We love Cliniko
And we'd probably also start with their native forms. Most clinics do.
They’re included with your Cliniko subscription. They collect patient information, create a PDF, and attach it to the record. For a clinic that needs the basics and wants to keep things simple, Cliniko’s native forms are a sensible starting point. We wouldn’t tell you otherwise.
But at some point, most growing clinics hit a wall. The forms can’t be branded. There’s no conditional logic. There are no body charts, no calculation fields, no video fields. Every patient sees the same questions regardless of their history, their funding path, or their appointment type. The form works. It just doesn’t work the way a growing clinic needs it to.
That’s the moment Finger-Ink was built for.
This article is a fair comparison. We’ll walk through what Cliniko’s native forms do, what Finger-Ink adds, and help you work out which one fits where your clinic is right now. If Cliniko’s forms are doing the job, keep using them. If you’ve outgrown them, we’ll show you what the upgrade looks like.
What Cliniko’s native forms do well
Credit where it’s due. Cliniko released patient forms in 2020 and updated them significantly in September 2025, adding the ability to update standard and custom patient fields directly from a form submission. That was a meaningful improvement.
Here’s what Cliniko’s native forms handle today:
Included in your subscription: No additional cost. If you’re already paying for Cliniko, you have access to patient forms.
Basic patient field capture: Title, name, date of birth, sex, gender identity, pronouns, occupation, phone numbers, address, email, emergency contact, Medicare number, and custom patient fields.
Pre-filling: When a patient’s identity is verified by surname and date of birth, their existing information is pre-filled.
Automatic sending: Forms can be sent automatically when a patient books an appointment.
PDF creation: Every submitted form generates a PDF attached to the patient record.
Full-featured editor: Cliniko’s form builder includes a text editor for building form content.
For a clinic that needs to collect basic patient details before an appointment and doesn’t need branding, logic, or clinical depth, this is a perfectly functional setup. Cliniko has a lot on their plate — they’re building an entire practice management system. Their forms do the fundamentals and they do them reliably.
Where clinics outgrow Cliniko’s native forms
The pattern we see is consistent. A clinic starts with Cliniko’s forms, and for a while, they’re fine. Then something changes.
The clinic invests in its brand — a new website, a fit-out, a visual identity that reflects the quality of care — and the intake form still looks generic. Or the practice manager realises that every patient is being asked the same questions, regardless of whether they’re a new NDIS referral or a returning private patient. Or a physiotherapist wants a body chart in the intake form. Or the owner wants patients to sign a consent form with a real signature, not a tick box.
These aren’t edge cases. Twenty-three per cent of Finger-Ink’s paying customers came directly from Cliniko’s native forms. They didn’t leave because the forms were broken. They left because the forms couldn’t grow with the clinic.
I’d rather pay for two specialist subscriptions than put a clunky form in front of a patient.
— Luke Anthony, Owner & Principal Physiotherapist, Richmond Rehab
The full comparison: Cliniko native forms vs Finger-Ink
Two tables. The first covers which patient record fields each option can update. The second covers the form features and capabilities available to your clinic.
Patient record fields that sync to Cliniko
This is where the gap is widest. Both Finger-Ink and Cliniko’s native forms update the core patient details. But Finger-Ink syncs significantly more — including fields that matter for reporting, compliance, and operational workflows.
A few things worth calling out. Cliniko’s forms capture the emergency contact as a single field. Finger-Ink splits it into name and number separately, so you don’t end up with a contact name and no way to reach them. Finger-Ink also syncs referral sources directly to the patient record — which feeds your Cliniko reporting later. And the privacy policy, marketing consent, and reminder type fields are all synced automatically, so your team doesn’t have to chase them.
It’s also worth noting that Finger-Ink form responses go directly to the Files section on the patient record, while Cliniko’s go to the Forms section and are linked on the Appointment. Both approaches work — it’s a difference in where the data lives, not whether it gets there.
Form features and capabilities
This is where the difference in focus shows. Cliniko builds an entire practice management system. Finger-Ink builds forms. Forms are our whole world.
One thing on this table that deserve context rather than just a tick or a cross.
Step-by-step vs all-at-once: Finger-Ink presents forms one question (or one section) at a time. Cliniko’s forms show everything on one page. Step-by-step tends to improve completion rates and reduce cognitive load, particularly for longer forms. For a short, simple intake form, all-at-once is fine. For a multi-section form with consent, medical history, and assessment, step-by-step keeps patients from abandoning partway through.
What the upgrade actually looks like
Tables are useful for comparison. But they don’t show you what the difference feels like from the patient’s perspective, or from yours.
Your clinic’s brand, on every form
Cliniko's native forms have limited branding capability — only your logo differentiates you from the competition. With Finger-Ink, your forms carry your clinic’s logo, colours, and visual identity. The patient’s first administrative interaction with your clinic looks like it belongs to your clinic. This is the single most common reason clinics move from Cliniko’s forms to Finger-Ink — and the difference patients notice most.
Forms that adapt to the patient
Visibility logic means different patients see different questions. An NDIS-funded patient sees funding-specific fields. A returning patient skips what you already have. A new referral from a GP sees a different path than a self-referred patient. The form adapts. The patient only answers what’s relevant to them, which means fewer abandoned forms and cleaner data in Cliniko.
