OpenLoop vs CareValidate
One takes roughly half of patient revenue and carries your medication cost. The other charges a monthly fee plus 3.9% processing and leaves fulfillment cost with you. Very different bets.
Key takeaways
- OpenLoop collects patient payments and pays the brand a fee. CareValidate charges the brand a platform fee.
- OpenLoop carries medication, lab and merchant costs. CareValidate does not, so the two are not directly comparable on headline numbers.
- CareValidate publishes pricing: $2,500 to $5,000 a month plus 3.9% processing. OpenLoop does not publish.
- CareValidate holds SOC 2 Type II. Bring-your-own Stripe is Enterprise-only.
- Compare them on what you keep after fulfillment, not on the fee headline.
Two genuinely different bets
OpenLoop's model transfers working capital and operational risk. Its proposal materials describe OpenLoop paying for medication and base labs, carrying merchant account costs and reserves, and running a 24/7 patient support desk. In exchange the patient pays OpenLoop and OpenLoop pays the brand a Membership Services Fee.
CareValidate's model is a conventional platform relationship. The brand pays a monthly fee, plus payment processing, plus implementation and per-order costs, and buys fulfillment itself.
Comparing the headline numbers directly is therefore misleading. What the brand keeps under OpenLoop is net of medication; what it keeps under CareValidate is not.
What each one charges
CareValidate publishes its pricing, which makes it usable as a reference point. OpenLoop's terms come from its written proposal.
| OpenLoop | CareValidate | |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | No | Yes |
| Platform fee | $1,500/mo plus $9,000 implementation | $2,500 (Pro) or $5,000 (Enterprise)/mo |
| Variable take | Share of collections | 3.9% payment processing |
| Medication cost | Carried by OpenLoop | Carried by the brand |
| Merchant of record | OpenLoop | CareValidate (BYO on Enterprise) |
| Contract term | 12-month initial term | Not published |
| LegitScript | $3,000 via integration path | $2,450/yr or $205/mo |
| SOC 2 Type II | Not published | Yes |
| Launch | 30 to 60 days | 30 days average |
The OpenLoop split, specifically
On OpenLoop's semaglutide schedule the patient pays $249. The brand receives $140 in month one, $128 in months two and three, $126 in month four, and $124 from month five onward.
On tirzepatide the patient pays $339 and the brand receives $196 in month one, falling to $138 from month five. The brand's share therefore moves from about 58% to about 41% as the patient matures.
Out of its share OpenLoop pays medication, labs, clinical consults and merchant costs, so this is not pure platform margin. But it does mean the brand's share is smallest exactly when the patient is most valuable, which is the opposite of how subscription economics normally work.
The CareValidate processing question
CareValidate prices payment processing at 3.9% through its own Stripe account, and bring-your-own Stripe is available only on the $5,000 Enterprise plan.
Stripe's published direct rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents, so 3.9% is roughly a full point above what the processor charges. On $2,988,000 of annual billings that is about $26,000 a year over Stripe direct.
CareValidate includes white-glove chargeback support in that rate, which has genuine value on a GLP-1 book. Whether it is worth a percentage point is a judgment, but it should be a conscious one.
How to actually compare them
Because one carries medication cost and the other does not, the only fair comparison is what you keep after fulfillment.
- Model OpenLoop as: brand receives the Membership Services Fee, minus $1,500/mo, minus implementation amortised, minus LegitScript. No medication cost.
- Model CareValidate as: gross billings, minus platform fee, minus 3.9% processing, minus per-order support fees, minus implementation, minus LegitScript, minus your actual medication and fulfillment cost.
- Get a real fulfillment quote before running the second model. Without it the comparison is guesswork.
- Then compare the two net figures, not the two fee headlines.
The third option, disclosed
PharmaBro publishes this page and competes with both, so weigh it accordingly.
PharmaBro is structurally closer to CareValidate: you buy fulfillment, you own the revenue, the platform charges a fee. The differences are that pricing is published at $1,500 to $5,000 a month with a transaction fee falling from 3% to 1.5%, your own Stripe is available on every tier rather than Enterprise only, LegitScript is $0, there is no contract term, and launch is 5 days.
What PharmaBro lacks against CareValidate is SOC 2 Type II attestation, and against OpenLoop it does not carry your medication cost. If either of those is what you are buying, buy it from them.
Buy fulfillment yourself, keep the spread
If you are comparing these two you are really deciding whether to outsource working capital or keep the margin. PharmaBro is built for the second answer: zero medication markup, your own Stripe on every tier, and a transaction fee below the processor's own published rate from Grow onward.
Published pricing. Zero revenue share. LegitScript at $0. Live in 5 days.
Conclusion
These two are not competing on price, they are competing on which risks you want to hold.
OpenLoop takes medication cost, merchant reserves and clinical operations off your balance sheet and charges roughly half of patient revenue for it. CareValidate charges a published fee and leaves those with you. Model both net of fulfillment, get a real pharmacy quote first, and the answer usually becomes obvious.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, OpenLoop or CareValidate?
They cannot be compared on headline fees, because OpenLoop carries medication and lab costs out of its share and CareValidate does not. Model both net of fulfillment, using a real pharmacy quote, and compare what you keep rather than what you pay.
Does CareValidate let me use my own Stripe?
On the Enterprise plan at $5,000 a month, yes. On the $2,500 Pro plan, payments run through CareValidate's own Stripe at 3.9%. That is a meaningful difference, because merchant-of-record status determines card token custody and therefore switching cost.
How much of patient revenue does OpenLoop keep?
On its published proposal schedule, roughly half at steady state, and the brand's share falls as the patient matures. Out of that share OpenLoop pays medication, labs, clinical consults and merchant costs, so it is not pure margin.
References
- 1.OpenLoop, Summary of Proposed Services, 05.28.26, Schedules A to E
- 2.CareValidate, Telehealth Platform Pricing Deck 2026
- 3.Stripe published processing rates
Every figure above is sourced and dated. If you represent one of the platforms named here and something is out of date or wrong, write to support@pharmabro.co and we will correct it and note the change on the page.
Marcus ElleryHead of Payments and Billing
Works on the rebill engine, merchant routing and recovery logic. Spends most of his time on the unglamorous half of subscription telehealth: why a card failed, and whether it had to.