NovaScribe vs. Dragon Copilot (DAX): An AI Scribe Comparison for Independent Practices
If you searched for “DAX AI scribe,” the product you’re looking for has a new name. On March 3, 2025, Microsoft announced Dragon Copilot, which combines Dragon Medical One (its dictation product) and DAX Copilot (its ambient AI scribe) into one assistant. Microsoft said it would be generally available in the U.S. and Canada starting in May 2025.
Dragon Copilot is built for healthcare organizations of every size, and it’s a capable product. For a solo physician or a small group, the useful question is narrower: does it fit how your practice buys software, handles IT and gets paid? Below, we set what Microsoft and its resellers publish next to what NovaScribe offers, so you can decide for yourself.
Quick comparison
| NovaScribe | Microsoft Dragon Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | Free; Basic $99/mo; Professional $229/mo | No public list price. One reseller lists about $150/user/mo (Per User, annual billing) or $60/user/mo plus usage (Flex) |
| How you buy | Sign up online yourself | Through Microsoft or a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner |
| Commitment | Monthly or annual billing | 1-year or 3-year terms (reseller listing) |
| Free option | Free tier: 10 notes/month, no credit card | No free tier; trial licenses go through Microsoft’s project team |
| EHR workflow | Copy and paste into any EHR | Standalone apps with manual transfer into any EHR, or embedded in supported EHRs such as Epic |
| Coding tools | Professional tier: CPT with wRVU estimates, ICD-10, E/M level, MDM upgrade suggestions | AI coding prompts supporting ICD-10, HCC, E&M, SNOMED CT, CPT and more |
| IT setup | An account, plus the web app or the iOS or Android app | A Microsoft 365 tenant and Entra ID; Flex also needs a linked Azure subscription |
Prices are as of October 19, 2026. Microsoft doesn’t publish Dragon Copilot license prices, so always confirm them with a quote.
How each one is sold
On February 1, 2026, Microsoft launched a Dragon Copilot Physician Practice offer for “smaller and mid-sized organizations.” It was sold only through CSP partners and capped at 100 licenses per customer (Microsoft Partner Center, January 2026).
That offer reached end of sale on May 1, 2026. Microsoft said customers “will now have access to the full set of Dragon Copilot enterprise capabilities through the standard per-user license at the new price point” (Microsoft Partner Center, April 2026). Microsoft’s licensing guide lists the Microsoft Customer Agreement and CSP partners as the main ways to buy, with enterprise agreements when the Customer Agreement isn’t an option (Microsoft licensing guide).
NovaScribe is self-serve. You create an account, start on the free tier with no credit card, and upgrade when you’re ready. There’s no sales call and no partner in the middle.
Pricing: what DAX costs now
Microsoft doesn’t publish Dragon Copilot list prices. Its April 2026 announcement says only that the per-user license moved to “a reduced list price.” Older DAX price ranges you may find online date from before that change.
The most current figures we found come from reseller o365hq, which says it checks its listings against Microsoft’s NCE price list (as of October 2026):
- Physician Per User: $1,800 per user per year on annual billing (about $150 a month), or $157.50 a month on a 1-year term billed monthly.
- Physician Flex: $720 per user per year (about $60 a month). Each Flex license includes 10 AI-assisted sessions a month, shared among all Flex users in the organization. Extra sessions cost 25 consumption units at $0.01 each, or $0.25 a session. Unused sessions don’t roll over, and Flex requires a linked Azure subscription (Microsoft licensing guide).
The same listing says commitments run 1 or 3 years, with a 7-day cancellation window. Seats can be added at any time but can’t be reduced until renewal.
NovaScribe publishes its prices: Free ($0, 10 notes a month), Basic ($99 a month or $999 a year) and Professional ($229 a month or $2,299 a year). Basic excludes the billing tools. Professional includes them.
Annual license cost for a 3-provider group
| Option | Basis | 12-month cost |
|---|---|---|
| NovaScribe Basic, annual | $999 x 3 | $2,997 |
| Dragon Copilot Physician Per User, annual billing | $1,800 x 3 | $5,400 |
| Dragon Copilot Physician Flex, with usage (example below) | $2,160 licenses + $3,510 sessions | $5,670 |
| NovaScribe Professional, annual | $2,299 x 3 | $6,897 |
| NovaScribe Professional, monthly | $229 x 12 x 3 | $8,244 |
The Flex example assumes each provider sees 20 patients a day on 20 clinic days a month, and each visit uses one AI-assisted session. That’s 1,200 sessions a month, minus 30 included, or 1,170 extra sessions at $0.25 each ($292.50 a month).
