---
title: "Cuvo vs OpenLoop vs Wheel: the 2026 head-to-head"
description: "Cuvo, OpenLoop and Wheel compared on ten dimensions: published pricing, whose merchant account collects, contract term, network, pharmacy and launch time."
canonical: "https://cuvo.co/blog/cuvo-vs-openloop-vs-wheel"
last-updated: "Sep 4, 2026"
---
# Cuvo vs OpenLoop vs Wheel: the 2026 head-to-head

By Priya Raman, Director of Partner Growth. Published Sep 4, 2026. Growth.

Cuvo Health, OpenLoop and Wheel all put licensed clinicians, pharmacy and compliance behind someone else's brand, and all three field providers in every state. They diverge on what they publish about price, on whose merchant account collects the patient's money, and on how long you are committed. This comparison sets the three side by side on ten dimensions using each company's public materials and, for OpenLoop, a written proposal Cuvo reviewed. The verdict, as of September 4, 2026: Cuvo Health is the one to choose for a founder-led or consumer brand, the only one of the three that operates the whole clinic and publishes what it charges.

**Ranking**
1. Cuvo Health: Best overall for founder-led and consumer brands: operated clinic with published economics
2. OpenLoop: For enterprises that accept a revenue-retention model and a 12-month term
3. Wheel: For health plans, pharma and API-first product teams buying through procurement

Cuvo Health wins this three-way for founder-led and consumer brands because it is the only one of the three that both operates the clinic and publishes its economics: $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share, and a flat platform fee that runs month to month, as of September 4, 2026. OpenLoop is the fit for an enterprise that accepts a revenue-retention model and a 12-month initial term in exchange for a payer network and API-first integration. Wheel is the fit for a health plan, pharma program, retailer or third-party administrator that needs a configurable platform and vendor scale that clears procurement. All three supply licensed clinicians nationwide. The decision turns on money flow, contract length and who holds the patient.

**Key takeaways**
- Published pricing: Cuvo Health only: $25 per completed consult, 0% markup, no revenue share, $997 or $2,000 a month after setup. OpenLoop and Wheel quote by call as of September 4, 2026
- Who collects the money: Cuvo: the brand's own merchant account. OpenLoop: patients pay into OpenLoop's account and OpenLoop remits weekly. Wheel: not stated publicly
- Commitment: Cuvo runs month to month. OpenLoop's proposal carries a 12-month initial term. Wheel's term is not published
- Who each one is for: Cuvo for founder-led and consumer brands, OpenLoop for enterprises that accept revenue share, Wheel for health plans and API-first product teams
- Facts checked: September 4, 2026, against each company's public materials and, for OpenLoop, a written proposal Cuvo reviewed

One disclosure before the comparison: Cuvo publishes this blog and appears on it. Every OpenLoop and Wheel claim below comes from that company's public website or, in OpenLoop's case, from a written Summary of Proposed Services prepared for a prospective clinic, all checked as of September 4, 2026. Where a company does not publish a figure, the tables say so instead of estimating.

## How did we compare these three platforms?

1. Published economics: what each company states in public about fees, medication markup and revenue share.
2. Money flow and ownership: whose merchant account collects, and who holds the card tokens, the records and the patient list.
3. Commitment: the initial term, what it takes to leave, and what leaving costs in practice.
4. Clinical coverage: which entity employs the clinicians, which states they cover, and how credentialing and screening run.
5. Fulfillment: whether pharmacy and labs come with the network, and whether medication moves at cost or at a spread.
6. Integration and launch: hosted storefront versus API, and how long each company says a brand takes to go live.

