Synthea

Spec sheet

Purpose

Synthea is an open-source generator that simulates synthetic patients and their medical histories.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Intended users

The site identifies researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and software developers as users of the synthetic health data.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Privacy

The project describes its generated patient data as realistic but not real and free from privacy restrictions.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Support

The Synthea team lists a discussion board, GitHub issues, and the email [email protected] for feedback and help.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

License

The GitHub README states that Synthea is licensed under Apache License 2.0.Read 8 Oct 2026 · github.com

Additional output

The repository README lists Bulk FHIR ndjson and CPCDS exports, which are disabled by default and can be enabled in configuration.Read 8 Oct 2026 · github.com

Customization

The project supports configuration-based demographics, drop-in generic modules, and custom Java rule modules.Read 8 Oct 2026 · github.com

Export formats

The site lists HL7 FHIR R4, STU3 and DSTU2, C-CDA, and CSV exports.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Patient lifecycle

Each patient is simulated independently from birth to the present day using generic modules that model diseases, conditions, care, and transitions between states.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Record contents

Patient records can include medications, allergies, encounters, and social determinants of health.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Runtime requirement

Synthea requires Java JDK 17 or newer; the README recommends LTS versions 17 or 25.Read 8 Oct 2026 · github.com

Sample data

The site offers downloads of over a thousand sample patients and says users can build the project to generate their own.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Use cases

The site describes uses in academic research, Health IT development and experimentation, and healthcare policy simulation.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Website security

MITRE's site privacy policy says it uses safeguards including encryption and user authentication, while noting it cannot guarantee security of internet transmission or digital storage.Read 8 Oct 2026 · synthetichealth.github.io

Plans and prices

Every Synthea plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Synthetic Data Generation Software#20 of 297.4
• Test Data Generation Tools#22 of 287.2