Comparison

BMJ Best Practice vs Plabable for PA

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

Head to head
About

BMJ Best Practice

Access up-to-date, evidence-based clinical guidance for healthcare professionals. This app offers offline access to diagnostic, treatment, and prevention information, along with patient leaflets, calculators, and procedure videos. It also tracks CME/CPD activities.

Highlights
  • Evidence-based clinical guidance
  • Offline access
  • Patient leaflets
  • Medical calculators
  • Guidance videos
  • CME/CPD tracking
Features
Read full description

Instant access to the latest evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals. Updated daily, BMJ Best Practice provides healthcare professionals with the latest evidence-based clinical decision support information. It's available offline, which means clinical decision support can be accessed anytime, anywhere. This app can be downloaded by those who have access to the BMJ Best Practice website, and have already set-up a username and password. Don’t have a subscription? Download the app and access a free 7 day trial. The app provides: - Fast access to the latest guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention - 500+ patient leaflets - 250+ medical calculators - Guidance videos on common clinical procedures - Automatic CME/CPD activity tracking Your feedback helps to inform future developments. At BMJ, we have a user-centered product development process, which means that we enhance the product based on what our customers, and our users tell us they need and want. As a result, we have introduced features such as ‘night mode’ and patient leaflets to the app. If you have a question or want to provide feedback, please contact us at support@bmj.com. Thank you!

About

Plabable for PA

Prepare for the Physician Associate National Examination (PANE) with high-yield practice questions and comprehensive revision guides. This app offers timed mock exams and evidence-based explanations to help you pass the knowledge-based assessment.

Highlights
  • High-yield practice questions
  • Timed mock practices
  • Comprehensive revision guides
  • Evidence-based explanations
  • Practice by clinical categories
  • Flagging questions and guides
Features
Read full description

Passing the Physician Associate National Examination (PANE) is required to become a qualified physician associate in the UK. The exam includes two parts. The first part is made up of a 200-question, single-best-answer assessment taken online and the second part is an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). At Plabable for PA, we focus on high yield questions which are written and reviewed by qualified physician associates, closely resembling the first part of PANE which is a knowledge based assessment, giving you the best opportunity to pass on the first attempt. We take pride in staying on par with the current changes in the NHS and we consistently update our questions and explanations. The answers we provide are evidence-based and our explanations are from reliable sources including NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries, NICE guidelines and patient.info. Revise on the go with features including: ● Practise questions by clinical categories ● Timed mock practices ● Comprehensive revision guides ● Option for flagging questions and revision guides ● Optional add-on Gems and Decking feature ● Dedicated Whatsapp groups for discussion Start revising with us today!

Screenshots

BMJ Best Practice4 screens
Plabable for PA4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BMJ Best Practice at none against Plabable for PA's 7. BMJ Best Practice also leads on ratings volume (207 vs 1) and review sentiment (87% vs 72%). Plabable for PA's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0.0). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model 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. Plabable for PA sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. BMJ Best Practice asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Plabable for PA holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BMJ Best Practice has 207 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 87% of BMJ Best Practice's written reviews are positive against 72% of Plabable for PA's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
BMJ Best Practice versus Plabable for PA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBMJ Best PracticePlabable for PA
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (207 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews86.7% of reviews — better72.0% of reviews
Number of ratings207 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB87 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperBMJ GroupPlabable Limited

Customer experience

BMJ Best Practice

All ratings207 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral1.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews143 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral5.6%
Negative7.7%

Plabable for PA

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive72.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative20.0%

Bugs and requests

BMJ Best Practice

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App getting stuck on download screen
  • Inability to open the app on certain devices
  • Automatic logout issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to save favorites and bookmarks
  • Improved support for landscape mode and split-screen
  • Author/reference details for content
  • Institutional login option

Plabable for PA

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

BMJ Best Practice

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Plabable for PA

One-time7
  • Gems$14.99
  • Extend 3 Months$29.99
  • 3 Months$39.99
Show 4 more
  • Extend 5 Months$39.99
  • 3 Months + Gems$39.99
  • 5 Months$49.99
  • 5 Months + Gems$49.99

Questions

Is BMJ Best Practice free?
BMJ Best Practice is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Plabable for PA free?
Plabable for PA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BMJ Best Practice or Plabable for PA?
Plabable for PA is rated higher. BMJ Best Practice averages 4.7 out of 5 from 207 ratings, while Plabable for PA averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do BMJ Best Practice or Plabable for PA have ads?
Neither BMJ Best Practice nor Plabable for PA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BMJ Best Practice or Plabable for PA?
BMJ Best Practice ships an update monthly, and Plabable for PA monthly. Most recently, BMJ Best Practice was updated on November 1, 2026 and Plabable for PA on October 29, 2026.

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