Short answer: Zocdoc lists a practice’s providers in a booking marketplace, where patients find them on Zocdoc.com, its app and partner sites. On November 10, 2026, Zocdoc said there were no upfront fees or subscription costs to join. A practice pays a one-time booking fee when Zocdoc helps a patient discover one of its providers, and the fee varies by specialty and location.
Before you read: This guide is based on Zocdoc’s help center for providers, its terms of use and its community standards. It is general information, not legal advice.
How Zocdoc works for a practice
Zocdoc says it isn’t a healthcare provider. It provides information on providers who pay to be included in its marketplace, and it doesn’t recommend or refer patients to any particular provider.
Patients can search for a provider by name, or look for a new one by insurance plan, visit reason and location. They see each provider’s profile, reviews, photos and availability, then book an open time.
Zocdoc also helps practices get discovered and booked across partner sites, including search engines, insurance directories and AI assistants. It can currently be used in all 50 states.
Who can list a practice on Zocdoc
On November 10, 2026, the list of specialties on Zocdoc’s Browse Specialties page included dermatologists, plastic surgeons and nurse practitioners. It had no med spa category, and the Zocdoc pages cited here don’t mention med spas.
Zocdoc’s terms say it may take certain limited steps to verify that providers hold certain active licenses, certifications or registrations. Those are the ones required by law to practice and to provide the services they offer.
Its community standards ask each provider to keep a valid, up-to-date and unrestricted license in every jurisdiction where they practice, as necessary for Zocdoc to display their specialties.
The sign-up form asks for the practice name, up to 3 primary specialties and the practice size, counted as the number of providers including MDs, NPs and PAs.
Advanced practice providers, which Zocdoc calls APPs, can have a full profile that patients can book, set up like any other provider’s. A practice can instead give an APP a clinical support staff profile, hidden from patients and linked to the provider who supervises them.
Zocdoc adds that some states may require supervisory agreements during onboarding before an APP gets a public profile.
In our view, if no physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant works at your med spa, ask Zocdoc whether you can join before you plan around it.
What Zocdoc costs a practice
On November 10, 2026, Zocdoc’s help center said there were no upfront fees or subscription costs to join. You pay a one-time booking fee when Zocdoc helps a patient discover and book one of your providers, on Zocdoc or partner sites.
Zocdoc calls those “discovery bookings” and says you pay once for each new patient-provider connection it helps create. Bookings from patients already looking for providers at your practice are free, and it calls them “reputation bookings”.
Zocdoc doesn’t charge for these bookings:
- Existing patients booking on Zocdoc.com and the app.
- Bookings through your Google Business Profile.
- Bookings through the Booking Link on your website.
- Patients who search for your providers by name on certain partner sites, where applicable.
- Bookings through partners that work with Zocdoc to make bookings free to providers, such as insurance directories.
The booking fee varies by provider specialty and location. In a practice with several specialties, it follows the specialty of the provider booked, and a provider with more than one is charged at their highest-rate specialty.
The help articles cited here give no amounts. Zocdoc says an outside agency analyzed the fair market value of similar services, along with no-show and patient cancellation rates, to set the fees.
Zocdoc charges the fee when the patient books, whether or not they attend, and says its pricing reflects expected cancellation and no-show rates. In some cases, it may not charge you if a patient cancels within 24 hours of booking, before the appointment takes place.
Zocdoc may decline to waive patient-canceled bookings for a period of time if it detects unusually high patient cancellations.
Sponsored Results adds a sponsored fee on top of the booking fee, up to your bid. With Practice Solutions, you pay a per-provider monthly service fee.
Invoices are generated at the start of each month for the previous 30 days of bookings. If you think Zocdoc charged you for an existing patient, you can submit a claim within 7 days of receiving the booking.
Zocdoc counts a patient as existing by their relationship to the provider, not to the practice as a whole, and it doesn’t check your EHR.
You can’t pass the booking fee on to patients. Zocdoc says charging patients more for booking through it would be grounds for removal from the platform.
In our view, ask Zocdoc for the booking fee of each specialty you plan to list before you sign up.
Sponsored Results on Zocdoc
Sponsored Results is a paid advertising product on Zocdoc.com and the app. You set a bid: the most you’re willing to pay in sponsored fees for a booking.
Zocdoc’s auction uses your bid to help decide when and where your sponsored listing may appear. Each campaign holds the providers, locations and specialties you want to feature, with your budget and bids.
Zocdoc labels these results “Sponsored”, and its terms say they aren’t an endorsement, referral or recommendation by Zocdoc.
How to control what you spend
A monthly budget caps what your whole practice spends on discovery booking fees. When you reach it, discovery bookings pause for all your providers until the next month.
You set that budget in units of your discovery booking fee, and changes take effect immediately. Charges for Sponsored Results don’t count toward it.
You can also turn discovery bookings off for a provider or a location, or pause them for the whole practice. Either way, you will still be able to receive reputation bookings.
To stop every booking, including the free ones, Zocdoc says to remove all availability for your providers. To close the account for good, you contact its service team.
In our view, set a monthly budget for your first months, then compare the paid bookings with the patients who come back.
