What Zocdoc charges for
Zocdoc has no sign-up or monthly fee. It charges once for each new patient it helps find you. Zocdoc calls these "discovery bookings" and says: "Discovery bookings are paid. Reputation bookings are free." (Zocdoc Help: pricing and billing)
| Booking | You pay? |
|---|---|
| New patient finds and books you on Zocdoc.com, the app or a partner site | Yes, one fee |
| Existing patient books again through Zocdoc | No |
| Patient books through your Google Business Profile | No |
| Patient books through the Booking Link on your website | No |
| Patient searches your provider by name on some partner sites | No |
| Booking through a partner that makes bookings free, such as an insurance directory | No |
Two add-ons cost extra: Sponsored Results (a fee on top of the booking fee, up to your bid) and Practice Solutions (a monthly fee per provider) (Zocdoc Help).
How much is the Zocdoc booking fee?
Zocdoc doesn't publish a price list. Its help center says: "Discovery booking fees vary based on provider specialty and location." If a provider has more than one specialty, the fee is "based on the provider's highest-rate specialty" (Zocdoc Help). A monthly budget is set "in units of your discovery booking fee" (Zocdoc Help: manage your spend). Ask for the number for your specialty and ZIP code before you sign up.
No-shows and cancellations still cost you
The fee is charged when the patient books, "regardless of whether the patient ultimately attends the appointment" (Zocdoc Help). The same page says:
- Rescheduling or not showing up doesn't remove the fee.
- Zocdoc may waive it, in good faith, if a patient cancels within 24 hours of booking and before the appointment.
- You can't pass the fee on to patients; charging Zocdoc patients more "would be grounds for removal from the platform."
Why you can pay for a patient you already know
Zocdoc decides "new" by provider, not by practice: "Zocdoc considers a patient 'existing' based on their relationship to the provider, not the practice as a whole." It also says "We don't check your EHR" (Zocdoc Help).
This matters most in group practices:
- A dental patient who saw Dr. A and books Dr. B through Zocdoc can be a paid booking.
- A therapy client who switches therapists inside your group can be a paid booking.
- A long-time patient who taps "new patient" by mistake can be a paid booking unless you claim it.
You have 7 days from the booking to claim that a patient is existing, from the Appointment Report. If Zocdoc agrees, the fee comes back as a credit (Zocdoc Help).
Working out what a new patient really costs
Zocdoc's fee is per booking, so the number to compare with Google Ads or your own site is cost per patient who actually came in:
- Cost per patient seen = booking fee ÷ share of Zocdoc bookings that show up.
- Payback = what a new patient is worth to you in the first year, minus that cost.
Your Appointment Report shows each booking's outcome, and the performance dashboard shows what share of bookings you paid for (Zocdoc Help). Run the numbers on two or three months, not one.
Controlling the spend
You can set a monthly budget for the whole practice, turn discovery bookings off for some providers or locations, or pause them. When discovery is off, you still get free reputation bookings (Zocdoc Help: manage your spend). A practice that is full for one provider can turn that provider off rather than pay for patients it can't see soon.
Is paying per booking allowed?
For federal health programs, the HHS Office of Inspector General issued a favorable opinion in 2023 on an unnamed online directory that charges providers only per new-patient booking, with fees set in advance and not tied to Medicare or Medicaid business (OIG Advisory Opinion 23-04). An advisory opinion protects only the company that asked: it "may not be relied on by any person other than Requestor." State rules on paying for patient referrals differ; check yours if you're unsure.
Canada
Zocdoc says: "Currently, you can use Zocdoc in all 50 states across the United States" (Zocdoc Help). It lists no Canadian service.
Example
These use a made-up $100 fee. Use your own fee from your account.
General dentist, mostly kept appointments
Zocdoc books 20 new patients in a month: $2,000. Sixteen show up (80%). Cost per patient seen: $125. If a new patient brings in $800 in the first year, the fee is about a sixth of that.
Therapist with many no-shows
A solo therapist gets 10 Zocdoc bookings: $1,000. Five clients attend a first session. Cost per client seen: $200. If half of those stop after one session, the cost per client who stays is $400. Here the show rate moves the cost more than the fee does.
Group practice paying for its own patients
A three-dentist practice finds 4 of 25 monthly charges were existing patients booking a different dentist. Those are paid by Zocdoc's rules. The practice puts its own Booking Link in recall texts and its Google profile, where bookings are free.
Different for you?
- Comparing Zocdoc with other lead marketplaces: Angi and Thumbtack leads.
- A therapist weighing a directory listing instead: Psychology Today profile.
- Measuring Google Ads cost per booked patient the same way: offline conversion tracking.
- Setting a monthly budget across channels: small business marketing budget.
- Want new patients from ads you own instead of per-booking fees: see the Paid Ads Agent.