What Zocdoc charges for
Zocdoc's pricing and billing article sorts bookings into two kinds. A discovery booking, where Zocdoc or one of its partner sites helped a patient find one of your providers, carries a one-time fee for that patient and provider. A reputation booking, from a patient who was already looking for your practice, is free.
| Booking or charge | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Joining Zocdoc | Nothing: no upfront fee and no subscription. |
| A new patient books one of your providers on Zocdoc.com, the app or a partner site | A one-time discovery booking fee for that patient and provider, charged at booking. |
| An existing patient books through Zocdoc.com or the app | Free. |
| A patient books through the Booking Link on your website | Free, new patients included. |
| A patient books from your Google Business Profile | Free, new patients included. |
| A patient searches your provider by name on certain partner sites, or books through a partner that makes bookings free, such as an insurance directory | Free. |
| Sponsored Results | A sponsored fee on top of the booking fee, up to your bid. |
Practice Solutions is the one charge Zocdoc's own pages disagree on: the billing article lists a per-provider monthly service fee for it, while the provider pricing page calls those tools, online scheduling, intake reminders and video service, free to use. Ask Zocdoc which applies before switching one on.
Book from Google needs a verified Business Profile for a physical location, and Zocdoc supports no virtual locations there. Medical local SEO keeps each location's profile, practice page and booking link true to one another, which is what that free route runs on.
What the booking fee is
Zocdoc sets the fee by the provider's specialty and location, and its pricing pages list no amounts. Your provider account shows yours, and the monthly budget is set in units of it. In a practice with several specialties the fee follows the provider booked, and a provider with several specialties is billed at the highest-rate one. Zocdoc's terms forbid passing the fee on to patients.
No-shows and cancellations still cost the fee
The fee is charged when the patient books, whether or not they come, because, Zocdoc says, the price already reflects expected cancellations and no-shows. In some cases a patient who cancels within 24 hours of booking, before the appointment, is not charged. Invoices arrive at the start of each month for the previous 30 days of bookings, so a booking made on September 30 for an October 10 appointment is on the September bill.
A new patient is new to the provider, not the practice
Zocdoc judges who is new by the provider booked. A patient of your practice who books a colleague they have never seen can be billed as a discovery booking, and Zocdoc does not check your records: it goes by whether the patient selects new or existing when booking and whether they have booked that provider through Zocdoc before. When a patient who has seen the provider is billed as new, submit a claim from the Appointment Report within 7 days of receiving the booking, with the date of their last appointment; Zocdoc credits the fee when it confirms the relationship.
Capping what Zocdoc can charge
Zocdoc's spend controls offer three limits: a monthly budget for the whole practice, set in units of your booking fee; discovery bookings switched off for chosen providers or locations; and a pause for everyone. At the budget, discovery bookings stop for every provider until the next month, while existing patients, your Booking Link and your Business Profile keep booking free. Sponsored Results spend does not count toward the budget.
Turn discovery on for the providers and locations with open appointments, and keep the budget where each month's fees can be matched against completed appointments before it goes up.
What a completed appointment costs
The dashboard's average cost per booking spreads the spend over every booking, the free ones included, so it reads lower than what a paid booking costs. Divide the discovery booking fees you paid, after credits, by the completed appointments those bookings produced, and leave Sponsored Results and the free routes out of both numbers. If a quarter of paid bookings end in a no-show or a cancellation, each completed appointment costs a third more than the fee.
The channel pays for itself when what a completed appointment is worth to the practice, after its own costs, exceeds that cost per completed appointment by enough to cover the front-desk work.
A booking count proves little on its own: attendance can be weak, the booked services low in value, or the calendar would have filled through a free route anyway. Zocdoc's own guide to provider economics weighs the fee against the value of a patient who stays, which favors practices whose patients come back.
A patient who finds the practice's own website or Business Profile and books there costs no fee; bringing more of those patients is what a practice hires a medical SEO company for.
The smallest test that answers the question
To test Zocdoc for new patients, turn discovery on only where calendars have room, keep appointment outcomes current in Zocdoc through a read-write calendar integration or by marking cancellations and no-shows, and compare each month's discovery fees with completed appointments. To give patients who already look for you online booking, use the free Booking Link and Book from Google on their own.
Does Zocdoc charge providers a monthly fee?
Not for joining or listing: Zocdoc has no sign-up fee and no subscription, and a provider pays a one-time fee for each discovery booking, a new patient Zocdoc or a partner site brings to that provider. Two extras cost more: Sponsored Results add a fee up to your bid, and Zocdoc's billing article lists a per-provider monthly service fee for Practice Solutions, which its pricing page calls free.
Is Zocdoc free for providers?
Joining is free, and so are bookings from existing patients on Zocdoc.com or the app, from your website's Booking Link and from your Google Business Profile. Discovery bookings, new patients Zocdoc found for you, are paid, and so are Sponsored Results and, by Zocdoc's billing article, Practice Solutions.
How much does Zocdoc charge per new patient?
Zocdoc sets the fee by the provider's specialty and location and lists no amounts on its pricing pages; your provider account shows yours. In a practice with several specialties the fee follows the provider booked, and a provider with several specialties is billed at the highest-rate one.
Do providers pay Zocdoc for no-shows?
Yes. The fee is charged when the patient books, whether or not they come, and Zocdoc says its prices already account for no-shows and cancellations. In some cases a patient who cancels within 24 hours of booking, before the appointment, is not charged.
Can a practice pass the Zocdoc fee on to patients?
No. Zocdoc's User Agreement and Community Standards forbid it, and charging patients more for booking through Zocdoc is grounds for removal from the platform.
What if Zocdoc charged for an existing patient?
Submit a claim from the Appointment Report within 7 days of receiving the booking, with the patient's last appointment date. Zocdoc credits the fee if it confirms the patient had already seen that provider; a patient new to that provider can be billed even after seeing a colleague at your practice.
Is Zocdoc free for patients?
Yes. Booking through Zocdoc is free for patients; Zocdoc is paid by providers, per new patient, and the visit itself costs what it would anyway, insurance copays included.
Is there a catch with Zocdoc?
Three rules decide the bill. The fee is charged at booking, so no-shows cost it; a patient is new to each provider rather than to the practice, so a patient of yours who books a colleague can be billed; and the dashboard's average cost per booking counts the free bookings, so it reads lower than what the paid ones cost.