Orthodontic care is one of the most significant out-of-pocket healthcare expenses many families face. Whether a patient is pursuing Invisalign, traditional aligners, or other orthodontic treatment, the cost of care can feel like a barrier — even when the patient is ready to move forward.

For orthodontic practices, flexible financing is no longer optional. Patients evaluate payment options as carefully as they evaluate the quality of care itself. The right financing solution can increase case acceptance rates, improve cash flow, and make treatment accessible to a broader range of patients.

Two platforms that serve orthodontic practices in this space are Cherry Payment Plans and OrthoFi. Both aim to help practices grow and help patients access care — but they approach the problem very differently. Cherry is a dedicated patient financing platform built for speed, simplicity, and accessibility across healthcare. OrthoFi is a comprehensive orthodontic practice management suite with patient financing as one component of a much larger operational platform.

Understanding the differences can help orthodontists, treatment coordinators, and patients make more informed decisions about which solution best fits their specific needs.

Cherry Payment Plans: How It Works

The key deciding factor for many orthodontic patients is often cost of treatment. From Invisalign clear aligners to traditional orthodontic treatment, oral health procedures represent a significant out-of-pocket investment. Without a straightforward payment option, many patients delay or walk away from care entirely. Cherry was built to solve that problem.

Cherry is a BNPL patient financing platform that gives patients a fast, accessible way to split treatment costs into predictable monthly payments. While it's widely used across orthodontic practices, Cherry's network spans far beyond orthodontics — with 60,000+ providers across dental, veterinary, med spa, dermatology, vision care, hearing care, plastic surgery, and wellness.

For patients, Cherry is designed to remove every barrier from the financing process:

• 35-second application from a mobile device or at the point of care
• Soft credit pull only — never affects credit score
• Instant approval decisions
• Up to 90% approval across all credit profiles, including those with less-than-perfect credit
• Financing up to $50,000
• Repayment terms from 1-60 months
• True 0% APR with no deferred interest for qualified borrowers

For practice owners, Cherry handles the financial side so the team can stay focused on patient care:

• Upfront payment within 2-3 business days
• Payment processing managed directly with patients — no collections burden on staff
• No setup fees or subscription costs — just a merchant fee per transaction (the lowest in the industry)
• Free marketing materials including social media templates, email templates, and in-office signage
• Dedicated customer support by phone number, email, and chat

OrthoFi: How It Works

OrthoFi is an orthodontic practice management platform that describes itself as an all-in-one solution combining cutting-edge technology with dedicated human expertise to help orthodontic practices drive growth, manage cash flow, and streamline operations.

Founded in Denver, Colorado by co-founder Dave Ternan and backed by private equity firm Accel-KKR, OrthoFi has partnered with 700+ orthodontic practices since its founding. The platform is built exclusively for the orthodontic industry.

OrthoFi's platform includes four core products:

• OrthoFi: The main platform, covering patient acquisition, intake automation, case acceptance tools, real-time analytics, and KPI dashboards. The platform's "Intelligent Flexibility" slider allows treatment coordinators to present personalized payment options to patients during consultations, with automated follow-ups and data-driven insights to support same-day conversion.
  
• AcceptCare: OrthoFi's patient financing solution, which connects patients with both a third-party lender network and an in-house financing option to provide flexible payment options across credit profiles. AcceptCare integrates case presentations with personalized financing options and automated follow-ups to increase case acceptance rates (more on this below).
  
• OrthoBanc: A patient accounts receivable solution that combines automation with human support to manage payment collections, resolve delinquency, and ensure no patient account goes unresolved. The OrthoFi team works alongside practices to keep patient payment accounts current and receivables healthy.
  
• Breeze: A patient intake and onboarding tool that automates forms, text reminders, and eligibility verification to streamline the new patient experience.

OrthoFi also offers insurance management capabilities — including real-time claim submissions and claims processing, insurance verification, insurance coverage confirmation, and reimbursement optimization across insurance plans and insurance providers.

The platform helps practices navigate insurance benefits and insurance company requirements more efficiently, alongside referral reporting and benchmarks to help practices compare performance against other OrthoFi practices.

