Comparison

PedsGuide vs AHA PALS

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PedsGuide

This app provides evidence-based pediatric clinical support guidelines for healthcare providers. It offers interactive, step-by-step decision support for managing acute childhood illnesses, designed by a clinical team for efficient care management.

Highlights
  • Evidence-based pediatric clinical guidelines
  • Interactive step-by-step decision support
  • Reference material and contextually relevant information
  • Designed by interdisciplinary clinical team
  • Human Factors methodology for efficient interface
  • Quick-call feature for Children's Mercy Contact Center
Read full description

In our commitment to creating a world of well-being for all children, Children’s Mercy Kansas City has created PedsGuide as a means for evidence-based pediatric clinical support guidelines to be available to health care providers. PedsGuide is a multi-module pediatric clinical support tool intended for use only by professional health care providers and emergency personnel for informational and educational purposes. *Each module provides users with a step-by-step interactive clinical decision support process, including reference material and/or contextually relevant information based on evidence-based practice and expert opinion routinely used in clinical practice, to assist in management of various acute illnesses in children. The modules have been designed and optimized by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, pharmacists, medical librarians, Human Factors scientists, and innovations professionals. Human Factors methodology was leveraged to guide interfaces that provide rapid access to information and assessment tools, which facilitate an efficient aid for care management while decreasing cognitive load for the user. Additionally, for users who seek care for patients at The Children’s Mercy Hospital, PedsGuide features a quick-call feature to contact the Children’s Mercy Contact Center and Critical Care Transport Team in our service area. *While PedsGuide is a helpful tool, it is not intended to replace the independent judgment and evaluation of health care providers and emergency personnel. Healthcare providers and emergency personnel should not rely primarily on the tool to make a clinical diagnosis or treatment decision. Children's Mercy is not responsible for the correctness of any action you take based upon your use of PedsGuide.

About

AHA PALS

This app provides pediatric advanced life support (PALS) protocols and tools for healthcare professionals at the point-of-care. Developed by physicians and vetted by the American Heart Association, it offers intuitive access to algorithms, drug information, and timers for critical care situations.

Highlights
  • PALS pathways and algorithms
  • Drug therapy and dosing
  • CPR and intervention timers
  • Metronome for compression accuracy
  • Critical care references
  • Vetted by AHA and physicians
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

We continue to iterate based on real-time clinician feedback so that you will have the best experience providing life-saving care at the bedside. The AHA PALS app was developed by Harvard-trained physicians, in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA), to help fellow physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and emergency medical technicians (EMT) deliver the highest level of pediatric advanced life support (PALS) at the point-of-care. This project was inspired by the tremendous success of our AHA ACLS app, which has thousands of clinician users in over 180 countries. Importantly, real-time feedback from our clinician users continuously drives improvements in app design, features, and function. AHA PALS is the only app to have all content vetted by both the American Heart Association (AHA) science team (with license to use PALS content) and practicing Harvard-affiliated physicians. We owe it to our patients to use the best digital health tools to give them the highest chance of surviving acute life-threatening illnesses. To this end, we have developed an intuitive and rigorously vetted mobile app to assist healthcare clinicians—at any stage of training—navigate PALS at the bedside. You can purchase a yearly subscription which begins with a 3-day free trial. After completing the free trial, you will be charged for an annual subscription automatically. Features: - Intuitive design to rapidly access PALS pathways (i.e. cardiac arrest , tachycardia with pulse, bradycardia with pulse, post cardiac arrest care, and critical care references) - Includes all PALS content including drug therapy and dosing, reversible causes, etc. - Easy-to-read timers and ability to log rounds of CPR, epinephrine, and defibrillations. There are additional functionalities to log PALS Cardiac Arrest interventions beyond EPI, CPR , and shocks such as lidocaine and more. - We also added a new metronome feature to improve compression accuracy as well as a ROSC button. - Button within cardiac arrest algorithm that allows for rapid transition to post cardiac arrest care checklist once patient achieves ROSC - Relevant critical care references: (1) drugs used in PALS (i.e., medication names, indications, and doses); (2) vital signs in children; (3) pediatric color-coded length-based resuscitation tape (adapted from Breslow tape) ; (4) pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale - All content rigorously vetted by AHA science team and practicing Harvard-affiliated physicians - Regularly updated with the most up-to-date PALS content

Screenshots

PedsGuide4 screens
AHA PALS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: PedsGuide at 100% against AHA PALS's 55%. PedsGuide also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). AHA PALS's advantage is chart position (#174 vs unranked) and ratings volume (53 vs 9). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. AHA PALS sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. PedsGuide asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PedsGuide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AHA PALS has 53 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of PedsGuide's written reviews are positive against 55% of AHA PALS's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
PedsGuide versus AHA PALS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPedsGuideAHA PALS
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (9 ratings) — better4.5 (53 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better54.5% of reviews
Number of ratings953 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterSubscription
Best chart rank—#174 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB48 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperChildren's Mercy HospitalMassachusetts General Hospital

Customer experience

PedsGuide

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

AHA PALS

All ratings53 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive54.5%
Neutral9.1%
Negative36.4%

In-app purchases

None

PedsGuide

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

AHA PALS

Subscriptions1
  • PALS3 Days trial$3.991 Year

Questions

Is PedsGuide free?
PedsGuide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is AHA PALS free?
AHA PALS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PedsGuide or AHA PALS?
PedsGuide is rated higher. PedsGuide averages 5.0 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while AHA PALS averages 4.5 from 53 ratings.
Do PedsGuide or AHA PALS have ads?
Neither PedsGuide nor AHA PALS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PedsGuide or AHA PALS?
PedsGuide ships an update every 2 months, and AHA PALS every 2 months. Most recently, PedsGuide was updated on October 6, 2026 and AHA PALS on October 14, 2026.

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