What is the catch with a free AI scribe?

Usually one of three: your notes do not last, your data pays for it, or the free tier is the hook for a paid one. A clinician in a pain medicine forum found a free option that deletes notes after twenty-one days. A nurse practitioner found they could use most of a paid product without paying, which tells you the free part is the marketing. And some clinicians simply assume someone is selling the data. Free means someone else is the customer.

Why would a company give a scribe away?

To win you, to learn from you, or to sell something else to you. Running a scribe costs money every minute it listens. If you are not paying, the cost is being recovered another way. That may be a perfectly reasonable way, but you should know which one.

What have clinicians found?

Short retention: notes that vanish after three weeks unless you move them. Upgrades: free tiers that do most of the job until the feature you need. Unknowns: clinicians who could not say where the audio went. One clinician said they were sure de-identified data would be sold. That is a suspicion, not a finding, and it is why the question should be asked in writing.

What should I check in a free tool?

How long notes and recordings are kept. Whether the company will sign a business associate agreement. Whether your data trains its models, and whether opting out is the default. And what happens to your notes when the free tier ends or changes.

When is free fine?

When your employer is paying for it and has done the checking. When you are trialling it with care. A free tool bought by a health system with a legal team is different from a free tool downloaded by a solo practice at nine at night.

The short version

Free scribes are paid for somehow: by short retention, by your data, or by an upgrade later. Ask which before you trust one with a patient. Solanto charges clinicians directly and publishes its price, so the clinician is the customer. It is for practices that want to know who they are paying.

The price is on the page, not behind a call. Early access is open: solanto.ai/pricing

Ask a colleague using a free scribe how long their notes are kept. Then send them this.