On license price alone, Dragon Copilot Per User costs less than NovaScribe Professional at these reseller prices. The differences show up in how you commit and what you need in place. Dragon Copilot asks for a 1- or 3-year term you can’t scale down mid-term, a Microsoft 365 and Entra setup, and a conversation with Microsoft or a partner before you try it. NovaScribe lets you test every Professional feature free, then pay month to month.
IT and setup
Dragon Copilot runs on Microsoft’s identity platform. Microsoft says, “If your organization is a first-time Microsoft 365 customer, either your partner or you and your Microsoft representative set up your free Microsoft 365 subscription and free Entra account.” Microsoft’s setup checklist includes assigning licenses to users in Microsoft Entra. Flex also needs an Azure subscription linked to the Dragon admin center.
You can use Dragon Copilot outside an EHR. Microsoft says its web, desktop and mobile standalone apps let users “manually transfer the content into their EHR of choice.”
NovaScribe has no tenant to configure. You record the visit in the web app or the iOS or Android app, review the note, and paste it into whatever EHR you use, including Epic, Cerner and athenahealth. NovaScribe is HIPAA compliant, and there’s no integration project.
Revenue and billing tools
Both products help with coding, so the difference is in the detail.
Microsoft’s support documentation says Dragon Copilot’s AI coding prompts support “ICD-10, HCC, E&M, SNOMED CT, CPT, and more.” You can ask for suggested codes, add codes to a note’s assessment and plan, or set prompts to run automatically (Microsoft Support).
NovaScribe Professional builds billing review into every note:
- CPT code suggestions with wRVU and dollar estimates, including counseling and time-based services.
- ICD-10 codes, validated against CMS code sets.
- E/M level analysis.
- MDM upgrade suggestions that flag when your documentation supports a higher E/M level.
If you’re paid on wRVUs or collections, seeing the wRVU value next to each code shows you what a visit is worth before you sign. Microsoft’s coding documentation doesn’t mention wRVU estimates.
Where Dragon Copilot is the better fit
Dragon Copilot makes sense for organizations that:
- Already run on Microsoft 365, Entra and Azure, with IT staff to manage licenses.
- Want the scribe embedded inside a supported EHR such as Epic, rather than copying notes over (Microsoft).
- Want Dragon’s dictation and ambient documentation in one product.
- Need central administration across many clinicians under an enterprise agreement.
If that’s your organization, Dragon Copilot is a strong option.
Who NovaScribe is built for
NovaScribe was built by Patrick Proctor, MD, FACC, a board-certified cardiologist at Heart South Cardiovascular Group in Alabaster, Alabama. When his daughter turned three, he realized documentation was taking his evenings. “I was watching her grow up through a screen, typing chart notes instead of being present,” he says.
He tried several leading scribes first. Some were slow, some fell short of his standards for note quality, and some cost too much for a cardiology practice. He’s also a programmer, so he built his own, without venture capital. “I built NovaScribe so I could be a better father without being a worse doctor.”
That’s why NovaScribe is aimed at independent physicians and small groups, especially those paid on productivity. It works with any EHR, has published prices, and includes billing tools on the Professional tier.
“After trialing several medical scribe softwares, I can confidently say that novascribe is the best product on the market. It has saved me immense time every day and creates top notch notes as per my customized preferences. The add-on features are unparalleled. I strongly recommend this for every clinician to improve their efficiency and create high quality documentation everyday.” Nirmanmoh Bhatia, MD, FACC
FAQ
Is DAX the same as Dragon Copilot? Yes. In March 2025, Microsoft combined DAX Copilot and Dragon Medical One into Microsoft Dragon Copilot.
How much does DAX cost? Microsoft doesn’t publish list prices. As of October 2026, one reseller lists the Physician Per User license at $1,800 a year on annual billing, about $150 a month. The Physician Flex license is $720 a year plus $0.25 for each AI-assisted session beyond the 10 included per license each month. Ask Microsoft or a partner for a quote.
Is DAX worth it for a small practice? It depends on your setup. If you already use Microsoft 365, want EHR-embedded documentation and can commit to a 1- or 3-year term, Dragon Copilot is worth a look. If you want to try before you buy, pay month to month and paste notes into any EHR, NovaScribe is built for that.
Does Dragon Copilot have a free trial? Microsoft doesn’t offer a self-serve trial. Its setup checklist says trial licenses come through the Microsoft clinical application specialist or account executive on your project team.
Does NovaScribe work with Epic? Yes. NovaScribe works with Epic and any other EHR by copy and paste, with no integration required.
Try NovaScribe free
Record your next 10 visits with NovaScribe for free. The free tier includes every Professional feature, including CPT codes with wRVU estimates, and needs no credit card.