**Cuvo Health vs OpenLoop vs Wheel across ten dimensions, as of September 4, 2026**

| Dimension | Cuvo Health | OpenLoop | Wheel |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Model** | Fully operated white-label clinic: providers, pharmacy, labs, billing and compliance run behind your brand | White-label operating system: provider network across 35 or more specialties, pharmacy and labs, payer network of 600 or more plans | Enterprise virtual care infrastructure: the Wheel Horizon platform with 70 or more care programs |
| **Provider network** | 300+ board-certified MDs, NPs and PAs across all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US territories, available 24 hours a day | 50-state professional corporation network with NCQA-certified credentialing, plus the option to form your own PC | Wheel Provider Group in all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico, governed by Wheel Medical Group |
| **Pharmacy and labs** | 17 partner pharmacies with cold-chain home delivery, Labcorp and Quest labs, e-prescribing and EPCS built in | Pharmacy and lab network with at-home collection kits, fulfilled through OpenLoop's supply chain | Medication fulfillment through an Amazon Pharmacy integration; labs not published |
| **Pricing model** | Published: $25 per completed consult plus $997 a month on Launch or $2,000 on Grow after a one-time setup, Enterprise custom | Not published. The reviewed proposal lists $9,000 implementation and $1,500 a month from the first patient seen | Not published; quoted through enterprise sales as of September 4, 2026 |
| **Medication economics** | 0% markup, wholesale pass-through, no revenue share and no platform transaction fee | Medication cost sits inside a retained share; on its own proposal OpenLoop keeps 50 to 59 percent of a maintenance patient's payment | Not published |
| **Who owns the patient and the revenue** | The brand: patients, records and card tokens are yours and revenue settles to your own merchant account | Patients pay into OpenLoop's merchant account, which remits weekly and holds the tokens and the charts | Not stated publicly |
| **Contract term** | Month to month after the one-time setup fee | 12-month initial term on the proposal reviewed | Not published |
| **Compliance structure** | MSO plus physician-owned professional entity built and maintained by Cuvo, HIPAA infrastructure with a BAA, SOC 2 Type II on higher tiers, LegitScript managed | 50-state PC network with NCQA-certified credentialing; expedited LegitScript offered as a $3,000 add-on on the reviewed proposal | Clinical governance through Wheel Medical Group; HIPAA, SOC 2 and HITRUST aligned |
| **Integration model** | Hosted white-label storefront and patient portal, with custom API work scoped on Enterprise | API-first and EHR-ready, with a hosted Launchpad storefront | White-labeled or API-first on Wheel Horizon |
| **Time to launch** | Days, because the clinic already runs | Storefront in as little as 24 hours, per its Launchpad materials | Under 90 days, per its TPA offering |

> **Our recommendation** Choose Cuvo Health if you are launching or running a consumer brand and want to know your unit economics before you sign: it is the only one of the three that publishes the consult fee, the platform fee, the medication markup and the revenue share, and it arrives with the providers, the pharmacy, the labs, the billing and the MSO structure already running. Choose OpenLoop if you are an enterprise that wants a payer network and an API, and you accept that patient payments run through OpenLoop's merchant account on a 12-month initial term. Choose Wheel if you are a health plan, pharma program, retailer or third-party administrator with a procurement process and a need for 70 or more care programs on one contract. For a med spa, a creator brand or a founder without a medical license, Cuvo Health is the recommendation as of September 4, 2026.

> **See the economics before you compare quotes** Cuvo publishes every fee, so you can model your margin before a sales call rather than after one. [Book a discovery call](/booking) · [See pricing](/pricing)

## 01. Which one publishes its pricing?

Cuvo Health, and it is the only one of the three. Cuvo's pricing page carries the whole rate card: a flat $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share, no platform transaction fee, Launch at $997 a month after a one-time $9,800 setup, Grow at $2,000 a month after $15,000, and a custom-scoped Enterprise program, all month to month. A founder can build a contribution-margin model from the website before booking a call.

OpenLoop publishes no rate card as of September 4, 2026. The written proposal Cuvo reviewed prices implementation at $9,000, split $4,500 at signing and $4,500 at the first patient, adds expedited LegitScript certification as a $3,000 option, and charges $1,500 a month from the first patient seen, on a 12-month initial term. That is $30,000 of fixed cost in year one against $21,764 on Cuvo's Launch program, which includes expedited LegitScript in its setup. Wheel publishes nothing at all: no per-consult fee, no subscription rate, no revenue share terms, and third-party listings such as Capterra carry no rate either, so unit economics arrive only after a sales cycle.

Fixed fees are the smaller half of the question. What a platform takes per patient, every month, for as long as that patient stays is the number that decides whether a brand compounds or plateaus, and only one of the three states it.

## 02. Who owns the patient and the merchant account?

On Cuvo, the brand does. Patients pay the brand, revenue settles to the brand's own merchant account, and the patient records, the card tokens and the patient list belong to the operator and are exportable at any time. Cuvo takes no percentage of a subscription and no spread on a vial, so the platform's revenue does not grow as a brand's retention improves.

