DeepScribe vs Nabla
Updated October 16, 2026
Specialty and ambulatory groups choosing an ambient scribe often narrow the field to DeepScribe and Nabla. Both listen to the visit and draft the note, yet DeepScribe has gone deep on oncology and other specialty lanes, while Nabla sells a broader assistant with dictation and coding help for mid-sized groups and health systems. The right pick depends on whether your clinicians practice in one demanding specialty or across many.
Our analysts compared DeepScribe and Nabla on note quality, specialty depth, EHR write-back, pricing clarity, and the internal ownership each rollout needs, using the HIR review of each company and each vendor's announcements. In the following sections, we compare the pair in one table, show which group each serves, and list what each company has released this year.
DeepScribe vs Nabla at a glance, October 2026
| What buyers weigh | DeepScribe | Nabla |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Custom contracts, often priced per clinician or per visit. | Contracts for large or mid-sized groups, usually per clinician or per visit. |
| What drives cost | Which specialties are covered, sending notes into the EHR, and training that costs extra beyond the license. | EHR connection, adding specialties, and support for staff changes, on top of license fees. |
| Note quality after the visit | Specialty note quality 7.5. | Note quality after the visit 7.8. Higher score |
| Specialty-weighted note models | DeepScribe emphasizes specialty note models; specialty practices are the strong fit. Clear edge | Nabla's specialty and workflow coverage scores 7.7 on a broader ambient product framing. |
| Getting notes into the EHR | Getting it into the chart 7.0; write-back still needs IT and clinical packaging. | Getting it into the EHR 7.2 when write-back is scoped; clinicians still review every draft. |
| Ambient product depth | Ambient product depth 7.4. | Competitive ambient product marks; note quality after the visit 7.8. |
| Implementation ownership | Needs specialty champions, mic logistics, and EHR packaging bandwidth. | Needs IT and clinical informatics ownership for write-back and specialty expansion. |
| Time to full value | About 5 to 11 months | About 5 to 11 months |
| What you need first | Specialty note models that match the specialties you have. | Epic or another supported EHR, with a plan for sending notes back to it. |
| Deal-breaker | Your must-have specialties have no usable note models. | Your EHR is not supported, or sending notes back to it has no date. |
| Pricing clarity score | 6.9 | 7.3 Clearer pricing |
| HIR overall score | 7.3, Recommend. | 7.6, Recommend. Higher score |
| Best for | Specialty practices that care more about note models in their lane than about a health-system ambient standard. | Ambulatory and specialty groups piloting ambient notes with EHR write-back scoped. |
| Not a fit for | Buyers who need one ambient vendor embedded across an Epic enterprise. | Buyers expecting ambient notes with no clinician review. |
Which fits which buyer
Your specialty mix should settle this one.
Choose DeepScribe if
- You run a community oncology practice or another specialty group that wants note models built for its lane.
- You want pre-visit summaries pulled from an oncology EHR such as OncoEMR or iKnowMed.
- You have physician champions who will tune templates during the pilot.
Choose Nabla if
- Your clinicians span primary care and several specialties and need one assistant for all of them.
- You want ambient notes and medical-grade dictation from the same vendor.
- You want a contract that is somewhat easier to price than most custom ambient deals.
What buyers say
“Nabla looks right when you want simple, quick notes for straightforward documentation. DeepScribe sits with the more enterprise, EMR-integration-heavy tools that can feel like overkill for a smaller internal medicine group.” doctorgreybc · r/InternalMedicine · Jan 25, 2025, source
“Nabla: same vibe as Freed, clean UI, but felt bare-bones. If you want something super simple, it will do the trick, but I needed more control and accuracy. Lacks a lot of specialty/custom options.” Ecthor · r/FamilyMedicine · Jul 2025, source
Verdict
Nabla scores slightly higher and fits a mixed ambulatory group that wants ambient notes, dictation, and coding help in one product. DeepScribe is the stronger choice for oncology and other specialty practices that value depth in one field over breadth.
Clinicians still review every draft with either product, so plan time for that.
Where the two tools are headed in 2027 and beyond
DeepScribe: DeepScribe introduced SmartPrep, pre-visit summaries for oncology clinicians, on April 27, 2026, and on October 13, 2026 announced that Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada had rolled it out to all of its oncology clinicians.
Nabla: Nabla announced on February 5, 2026 that M Health Fairview had chosen its combined ambient and dictation product, and launched an on-device dictation app for Apple computers on July 28, 2026.
Ask each vendor for edit-rate data from a practice that looks like yours.
Methodology
Each row comes from the HIR reviews of DeepScribe and Nabla, scored under the HIR method, and from each vendor's public pricing where it exists. Any published price for DeepScribe or Nabla was checked on that vendor's own site on October 16, 2026.
A green check marks a clear edge for DeepScribe or Nabla only where their review scores differ by at least 0.3 points or the two reviews show a plain difference. Rows with nothing published for either DeepScribe or Nabla are left out, and time to full value for each adds up the rollout stages in its review.
Sources
- HIR review of DeepScribe and HIR review of Nabla
- DeepScribe website
- Nabla website
- Reddit discussions of DeepScribe and Nabla, linked in the buyer section
- DeepScribe introduces SmartPrep, April 27, 2026
- CCCN rolls out DeepScribe, October 13, 2026
- M Health Fairview selects Nabla, February 5, 2026
- Nabla launches dictation for Apple devices, July 28, 2026