Best AI Note-Taking Tools for Doctors 2026 | Heidi AI
Best AI Note-Taking Tools for Doctors 2026
Lorraine Quintana
SEO Content Writer•February 24, 2026•11 min read
Fact checked by Dr. Maxwell Beresford
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What are AI Note-Taking Tools?
AI note-taking tools support clinicians during patient visits by generating draft documentation as conversations unfold. They identify clinically relevant details and present them in ready-to-review notes, helping teams reduce administrative strain and maintain continuity of care.
Unlike traditional medical transcription software, AI note-taking tools do more than convert speech to text. They distinguish between speakers within the encounter, understand medical terminology in context, and structure notes into established formats like SOAP or H&P.
Many also assist in generating related documents that support more complete and consistent clinical records. In this article, let’s explore how these tools work in practice and what differentiates the leading platforms available to doctors today.
How Do AI Note-Taking Tools Improve Clinical Practice?
AI note-taking tools are not simply about working faster. When implemented well, they shift documentation from being a burden on care to being a quiet support behind it.
Here are some areas in clinical practice that benefit from these solutions:
Reducing After-Hours Documentation
Clinical documentation accounts for a significant portion of the clinical day. Physicians often spend nearly as much time documenting as they do seeing patients.
High-performing AI note-taking systems address this at the workflow level. Rather than adding another tool, they reduce documentation load by moving core tasks into the consultation itself and automating repeatable steps within the record.
Strengthening Clinical Accuracy and Continuity
Clear, structured documentation strengthens communication at every transition point in care. When referrals are sent, patients are handed over, or multidisciplinary teams review a case, the quality and clarity of the note impact safety and care continuity.
AI note-taking platforms support this by bringing consistency to how information is captured and organized. This improves readability and reduces ambiguity.
At a practical level, this translates into systems that:
Embed consistent note formatting across providers and departments, so every note follows a predictable logic
Prompt for and organize key elements of the history, examination, assessment, and plan, reducing the risk of incomplete documentation
Documentation affects more than efficiency. It directly shapes what happens inside the consultation. When a clinician’s attention is pulled toward the screen, patients notice. Presence builds trust, deepens understanding, and ultimately defines the quality of care.
AI note-taking tools help preserve that presence by managing documentation quietly in the background, allowing clinicians to maintain eye contact, keep conversations flowing naturally, and capture sensitive observations without breaking rapport.
Best AI Note-Taking Tools for Doctors
AI note-taking tools are essential as documentation demands grow across healthcare. The best platforms do more than transcribe.
Let’s take a deeper look at the leading AI note-taking tools for doctors in 2026.
Heidi
Heidi is a clinician-centered AI Care Partner built to scale with modern practice. It can be used independently or integrated with existing systems, allowing teams to adopt it without complex infrastructure changes.
Using advanced contextualization, Heidi distinguishes between speakers even in noisy environments and adapts to specialty workflows across more than 200 disciplines. Today, it supports over 2.4 million consultations each week in 110 languages.
Pros
Advanced clinical communication where you can generate referral letters and customizable documents from a single encounter.
Surfaces potential billable codes for clinician review and approval.
Heidi generates organized, review-ready, structured notes during the consultation.
Supports patient communication across voice, text, and chat, helping teams manage inbound calls and messages without increasing front-desk workload.
Provides fast, citation-backed answers within workflow, surfacing trusted, region-aware clinical sources without ads or paywalls.
Cons
Documentation cannot be set and forgotten. Every note requires a final clinician review. Since Heidi prioritizes safety, it functions as a high-quality draft engine rather than an auto-sign system to preserve clinician oversight.
Not a diagnostic tool.
Pricing
Free ($0/month) - Get started with the essentials while keeping your focus on patient care. Includes unlimited AI-powered documentation, unrestricted access to clinical evidence with citations, and enterprise-grade global healthcare security.
Evidence Plus ($30 USD/user/month, 14-day free trial) Access clinical insights backed by the trusted sources you rely on. Includes everything in Free, plus premium journals and evidence databases, along with your own personal evidence library.
Clinician ($110 USD/user/month, 14-day free trial) - This package includes everything in Evidence Plus, advanced templates and customization, real-time evidence suggestions during patient visits, and answers tailored to the patient’s context.
What Your Peers Say About Heidi
“Heidi has incredible "ambient listening" that can take an entire examination and summarize it into any template you create (or pre-made templates) with the level of specificity you select, just by listening to the patient encounter.”
“This is one of the very few bits of kit that have made me a better doctor, listener, and quicker at the same time. It's become as useful as my clinical system.”
“Total game changer. Most helpful intervention in my 25 year medical career. Note quality is outstanding”
PatientNotes
PatientNotes is positioned as an ambient clinical assistant with a low-friction entry into AI documentation. It follows a “capture and convert” model, automatically turning consultation audio into a structured summary without requiring typing during the visit.
