Portrait vs Symplast: The Best Option for Med Spas

If you're choosing between Portrait and Symplast for your med spa, here’s the bottom line: Portrait gives you way more features and support for growing your business, while Symplast allows you want to run everything from your phone.

Pricing, supply savings, and hands-on support make Portrait the stronger pick for clinic owners who want to scale fast and save money. Symplast’s mobile-first setup draws some providers, but the tools stop at practice management.

Here's everything you need to know so you can pick the best software for your med spa.

Portrait vs Symplast: A Quick Overview

Portrait

Portrait started in 2019 and now powers over 500 med spas across the US. It's basically an all-in-one system where you access EHR, scheduling, payments, inventory, medical oversight, marketing services, and supply savings in one dashboard. Portrait works best for clinics that don't want to manage a pile of different apps or tools.

Portrait offers these key features:

• Unified dashboard combining EHR, scheduling, and payment processing
• Inventory management and medical oversight tools
• Integrated marketing services to drive growth
• Access to significant supply savings

Symplast

Symplast launched in 2013 and positions itself as the first all-mobile med spa software. Plastic surgeons founded this platform to let you handle almost everything from your phone, including clinical and administrative tasks. The dedicated patient app keeps your clients in the loop and helps them interact with you whenever they need.

Symplast allows you to perform these tasks from your mobile device:

• Full EHR documentation and appointment scheduling
• Billing management and telehealth sessions
• Patient engagement workflows
• Client communication via a dedicated patient app

Both systems work for the aesthetics and wellness world, but what you actually get and how much you pay differs between them. Portrait prioritizes growth and support structures, while Symplast focuses on simplifying mobile practice operations.

Key Features for Med Spas

Med spa owners care about four things: scheduling, patient management, billing, and reporting. Here’s how Portrait and Symplast stack up:

• Scheduling and online booking: With Portrait, you get scheduling tools that put online bookings right into your calendar, send automated reminders, and cut back on no-shows. You can squeeze the most out of every provider’s schedule. Symplast lets you handle bookings by phone too, so you’re covered when you’re not at your desk.
• Patient management and EHR: Portrait brings together EHR, CRM, marketing automation, analytics, and scheduling in one simple system. That means tracking patient history, unlimited record keeping, and smart intake forms are all automatic. Symplast is also all-in-one, but puts a lot of focus on plastic surgery and highly aesthetic workflows, always from a mobile-first view.
• Billing and payments: Portrait builds payment processing right in, and everything follows a CPOM-compliant payment path. Your inventory updates itself after every service, so you’ll get reorder alerts automatically. Symplast has built-in billing within its practice management suite, but it's not as upfront about how payments run.
• Reporting and management: Portrait’s dashboard tracks your KPIs in real time, so you can pull insights on what’s working for your clinic. Symplast also lets you track big metrics from anywhere with mobile reporting.

Where they split is how integrated the tools are. Portrait acts like your whole clinic’s control center, not just software. You get operations support, marketing, and supply-chain deals. Symplast helps you manage your practice efficiently but doesn’t go deep into growth support or marketing services.

Software Functionality and Ease of Use

You want med spa software that’s fast, easy, and just works. Portrait uses a modern interface that makes EHR management simple and safe. It automates a ton of tedious stuff, from intake to billing, so you click less and get more done. When a patient books online, their intake forms get attached to their records, MD oversight is triggered for Good Faith Exams, and inventory updates after every session. It all runs smoothly in one line.

Symplast’s main feature is its mobile-first design. You can run your practice right from your phone.

For compliance and security, both options are HIPAA-compliant. Portrait highlights advanced security and HIPAA compliance. Symplast offers a cloud-based secure platform that keeps aesthetic practice data protected from start to finish.

Price is a big deal. Portrait’s integrated EHR is free if you have under 50 patients. Once you grow, it’s $99 per month per location. Symplast starts at $300 a month—that’s three times as much once you pass Portrait’s free tier.

Scalability and Growth Support

Portrait isn’t just software. You get help with launching, all-in-one business tools, and real marketing support. If you’re starting a new med spa, they’ve got programs to launch in just 15 days. You’ll get help with licensing, legal formation, branding, a pro website, SEO, and paid ads.

For clinics that are open already, Portrait’s marketing team handles your site, SEO, paid ads, social posts, and automations. You won’t need to hire an outside marketer. The Marketing Autopilot uses AI to fill up your appointment schedule for you.

If you’re running a larger clinic (over $500k in revenue), the Ascend program brings you proven tips, automations, and coaching to help you scale further. Clinics report up to 50% profit margins, 80% or higher client retention, and a 20%+ bump in pricing and conversion rates.

Symplast gives you practice management and patient engagement in one system. You get EHR, billing, marketing basics, before-and-after photos, scheduling, and messages. But they don’t offer the same deep marketing help, launch services, or one-on-one growth consulting you get with Portrait.

Compliance and Security Features

If you’re worried about compliance, Portrait’s got you covered. Medical oversight isn’t just an extra, it comes built in. You get MD matching, automated Good Faith Exams, policies and protocols, and direct medical support. Access a network of licensed Medical Directors in your region and specialty.

If you use the MSO-PC model, Portrait’s membership program keeps you compliant. They offer medical directors, regulatory resources, clinic policies, and secure messaging. There’s a clear focus on HIPAA security and privacy throughout.

Portrait even teamed up with ByrdAdatto, a law firm known for healthcare compliance, so you know you’re following industry standards.

Symplast is also HIPAA-compliant and cloud-based, so your data will stay safe. But Symplast doesn’t dive as deep into medical oversight, MD matching, or regulatory consulting as Portrait does.

Supply Savings and Partnerships

This is a huge benefit for Portrait users. You’ll get up to 60% in supply savings through bulk buying on meds, equipment, and other essentials. Their Marketplace gives your small clinic the kind of discounts big chains get, including on injectables, HRT, peptides, IV/IM therapies, and more.

The Portrait Rewards Program means every supply purchase earns you points for even bigger perks. There are loyalty tiers, Bronze through Diamond, that add more VIP benefits and free services as you buy more.

Symplast doesn’t have a supply-chain rewards program or big vendor deals. Their focus is pure software and mobile usability.

Since supplies are a clinic’s biggest expense, Portrait’s group buying and savings put cash right back in your budget month after month.

Making the Right Choice for Your Clinic

If you just want basic EHR and like working from your phone, Symplast is easy to use, especially for plastic surgeons and med spas that are always on the move. It handles core practice needs and offers a great client app.

If you want a fully loaded system, including EHR, scheduling, payments, charts, inventory, compliance, marketing, guidance, even supply savings, then Portrait is built to help your clinic launch, grow, and protect your bottom line. You’ll pay nothing if you’re under 50 patients, and just $99 a month per site once you level up. No revenue splits or contracts. You get three times as much value compared to Symplast’s entry tier, plus real growth help.

You can save thousands every month on injectables and medical supplies just by switching to Portrait. With their marketing support, built-in clinical compliance, and coaching for expansion, you’re not just buying software, you’re getting a business partner.

Want to see how Portrait helps you work smarter and scale faster? Check out the Portrait platform and see how one tool takes care of your software, clinic tasks, and supplies, so you can do more for your patients.