Choosing a veterinary practice management system is usually treated as a feature exercise.
Can it handle appointments? Does it integrate with the lab? Can staff use it easily? How good is reporting? What does it cost?
Those questions matter.
But there is another test that deserves equal attention:
How much freedom does the practice retain after it signs?
A PMS becomes more difficult to replace with every year of data, integrations and staff habits built around it. That creates enough natural switching cost without adding unnecessary contractual barriers.
The Veterinary PMS Freedom Test is a simple way to assess that risk before implementation begins. The earlier parts cover data ownership, exit cost, price rises, API control, AI use, criticism clauses and downtime liability. Part 9 compares the public contracts.
1. How long are we actually committed for?
Do not confuse billing frequency with contract length.
A product billed monthly can still sit inside a one-year or multi-year commitment.
IDEXX's general software terms, for example, contain automatic-renewal provisions, while Animana's specific terms specify a minimum initial 12-month term and successive renewal periods unless notice is served.
Sources: IDEXX Software Offering General Terms, section 3 and IDEXX Animana Offering-Specific Terms, section 4
Ask the supplier to write the initial term, renewal term and final non-renewal date on the Order Form.
2. If we leave early, do future subscription fees stop?
This may be the single most important commercial question.
IDEXX's general terms say an early-cancelling customer must pay unpaid subscription fees through the end of the current subscription term.
Source: IDEXX Software Offering General Terms, section 3.5
Lupa's public terms take a different approach, providing a 30-day termination mechanism and stating that already-paid fees are not refunded, without the same public acceleration wording.
Source: Lupa Terms and Conditions, section 14.4
Do not ask "can we cancel?"
Ask:
"If we cancel on this date, exactly how much money will still be payable?"
3. Who owns our data?
This should be explicit.
Merlin, Provet, Vetspire and Shepherd all contain customer-ownership language in their public agreements.
That is good.
But ownership is only the beginning of the test.
4. Can we export all of our data at any time?
A clinic should not have to begin termination before discovering what its export contains.
Ask for a sample export before signing.
It should cover not only clinical notes but attachments, clients, patients, invoices, estimates, appointments, communications, laboratory results and any other records on which the practice relies.
5. What does an export cost?
Merlin's termination provisions allow MWI to charge its then-current rate for a requested backup in the circumstances described in clause 15.5(d).
Animana's specific terms say IDEXX may charge additional fees for providing Customer Data after account closure.
Sources: Merlin Terms and Conditions, clause 15.5(d) and IDEXX Animana Offering-Specific Terms, section 4.3
By contrast, Lupa's public terms say clients are not responsible for additional termination, data-retrieval or transfer costs unless extraordinary circumstances are agreed in writing.
Source: Lupa Terms and Conditions, section 14.7.3
Get the figure before you buy.
6. Is the export structured and machine-readable?
"Access to your data" is not enough.
Shepherd's EULA is unusually specific: on termination the client receives all data as raw tables exported in CSV format, together with up to two backups.
Source: Shepherd Service Agreement / EULA, section 5(d)
A documented structured export can materially reduce migration risk.
Ask the supplier which formats are provided and whether attachments retain their relationship to the original patient and clinical records.
7. Can we authorise third-party API access ourselves?
APIs determine whether your PMS can participate in the wider software ecosystem.
Merlin can apply Professional Services Fees to API use and retains sole control over the API's operation and data-access format.
Vetspire requires prior approval and an API Agreement for third-party access and can charge relevant integration fees.
Sources: Merlin Terms and Conditions, clause 6 and Vetspire Terms & Conditions, sections 2.7–2.8
Reasonable security controls are essential.
An unnecessary commercial veto over a clinic's chosen integration is a different matter.
8. What can the supplier do with our data?
Do not treat all secondary data use as equivalent.
Using genuinely anonymised information to improve software can benefit customers.
But ask separately about:
- benchmarking;
- external research;
- pharmaceutical research;
- AI model training;
- onward sharing; and
- commercial products derived from de-identified data.
Provet, for example, allows aggregation and benchmarking but expressly says it will not enable an AI service provider to train that provider's models on customer data unless instructed by the customer or required by law.
Source: Provet Terms of Service, sections 3.1.3 and 3.2.3
Vetspire's terms expressly extend de-identified data use into medical, veterinary and pharmaceutical research and AI research and development.
Source: Vetspire Terms & Conditions, section 3.3
Know which bargain you are making.
9. Can the price change while we are committed?
Merlin can apply an annual adjustment based on the greater of CPI or 5% for qualifying contracts, with a separate route for specified supplier-cost increases.
Source: Merlin Terms and Conditions, clauses 9.2–9.3
Provet can change pricing but gives a customer that rejects the change a contractual termination route for the affected service.
Source: Provet Terms of Service, section 5.1.5
The best question is not simply "what is the annual increase?"
Ask:
"If you change the price, can we reject it and leave without paying future fees?"
10. What happens to our records after termination?
The day after cancellation should not be the first time this is discussed.
Merlin's clause 15.5(d) says MWI may destroy or otherwise dispose of Customer Data unless the specified retention or backup steps are taken.
Provet gives customers 60 days after termination to retrieve or delete their data before remaining data may be deleted.
Vetspire provides a 30-day electronic-retrieval window and says subscription fees continue during that period.
Sources: Merlin Terms and Conditions, clause 15.5(d), Provet Terms of Service, section 14.2 and Vetspire Terms & Conditions, section 5.3.
Know your timetable before giving notice.
11. What is the supplier liable for when things go wrong?
Read the SLA and the limitation-of-liability clause together.
Provet's 99.9% availability figure is expressed as a target under its standard terms rather than an ordinary damages-backed guarantee, and its standard aggregate liability cap is tied to three months of Subscription Charges.
Merlin generally caps liability at the lower of the preceding 12 months' licence fees and £20,000.
Covetrus' public EMEA master terms use the lower of annual fees and £500,000 and contain a two-month contractual claim-notification provision.
Sources: Provet Terms of Service, sections 6.4 and 19, Merlin Terms and Conditions, clause 14.4 and Covetrus EMEA Master Service Terms v6, clause 13.
Unlimited liability is not realistic.
But the practice should understand how much risk it is accepting.
Score the supplier before the demonstration wins you over
A simple procurement scorecard can use one point for each answer that meets the practice's standard:
- short, clear commitment;
- no acceleration of future fees on ordinary exit;
- explicit clinic data ownership;
- complete export at any time;
- no routine export charge;
- structured machine-readable format;
- clinic-authorised API access;
- transparent and proportionate secondary data use;
- predictable pricing with an exit right after material increases;
- sensible post-termination access; and
- meaningful SLA and proportionate liability.
No supplier has to score 11/11 to be suitable.
The point is to make the trade-offs visible.
A specialist hospital may accept a longer commitment in exchange for complex implementation. A single-site practice may value a 30-day exit more highly. A group may care most about API freedom.
What matters is that the decision is conscious.
Ask for the answers in writing
The salesperson's answer is useful.
The contract is what survives after the salesperson moves on.
Before signing, send the supplier the eleven questions and ask it to identify the clauses or Order Form provisions that answer each one.
If a term is negotiable, negotiate it before migrating ten years of records into the system.
If a supplier cannot explain how you leave before you join, that is useful information too.
The best PMS should earn retention through the product, not manufacture it through friction.
Contract analysis, not legal advice. Individual Order Forms, Statements of Work and negotiated terms can change the public standard terms. Sources reviewed on 2026-08-20.