Clinical depth that goes beyond data collection
Body charts let patients tap on an anatomical diagram to mark their area of concern. Calculation fields auto-score patient outcome measures and sync the result to Cliniko. Video fields embed patient education directly into the form — a treatment explanation before they sign consent, for example. These aren’t novelties. They’re the clinical depth that allied health practitioners need from an intake form, and that Cliniko’s native forms don’t currently offer.
A kiosk that ties it together
Finger-Ink includes a native iPad app that turns an iPad into a patient check-in kiosk. Patients arrive, check in, complete any outstanding forms, and notify their practitioner — all from the iPad in your waiting room. The forms you’ve built for the web work on the kiosk without any extra configuration. Cliniko’s native forms don’t have a kiosk equivalent.
When Cliniko’s native forms are the right choice
This isn’t the part where we say ‘never use Cliniko’s forms.’ There are real situations where they’re the better fit.
You need the basics and nothing more. If your intake is a short form collecting name, contact details, and medical history — and you don’t need advanced branding, logic, or clinical form features — Cliniko’s native forms do the job. They’re included in your subscription, there’s nothing extra to set up, and they sync the core fields.
You’re just getting started. A new clinic with a handful of patients and a lot of other things to configure has enough on its plate. Cliniko’s forms are there, they work, and they’re one less thing to set up. You can always upgrade later.
You’re managing a lot of change at once. When The Foot Parlour in Manchester digitised their entire operation — replacing paper calendars, paper notes, and a full-time receptionist with Cliniko and a Finger-Ink kiosk — the business analyst leading the project deliberately kept the clinic on Cliniko’s native forms for the first phase. Not because they were better, but because introducing Finger-Ink forms on top of everything else would have been, in his words, a step too far. The forms came later, once the team was settled.
When it’s time to upgrade
The upgrade trigger is usually specific. You don’t wake up one day and decide Cliniko’s forms aren’t good enough. Something in your clinic changes, and the forms can’t keep up.
- You might recognise one or more of these:
- You’ve invested in your clinic’s brand and the intake form is the one touchpoint that doesn’t match.
- You need conditional logic — different patients should see different questions, and asking everyone everything wastes time and confuses patients.
- Your practitioners want body charts, outcome scoring, or clinical assessment fields in the intake form.
- You’re opening a second location and want a consistent, branded patient experience across sites.
- You want to capture referral sources, privacy policy consent, or marketing preferences — and have them sync to Cliniko automatically.
- You want patients to complete forms before their appointment on any device, with their progress saved if they come back later.
- You want an iPad kiosk in your waiting room for patient check-in.
If two or more of those describe your clinic, you’ve probably outgrown Cliniko’s native forms.
What clinics say after they switch
We asked. Consistently, three things come up.
The patient experience is visibly better. Patients comment on it. At PHYX Physiotherapy in Hong Kong, Sebastian Swarbreck sent a test form to a physiotherapist friend during his trial. The friend described it as a standout differentiator. Sebastian now considers Finger-Ink a competitive advantage he’d rather his competitors didn’t discover.
Finger-Ink helps us deliver that premium experience right from the start.
— Sebastian Swarbreck, CEO & Co-Founder, PHYX Physiotherapy
It saves real admin time. Luke at Richmond Rehab eliminated three manual jobs per new patient form submission. Before Finger-Ink, his team was re-keying data from paper into Cliniko, chasing incomplete forms, and scanning signatures. Finger-Ink syncs everything directly. His team doesn’t touch it.
It runs without intervention. The most common description we hear from long-standing customers is set and forget. Luke hasn’t logged into the Finger-Ink portal in six months. There’s been nothing to fix, nothing to adjust, nothing that’s broken. The forms are live, they sync, and they just work.
How Finger-Ink works alongside Cliniko
Finger-Ink doesn’t replace Cliniko. It extends it.
You connect Finger-Ink to Cliniko with an API key — about ten minutes. You build your forms in Finger-Ink’s form builder, brand them with your clinic’s colours and logo, set up your conditional logic, and map your fields to the corresponding Cliniko patient record fields. Then you publish. Forms can be sent to patients as a web link before their appointment, filled in on an iPad in the clinic, or both.
Cliniko’s native forms continue to work exactly as they do now. You don’t need to turn anything off or migrate anything. Most clinics that upgrade keep Cliniko’s native forms active for simple, internal use while using Finger-Ink for patient-facing intake and consent.
Setup takes most clinics under an hour. If you’d rather not build forms yourself, the Finger-Ink team can build them for you.
What it costs
Cliniko’s native forms are included in your Cliniko subscription. There’s no additional cost.
Finger-Ink is a separate subscription, priced per practitioner. You can see the full breakdown on the pricing page. Every plan starts with a free trial — no credit card required. You connect to Cliniko, build your forms, and see the difference before you pay anything.
The bottom line
Cliniko’s native forms are a good starting point. They handle the basics, they’re included, and for a clinic that needs simple intake, they’re the right choice.
Finger-Ink is what comes next. When your clinic needs branded patient forms, conditional logic, body charts, digital signatures, outcome scoring, and deeper Cliniko integration — all in a format that patients actually compliment — Finger-Ink picks up where Cliniko’s native forms leave off.
It’s not about replacing Cliniko. It’s about getting more from it.