Pros
Quick Onboarding. Clinicians can set up and start using the platform within minutes.
Well-suited for allied health. Commonly used by physical therapists for straightforward documentation needs.
Cons
Limited workflow depth. Relies heavily on copy-and-paste rather than structured workflow automation.
Requires manual editing for complex assessments and diagnostic nuance.
Pricing
Essential - US$19 / AU$29 per month. Ideal for early-career or low-volume clinicians. Includes core AI documentation features, customized note styles, patient summaries, and basic integrations.
Professional - US$49 / AU$79 per month. Designed for high-volume solo practitioners. Offers unlimited templates, priority support, and compliance with HIPAA and Australian Privacy Principles.
Clinic / Team - From US$199 per month. Built for practices with five or more clinicians. Includes centralized billing, team onboarding, and shared organizational prompt libraries.
User Reviews
“I’ve tried a few different AI scribe products out there, and Patient Notes was clearly better”
“I encountered a few incidents where my notes were not uploading despite being on WiFi. Data Support is limited.”
NoteMD
NoteMD is an AI-powered documentation app built for individual clinicians who want a simple, mobile-friendly note generation tool.
Pros
Intuitive interface. Designed to minimize technical friction and support quick adoption.
Mobile optimized. Well-suited for rounding and on-the-go documentation.
Cons
Technical stability: Some users report system freezing during periods of heavy use.
Narrow scope. NoteMD is primarily focused on note generation rather than broader workflow automation.
Pricing
Free Trial – $0: Limited to 10 patient visits for evaluating transcription accuracy and template fit before subscribing.
Paid Subscription – $99 per month: For individual clinicians; includes unlimited note generation, SOAP automation, multi-language support, and basic EHR import.
Enterprise / API – Custom Pricing: Designed for organizations and developers; supports high-volume API access and custom EHR integration builds.
User Reviews
Users report that NoteMD performs reliably overall, though it can occasionally miss a sentence or a brief portion of a conversation.
AutoNotes
AutoNotes AI is positioned as an AI-first EHR and documentation platform, with particular traction in behavioral health practices. This app allows clinicians to draft progress notes, treatment plans, and session documentation within a single system.
Pros
Comes with built-in treatment plans and automatically generates them within the platform.
Behavioral health templates thatsupport different formats such as SOAP, DAP, BIRP, and PIE.
Cons
An EHR-style interface with higher complexity, as it can require a steeper learning curve.
Limited flexibility and is only best suited for practicesthat fully adopt its internal ecosystem.
Pricing
Starting at $99 per user per month. Entry-level pricing for individual users, with higher tiers depending on scale and features.
User Reviews
“The notes seem like professionally written.” - User Review
“Slow integration with other tools does take a bit to learn how to use properly.” -Physical Therapist
Tortus
Tortus is a London-based AI scribe platform that has been piloted within NHS hospital settings. It’s designed for secondary care environments and focuses on rapid draft generation during high-acuity encounters.
Pros
Rapid Draft Generation. Produces structured notes in under 30 seconds in many cases.
NHS Validation. Proven deployment within UK hospital and A and E settings.
Cons
Regional limitation. Primarily tailored to the UK and European healthcare systems.
Setup Requirements require high-quality hardware and robust clinical networking; poor microphones or weak Wi-Fi can degrade transcription accuracy.
Premium pricing, especially at the enterprise level. Pilot programs may include a three-month lock-in, limiting flexibility during evaluation.
Pricing
Small Teams - £44 per month/license
Mid Market - £15,000 flat fee. Limited 3-month pilot (Up to 100 licenses).
Enterprise - £200,000 / year. NHS Trust-wide and includes up to 100,000 audio hours.
User Reviews
Public user reviews are not currently available across major review platforms at the time of writing.
From consultation to referral letter to coding, one conversation becomes structured documentation with AI note-taking tools that improve with innovation. Heidi adapts and scales as practices grow. It is designed for the way clinicians actually work: across specialties, across settings, and across the full patient journey.
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Heidi helps you write smarter notes that match the realities of clinical work. Here’s why Heidi is the best AI note-taking solution for clinicians who want precision, flexibility, and a workflow that truly fits:
Contextual Speaker Distinction - Heidi accurately separates speakers using clinical context to produce reliable, structured notes.
Templates Built Around Your Workflow - Heidi organizes documentation into structured, customizable templates tailored to your specialty.
Clinician-Led Safeguards - With Heidi, clinicians can review and approve all notes and codes, ensuring AI supports, not replaces, clinical judgement.
“I used to say the bane of my clinical existence was charting and documenting. Now, I just talk to my patients. Heidi handles the rest.”- Dr. Tommy Gerschman, Pediatric Rheumatologist, North Vancouver, BC
AI transcription converts speech to text. AI contextualization interprets meaning.
In clinical settings, Heidi uses contextualization to distinguish speakers, understand medical terminology, and structure notes into clinical formats. It does not rely solely on basic voice recognition.