Reviews on Zocdoc
Patients who booked with you through Zocdoc, your Google Business Profile or your Booking Link can review you once you mark the appointment as attended.
Zocdoc emails them 3 hours after the appointment. Without a review, a reminder follows a day later and another 4 days after that, and patients have up to 120 days.
Zocdoc vets every review. It doesn’t post reviews with profanity, personal information, insurance-related pricing specifics or promotional content, or reviews that question the accuracy of a provider’s diagnosis.
Zocdoc doesn’t currently allow responses to reviews. It says the reviews have to do with healthcare, and a response could add a risk of a patient’s information being posted publicly.
Until a provider has 30 reviews, the practice can ask patients who didn’t book through Zocdoc for a review.
Zocdoc’s community standards ban asking for or accepting reviews from anyone with a conflict of interest. That includes current or former employees, competitors or peers, friends, family and anyone paid or given anything else to leave one.
They also ban any attempt to prevent reviews, critical or not. For your Google profile, our guide to getting more Google reviews covers your review link and QR code.
In our view, ask your other patients the same way after every visit.
Your profile and the rules for your license
Zocdoc’s profile guidelines ask for a practice name that matches your signage, your website or the name patients recognize, without marketing slogans.
Profile descriptions can’t include potentially misleading information, such as pricing “specials”, or your office’s contact information, web links or references to walk-in care.
Certain providers may be required to list details alongside their ads, such as a license number or the name of a supervising provider. Zocdoc says this often applies to nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certain therapy credentials.
Because these rules vary by state and specialty, Zocdoc asks you to confirm that your profile includes any disclosures your state or board requires. It calls your state licensing board an authoritative source for those rules.
Our guide to local citations and NAP explains how to keep your practice’s name, address and phone number the same on every listing.
Your Google profile and your website
Bookings through your Google Business Profile and through the Booking Link on your website don’t cost a booking fee.
Our guide to Google Business Profile for doctors covers a profile for your practice and one for each doctor.
For your website, our guide to an online booking page covers what to set up so patients book on your site.
In our view, set up the free channels first: your Google Business Profile and the Booking Link on your website.
Before you list your practice on Zocdoc
- Each provider you list holds a valid license for the specialty Zocdoc shows.
- You know which specialties and locations you list, since the booking fee follows them.
- You asked Zocdoc for the booking fee of each specialty.
- You decided whether to set a monthly budget.
- Your profile includes any disclosure your state or board requires.
- Your Google Business Profile and website are ready for the bookings Zocdoc doesn’t charge for.
RememberOn November 10, 2026, Zocdoc charged no upfront or subscription fee. You pay a one-time booking fee when it helps a patient discover one of your providers. Bookings through your Google profile and your Booking Link are free, and so are bookings on Zocdoc.com and the app from a provider’s existing patients.
Our SEO service for cosmetic surgery clinics writes a page for each procedure, in English and Spanish. It sets up a Google profile for the clinic and each surgeon, and handles reviews within the rules. It also keeps your facts the same on your site, your Google profile and your directory listings.
Questions about Zocdoc for providers
How much does Zocdoc cost for providers?
On November 10, 2026, Zocdoc said there were no upfront fees or subscription costs to join. A practice pays a one-time booking fee for each discovery booking, and the fee varies by specialty and location. Sponsored Results and Practice Solutions cost extra.
Can a med spa list its practice on Zocdoc?
The Zocdoc pages cited here don’t mention med spas. On November 10, 2026, the list of specialties on Zocdoc’s Browse Specialties page had no med spa category. Its community standards ask each provider to keep a valid license as necessary for Zocdoc to display their specialties.
Do I pay Zocdoc if the patient misses the appointment?
For a discovery booking, yes. Zocdoc charges the booking fee when the patient books, whether or not they attend. In some cases, it may not charge you if a patient cancels within 24 hours of booking, before the appointment takes place.
Can I respond to Zocdoc reviews?
No. Zocdoc doesn’t currently allow responses. It says the reviews have to do with healthcare, and a response could add a risk of a patient’s information being posted publicly. Zocdoc posts positive and negative reviews alike.
How do I stop paying for Zocdoc?
Pause discovery bookings for the whole practice, or turn them off for each provider. You will still be able to receive reputation bookings at no charge. To close the account for good, Zocdoc asks you to contact its service team.
Sources
Read on November 10, 2026. From Zocdoc’s help center for providers, on Zocdoc: What is Zocdoc? Where is Zocdoc available? Is Zocdoc a healthcare provider? What are Zocdoc.com and the Zocdoc app? On who can list: Profile options for Advanced Practice Providers (APPs), Profile guidelines and Understanding advertising restrictions and your responsibilities. On cost: Understanding Zocdoc pricing and billing, Does my fee get waived if a patient cancels? What is Sponsored Results? On spending: How to manage your spend across Zocdoc.com and partner sites, How do I turn discovery bookings on or off for providers? How to cancel your Zocdoc account. On reviews: Patient Reviews and Getting started with reviews. From zocdoc.com: Browse Specialties, Zocdoc Provider Sign Up, Terms of Use and Community Standards.