Imaging software is sold in three very different ways, and the one you accept decides what you pay for the rest of the decade. This page compares the models, the cost drivers behind them, and the questions that settle it.
AuraPACS is quoted after a short call, because an imaging quote is decided by your modalities, your study volume, how long you keep studies and where the system runs. The wider market prices imaging three ways: per study, by subscription for each modality or user, and as a licence you own with support alongside it. Those three behave very differently once five years have passed.
AuraPACS is hybrid. An on-premise node sits on your own network and keeps receiving and reading when the internet does not, while a thin cloud layer handles remote viewing and encrypted offsite backup. After activation the system runs on your network, so you are not paying a toll on every scan.
If you are still comparing architectures rather than commercial models, read cloud PACS versus on-premise PACS first.
Judge a model by its shape over time rather than by its opening number. Growth in your own volume is what separates them.
| Model | Year one | Year five | The clause to read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per study | Light to begin, easy to approve | Rises with every scan you perform and never stops | How the rate changes once volume crosses a band |
| Subscription per modality or user | Predictable monthly outgo | Still running, and larger after every new machine or radiologist | What is charged when you add a modality mid-term |
| Licence you own, with support | A larger initial commitment | Support continues, the system itself is already yours | What support covers and what is billed separately |
The per-study model deserves the hardest look, because it is the only one that punishes you for being busy: a centre that doubles its scans doubles its software bill. Subscription per modality is a milder version of the same problem, since the monthly figure moves the day you add an ultrasound or a new CT.
This is the single question that reorders most shortlists, and it is best asked while the supplier still wants your business.
Put it plainly: if we stop paying you next year, what happens to our studies. A good answer names the export format, says who performs it, how long it takes and whether it is chargeable, and confirms the images remain your records. A vague answer is itself the answer, so get the reply in writing and attached to the contract.
Hybrid matters commercially as well as technically. When the archive lives on your node and the cloud layer exists for remote viewing and backup, you are buying a system rather than renting access to your own images. The fuller checklist, including the test transfer worth insisting on, is in how to choose a PACS.
Because the honest answer depends on your modality mix, study volume, retention period and whether the node runs on hardware you already own. A single published number would suit almost nobody reading it, and the wrong one helps neither of us.
It is lighter at the start and open ended afterwards, because the meter runs for as long as you scan. Model it against your projected volume rather than today's, and compare that total with a system you own outright with support alongside it.
Storage is driven by your modality mix and retention period, since cross-sectional studies are far heavier than plain films. Estimate from one real month of output. With a hybrid setup the archive sits on your node, with encrypted offsite backup behind it.
Scoping covers how many modalities send to the system and how many people read remotely, because both affect the work involved. We do not want a model that makes you hesitate before connecting a machine you already own.
Yes. There is a live demo at pacs.elevateaura.co.in and a small Windows demo installer that runs against the demo server, so your radiologist and technician can judge the viewer and the worklist before any commercial discussion.
Ask every supplier, including us, for this in writing. Typically the machine the node runs on, your network and internet link, and any console licence your modality vendor controls sit outside the software quote.
Half an hour on a call with your modality list, your study volume and your retention needs is enough for us to scope the node, the storage and the setup, and to quote once instead of three times.
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