AVImark review
A long-established, server-based system with a large North American installed base. Dependable and familiar, and showing its age.
The short version
Reliable and deeply familiar to the staff who use it. The recurring complaint is not a missing feature, it is age.
Best for: Single-site practices with stable hardware, staff who already know it, and a genuine need to keep working through an internet outage.
Strengths
- Works without an internet connection, which still matters in rural practice
- Staff often arrive already trained on it
- Imports lab work from in-house machines
- Records stay physically on your own server
Trade-offs
- Users report the software slowing and crashing, and server downtime
- Widely described as dated: an older application that has been repeatedly patched
- Interface is not considered intuitive by many reviewers
- Server, backups and hardware remain the practice's responsibility
AVImark is a server-based practice management system with a long history in North American small-animal practice, now part of the Covetrus portfolio. It holds a 4.1 out of 5 across 599 verified reviews on Capterra, which is a solid score for software of its age and installed base.
What users consistently praise
Reliability and familiarity dominate the positive reviews. Reviewers describe it as dependable, straightforward to train new staff on, and well organised in how patient files and scheduling are laid out. Compatibility with importing lab work from in-house machines comes up repeatedly.
One advantage is easy to overlook until you lose it: because the system runs on a server in your building, an internet outage does not stop you working. For practices in areas with unreliable connectivity, that is not a nostalgic preference, it is an operational requirement.
What users consistently raise
Two themes recur. The first is performance: reviewers report the software becoming slow, and the server going down. The second is age. Reviewers describe it as clearly dated, an application written a long time ago and continually patched rather than rebuilt, and not moving in the direction of being more intuitive.
That is the honest summary. It is not that AVImark fails at what it does. It is that the experience of using it reflects when it was designed.
Ownership
AVImark is owned by Covetrus, which also sells distribution and pharmacy services to practices. That is worth knowing when you evaluate which suppliers it integrates with, and we have written separately about who owns what across the category.
Who it suits
Single-site practices with working hardware, someone competent maintaining it, and a team that already knows the system. If none of those apply, and particularly if you are opening a second location or want staff working remotely, the structural limits will matter more than the feature list.
What we do not know yet
Aggregate ratings tell you how a broad population feels. They do not tell you how a practice like yours feels. That is what our survey is for, and once we hold enough responses for a given system we publish that breakdown here alongside the public numbers.
Ratings and recurring themes from Capterra's AVImark reviews, checked August 2026. Ratings move; tell us if this is out of date.
Systems covered here
- AVImark
About the author
Jan PieterseEditor
Jan edits The Best Vet Software, and reviews everything published here before it goes out.