We love Cliniko. They put their heart and soul into their practice management system — and it shows. When we first integrated with Cliniko back in 2017, treatment notes were the closest thing they had to forms — which aren't intended to be patient-facing.

In 2020, during the lock down, Cliniko released Patient forms. Clinics that previously relied on paper, but were forced to switch to telehealth during the lock down to stay open, could take advantage of their new release to get the job done.

Around the same time, responding to the same market demand, we released a feature to allow our forms to be published to the Web. This expanded upon the capabilities of the Finger-Ink iPad app. Allowing patients to fill out forms on their own devices, in their own homes, before their appointment. We made forms on the web look and feel the same as our beloved iPad forms.

Then, in September 2025, Cliniko released a long-awaited update to their patient forms. This update allows some standard and custom patient fields to be updated through their patient forms.

Cliniko have a lot on their plate. They have a whole practice management system to develop! Finger-Ink's task, in comparison, is much smaller. forms are our whole world. Our reason for being. Our sole focus. As such, we obsess over every little detail — and people notice.

Cliniko's patient forms are included with your Cliniko subscription. They’re solid if you just want to grab the basics and keep things simple. If that suits you then it's your best bet.

But if you care about polish — about your patients feeling like they’re in good hands the second they touch your brand — that’s where Finger-Ink shines.

It does the extra stuff: on-brand design, automation, visibility logic, treatment notes, photos & videos, body charts, calculations / scoring, @mentions / placeholders and a check-in app that ties it all together. If you want your forms to reflect where your clinic is headed — not just what you need today — then Finger-Ink is for you.

The big difference between Finger-Ink's forms and Cliniko's patient forms is that Finger-Ink's forms update more on the patient record — even following Cliniko's September 2025 update.

Here's the full breakdown:

Almost any field on the patient record can be updated through a Finger-Ink Form. That includes all the "difficult to handle" ones that might need the patient to select from a list. Unless they don't want to. Then they can specify their own, unique answer.

It also includes your Referral Sources (handy for your reporting later on), and custom patient fields.

Also worth noting: our forms go direct to the Files section on the patient record, while Cliniko's go to the forms section, and are linked on the Appointment as well.

Our forms have a unique look and feel. They're step-by-step, not all-at-once. And they can look like they're a part of your clinic. Here's what we mean:

As the patient progresses through the form, the patient is presented with some new information, or asked a new question. Here's a short video of this in action:

Cliniko's patient forms are more traditional in their look and feel, presenting all questions on one page:

Because forms are our sole focus, there are a number of other things we allow on our forms that Cliniko doesn't.