Free AI Scribe in Australia — What You Actually Get (2026 Guide)

The Free Tier Landscape in 2026

The range is wide. Some platforms offer no free tier at all, some offer restricted trials, and one offers a genuinely usable free plan with no time limit and no credit card requirement.

Grounded Scribe Free Tier: What Is Included

Grounded Scribe's free tier is permanent — not a trial that expires after 7 or 14 days. You can use it indefinitely without entering payment details. Here is exactly what you get:

Sessions and Dictations

• 10 sessions per month: A "session" is any recording over 5 minutes. This covers standard clinical consultations, therapy sessions, supervision meetings, or any other recorded interaction.
• Unlimited dictation notes: Dictation mode is for quick standalone notes under 5 minutes — summarising a phone call, dictating a referral letter, or capturing observations between clients. There is no monthly cap on dictation notes.
• 60-minute session cap: Individual sessions can be up to 60 minutes long. Most standard consultations fall within this limit.
• 5-minute dictation cap: Dictations are capped at 5 minutes on the free tier (paid plans extend this to 10 or 20 minutes).

AI Documentation

• Healthcare-grade AI transcription of your recorded sessions
• AI-generated clinical notes based on the transcript
• Profession-specific templates for over 75 health and education professions
• Choose your detail level: brief, balanced, or detailed notes
• MBS-compliant templates for Medicare documentation

Assessments

• Unlimited standardised assessments on the free tier — this is significant. PHQ-9, GAD-7, DASS-21, PCL-5, K-10, CORE-10, PSS-10, and more are all included at no cost.
• Score Profiles with normative data for tracking outcomes
• Assessment results integrate into clinical notes
• Send assessments to clients via SMS or email link

AI Receptionist (Browser Testing)

• Free browser-based test calls to your AI Receptionist
• Configure your practice information, greeting, and personality
• Test how the AI handles incoming calls in a simulated environment
• No phone number provisioned on the free tier — this is for testing only

Other Features

• Client management (add and manage clients)
• Supervision session logging
• Create and download clinical documents (AI-composed letters and reports unlock on Core)
• Australian data storage
• PII redaction option

What You Do Not Get on Free

• More than 10 sessions per month — if you see more than 10 clients a week, you will need a paid tier
• Sessions longer than 60 minutes — extended therapy sessions, group programs, or lengthy assessments need Plus ($19/mo) or higher for 120+ minute caps
• Longer dictations — free includes unlimited dictation notes (up to 5 min each); paid tiers extend to 10-20 min per dictation with clinical vocabulary recognition
• A dedicated AI Receptionist phone number — browser testing is free, but a real Australian phone number for incoming calls requires a paid receptionist plan
• Ask Grounded Scribe conversations — the in-app AI clinical assistant has 3 daily conversations on Free (10 on Plus, unlimited on Core+)

Is the Free Tier Actually Useful?

Yes — with realistic expectations. Here is who it works well for:

Part-time practitioners seeing 8-10 clients per week can comfortably fit within 10 sessions per month. If you are working 2-3 days per week, the free tier covers your entire caseload.

Practitioners evaluating AI scribes get a genuine test with real clinical sessions — not a demo with sample data. Ten sessions is enough to evaluate transcription accuracy, note quality, and workflow fit across different consultation types.

Students and trainees on placement can use 10 sessions per month at no cost while learning documentation conventions. (Students who need more can access the Practitioner-in-Training program at 50% off.)

Assessment-focused practitioners get the most value — unlimited assessments with no cost ceiling. If your primary need is administering and tracking standardised outcome measures, the free tier may be all you need.

It is less useful for: Full-time practitioners seeing 20+ clients per week. At that volume, you will run out of sessions by mid-week. The Plus tier at $19/mo (30 sessions) or Core at $39/mo (60 sessions) would be more appropriate.

Free Trials on Paid Plans

Beyond the permanent free tier, Grounded Scribe offers a 14-day free trial on all paid plans with no credit card required. This means you can test the Plus, Core, Pro, or Max tier with full session limits for two weeks, then decide whether to subscribe, downgrade to the free tier, or choose a different plan.

The trial is genuinely commitment-free — no credit card is collected at signup, so there is nothing to cancel if you do not continue.

Common Questions About Free AI Scribes

Is my data secure on a free tier?

Yes. Free tier data receives the same security treatment as paid tiers: Australian cloud hosting, encrypted storage, automatic audio deletion after transcription, and compliance with Australian Privacy Principles. There is no difference in data handling between free and paid plans.

Will I lose my data if I do not upgrade?

No. Your sessions, notes, client records, and assessment data are retained on the free tier. If you exceed 10 sessions in a month, you simply cannot create new recordings until the next billing cycle. Existing data is never deleted due to plan limits.

Can I upgrade and downgrade freely?

Yes. You can move between free and paid tiers at any time. Upgrading gives you immediate access to higher limits. Downgrading takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

Is the transcription quality lower on free?

No. The same healthcare-grade AI transcription and note generation models are used across all tiers. The only difference is usage limits — not quality.

Do I need to enter a credit card to sign up?

No. Registration requires an email address and password. No payment information is collected unless you choose to subscribe to a paid plan.

How Does This Compare to Competitors?

Most competing platforms either have no free tier or offer heavily restricted trials:

• Lyrebird Health does not offer a free tier. You need a paid subscription to access the platform.
• Heidi Health has a limited free tier with restricted features and usage.
• NovoPsych offers limited free access for assessments and notes.

Grounded Scribe is the only platform offering 10 healthcare-grade sessions, unlimited dictation notes, unlimited assessments, and AI Receptionist browser testing — all permanently free.

Getting Started

If you want to try AI clinical documentation without any financial commitment:

1. Create a free account — no credit card required
2. Record a session (or use dictation for a quick note)
3. Review the AI-generated note and edit as needed
4. Try the assessment tools with a client
5. Decide if you want more sessions, or stay on free

The free tier is not a trial. It is a permanent plan designed for practitioners who want to use AI documentation at lower volumes. If it covers your needs, you can use it indefinitely.

Sign up free — 10 sessions, unlimited assessments, no credit card.

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*Pricing and feature information is current as of February 2026. Free tier limits and features may be updated over time. Visit /pricing for the latest details.*

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