Five pet health record apps, compared by someone who makes one of them

Written by HeyVetto · Prices and listings checked 14 September 2026 · HeyVetto is our app

Short version: if the thing you hate is typing the vet's sheet in, HeyVetto is the only one of the five that reads it for you. If your clinic is in the US and on a partner system, VitusVet pulls records for free and you type nothing either. If you want one diary for everything — expenses, photos, weight — PetNoter is the broadest. If you need reminders and a vaccination list for one pet and nothing else, the free tier of Vet Record or 11pets is enough.

Every "best pet health app" list we found was written by one of the apps on it, and none of them said so above the fold. So: HeyVetto is ours. This page compares it against four apps people search for alongside it — PetNoter, 11pets, Vet Record and VitusVet — on the five things that decide whether an app is still in use a year later. Where we lose, the table says so.

How this was made

We read each app's public website and its App Store listing on 14 September 2026 and wrote down what they claim. We did not pay for every premium tier, so a feature a listing doesn't mention is marked not stated, not ❌. Prices are the ones on the listing that day, in the currency the listing shows; app prices change without notice, so check before you pay. If we've got something wrong about your app, tell us and we'll fix the row.

The five questions that actually matter

Most comparison tables count features. That rewards the app with the longest list. What decides whether you're still using one next spring is smaller and harder:

1. Does it read the sheet, or do you?

Every app lets you store a photo. Almost none turn the photo into text you can search. The difference is the difference between "filed" and "findable" — and between fifteen seconds at the counter and twenty minutes at the kitchen table. See why a photo isn't a record.

2. Do lab values get a range?

A creatinine of 1.9 means nothing on its own. It means something next to the reference range, and more next to the 1.4 from March. An app that stores the lab sheet as a picture can't tell you that.

3. Can two phones tick the same dose?

"Did you give her the tablet?" is the most common failure in pet care and it is a sharing problem, not a memory problem. If the second person can only see the record, it doesn't solve it.

4. Can you leave?

Two years of records in an app with no export is two years of records you don't own. Look for PDF export in the free tier, not the paid one.

5. Does it work where you live?

Some apps get their records from the clinic's software, which is wonderful if your clinic is on it and useless if it isn't. Some are English-only. Some need a store account before you've seen a screen.

The table

Tinted column is ours. Scroll sideways on a phone.

HeyVetto — ours, so read this part hardest

Best for: an owner who is handed paper — printed or handwritten — and never wants to type it in. Photograph the sheet at the counter; the drug, dose, dates, clinic and lab values come out as text, the photo stays underneath, and a prescription becomes a course with a reminder and a day counter. Send the other person in the house a code and both phones tick the same dose. Lab values line up in a row with the out-of-range ones marked. One tap copies the summary a new vet asks for. See what it reads.

Where it loses: it isn't in the App Store or Google Play — it's a web app you install from the browser, which is normal now but still a surprise to some people. It's in testing, so it's free and it's young; there is no expense tracker, no photo journal, no appointment booking with your clinic, and no insurance claims. Handwriting reading sometimes gets a character wrong (it flags the ones it isn't sure of, and the original photo is one tap away, but it happens). English and Ukrainian only.

Price: free while in testing. No account to start; works offline; export everything as PDF and leave whenever you like.

PetNoter — the broadest diary

Best for: an owner who wants one app for everything about the pet, not only the medical part. Vaccination history, weight chart, expenses, a photo memory journal, document storage with camera capture, medication times, and sharing a pet with family. Any species. PDF export is included.

Where it loses: the documents stay documents. You photograph the lab sheet and PetNoter files it; the values inside don't get a range or a trend, and the drug name on a prescription doesn't become a reminder by itself — you type it. English only. Ratings on the US App Store are few at the time of writing, so treat reviews as anecdote.

Price: free tier, then $2.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or $59.99 once (US App Store, 14 September 2026). The one-off price is the honest option here if you know you'll stay.

Vet Record — reminders and a clean history for one pet

Best for: one dog or one cat, a vaccination tracker with alerts, medication and treatment reminders, daily wellness notes, and a QR code that shows a stranger the pet's emergency details. It's new and moving fast — the store listing was updated in July 2026.

Where it loses: the free tier is one pet. Family sync, PDF export, more than one pet and the longer weight history are all in the paid tier. Nothing on the listing says it reads a document; you enter the record. The website and the App Store listing quoted different premium prices on the day we looked, so check the price the store shows you before you subscribe. English only, and few ratings yet.

Price: free for one pet, then $6.99 a month or $24.99 a year on the US App Store listing, 14 September 2026; the website quoted $5.99 a month and $39.99 a year the same day.

11pets — a platform, with the clinic on the other end

Best for: an owner whose clinic, groomer or sitter is also on 11pets. It's built as a network: book appointments with connected businesses, share selected data with a professional for a set time, invite a vet to enter records directly, and track weight, vitals and activity. Web, iOS and Android.

Where it loses: the free tier is one pet and, per the pricing page, reminders, family access and unlimited storage are paid. No published price table — the App Store lists in-app purchases at £1.99 and £17.99 on the UK store without saying what each buys. Nothing on the listing about reading documents, lab ranges, PDF export or offline use. The iOS app's last store update was August 2024 at the time of writing, and recent reviews on the UK store are mixed about the redesign.

Price: free for one pet; in-app purchases at £1.99 and £17.99 on the UK App Store, 14 September 2026.

VitusVet — free, and the clinic does the typing (US only)

Best for: an owner in the United States whose clinic uses a practice system VitusVet connects to. Then the records arrive from the clinic, you request appointments and refills in the app, and you can submit insurance claims from it. It's free, it holds several pets, and it carries by far the most ratings of the five — 4.9 from about 11,000 on the US App Store at the time of writing.

Where it loses: if your clinic isn't connected, or isn't in the US, you're back to photographing documents and typing details in. Sharing is with a vet, groomer or sitter, not with a co-owner who ticks doses. Nothing on the listing about reading a photo into text, lab ranges, offline use or export, and the iOS listing's last update was April 2023 when we looked — three and a half years.

Price: free.

And the one everybody actually uses: the camera roll

Most owners we talk to don't use any of these. They photograph the sheet and hope. That solves exactly one thing — the paper is no longer the only copy — and fails at the counter every time, because a photo can't be searched, the dose in it can't ring, and the person at the clinic is never the person with the photos. Any app in this table beats it. How to organize pet medical records is the version of this advice that doesn't need an app at all.

So which one?

• You get paper, some of it handwritten, and you're done typing — HeyVetto.
• Your clinic is in the US and on a VitusVet-connected system — VitusVet, and you type nothing either. It's free; check the connection before you commit.
• You want expenses, photos and weight in the same place as the records — PetNoter, and pay the one-off price.
• One pet, reminders, a vaccination list, nothing more — Vet Record's free tier, or 11pets's if your vet is on it.
• Two people share the dosing — HeyVetto or PetNoter on the free tier; Vet Record and 11pets charge for it.
• Blood work every few months — HeyVetto is the only one of the five that puts the numbers on a range. The lab sheet glossary explains what they mean whichever app you use.

❓ Questions people ask before choosing

Sources, all read 14 September 2026: PetNoter and its App Store listing · Vet Record and its App Store listing · 11pets pricing page and its UK App Store listing · VitusVet App Store listing. HeyVetto's own claims are the ones on its landing page. App names belong to their owners; none of them sponsored, reviewed or approved this page.

Five apps, five honest answers, and one question that beats the whole table: the next time a vet asks what she's already had, will you be able to find it in fifteen seconds? Pick the one that makes that true for your clinic, your paper, and the other person in your house.