AVImark vs Cornerstone vs VETport (2026)
AVImark and Cornerstone are server based systems with very large installed bases, owned by Covetrus and IDEXX respectively. VETport is a cloud system used in more than 37 countries. The decisive difference in 2026 is not clinical features, which have converged, but remote access, update cadence and built in AI documentation.
AVImark vs Cornerstone vs VETport gets searched for because these three come up together on a lot of shortlists, and because two of them are among the most widely installed systems in North America. What follows is the honest version, including where VETport is not the right answer.
One disclosure before anything else: VETport is our product. We have tried to write this so that a practice reading it can tell when we are the wrong choice, because a comparison that cannot do that is not worth reading.
The structural difference
AVImark is a Covetrus product. Cornerstone is an IDEXX product. Both are installed on a server in your building. VETport has run in a browser since 2004.
That single difference produces most of the others. A server system cannot be opened from home without tunnelling, cannot update without you scheduling downtime, and needs someone to look after the hardware. A cloud system does none of those things and depends instead on your internet connection.
Where each one is strongest
| AVImark | Cornerstone | VETport | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Server | Server | Cloud |
| Owned by | Covetrus | IDEXX | Vetport LLC |
| Remote access | VPN | VPN | Browser |
| Updates | Scheduled downtime | Scheduled downtime | Continuous |
| Native AI documentation | No | No | Yes, via Coggo |
| Diagnostic integration | Broad | Deepest with IDEXX | Broad |
| Installed base | Very large | Very large | 37+ countries |
AVImark
The strongest argument for AVImark is people. Its installed base is large enough that experienced staff often arrive already knowing it, which shortens training and reduces the risk of a change going wrong. Its inventory and reporting are mature, and a practice with in house technical support runs it perfectly happily.
The argument against it is the same as for any server product in 2026: no browser access, updates that need downtime, and hardware you own. If none of those matter to you, they are not problems.
Cornerstone
Cornerstone makes most sense for a practice that has standardised on IDEXX diagnostics. The integration between the analysers and the record is the deepest available, and if your laboratory workflow is the busiest thing you do, that is a real advantage.
It carries the same server based trade offs as AVImark. It is also worth being aware that choosing Cornerstone ties your software and your diagnostics to one supplier, which some practices want and others deliberately avoid.
VETport
VETport suits practices running more than one site, practices operating across countries or currencies, and practices that want the medical record rather than the invoice to drive the workflow. Because it is cloud based, a second location needs no second server, and clinicians can finish records from home.
Coggo produces the consultation note from the spoken consultation inside the same system, which is the capability gap that has opened up between cloud and server products over the last two years.
VETport is not the right answer for every practice. If you are a single site clinic with a server that works, staff who know AVImark well, and no interest in remote access, the honest advice is that switching will cost you more in disruption than you will get back.
Which one should I choose?
Answer three questions before you look at any of them.
Does anyone need to work from outside the building. If yes, that points to cloud and the rest is detail. Is your laboratory workflow the busiest thing in the practice, and is it all IDEXX. If yes, Cornerstone deserves a serious look. Do you have in house technical support and a server you are happy with. If yes, staying put is a legitimate answer that nobody selling software will give you.
Then run each demonstration yourself against your three most repeated workflows, and ask every vendor to write down the total first year cost including migration and training.
If you do decide to move
Migration is where these projects go wrong, not selection. Ask exactly what comes across, in what format, and whether attachments come with it. Switching veterinary software covers the rest, and our 2026 comparison of ten systems widens the shortlist if these three are not it.