Pricing is not publicly listed; practices are directed to book a demo at orthofi.com. OrthoFi also offers a library of educational resources including a blog, podcast, and webinar content for orthodontic practices.

Cherry vs OrthoFi: A Quick Comparison

Patient Financing: A Closer Look

Patient financing is where Cherry and OrthoFi overlap most directly — and where the differences matter most for both patients evaluating their payment options and orthodontists evaluating their financing partners.

Cherry Payment Plans

Cherry's entire platform is built around patient financing. For patients, the experience is designed to be fast and frictionless:

• 35-second mobile application with an instant decision
• No hard credit pull — ever
• Up to 90% approval across all credit profiles
• Financing up to $50,000 with repayment terms from 1-60 months
• True 0% APR with no deferred interest for qualified borrowers
• Repayment managed through a simple online dashboard using a debit card, credit card, or bank account

For orthodontic practices, Cherry pays upfront within 2-3 business days and charges the lowest merchant fees in the industry, with no setup costs or subscription fees. Because Cherry handles payment processing directly with patients, treatment coordinators aren't pulled into collections or repayment follow-ups — keeping workflows clean and focused on patient care.

OrthoFi — AcceptCare

AcceptCare operates on two tracks that work together to achieve high approval rates.

Track 1: Third-party financing

A single application is sent to a network of outside lenders simultaneously, with no impact to patients' credit scores. AcceptCare reports a 96% approval rate on this track, with interest-free financing available for qualifying borrowers and terms up to 60 months. Practices receive upfront payment from financing partners on this track. Specific promotional interest structures — including whether deferred interest may apply — are not publicly disclosed.

Track 2: In-Office Financing

The second track is in-office financing, where the practice itself is the lender — extending credit directly to patients. AcceptCare offers two in-office financing options: a short-term plan for less than 6 months, and an extended payment plan from 6-72 months.

The extended plan assesses patients' credit and checking account history (it’s unclear whether this requires a hard credit check), and AcceptCare reports a 99% approval rate on this track. Practices can earn up to 18% interest on loans they extend, and AcceptCare manages collections and past-due follow-up on the practice's behalf. However, because the practice is the lender, the practice carries the financial risk if patients default and collects payments over time rather than receiving upfront payment.

Both tracks are integrated into AcceptCare's case presentation workflow, with automated SMS and email follow-ups sent 1 day after treatment is presented, and every 7 days for up to 90 days.

As OrthoFi acknowledges on their own website, "most leading third-party financing lenders either restrict approvals to higher credit patients or offer unattractive options that don't convert" — which is why the in-office financing track exists as a complement for patients who may not qualify through third-party lenders, or where practices want more control over financing terms.

Key differences include:

• Cherry is a direct lender with consistent, transparent terms for every patient; AcceptCare combines third-party lenders (variable terms) with in-office financing where the practice carries the credit risk.
  
• Cherry offers financing up to $50,000; AcceptCare's third-party lender caps are not publicly disclosed, and in-office financing amounts are set by the practice itself.
  
• Cherry approves up to 90% of applicants across all credit profiles with a soft credit pull; AcceptCare reports a 96% approval rate on its third-party track — though as OrthoFi notes, many leading third-party lenders tend to restrict approvals to higher-credit patients. The in-office financing track reports 99% approval, but requires the practice to act as the lender and carry the default risk.
  
• Cherry offers true 0% APR with no deferred interest for qualified borrowers; AcceptCare's third-party track advertises interest-free financing for qualifying borrowers, but specific interest structures — including whether deferred interest may apply — are not publicly disclosed. The in-office financing track charges patients interest at rates determined by the practice.
  
• Cherry charges no setup fees and practices only pay when the patient goes forward with financing; OrthoFi's pricing and fees are not publicly listed.
  
• Cherry pays practices upfront within 2-3 business days with no financial risk to the practice; AcceptCare's third-party track provides upfront payment from lenders, but the in-office financing track means practices collect over time and carry the default risk themselves.

