Bertec vs VOR Eye Rehab: balance assessment vs daily rehabilitation (2026)

Disclosure: I founded VOR Eye Rehab. The awkward part of this comparison is that Bertec isn't really our competitor — they measure balance, we deliver rehabilitation — but we appear in the same searches, so you deserve a straight answer about which one your clinic actually needs. Sometimes it's both.

Bertec Balance Advantage is a force-plate system (computerized dynamic posturography) that objectively quantifies postural sway and sensory integration — the same class of instrument as the discontinued NeuroCom SMART EquiTest. VOR Eye Rehab is software that treats the patients your assessment identifies. One is a measurement instrument; the other is a treatment delivery platform.

TL;DR

Choose Bertec if

You need objective, force-plate balance quantification — CDP/SOT, mCTSIB, fall-risk documentation, research-grade outcome data

Choose VOR Eye Rehab if

You need to actually treat: daily instrumented VOR/oculomotor exercises, symptom-driven progression, home monitoring, RTM billing

Bertec answers 'how bad is this patient's balance, objectively?' with hardware that costs more than most clinic cars. VOR Eye Rehab answers 'how do I treat this patient every day for eight weeks and prove they improved?' for USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month. We don't measure postural sway at all — no marketing can change that. They don't deliver a home VOR program either. Buy the one that matches the question your clinic is being paid to answer.

The two at a glance

	VOR Eye Rehab	Bertec Balance Advantage
Category	Treatment delivery platform	Measurement instrument (force plates + CDP)
Price	USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month	$40,000–$80,000+ one-time
What it measures	Head velocity (°/s), symptoms (5 metrics), adherence, DHI/ABC/VVAS	Postural sway, sensory organization (SOT), motor control, adaptation
What it treats	VOR x1/x2, saccades, pursuits, convergence, OKN, habituation	Nothing by itself — protocols guide your clinician-led treatment
Home program	Core of the product — patient app free	Not applicable
In-clinic use	Projector mode, session logging, reports	Assessment sessions, biofeedback training modules
Evidence role	Progress tracking across the episode	Objective baselines and discharge deltas
Ongoing cost	Monthly subscription, no hardware	Maintenance/calibration on hardware

Where Bertec is genuinely better — and irreplaceable

Force plates measure something we cannot: postural sway under manipulated sensory conditions. Computerized dynamic posturography quantifies which sensory system the patient is over-relying on, documents fall risk with numbers a referring physician or insurer accepts, and produces before/after deltas that survive scrutiny. No phone app replaces that, including ours — if a surgeon or a court needs objective balance data, software-only platforms aren't in the conversation.

Bertec's hardware quality, normative databases, and research footprint are excellent, and their tools are a standard in balance clinics for good reason. If objective quantification is your clinical or research requirement, the price is what that costs.

Where VOR Eye Rehab wins — because it's a different job

A force plate sees the patient for forty minutes a quarter. Vestibular rehabilitation happens the other two hundred hours of the episode — daily gaze stabilization at measured head velocity, symptom-gated progression, habituation the patient actually completes at home. That's our entire product: phone-sensor velocity guidance, five-metric symptom capture around every session, AI progression, projector mode for in-clinic optokinetic work, and RTM billing for US practices.

The practical pattern in well-equipped balance clinics is both: quantify on the force plate at admission and discharge, treat in between with instrumented daily exercises. If you can only afford one and your revenue comes from treating volume rather than diagnostic differentiation, the treatment platform moves outcomes for every patient on the roster — not just the ones who fit in the CDP harness.

1. Bertec Balance Advantage

Best for: Balance centers, hospital vestibular labs, research sites needing objective quantification
Price: $40,000–$80,000+ one-time
What it actually does: Force-plate CDP — measures what software can't

The reference standard when the question is measurement. Sensory organization testing, mCTSIB, adaptation and motor control protocols, defensible documentation for physicians and payers, and a research literature that leans on it heavily. If your clinic sells objective assessment — to ENT referrals, neurology, work comp — this class of hardware is the entry ticket, and Bertec is the strongest current vendor since NeuroCom's exit.

