Pencilbird vs Pabau for UK clinics
Updated 5 November 2026
Pabau is an all-in-one clinic platform: booking, patient records, forms, payments, marketing, inventory and more, used by aesthetics and medical clinics. Pencilbird is a booking system for clinics that does fewer things, set up for you, with a fixed monthly fee and payments into your own Stripe account. This page sets out where they differ so you can choose.
Details below were checked on 5 November 2026. Both products change, so check the sources at the end before you decide.
The short version
- Choose Pabau if you want one platform to run the whole clinic, including marketing campaigns, memberships, stock control, point of sale and built-in video consultations, and you’re happy to learn a larger system.
- Choose Pencilbird if you mainly want clients to book, pay their deposit and fill in their forms without fuss, with a clean booking page in your own brand, one fixed monthly fee and payments going straight to your own Stripe account.
Pricing at a glance
| Pabau | Pencilbird | |
|---|---|---|
| How it’s priced | By number of users and by location. Plans run from Solo (1 user) through Team, Medium and Group to Enterprise (16+ users) | A fixed monthly fee, agreed at setup |
| Published price | Not shown on the pricing page, which says pricing “depends on where you’re located and the number of users”. Pabau’s own blog quotes “around $62 a month for a single user” | Agreed at setup |
| What’s included | Full access on every plan, with paid add-ons (Marketing Plus, Care Plus, Insights Plus, Engage Plus) | Every feature included |
| Billing | Monthly, or annual to “save up to 20%“ | Agreed at setup |
| Fee on bookings or payments | Not stated on the pricing page | None. Pencilbird takes 0% of payments; Stripe’s own card fees still apply |
Where Pabau is stronger
- Breadth. Pabau covers a lot more than booking: marketing tools and automation, packages and memberships, inventory, point of sale, lead management, reporting and clinical workflows. Pencilbird leaves out marketing suites, memberships, inventory and point of sale on purpose.
- Built-in video. Pabau lists unlimited free video consultations built in. Pencilbird holds video consultations with your existing Zoom, Google Meet or Teams link, which goes in the confirmation and reminder emails.
- Scale. Pabau has plans for large and multi-site groups and a longer track record. Pencilbird is new and suits independent clinics best.
Where Pencilbird is stronger
- Simple to use. One booking page in three steps for clients, and a dashboard that shows the diary, what needs attention and the settings, without the menus of an all-in-one system.
- One predictable bill. A fixed monthly fee that doesn’t change as you add users, with no per-booking fees and no add-ons to buy. Text messages are optional, and their cost is agreed at setup.
- Your money, your Stripe account. Deposits and payments go straight to your own Stripe account, and Pencilbird takes 0% of them.
- Set up for you. Your services, team, hours, forms and branding are put in for you before launch, and updates are handled for you afterwards, so you don’t need to spend days configuring a large system.
- Still built for clinics. Consultation-first treatments, free or paid consultations in clinic, by video or by phone, deposits or full payment per treatment, medical history and consent forms, patch tests with waiting periods, courses, treatment records, before and after photos, aftercare emails, review requests, rebooking reminders and printable receipts for insurer claims are all included.
- Your data, kept separately. Each clinic runs on its own deployment and database, and the owner can download everything (patient records, photos, history and settings) as one archive whenever they like.
The bottom line
Pabau suits a clinic that wants one system for everything and has the time to set it up and use it fully. Pencilbird suits a clinic that wants booking, deposits, forms and records done well, in its own brand, with one fixed fee and its payments in its own Stripe account.
Pabau is a trademark of its owner. Pencilbird isn’t affiliated with Pabau. Figures come from the public sources listed below and may have changed since they were checked.