Comparison

PedsGuide vs COSA

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

COSA

Access essential drug information and advanced patient resources. This app provides a portion of licensed drug data from a leading healthcare information provider, based on industry-standard databases.

Highlights
  • Essential drug information
  • Advanced patient resources
  • Licensed drug data
  • Industry-standard databases
  • Physician-focused resources
Features
Read full description

Find essential drug information & advanced patient resources. Physicians Office Resource licenses drug information data from First DataBank and provides a portion of it as a free service to its physician-users. First DataBank is the leading provider of electronic drug information to the healthcare industry. Based on the widely accepted industry standard — the National Drug Data File® — NDDF Plus databases are backed by the most clinically verifiable evidence gathered to date.

Screenshots

PedsGuide4 screens
COSA4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PedsGuide at 5.0 against COSA's 3.7. PedsGuide also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). COSA's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.1). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PedsGuide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PedsGuide ships an update every 2 months, COSA every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on July 4, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PedsGuide versus COSA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPedsGuideCOSA
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (9 ratings) — better3.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings9 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB28 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperChildren's Mercy HospitalMEDICAL EDUCATION RESOURCES, LLC

Customer experience

PedsGuide

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

COSA

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

PedsGuide

No in-app purchases

None

COSA

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PedsGuide free?
PedsGuide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is COSA free?
COSA is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PedsGuide or COSA?
PedsGuide is rated higher. PedsGuide averages 5.0 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while COSA averages 3.7 from 3 ratings.
Do PedsGuide or COSA have ads?
COSA shows ads; PedsGuide does not.
Which is updated more often, PedsGuide or COSA?
PedsGuide ships an update every 2 months, and COSA every 3 months. Most recently, PedsGuide was updated on July 4, 2026 and COSA on September 10, 2026.

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