What it isn't: a treatment delivery system for daily rehabilitation. Patients don't take it home, it doesn't progress programs between visits, and it won't bill RTM for remote monitoring. Budget the capital, then ask what runs the other 99% of the episode.

Visit Bertec Balance Advantage

2. VOR Eye Rehab (mine)

Best for: The treatment layer of a balance or vestibular program
Price: USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month · patient app free
What it actually does: Daily instrumented treatment — the 99% of the episode hardware doesn't see

VOR Eye Rehab runs the part of vestibular rehab that happens between assessments: interactive VOR x1/x2 at measured head velocity, metronome pacing, optokinetic and pursuit projector protocols in clinic, saccade/convergence work for the concussion caseload, and real-world video habituation for visual vertigo.

Five-metric symptom tracking (dizziness, brain fog, headache, eye strain, nausea) gates AI progression every session; DHI/ABC/VVAS give you standardized outcome curves at any resolution you want; the RTM dashboard handles US billing codes. Honest limit, stated plainly: we don't quantify postural sway, and no software feature substitutes for force-plate data when you need it. Pair us with hardware — ours or theirs — for measurement.

Apply for the 30-Day Clinic Pilot

My honest pick

If your clinical question is 'quantify this patient's balance defensibly' — referrals, research, medico-legal, fall-risk documentation — buy the force plate. That's a hardware answer and Bertec is the class of the field. We are not that and won't pretend to be.

If your question is 'treat a full vestibular caseload daily and prove functional improvement,' that's a software answer, and at USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month the risk of finding out is one cancelled lunch. The best-equipped clinics we know run both and use each for what it's irreplaceable at.

What I'd do today

1 Separate your budget questions: measurement capital expenditure versus treatment operating expenditure. They compete for dollars but not for jobs.
2 If you bill insurers or refer to physicians who demand objective balance data, price a force plate first — software can't generate those numbers.
3 Audit last month: how many sessions were assessment versus treatment? Treatment volume argues for the delivery platform; assessment revenue argues for hardware.
4 If you buy both, define the loop now: baseline on the plate, treat in the app, re-test at discharge. That combination is stronger than either alone.

Questions

Is VOR Eye Rehab an alternative to a Bertec force plate?

No — and any vendor who tells you software replaces force-plate measurement is selling you something. We don't measure postural sway or run sensory organization testing. What we do is deliver daily instrumented rehabilitation (VOR, oculomotor, habituation) with symptom-driven progression and outcome tracking. Clinics that need objective balance quantification buy hardware; clinics that need to treat buy delivery software; many buy both deliberately.

Can VOR Eye Rehab document outcomes well enough for physicians without CDP data?

It auto-scores validated patient-reported outcomes (DHI, ABC, VVAS) plus per-session symptom trajectories across five metrics and exercise dose data — strong functional evidence for most referral and discharge conversations. For questions that specifically require postural sway quantification (some surgical workups, research protocols, litigation), you still need force-plate or equivalent instrumented assessment.

Why does Bertec cost so much more?

Precision hardware, calibration, normative databases, and support — a CDP system is a capital equipment purchase in the same budget category as imaging gear. VOR Eye Rehab is software with no hardware, which is why it's USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month. Comparing the prices is less useful than comparing the jobs: one quantifies balance, the other delivers rehabilitation.

What about used NeuroCom systems instead?

The used market exists because Natus discontinued the line, and legacy units still measure well — but factor support, parts, and software compatibility risk into the 'savings.' A used SMART EquiTest at $50k–$100k with no vendor support is a gamble some research labs take rationally and most clinics regret. If you're buying hardware new, Bertec is the safer path; if you're buying software, you're on the right website.

Run your next vestibular caseload on VOR Eye Rehab

Purpose-built VOR and oculomotor training, five-metric symptom tracking, AI progression, projector mode, and an RTM billing dashboard. Professional: USD 49/month, 2 active patients included, then USD 9.95/additional active patient/month. Patient app free. 30-day founder-guided pilot.

Promotional platform fee before December 31, 2026; standard fee: USD 89/month. The patient app is free.

Apply for the Clinic Pilot

Pricing checked against public sources in October 2026. Force-plate system pricing varies by configuration, country, and service contracts — get a current quote from Bertec.