As a primary care nurse practitioner (and Nurse Practitioner Charting Coach) with five years of clinical experience, I know firsthand how exhausting charting can be.

I’ve been through it: mom guilt, poor work-life balance, and the mental load that never seems to turn off. That’s why I care so much about finding systems that actually lighten the load for clinicians.

One of the most helpful tools I’ve found is an AI medical scribe. When it works well, it can take a huge amount of documentation off your plate so you can focus on patient care.

To find the best fit for my own workflow, I tested Freed and Heidi AI across real primary care encounters. This review reflects my personal experience, how each tool performed, and what ultimately made me choose the one I now use daily.

The setup: How I tested Freed and Heidi

To fairly compare Freed and Heidi, I used both tools in my primary care practice across various visit types:

• Routine wellness exams
• Acute/sick visits
• Chronic disease follow-ups
• Sports physicals 

I tested each AI medical scribe over multiple clinic days (primary care setting) and focused on the following criteria:

• Accuracy – Does it capture medical information correctly?
• Speed – How fast are the notes generated?
• Note Quality – Are the notes usable as-is or do they need heavy editing?
• Ease of Use – Is the system easy to navigate? Does it integrate well with my EHR?
• Customization – Can I adjust templates to suit my style?
• Trust & Privacy – Is patient data handled securely?
• Cost of the AI medical scribe – Is it really worth it?

Overall comparison: Freed vs. Heidi AI

Below is an overview of what stood out to me during testing.

Freed

• Structured, easy-to-read SOAP notes
• Clear section headers
• Notes felt “clinic-ready” with minimal editing
• Layout felt polished and predictable

Heidi

• More free-form formatting
• Smaller text blocks and denser layout
• Felt more like reading a narrative or academic write-up
• May appeal to clinicians who prefer long-form notes

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My experience:
I personally preferred Freed’s structured layout because it felt calmer, cleaner, and easier to skim — which mattered on packed clinic days. I needed to edit less, and the notes consistently matched how I chart.

2. Ease of Use and workflow integration

Similar to the note quality, there are a few differences when it comes to ease of use of Heidi vs. Freed.

Freed

• Very clean, user-friendly interface
• Minimal clicking or decision-making
• Felt designed for clinicians with busy schedules

Heidi

• More detailed menus
• Features visible upfront
• Took me longer to learn where everything lived

My experience:
As someone prone to decision fatigue by mid-afternoon, simplicity matters. I found Freed allowed me to stay in “patient mode” rather than “tech mode,” which made charting feel lighter.

3. Speed and time savings

Both tools generated notes for me within 1–2 minutes after each visit.

Across multiple clinic days, I estimated I saved about 5 minutes per patient on documentation — simply by not typing or dictating. With 20 patients in a day, those minutes add up fast.

I still reviewed every note carefully before signing (as we all should). Both platforms made this step easier.

My experience:
Time savings were similar, but Freed’s formatting made my review process faster because it was easier to skim.

4. Customization and flexibility

This is where I noticed the biggest differences.

Freed

Freed offers robust customization that still feels simple:

• Template Library with specialty-specific options
  
• Ability to duplicate and edit templates
• Magic edit to make sweeping note changes using AI
• Learned templates, which apply your preferred formatting automatically
• Support for fixed text and custom subsections
• 40+ templates available across specialties

I especially liked that Magic edit could tighten my subjective, add an exam, or clean up formatting without me doing manual rewriting.

Heidi

Heidi also supports customization, but in a way that felt more open-ended:

• Blank template builder for full customization
• A template library with pre-made SOAP note structures
• Community templates, where clinicians can share their own
• “Ask Heidi” for AI-generated changes
• Some customization tools require the paid plan

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My experience:
Heidi’s customization tools are powerful, but I personally found them overwhelming. Freed gave me the structure I wanted without requiring me to build everything from scratch.

5. Trust and privacy

This is an important category for all of us.

My experience:
Both companies present themselves as privacy-focused, and I felt comfortable using both tools during testing.

Freed also made me feel more connected to the team behind the product. I’ve been invited to provide feedback, and I’ve seen several of my suggestions implemented. Their community and responsiveness made a big difference in building trust.

Note: I cannot assess or make claims about Heidi’s compliance. I can only share my experience and what each company states publicly.

6. Cost and value

This is one of the biggest questions clinicians have.

Freed

Pricing depends on whether you’re an individual or part of a small practice.
Freed's pricing model is:

• $90/month for individual clinicians
• $84/clinician/month billed annually for small groups (2–10 clinicians)
• Custom pricing for 10+ clinician groups

Heidi

• Offers a free plan with limited monthly actions
• $90/month for the paid plan (at the time I tested it)
• $120/clinician /month billed annually for practices
  

For Heidi, some features (custom templates, Ask Heidi) are limited on the free version. Freed includes unlimited notes, Magic edit, full template access, and all customization tools. The 7-day free trial was enough for me to test it thoroughly.

My experience:
For my workflow, Freed’s combination of ease, organization, and customization made it feel like the better value.

Why I continued using Freed

After testing both tools, I ultimately chose Freed — and I’ve now used it consistently for over 1.5 years.

Here’s why it clicked for me:

• Live in minutes with no setup stress
• Clean, structured notes that matched my charting style
• Custom templates without complexity
• Helpful, responsive support from real humans
• Consistent time savings that helped me actually leave on time

I still recommend clinicians try both tools and see what fits their style. But for my pace, preferences, and cognitive load, Freed made charting feel lighter — and that mattered more than anything.

Ready to try it yourself?

If you’re drowning in documentation or dreaming of getting your evenings back, an AI medical scribe can genuinely help.

🔗 Try Freed free for 7 days — no credit card needed.

You deserve a charting process that fits into your life, not one that takes over your life.‍

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Erica is a registered nurse practitioner and content partner of Freed. However, this review reflects her own independent opinions and experiences.