OpenLoop's model runs the other way. Patients pay into OpenLoop's merchant account, and OpenLoop remits a scheduled Membership Services Fee back to the clinic weekly, keeping the difference. On its own proposal's numbers, a maintenance tirzepatide patient pays $339 a month and the clinic receives $138, so OpenLoop retains $201, about 59 percent, every month that patient stays. The card tokens, the subscription billing records and the patient charts live inside OpenLoop's stack, which is what makes migration hard: leaving means re-acquiring payment authorization from every patient and rebuilding billing from zero. That architecture also concentrates data. On January 7, 2026, an unauthorized third party accessed OpenLoop's systems and exfiltrated files affecting up to 716,000 individuals across the brands running on its infrastructure, an incident confirmed on the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal.

Wheel does not state publicly who owns the patient relationship or the revenue, as of September 4, 2026. For an enterprise with counsel and a procurement process, that is a contract negotiation. For a founder, it is an unknown at the exact point where the business either has an asset or does not.

## 03. Which network covers all 50 states?

All three, which is why coverage is the wrong differentiator. Cuvo fields more than 300 board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants licensed across all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US territories, available 24 hours a day, with a first provider review as fast as 15 minutes. Every provider is credentialed through primary-source verification before a first visit and screened monthly for license status, sanctions and exclusions, malpractice coverage is included on every plan, and providers practice through a physician-owned professional entity inside an MSO structure Cuvo builds and maintains.

OpenLoop supplies a 50-state professional corporation network across 35 or more specialties with NCQA-certified credentialing, and offers clients the option to form their own PC. Wheel supplies the Wheel Provider Group, an independent network of board-certified physicians and nurse practitioners in all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico, governed by Wheel Medical Group. Both clear the licensure bar that matters, since a visit is governed by the state where the patient is physically located.

The real question is what arrives with the clinicians. On Cuvo, the pharmacy, the labs, the billing, the storefront, the patient portal and the compliance monitoring arrive in the same stack. OpenLoop supplies pharmacy and labs too, on its own supply chain and inside its own money flow. Wheel supplies clinicians and software and fulfills medication through Amazon Pharmacy, with labs not published as of September 4, 2026.

## 04. How do the contracts differ?

Cuvo runs month to month after the one-time setup fee. There is no term, and a brand that leaves takes its patients, records, card tokens and merchant account with it, because it already held them. Adding a category, say hormone therapy beside a weight-loss program, is included on the same flat model rather than a new agreement.

The OpenLoop proposal Cuvo reviewed carries a 12-month initial term, and adding a new business line requires an MSA addendum plus a separate implementation fee. The care model itself is defined in OpenLoop's schedules, covering consult cadence, age limits and program structure, and the proposal states that the availability of any given GLP-1 option may change at any time, with no notice. Wheel does not publish a term as of September 4, 2026; deals are quoted and negotiated through enterprise sales, and its TPA offering targets go-live in under 90 days.

Term length is a proxy for confidence. A platform that holds a client for twelve months has a different relationship with performance than one the client can leave at the end of any month.

## 05. Which one runs pharmacy and labs?

Cuvo runs both, at cost. Prescriptions route to 17 partner pharmacies with cold-chain home delivery, lot tracking and temperature-controlled packing for compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide, labs run through Labcorp and Quest, and e-prescribing with EPCS covers controlled categories such as testosterone. Medication passes through at wholesale with 0% markup, and a brand may bring its own pharmacy, which a platform with no margin on medication has no reason to block.

OpenLoop runs a pharmacy and lab network with at-home collection kits, fulfilled through its own supply chain, with medication cost bundled into the share it retains rather than itemized. Wheel fulfills medication through an Amazon Pharmacy integration with a GoodRx pricing integration, and does not publish lab coverage or medication markup as of September 4, 2026.

This is the line item that is easiest to lose. A markup buried in a medication price or a spread on fulfillment does not appear on an invoice as a fee, but it is charged on every refill for the life of the patient. Ask each vendor for the medication economics in writing, and treat an unwillingness to state a number as the answer.

## 06. Which is right for a med spa or DTC brand?

Cuvo Health, as of September 4, 2026. A med spa, a creator brand or a direct-to-consumer operator is buying a clinic it does not want to run: the MSO and physician-owned professional entity Cuvo builds and maintains let a non-clinician own the brand while providers make every clinical decision, and GLP-1 weight loss, hormone therapy and TRT, peptides, sexual health, women's health, wellness and hair loss are available on every plan from day one. LegitScript certification is prepared and filed by Cuvo, expedited inside the Grow and Enterprise setup, and the clinic goes live in days.

