PubMed On Tap vs Read by QxMD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PubMed On Tap
Access and manage biomedical literature from PubMed and PubMed Central. Find, display, and import reference information and full-text articles. Organize your references and share them easily.
- Search PubMed and PubMed Central
- Import reference information and PDFs
- Organize references in groups
- Email references for import
- Advanced boolean searches
- Search for full text
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••• Check out Bookends - PubMed On Tap's big brother ••• PubMed On Tap searches PubMed and PubMed Central to find, display, and import reference information and PDFs of the full article (requires access privileges). You can search your personal reference library, organize your references in groups (static and smart), and email references from your device to yourself or others in a form suitable for reading or importing into other reference management apps. Many features are optimized for reference retrieval and management (advanced boolean searches, search for Full Text or Free Full text, recall recent searches, etc.).
Read by QxMD
Access and organize the latest medical research and topic reviews in a personalized digital journal. Stay updated with new scientific findings and easily retrieve full-text PDFs from PubMed and other sources.
- Personalized digital medical journal
- Access latest medical research
- Read topic reviews
- Search PubMed
- Full-text PDF access
- Organize article collection
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'Read by QxMD' provides a single place to keep up with new medical & scientific research, read outstanding topic reviews and search PubMed. This iPhone & iPad app provides a simple interface that drives discovery and seamless access to the medical literature by reformatting it into a personalized digital journal. Praise for Read: 5 stars: "Stellar. The future of medical literature review... This could be the best application to stay up-to-date in medicine since, well, UpToDate." - User Review 4¾ stars: "The Flipboard for medical journals has arrived" and among "...the most innovative medical apps" - iMedicalApps.com On Apple's 'What's Hot' list in >60 countries, as well as Medical Essentials & Apps for Healthcare Professionals. Featured in Apple iBook: "iOS in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Healthcare Productivity" Features: - Get full text PDFs with one tap - Keep up with the latest new research that will impact your practice - Browse through 1000s of outstanding topic reviews - Search millions of articles from PubMed and our database of outstanding topic reviews - Read your favorite journals or browse article collections. - Access full text through your university/institutional subscription or via open access publishers - Share articles with colleagues over email, Twitter and Facebook - Organize and review your personal collection of articles Why did we build 'Read by QxMD'? Health care professionals need to stay up to date on the latest medical research and topic reviews to provide optimal care. Unfortunately, the process of content discovery is broken with research artificially compartmentalized by publishers and hidden behind countless institutional pay walls. At QxMD, we believe that knowledge translation– the process by which new knowledge is incorporated into clinical practice – is an important and unsolved challenge for our health care system. We hope that ‘Read by QxMD’ will be a part of the solution. Seamless 1-tap access available at thousands of institutions. Sources: From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Founded by medical professionals, QxMD is dedicated to creating high quality point-of-care tools for practicing health care professionals.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Read by QxMD at Free against PubMed On Tap's $2.99. Read by QxMD also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months) and review sentiment (89% vs 66%). PubMed On Tap's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On rating, 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
Read by QxMD is free to download; PubMed On Tap costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for PubMed On Tap against 4.8 for Read by QxMD. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 66% of PubMed On Tap's written reviews are positive against 89% of Read by QxMD's.
PubMed On Tap ships an update every 6 months, Read by QxMD monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PubMed On Tap | Read by QxMD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (1K ratings) | 4.8 (6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 65.7% of reviews | 89.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1K | 6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 205 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | ReferencesOnTap | WebMD |
Customer experience
PubMed On Tap
Read by QxMD
User reviews
PubMed On Tap
From 1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great resource
- 👍 Excellent access to PubMed
- 👍 Very handy
- 👍 Handy App
- 👍 Excellent
Room to improve
- 🐛 Does not work. Does not search pubmed
- 🐛 Useless - Can't select best match
- 🐛 Horrible
- 🐛 Would benefit enormously if it had 'related citations' ability
- 🐛 Developer Out of Business?
Read by QxMD
From 6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient access to latest research
- 👍 Customizable journal and keyword tracking
- 🔒 Institutional access integration
- 💡 Convenient PDF downloads
- 👍 Helpful for staying up-to-date
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Institutional access issues
- 💻 Lack of desktop/web version
- 🔍 Limited search and filtering options
- 📤 Difficulty sharing articles
Bugs and requests
PubMed On Tap
Reported bugs
2 issues- Your application does not open on my ipad after download
- Crashes on load/run every time, even after reset and/or reinstallation
Requested features
7 requests- Ability to save favorite search words
- Ability to highlight parts of abstract text
- Option to sort the library by author, date, publication type
- Option to create more than one library within the app
- Option to save search history for future retrieval
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Option of folders for easy paper organization
- Safari or Zotero integration
Read by QxMD
Reported bugs
5 issues- Login and authentication problems
- Inconsistent app performance after updates
- Inability to access full-text articles
- Syncing issues between devices
- Unreliable article refresh functionality
Requested features
6 requests- Dark mode option
- Ability to annotate and highlight PDFs
- Improved article organization and collections
- Integration with reference managers (e.g. Zotero, Mendeley)
- Enhanced search and filtering capabilities
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Offline access to saved articles
In-app purchases
PubMed On Tap
No in-app purchases
Read by QxMD
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is PubMed On Tap free?
Is Read by QxMD free?
Which has better reviews, PubMed On Tap or Read by QxMD?
Do PubMed On Tap or Read by QxMD have ads?
Which is updated more often, PubMed On Tap or Read by QxMD?
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