Yodl is team chat for your staff: channels, threads, files and a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for $10 a month per location. PhiClaw is an AI employee for medical practices, from $1,500 a month, that does work for the practice and includes Yodl team chat as the place where staff and the AI talk. If you only need your team out of WhatsApp, buy Yodl. If you want an AI employee, PhiClaw already comes with the chat.
The one-sentence difference
Yodl is a place for people to talk. PhiClaw is a worker that joins the conversation and does things. Both come from the same company in Miami, and the chat inside PhiClaw is Yodl, which is why the question comes up so often.
What Yodl does
Yodl is Slack-style team chat built for small healthcare teams: public and private channels, direct messages, threads, reactions, file sharing with previews, full-text search, channel roles, invite-only membership, passkeys, an audit viewer, retention and legal hold. It signs a BAA, the contract in which a vendor accepts HIPAA obligations for the protected health information (PHI) it handles, with every customer. PHI is any detail that identifies a patient and relates to their care, which is most of what a front desk says in a day.
It costs $10 a month per location, with 5 users and 20 GB included, $2 per extra user, and an optional $20 API add-on. It does not make calls, send SMS or message patients. See features for the full list.
What PhiClaw does
PhiClaw is an AI employee for medical practices. Inside a Yodl workspace it can sit in channels and direct messages, answer when @mentioned or always in a given channel, remember each room separately, read PDFs, spreadsheets and images, transcribe voice notes, search the web and reply with files. Beyond the chat, PhiClaw handles patient-facing communication, which Yodl deliberately does not.
PhiClaw starts at $1,500 a month and includes Yodl team chat. The current plans are on phiclaw.ai/pricing. The AI teammate is not part of the $10 Yodl plan; it is part of PhiClaw.
Side by side
| Yodl | PhiClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Staff team chat | AI employee for medical practices |
| Price | $10 a month per location (5 users, 20 GB) | From $1,500 a month |
| Who uses it | Your staff, with each other | Your staff, your patients, and the AI |
| Team chat included | Yes, that is the product | Yes, Yodl is the chat inside PhiClaw |
| AI teammate in channels | No (a PhiClaw product) | Yes |
| Patient messaging | No, staff only | Yes |
| Signed BAA | Yes, every plan | Yes |
| How you buy | Self-serve checkout, no sales call | See phiclaw.ai/pricing |
Four situations and the right pick
- Your five-person office uses a WhatsApp group for work and you want that to stop this month: buy Yodl. It is $10, it signs the BAA, and the team will recognize the layout.
- You want something that answers staff questions, reads the PDF someone dropped in a channel, and replies to patients: that is PhiClaw, and the chat comes with it.
- You already have PhiClaw: you already have Yodl. There is nothing to add.
- You start with Yodl and want the AI later: keep your workspace, channels and history, and add the AI teammate through PhiClaw when you are ready.
How they fit together day to day
Picture a #front-desk channel. Two coordinators post arrivals and cancellations, the office manager reads along as a Viewer, and the owner checks it at lunch. That is Yodl. Now a coordinator drops a three-page insurance letter into the channel and @mentions the AI teammate: "what is this asking us to do?" A summary comes back in the thread, with the deadline pulled out. That is PhiClaw, working inside the same channel and remembering that room's context next time. Patient replies happen through PhiClaw's patient-facing side, not in the staff channel, so the staff conversation stays staff only.
The workspace rules still apply to the AI: invite-only membership, channel roles and retention cover its messages like anyone else's, and the admin panel has an emergency AI stop if you ever want it silent right now.
The honest cost comparison
$10 and $1,500 are not competing prices for the same thing. Yodl replaces a group text. PhiClaw replaces hours of work a person would otherwise do, and it brings the chat along. A practice that only needs the first should not pay for the second, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong one. A practice that needs the second does not need to buy Yodl separately.
Yodl's own numbers are explained on the pricing page: $10 a month for 5 people with a signed BAA.
Yodl is the $10 staff chat. PhiClaw is the AI employee that includes it. Buy Yodl to get your team out of group texts; buy PhiClaw when you want a worker in the room, and the chat comes with it.
Frequently asked questions
Does PhiClaw include Yodl?
Yes. Yodl is the team chat inside PhiClaw. A PhiClaw customer does not need a separate Yodl subscription.
Can I add the PhiClaw AI teammate to a Yodl workspace later?
Yes. The AI teammate is a PhiClaw product, not part of the $10 plan, and it can join your existing channels and DMs when you are ready. Your history and channel setup stay as they are.
Does Yodl message patients?
No. Yodl is staff-to-staff chat only. Patient messaging is handled by PhiClaw and by Talkya, from the same company.
Why is PhiClaw so much more expensive than Yodl?
Because it does more. Yodl is a chat tool; PhiClaw is an AI employee that performs work for the practice and includes the chat. Pricing for PhiClaw is at phiclaw.ai/pricing.
Do both sign a BAA?
Yes. Yodl signs a BAA on every plan, including the $10 plan. PhiClaw is built as a HIPAA AI employee for medical practices, and its chat is Yodl.