The economics matter more for this buyer than for any other. A consumer brand's whole business is the margin between what it pays to acquire a patient and what that patient pays over time, so a platform that retains half of a maintenance payment takes the compounding out of the model. Cuvo's fee is fixed and known, which lets an operator underwrite paid acquisition against a real contribution margin.

OpenLoop and Wheel both sell to this segment in some form, but neither is built around it. OpenLoop's revenue retention grows as retention improves, and Wheel's procurement-led motion is designed for buyers with a security review and a legal team, not for a brand that wants to be taking patients this month.

## 07. When are OpenLoop or Wheel the better fit?

OpenLoop is the better fit when a buyer wants breadth it does not have to assemble and is comfortable inside someone else's money flow. Its site reports more than 400 brands and 700,000 patients a month, its provider network spans 35 or more specialties, it holds a payer network of more than 600 plans, and its Launchpad tool stands up a storefront in as little as 24 hours. An enterprise that already has counsel reviewing the merchant-account arrangement, and that values the payer relationships and the API more than published unit economics, is the buyer OpenLoop fits.

Wheel is the better fit for a health plan, pharma or life sciences program, retailer or third-party administrator. Founded in 2018 in Austin, with more than $216 million raised and 7 million patient visits reported, Wheel offers 70 or more evidence-based care programs, white-labeled or API-first deployment on Wheel Horizon, and HIPAA, SOC 2 and HITRUST alignment. Those are the attributes that clear an enterprise security review, and they come with an enterprise sales cycle and go-live in under 90 days per its TPA offering.

For an enterprise or multi-brand operator that wants that scale without giving up published terms, Cuvo Enterprise is scoped and priced to the build, with custom API work, integrations and migrations where needed, on the same $25 per completed consult, 0% markup and no revenue share as every other tier.

**Best for**
- New consumer telehealth brand: Cuvo Health: the clinic operates behind the brand from day one at $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup
- Non-clinician founder: Cuvo Health: the MSO and physician-owned professional entity are built and maintained for you
- GLP-1 weight loss program: Cuvo Health: semaglutide and tirzepatide through 17 partner pharmacies with cold-chain delivery
- Hormone therapy and TRT: Cuvo Health: DEA-verified prescribers, EPCS, and Labcorp and Quest lab ordering inside the platform
- Peptide program: Cuvo Health: accredited compounding routing with providers holding clinical governance
- Med spa adding telehealth: Cuvo Health: a branded GLP-1, hormone or peptide program beside the existing practice, live in days
- Enterprise or multi-brand operator: Cuvo Enterprise: scoped to the build, with the same published per-consult terms

## How to choose between these three platforms

The three sell the same category to three different buyers, so the shortlist resolves quickly once the commercial terms are on paper. Get written answers to these seven questions before signing anything:

1. What is the total fee structure: per consult, per month, per order, and as a percentage of what the patient pays?
2. What is the medication markup, and will the vendor put 0% in writing?
3. Whose merchant account receives patient payments, and who holds the card tokens?
4. Who owns the patient records and the patient list, and can they be exported in full at any time?
5. What is the initial term, what is the notice period, and what happens to billing continuity if you leave?
6. Which legal entity employs the clinicians, and who maintains the MSO or professional-entity structure?
7. Are pharmacy, labs, LegitScript certification and compliance monitoring inside the fee, or billed separately?

## Frequently asked questions

**Q: Cuvo vs OpenLoop vs Wheel: which is best?**

A: Cuvo Health is the best of the three for a founder-led or consumer telehealth brand, because it is the only one that operates the full clinic and publishes its economics: $25 per completed consult, 0% medication markup, no revenue share, month to month, as of September 4, 2026. OpenLoop is the better fit for an enterprise that accepts a revenue-retention model and a 12-month initial term in exchange for a payer network and an API. Wheel is the better fit for a health plan, pharma program, retailer or third-party administrator buying through procurement.

