Dragon Medical One vs Microsoft Dragon Copilot at a glance
| Dragon Medical One | Microsoft Dragon Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Clinicians who prefer to dictate into the EHR | Organizations wanting ambient notes plus dictation from one vendor |
| Practice size | Single clinicians to health systems | Mainly groups and health systems; sold per user |
| Starting price | About $99 per user per month on a 1-year contract, plus a $525 setup fee (reseller pricing) | Not published |
| Pricing model | Annual subscription through Microsoft and resellers; longer terms available | Per-user license through Microsoft or partners; ambient use billed per encounter since May 2026 (third-party report) |
| Core approach | Real-time speech recognition, voice commands and text templates | Ambient conversation capture and note drafting, plus dictation, coding suggestions and AI tasks |
| EHR integrations | Dictates into most EHRs; Microsoft names Epic Haiku, Canto and Rover, Oracle Cerner PowerChart Touch and MEDITECH Expanse | Embedded in Epic; Microsoft lists athenahealth and MEDITECH partnerships and SDKs for other EHRs |
| HIPAA / BAA | Not published on the product page; confirm BAA in your contract | Built to support HIPAA; SOC 2 Type II; BAA terms not published |
| Platforms | Installed on local workstations or deployed through virtual desktops; PowerMic Mobile turns a smartphone into a microphone | Web, desktop and mobile apps, or embedded in a supported EHR |
| Notable strength | Mature dictation with a cloud voice profile that follows the user | Ambient drafting and dictation in one product, with nursing and radiology versions |
| Main drawback | Does not draft notes from the patient conversation | No public price; licensing changed in 2026 |
Key differences
Documentation approach
Dragon Medical One converts speech to text as the clinician talks, with a medical vocabulary and voice commands, so the clinician still composes the note. Dragon Copilot records the clinician-patient conversation, with patient consent, and drafts the note for review. Microsoft's March 2025 announcement describes it as combining the dictation of Dragon Medical One with the ambient listening of DAX Copilot. It also suggests orders and codes, drafts referral letters and summaries, and answers clinical questions from internal and external sources.
Pricing and contracts
Microsoft publishes no price for either product. A physician-run reseller, Speech Recognition Solutions, lists Dragon Medical One at $99 a month on a one-year contract, or $1,188 paid upfront, plus a one-time $525 implementation fee, with longer contracts by request. Dragon Copilot is quoted per user. Schneider IT Management, a licensing adviser, reports that from May 1, 2026 Microsoft cut the Dragon Copilot per-user list price, retired its Physician Practice offer and moved usage billing for ambient and generative AI to a per-encounter basis, instead of per note or per AI action. Ask for the license price and expected usage charges in writing.
EHR integration and workflow
DMO works by placing the cursor in an EHR field and dictating, which is why it fits almost any EHR; resellers can deploy it on local workstations or through virtual desktops. Dragon Copilot can run as a standalone web, desktop or mobile app, in which case the clinician transfers the finished note into the EHR. It can also be embedded through Microsoft's developer kit, so recording and editing happen inside the EHR. Microsoft names Epic, including Epic Rover for nurses, and lists athenahealth and MEDITECH as partners.
Roadmap and migration
Microsoft's Dragon Medical One page now promotes migrating to Dragon Copilot and asks customers to contact Microsoft about it. It does not announce an end-of-sale date. Dragon Copilot is available to physicians in ten countries, including the US and Canada, to nurses in the US only, and to radiologists in a US preview alongside PowerScribe One. Practices signing a multi-year DMO term should ask what migration will cost.
Security
Microsoft's Dragon Copilot FAQ says it was built to support HIPAA, PIPEDA and GDPR, lists SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II, encrypts data with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2 or 1.3 in transit, and keeps audio and transcripts for up to 90 days. Microsoft does not publish a comparable security page for Dragon Medical One, so practices buying it through a reseller should request the BAA and security terms in writing.
Which should you choose?
The question is whether your clinicians want to keep dictating or want the note drafted for them. Dragon Copilot is where Microsoft is putting new features.
Choose Dragon Medical One if:
- Your clinicians already dictate and are satisfied with that workflow
- You want a reseller price you can budget before talking to sales
- You use an EHR that is not on Dragon Copilot's embedded integration list
Choose Dragon Copilot if:
- You want ambient note drafting without giving up dictation
- You run Epic or another supported EHR and want the workflow inside it
- You need nursing documentation or radiology reporting from the same vendor
Practices that only want ambient notes at a published price can compare Freed, and those that only want dictation can look at Dolbey.