Prices checked October 2026
Prices in this category move, so this page is dated. Every figure below was read on 16 October 2026 from the source named beside it, and every source is linked so you can check it yourself.
Doses is a text-message medication reminder service — $9.99 a month, operated by Howard Davner in East Hanover, New Jersey. We do not sell hardware and we are not a dispenser company, so read the comparison near the end knowing who wrote it. The figures about Hero and MedMinder are theirs, not ours.
Hero rents the device. It does not sell it. Its own support article lists three ways to pay:
Hero's own pricing page disagrees with Hero's own support article, and we would rather tell you than pick the lower number. The headline box on herohealth.com/pricing/ says "Starting at $39.99/mo with prepaid plans" and "or pay monthly at $59.99/mo". Further down that same page, its FAQ says $29.99/mo prepaid for twelve months and $44.99/mo on a twelve-month commitment. Three prepaid figures, two pages, one company. We have used the support article's figures throughout, because it is the page that states all three plans together, and we have told you about the difference.
Two things we cannot tell you. Hero also lists a "Remote Care Program" where the cost "can be as low as $0", with co-pays, coinsurance and deductibles possibly applying and no fixed price given anywhere — so if you go through insurance, none of the figures above are your answer and we have no figure to offer you. We found no cancellation, termination or non-return fee stated anywhere on Hero's own site, so we are not quoting a number for one.
Figures above: Hero Health, "Hero subscription options" support article, and herohealth.com/pricing/. Both read 16 October 2026 and re-read 19 October 2026.
An automatic pill dispenser is hardware. It holds the pills, releases the right ones at the right time, and reports what it released. Hero's own FAQ puts a figure on that: it says comparable devices "start at $1,999". That is the honest frame for a monthly rental — the fee is buying a machine as well as a service, which is a large part of why it is not a $10-a-month number. A text message has no firmware. It also does not dispense anything.
Hero's support article says the device has to go back when you stop: "If a subscription is canceled, the Hero device must be returned in compliance with the subscription-based model." It also describes a 30-day trial with a money-back guarantee, refunded in full if the device is returned under Hero's Terms of Use, and says Hero is FSA/HSA eligible.
Figures above: Hero Health, "Hero subscription options" support article, and herohealth.com/pricing/. Both read 16 October 2026 and re-read 19 October 2026.
A pill dispenser dispenses what is in it.
So the expensive problem is the one that happens outside the box. When a prescription has no refills left, somebody has to get a new prescription written, which means a phone call, a surgery that may not ring back today, and sometimes an appointment. No dispenser can make that call. Nor can we: Doses only keeps the record; it doesn't order anything from the pharmacy for you.
That is worth knowing before you compare monthly prices, because it is the part neither a $29.99 machine nor a $9.99 text message solves for you.
| Hero, per its own support article | Doses | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | a rented device that holds and releases pills | text messages |
| Monthly | $29.99–$59.99, depending on the term | $9.99 |
| Hardware | yes, and it goes back when you cancel | none |
The cheaper monthly number is not a reason to choose one of these over the other. If the person taking the medication needs the pills counted out and handed to them, a text message will not do that, and nothing on this page should be read as saying it will.
MedMinder makes a dispenser, and as of 16 October 2026 it publishes no price for it. We checked its home page, its "For Patients" page and its shop: no monthly fee, no dollar figure for the device, no Pricing link in the navigation, and enquiries route to an intake form and a phone number (1-888-MED-MIND).
Its For Patients page says caregivers get "real-time alerts and remote monitoring capabilities". It does not say what triggers an alert, who receives it, or how quickly, so we are not describing that here.
Third-party sites quote monthly figures for MedMinder. We are not repeating them, because the company does not state them itself, and this page only carries figures we could read at their source.
Checked at medminder.com, medminder.com/for-patients/ and shop.medminder.com, 16 October 2026.
Free for your first 30 days — that's for our first 100 accounts.
After the 30 days it's $9.99 a month. If you were one of those first 100, your price stays $9.99 for as long as you stay subscribed.
We don't ask for a card to start, and nothing is charged until you enter your card details yourself.
Cancel the subscription yourself, any time, from Settings in the caregiver app.
Reply STOP to any message and the reminders stop.
Nothing is sent when you submit the sign-up. Then the person you name gets one text asking permission, and reminders only begin if they reply YES. How consent works
Doses is operated by Howard Davner, sole proprietor, East Hanover, New Jersey. support@doses.care.
It won't make sure he takes them. Doses sends a text and records what comes back — it cannot see him swallow a pill and it does not know whether he did. Anyone whose health depends on taking medication on time needs a real person responsible for it. Use this alongside that, never in place of it.