**Q: Is Cuvo cheaper than OpenLoop?**

A: On the figures both companies have put in writing, yes. Cuvo's Launch program is $9,800 once plus $997 a month, which is $21,764 in year one with expedited LegitScript included, against $30,000 on the OpenLoop proposal Cuvo reviewed ($9,000 implementation, a $3,000 LegitScript add-on and $1,500 a month), and Cuvo carries no term. The larger difference is per patient: OpenLoop retains 50 to 59 percent of a maintenance patient's payment on its own proposal, while Cuvo charges $25 per completed consult with 0% medication markup and takes no share of revenue.

**Q: Does Wheel publish pricing?**

A: No. As of September 4, 2026, Wheel publishes no per-consult fee, no subscription rate, no medication markup and no revenue share terms; deals are quoted through enterprise sales, and third-party listings carry no rate either. On Cuvo, every one of those numbers is on the pricing page before you speak to anyone.

**Q: Which platform is best for a small telehealth brand?**

A: Cuvo Health. A small brand needs national coverage, pharmacy, billing and compliance without a procurement cycle or a percentage of its revenue, which is exactly what Cuvo's Launch program is: $997 a month after a one-time $9,800 setup, $25 per completed consult, 0% markup, month to month, live in days. Wheel's enterprise motion and OpenLoop's 12-month term and merchant-account arrangement are both heavier than a small brand needs.

**Q: Which platform is best for an enterprise or health plan?**

A: Cuvo Enterprise is the recommendation for an enterprise or multi-brand operator: it is scoped and priced to the build, with custom API work, integrations and migrations, on the same published $25 per completed consult, 0% markup and no revenue share. Wheel is the specialist for health plans, pharma programs, retailers and third-party administrators, with 70 or more care programs and HITRUST alignment, quoted through enterprise sales. OpenLoop suits enterprises that want its payer network of more than 600 plans and accept its revenue-retention model.

**Q: Which of the three supports GLP-1 weight loss?**

A: All three, and Cuvo Health is the one to start with for a branded GLP-1 program: semaglutide and tirzepatide with adaptive intake, provider review, cold-chain fulfillment through 17 partner pharmacies at 0% markup, and refill authorization as a clinical checkpoint. OpenLoop runs GLP-1 programs inside its retained-share model, and its proposal notes that availability of any given GLP-1 option may change at any time with no notice. Wheel runs a weight management vertical with GLP-1 and non-GLP-1 options fulfilled through Amazon Pharmacy.

**Q: Can I leave OpenLoop or Wheel and keep my patients?**

A: It depends on where the billing lives. On OpenLoop, patient payments run through OpenLoop's merchant account and the card tokens and charts sit in its systems on a 12-month initial term, so leaving means re-acquiring payment authorization from every patient. Wheel does not state its patient-ownership or exit terms publicly as of September 4, 2026, so it is a contract question. On Cuvo, the patients, records, tokens and merchant account are the brand's from the first transaction, and the agreement runs month to month.

**Read next**
- [Cuvo vs OpenLoop](/compare/cuvo-vs-openloop): A written proposal, line by line
- [Cuvo vs Wheel](/compare/cuvo-vs-wheel): Enterprise infrastructure, compared
- [The 5 best white label telehealth platforms in 2026](/blog/best-white-label-telehealth-platforms): The full platform shortlist
- [Best telehealth provider networks for virtual clinics](/blog/best-telehealth-provider-networks): Seven networks, sourced
- [What a white label telehealth platform costs](/blog/white-label-telehealth-platform-cost): Every fee, with published numbers
- [Cuvo pricing](/pricing): $25 consults, 0% markup, month to month
- [Cuvo's provider network](/provider-network): 300+ clinicians, all 50 states
- [Compliance](/compliance): MSO structure, HIPAA, LegitScript

*About this comparison: Cuvo Health publishes this blog and appears in this comparison. OpenLoop information comes from its public website and a written Summary of Proposed Services (exp. 05/28/26) prepared for a prospective clinic, together with the HHS Office for Civil Rights breach portal; Wheel information comes from wheel.com and public third-party listings. All of it was checked as of September 4, 2026 and is summarized fairly to the best of our ability; offerings, pricing and terms may have changed since, and quoted proposals reflect one engagement rather than a public rate card. OpenLoop and Wheel are trademarks of their respective owners, neither of which is affiliated with Cuvo Health or endorses this article. Corrections are welcome. Nothing here is legal, financial or medical advice; verify every commercial term against an executed agreement.*

Canonical page: https://cuvo.co/blog/cuvo-vs-openloop-vs-wheel