The incumbents are hospital software shrunk down, or startup GRC priced for funded tech companies. Ward sits in the small-practice band with more capability — and a genuinely complete free tier.
Local-first. Forever.
One practice, full program.
Established / multi-location.
Min $199/mo · volume tiers.
Annual billing saves 15%. There's no "HIPAA certification" upsell — Ward makes you audit-ready, not "certified" (no such thing exists).
The named alternatives are either hospital software shrunk down or startup GRC priced for funded tech. Here's what a small practice actually pays each — and where Ward lands.
Less than Accountable Basic for the full program — and Accountable gates vuln-scan, pen-test & custom roles to its $799/mo Pro tier.
Ward's free local tier replaces the paid SRA outright; the full cloud program is ~$1621.80/yr (Solo, billed annually) — and your PHI stays on-prem.
No opaque sales call, no paid add-ons for the risk assessment & breach response — it's all bundled.
| Feature | Ward$0 / $159–$299/mo | Accountable$199–$799/mo | Medcurity~$499/yr+ | Compliancy Group~$2k–$8k+/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $0 local$159/mo cloud | $199/mo$169 annual | ~$499/yr~$41/mo | Quote onlysales-led |
| Genuinely free, complete SRA tier | ✓forever, no card | 7-day trial | ✗ | ✗ |
| Local-first — PHI never leaves your machine | ✓default | ✗ cloud-only | ✗ cloud-only | ✗ cloud-only |
| Mac / Windows / Linux desktop app | ✓ | ✗ web only | ✗ web only | ✗ web only |
| ONC-rubric SRA (~120 scored questions, 45 CFR cited) | ✓ | ~lighter rubric | ✓AI-assisted | ✓ |
| 2026 Security Rule readiness / gap report | ✓one-click POA&M | partial | partial | partial |
| Risk assessment & breach response | ✓ bundled | ✓ | ✓ | paid add-on |
| Policy templates + BAA + training records | ✓ bundledno per-seat fee | $25/employee training | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vuln-scan & pen-test ingestion | ✓ included | gated to $799 Pro | advising upsell | tiered |
| Custom roles / granular RBAC | ✓Practice $299/mo | gated to $799 Pro | limited | ✓ |
| BYO-key AI explain & draft (unmetered) | ✓no inference fees | ✗ | paid AI tier | ✗ |
| MSP multi-client console + white-label | ✓$99/client/mo | limited | limited | enterprise tier |
| Transparent, published pricing | ✓ | ✓ | partial | ✗ quote-gated |
| "HIPAA certified" claim | audit-ready, honest | markets "certification" | — | "Seal of Compliance" |
More, for less — the honest version. Ward lives in the small-practice price band (free, then $159–$299/mo) but ships capabilities only the $199–$800/mo and $2k+/yr tiers offer: a free SRA, local-first PHI, a first-class 2026 gap report, and bundled BAA / policy / training — with no add-on nickel-and-diming, no per-employee training fees, and no sales call to learn the price. The things competitors charge extra for (vuln-scan ingestion, custom roles, the risk assessment itself) are simply included.
Competitor prices reflect publicly published information as of 2026 (Accountable: $199/$299/$799/mo per accountablehq.com; Medcurity: ~$499/yr per medcurity.com; Compliancy Group: tiered/quote-based, ~$2k–$8k+/yr blended per public reviews) and may change. Ward is not affiliated with any of these vendors. Verify current details with each provider.
Run a complete, local-first HIPAA Security Risk Assessment for $0 today. Upgrade for cloud sync, the 2026 gap report, and the OCR audit binder when you're ready.
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