Epic vs athenahealth
Epic runs 1.9% of independent ambulatory practices. athenahealth runs 24.4%. The market-share figures you have read count hospitals; this one does not.
Where they stand in independent practice
Across the 37,310 providers whose EMR is identifiable in the federal registry, Epic accounts for 1.9% and athenahealth for 24.4%.
Where they meet, by specialty
Specialties in which at least one of the two is a registry top-three system. A dash means that vendor is not in the top three for that specialty — not that it is absent from the market.
Which one to shortlist
- You are joining, or merging into, a hospital or health system.
- Users rate it higher — 4.4/5 across 453 reviews, against 3.8/5.
- Your specialty is one of 3 that Epic serves and athenahealth does not, including Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Optometry.
- Your practice is smaller than Epic sells to. athenahealth lists 2–5 as its smallest tier, against 50+.
Get a real comparison for your practice
Everything above is what we can say about these two in general. What we cannot tell you from a page is what either costs at your provider count, in your specialty. Tell us and we will get you quotes from the vendors that actually fit — free, and we never charge practices.
Tell Us About Your Practice
Other comparisons
Share figures are EMR Match Research analysis of the CMS NPPES Direct-endpoint data, July 2026 dissemination (n=37,310 identified providers) — the same source as our open data page, so the two can never disagree. This measures the EMR identified by the Direct-messaging endpoint a practice registered with the federal NPPES registry. Vendors that sell mainly to small independent practices are systematically under-represented, because small practices are the least likely to have registered an endpoint at all. Read it as a floor, not as installed base. Ratings and prices are as published by the review source and the vendor; sourcing on our methodology page.