This guide is for dentists, dental technicians, clinic IT staff and students who need to open dental X-rays and CBCT scans without buying a full imaging suite. The usual situations are a CBCT disc from another clinic, a panoramic export attached to a referral, a Mac in a Windows practice, or a teaching set that needs clean figures.
The short answer: for most people, Weasis is the best free DICOM viewer for dental work. It is open source, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, opens studies from any vendor and builds a panoramic view with cross-sections from a CBCT. On a Mac, Horos is the strong alternative. If the scan came from a Planmeca unit, the free Planmeca Romexis Viewer is the natural fit. Keep one limit in mind: these are viewers. None of them replaces the capture software that drives your sensor or X-ray unit, and none is a certified implant planning system.
The short list
| Program | Best for | Licence | Platforms | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weasis | CBCT and X-rays from any vendor, PACS, mixed Windows/Mac/Linux teams | Free, open source (EPL 2.0 / Apache 2.0) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Active (4.7.3, August 2026) |
| Horos | CBCT review, curved MPR and STL export on a Mac | Free, open source (LGPL 3.0) | macOS | Maintained, infrequent releases (4.0.1) |
| Planmeca Romexis Viewer | Scans exported from Planmeca Romexis | Free (proprietary) | Windows, macOS | Active (6.4.8) |
| RadiAnt DICOM Viewer | Fast general viewing on Windows PCs, STL export | Shareware (conditionally free) | Windows | Active (2026.1) |
| VolView | 3D viewing in a browser with nothing to install | Free, open source (Apache 2.0) | Web browser | Active (4.5.1) |
| GIMP | Annotating single X-ray images for slides and papers | Free, open source (GNU GPL) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Active; image editor, not a viewer |
| Vatech EasyDent4 | Clinics still running a legacy Vatech system | Shareware (conditionally free) | Windows | Legacy, no longer supported |
| Ginkgo CADx | Existing installs on older Linux only | Free, open source (LGPL 3.0) | Older Linux | Discontinued (final release 2019) |
Weasis: the default free DICOM viewer
Weasis is where most clinics should start. It opens DICOM files, DICOMDIR discs and zipped studies, including JPEG, JPEG-LS, JPEG 2000 and JPEG-XL compressed images, so vendor exports rarely defeat it. For CBCT it offers oblique MPR, 3D volume rendering and a curved MPR tool: click along the arch on an axial slice and you get a panoramic-style reformation plus cross-sections for measuring bone height and width. It also does PACS query/retrieve, DICOMweb and export to an ISO with the viewer embedded. Limits: no implant planning, no STL export of 3D models, and the open-source build is not a certified medical device (CE or FDA). Pick it if you receive scans from many sources or run a mix of computers.
Horos: the free choice for Mac practices
Horos is a free, open-source viewer for macOS only, forked from the OsiriX code base. It keeps a local database of studies, does orthogonal, oblique and curved MPR, and renders volumes and surfaces. Unlike Weasis, it can export a rendered surface as STL, OBJ or VRML, which is handy for a quick printed model after mesh cleanup. It also queries PACS and burns studies to disc. Limits: no Windows or Linux version, releases are infrequent (the Apple Silicon installer, 4.0.1, dates from 2023), and it makes no FDA or CE claim. Do not keep its database in iCloud; the project warns this can corrupt it. Pick Horos if your whole team works on Macs. Our Weasis vs Horos comparison covers the trade-offs in detail.
Planmeca Romexis Viewer: for Planmeca exports
Planmeca Romexis Viewer is Planmeca’s free viewer for 2D and 3D images exported from Romexis. It needs no licence, database or installation: keep the viewer and the image files in the same folder and start it. It has an Explorer layout with slices and a 3D view, a Panoramic layout built along a curve over the arch, cross-sections with a nerve canal tool, and length and angle measurements. Both Windows and macOS versions ship in one package of close to 0.9 GB. Limits: Planmeca positions it for Planmeca images, so use a vendor-neutral viewer for other manufacturers; there is no Linux build, and no implant planning or segmentation. Pick it when a Planmeca clinic sends you a scan.
RadiAnt DICOM Viewer: fast, but shareware
RadiAnt DICOM Viewer from Medixant is a small, very fast Windows viewer. It opens CT, CBCT and X-ray studies, offers 3D MPR with MIP, MinIP and average modes, volume rendering and STL export, and copies any view straight into Word or PowerPoint. It is shareware (conditionally free): the trial includes every feature, and regular use requires a paid licence. Limits: Windows only, no curved or panoramic reconstruction, and Medixant’s licence terms say it is not certified as a medical product and must not be used for diagnostic or therapeutic decisions. Update older installs to 2026.1, which fixes a crash that a malicious DICOM file could trigger. Pick it if you work on Windows PCs and value speed over dental-specific tools.
