emr; healthcare; practice-management; fhir; php; medical-records; self-hosted

OpenEMR: questions and answers

What is OpenEMR used for?: OpenEMR is an open-source electronic health records and medical practice management application with scheduling, billing and FHIR support, for clinics and healthcare practices. It is a good fit for small clinics managing patient records, practices replacing proprietary EHR software and integrating health data through FHIR.
Is OpenEMR open source?: Yes. OpenEMR is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at openemr/openemr and is written mainly in PHP.
Is OpenEMR free?: Yes. OpenEMR is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host OpenEMR?: Yes. OpenEMR can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is OpenEMR an alternative to?: OpenEMR is an open-source alternative to SimplePractice and Jane App.
Is OpenEMR actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to OpenEMR was on 2 October 2026. The project has 5.5k stars on GitHub.