Practice Operations and Workflow

One of the most significant differences between Cherry and OrthoFi is the scope of what each platform covers for orthodontic practices.

OrthoFi

OrthoFi is designed to be a comprehensive revenue cycle management solution. Beyond patient financing, it covers:

• Insurance claims, claim submissions, and insurance management
• Insurance coverage verification and reimbursements across insurance plans and providers
• Patient accounts receivable and collections via OrthoBanc
• New patient onboarding and patient management
• Real-time analytics, KPI dashboards, and benchmarks

For orthodontic practices looking to consolidate operational workflows and optimize practice growth, OrthoFi's breadth can be a meaningful advantage. Its metrics tools give practice owners a data-driven view of performance, helping them deliver high-quality orthodontic care and patient management while keeping the business side running efficiently. The platform's focus on quality care is reflected in its combination of cutting-edge technology and dedicated human support across every part of the practice workflow.

Cherry Payment Plans

Cherry's operational footprint is intentionally leaner. Practices offer Cherry at the point of care, Cherry pays out within 2-3 business days, and Cherry manages payment processing directly with patients from there. There are no insurance management tools, no collections infrastructure, and no practice analytics dashboards — but for many practices, that simplicity is exactly what they need from a financing partner. Rather than adding complexity to workflows, Cherry removes it.

For treatment coordinators specifically, Cherry's 35-second application and instant approval decisions mean financing conversations happen quickly and don't disrupt the flow of a consultation. Patients get an answer before they leave the office.

Key differences include:

• OrthoFi covers a broad operational surface including insurance management, collections, AR, and analytics; Cherry specializes in patient financing
  
• Cherry's simplicity keeps treatment coordinator workflows clean; OrthoFi's comprehensive platform may require more staff training and onboarding
  
• Cherry connects with practice management software via API; OrthoFi is designed as a standalone practice management system
  
• OrthoFi's OrthoBanc addresses delinquency and collections; Cherry manages repayment directly with patients, removing that burden from practices entirely

Specialties and Scope

The range of healthcare specialties each platform serves is one of the starkest differences between Cherry and OrthoFi — and an important consideration for both patients and practice owners evaluating their options.

OrthoFi

OrthoFi is built exclusively for orthodontic practices. Its tools — from insurance verification to case acceptance workflows to OrthoBanc collections — are purpose-built for the orthodontic industry, and that specialization is a genuine strength for orthodontists who want a platform that speaks their language.

Cherry Payment Plans

Cherry serves orthodontic practices as one part of a broader healthcare network. With 60,000+ providers spanning dental, orthodontics, veterinary, med spa, dermatology, vision, hearing, and wellness, Cherry's infrastructure is built for scale across specialties. For practice owners who operate across multiple locations or specialties — or for patients who finance care across different providers — Cherry's breadth offers a level of flexibility that an orthodontics-only platform can't match.

Final Thoughts on Cherry vs OrthoFi

Cherry and OrthoFi are built to solve different problems — and understanding that distinction makes the comparison straightforward.

• OrthoFi is a comprehensive orthodontic practice management platform, purpose-built for the orthodontic industry. For practices that want a single system to manage insurance claims, patient accounts, collections, analytics, and financing, OrthoFi offers deep functionality across all of those areas. Its AcceptCare financing solution combines a third-party lender network — with upfront payment to practices and a reported 96% approval rate — with an in-office financing option where the practice acts as the lender.
  
• Cherry is a best-in-class patient financing platform that serves orthodontic practices as part of a broader network of 60,000+ healthcare providers. With a 35-second application, up to 90% approval rate, true 0% APR with no deferred interest, and the lowest merchant fees in the industry, Cherry makes it easier for more patients to say yes to the orthodontic care they need — without asking practices to act as the bank, carry default risk, or wait on repayment from patients they've financed themselves.

For practices that want a dedicated financing partner focused on speed, accessibility, and simplicity, Cherry delivers. Want to see what Cherry can do for your dental practice? Find out why providers choose to offer Cherry first more than 80% of the time over competitors. Claim your personalized demo today.