VolView: a CBCT viewer in the browser
VolView from Kitware runs in a web browser. You drag a DICOM folder onto the page and get slices and a cinematic 3D rendering, with rulers, labelled annotations and a paint tool for simple segmentation. Kitware states that the data you load is processed on your own machine and never leaves it. Sessions save as a .volview.zip file you can pass to a colleague. It is a good way to show a patient an impacted tooth on a laptop or tablet. Limits: Kitware states it is not FDA approved for any purpose, it has no panoramic curve or nerve tracing, the documentation does not describe STL export, and there is no classic desktop installer. Pick it for demonstrations and quick 3D looks on any computer.
GIMP: for figures, not for reading scans
GIMP is a free image editor, and there is no official “GIMP medical plugins” package. What it does have is a built-in DICOM import and export plug-in. It opens a single uncompressed DICOM image, reduces 16-bit data to 8 bits, and rejects JPEG, JPEG 2000, JPEG-LS and RLE compressed files. It cannot scroll a CBCT volume, and its measurements are in pixels, not millimetres. It also keeps the original DICOM header, including patient name, when you save back to DICOM, so export to PNG or JPEG before sharing. Pick it for the step after viewing: cropping, contrast, arrows and labels for a lecture or paper. Export the image from Weasis first when the file will not open.
Vatech EasyDent4: legacy software, handle with care
There is no Vatech product called “EasyDent Free Tools”. EasyDent4 is Vatech’s older commercial imaging software for Windows, supplied with Vatech X-ray units. It is shareware (conditionally free) in the narrow sense that the viewers Vatech writes to patient discs cost the recipient nothing. Vatech America lists EasyDent4 as no longer supported since the end of Windows 7 support in January 2020, with no Windows 11 support, and names EzDent-i as the replacement. If you still run it, the useful skill is export: File, CT Save As writes a CBCT as DICOM files to a folder or ZIP, which Weasis or Horos can then open. Pick it only to maintain or migrate an existing Vatech installation.
Ginkgo CADx: discontinued
Ginkgo CADx was a free, open-source DICOM viewer and dicomizer. It is discontinued: the final release, 3.8.8, came out in January 2019, and the maintainer archived the repository in November 2021 because it could not easily be ported to current VTK. Debian 11 was the last Debian release to ship it, and the old Windows and macOS installers predate current systems. It never had dental tools such as a panoramic curve or 3D export for CBCT, and we found no evidence of FDA or CE clearance for the free version. If it already runs on an old Linux workstation, it can stay there. For anything new, install Weasis, which also has a dicomizer.
How to choose
- Start with where the scan came from. A Planmeca export opens best in Romexis Viewer. A disc from a legacy Vatech system opens in its own disc viewer or, after DICOM export, in any viewer below. Anything else: Weasis.
- Match the computers you have. Mixed Windows and Mac: Weasis on both. Mac only: Horos or Weasis; see free DICOM viewers for Mac. Windows only and speed matters: RadiAnt, accepting that it is shareware.
- Decide whether you need a panoramic view from CBCT. Weasis, Horos and Romexis Viewer have a curved reconstruction. RadiAnt and VolView do not.
- Decide whether you need a 3D model. Horos and RadiAnt export STL. For proper tooth and jaw segmentation, move to 3D Slicer or InVesalius.
- Keep planning separate. None of these tools plans implants or designs guides; see free dental implant planning software.
- Check the regulatory position. Most free viewers state that they are not certified medical devices. Use them for review, referral, teaching and research, and follow your local rules for primary diagnosis.
FAQ
What is the best free dental imaging software?
For viewing, Weasis: it is free, open source, cross-platform and has curved MPR for CBCT. Mac-only practices can use Horos, and clinics receiving Planmeca exports can use Romexis Viewer.
Is there free dental X-ray imaging software for capturing images?
Capture depends on the drivers and software supplied by the maker of your sensor or X-ray unit, as EasyDent4 was for Vatech units. The free tools on this page view and share images after capture; they do not drive the hardware.
Where can I get a dental imaging software free download safely?
From the developer’s official site or a trusted package manager, never from a random download directory. Each program page on dentiit.com names the official source, current version and platforms. Weasis, for example, is also available through winget, Chocolatey, Homebrew and Flathub.
What is the best free DICOM viewer?
For dental work, Weasis on Windows, macOS and Linux, and Horos on macOS. RadiAnt is popular on Windows but is shareware (conditionally free), not free.
Is there a free CBCT viewer?
Yes. Weasis, Horos and Planmeca Romexis Viewer all open CBCT volumes and build panoramic-style views with cross-sections. VolView shows CBCT in 3D in a browser without installing anything.
Can I diagnose with a free DICOM viewer?
Be careful. Weasis states that its open-source build is not a certified medical device, RadiAnt’s licence says it must not be used for diagnostic decisions, Kitware states that VolView is not FDA approved for any purpose, and Horos makes no FDA or CE claim. Treat them as review and teaching tools and follow the rules in your jurisdiction.
Last updated: 26 September 2026 · DentIIT editorial team. Licence, version and platform details are checked against each developer's official documentation; none of the tools listed here should be treated as a certified medical device unless its vendor says so.
