Headline subscription prices are the least useful number in this category, because feedback tools, membership discounts, VAT treatment and whether you end up running a second product underneath your system of record all change the real annual cost considerably. This article works through the actual figures rather than the marketed ones, and every price below should be treated as accurate at the date this article was last verified, since this category's pricing moves.
The platforms, priced properly
GP Tools: the first year genuinely free, then £39.99 annually thereafter, with patient and colleague feedback tools included in that price rather than charged separately. FourteenFish: £49.99 standard, £34.99 for RCGP members, and free for up to five years for eligible First5 GPs with CCT from 2021 onwards while remaining RCGP members; confirm current feedback-tool pricing directly, since this detail changes. Agilio Clarity: £99 plus VAT for advertising-supported Essentials, £130 plus VAT for advertising-free Essentials, £185 plus VAT for Pro, and £30 plus VAT specifically for doctors qualified within the previous five years, with electronic feedback included in the packages. Umbil: current published pricing sits on vendor social material rather than a conventional pricing page, Pro at £24 a month and a team plan at £199 a month for up to ten clinicians, and critically, Umbil is not yet confirmed as a complete system of record, meaning its cost should be added to, not compared directly against, whichever submission platform you also need. BMJ Portfolio: free, and again not the appraisal system itself, meaning its zero cost sits alongside whatever you pay for actual submission. GPnotebook Pro: £7.99 a month or £71.88 annually, also a learning layer rather than a submission platform. And the regional mandated systems, SOAR in Scotland and MARS in Wales, provided through national arrangements rather than purchased individually.
The calculations that actually matter
First-year cost: GP Tools and eligible FourteenFish First5 users both start at zero; a non-eligible established GP compares £34.99 as an RCGP member against £39.99 flat at GP Tools, a narrow gap. Five-year cost at unchanged pricing: an eligible First5 GP on FourteenFish pays nothing across the full five years the offer covers; a GP Tools user pays roughly £160 across the same period after the first free year; an RCGP-member FourteenFish user outside the First5 offer pays roughly £175 across five years at current member pricing. Cost in a PSQ or MSF year specifically: GP Tools and Clarity both include feedback tools in their standard price, meaning no additional charge in a feedback year; confirm FourteenFish's current feedback-tool arrangement directly, since bundling terms are exactly the kind of detail that changes between pricing updates. Cost for RCGP members versus non-members: the gap is largest at FourteenFish, whose non-member standard price sits meaningfully above its member rate, while GP Tools and Clarity's newly-qualified rate are membership-independent throughout. Cost where the practice already funds Clarity: effectively zero to the individual GP, making this the cheapest option in practice regardless of headline pricing, provided the practice arrangement continues. And the cost of a genuinely two-product stack, a system of record plus a learning layer: add GP Tools, FourteenFish or Clarity's cost to BMJ Portfolio's zero, GPnotebook Pro's roughly £72 annually, or Umbil's roughly £288 annually at the Pro rate, depending on which capture layer you choose to run alongside your submission platform.
The editorial rule this article follows
Every figure above is dated to the point this article was last checked directly against each vendor's current published pricing, and this category moves often enough that a figure confirmed accurate at publication can be stale within months. Treat this article as a calculation method more than a permanently fixed price list, and re-verify the specific figures relevant to your own decision directly with each vendor before committing.
Frequently asked questions
Is GP Tools always the cheapest option?
Not always: an eligible First5 RCGP member on FourteenFish pays nothing for up to five years, genuinely cheaper than GP Tools' first-free-year-then-£39.99 structure over that same period, making eligibility status the decisive variable rather than either platform being universally cheapest.
Does a free learning layer like BMJ Portfolio make the overall stack cheaper than a paid one like Umbil?
Yes in direct cost terms, and the fair comparison also weighs what each actually does for that cost: BMJ Portfolio's free tracking of BMJ Learning activity and Umbil's paid, workflow-derived capture from your actual clinical questions are different depths of service, not simply the same product at two price points.
Should I choose a platform based on price alone?
No: appraiser familiarity, your nation's mandated system where relevant, and whether a platform genuinely fits your working pattern all matter alongside cost, and this article's calculations are meant to remove pricing confusion from the decision, not to replace the other factors entirely.