Comparison

Davis's Drug Guide vs mobilePDR

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

Head to head
About

Davis's Drug Guide

This comprehensive drug reference provides essential information for safe medication administration across all age groups. It includes detailed drug monographs, audio pronunciations, pill images, regular updates, and safety alerts. Access to an exclusive online portal offers additional features like dosing calculators and drug of the week notifications.

Highlights
  • 1,700+ drug monographs
  • Audio pronunciations
  • Pill images
  • Regular updates
  • Dosing calculators
  • Safety alerts
  • Canadian-specific content
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses delivers everything you need to administer medications safely across the lifespan. Includes EXCLUSIVE DrugGuide.com access, regular updates, dosing calculators, Drug of the Week, and more! DAVIS DRUG GUIDE FEATURES: • 1,700+ monographs — covering 5,000+ trade name and generic medications • Audio pronunciations — to learn new drug names • Pill images — to visually confirm drug forms • Regular updates — featuring new FDA approvals and prescribing changes • Critical safety alerts and warnings • Highlighted Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) • Pharmacology, Natural & Herbal, Canadian, and Combination Rx indexes • Canadian-specific content, including Canadian trade names and drugs specifically approved for use in Canada • Ideal for courses in nursing programs covering medications, drug administration and preparation for NCLEX-RN & NCLEX-PN exam. • Trusted companion for practicing nurses, physicians & pharmacists. • Now includes Routine Pediatric and Adult Immunizations appendix which incorporates the most recent recommendations. • Adverse side effects are now listed in order of most frequent, life threatening and frequent, life threatening, and other side effects. • A streamlined presentation of the nursing implementation and family teaching sections in the monographs. EXCLUSIVE UNBOUND MEDICINE FEATURES • Free access to the DrugGuide.com website (after purchase) • IV calculators for drips and dosing — fully integrated • Highlighting and note-taking within entries • “Favorites” for bookmarking important entries • 'Drug of the Week' Alerts • Enhanced Search to find Rx medications quickly Authors: April Hazard Vallerand, PhD, RN, FAAN; Cynthia A. Sanoski, BS, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS Publisher: F.A. Davis Powered by: Unbound Medicine TRIAL / SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS • New users can access the complete Davis Drug Guide app free for 14 days. • After 14 days, your iTunes account will be charged $39.99 for a one-year subscription unless you have turned off auto-renew in Account Settings at least 24 hours before the free trial ends. • At the end of the one-year period, your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off in Account Settings 24 hours prior to the renewal date. • If you choose not to renew, you will still be able to use the app but will not receive medication updates. Unbound Medicine Privacy Policy: https://www.unboundmedicine.com/privacy Unbound Medicine Terms of Use: https://www.unboundmedicine.com/end_user_license_agreement

About

mobilePDR

Access up-to-date drug prescribing information for healthcare professionals. Quickly search thousands of drug summaries, compare medications, and check for interactions. Identify pills with color photos and imprint codes.

Highlights
  • Concise drug summaries
  • Drug comparison tool
  • Drug interaction checker
  • Pill identification with photos
  • Search by brand, generic, or class
  • Continuous updates
Features
Read full description

mobilePDR® is the OFFICIAL drug information app from PDR®, publisher of Physicians’ Desk Reference® – the most trusted resource for drug prescribing information since 1946. mobilePDR allows healthcare professionals FREE access to the most current drug prescribing information available from PDR. Fast and easy to use, mobilePDR employs a simple, but powerful search tool with access to thousands of concise drug summaries. Users can search by generic, brand or pharmacologic class names. A drug comparison feature helps healthcare providers choose the right medication for their patients based on key drug properties such as indications and side effects, dosing, and more. Know at a glance when there may be a drug interaction. Identify a pill based on its physical characteristics and visually confirm with full-color photos. All therapeutic areas and medical specialties are covered within the PDR drug app, including diabetes drugs, pain drugs, asthma and allergy drugs, cardiovascular drugs, obesity drugs, cholesterol drugs, psychiatric and mental health drugs, pediatric drugs, oncology drugs, vaccines and biologics, and more. Features: - Free to all U.S. healthcare professionals - Simple, powerful search provides fast access to drug information with auto-completion - Personalize your experience by saving drugs that you look up often for quick access - Search by brand, generic or pharmacologic class names - Access concise drug summaries and dosing information to answer important prescribing questions - Drug information is updated continuously with the latest information - Covers thousands of drugs in active use - Swipe left-right to compare key drug characteristics such as dosing, indications, and side effects - Save drug comparisons to refer to them again later - Check for drug interactions and learn what drug combinations to avoid - Identify pills by tablet imprint codes, shape or drug color, complete with color pill images Requirements: - Registration is free, and required the first time you use the mobilePDR app - mobilePDR is intended for use by U.S. healthcare professionals

Screenshots

Davis's Drug Guide4 screens
mobilePDR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Davis's Drug Guide at 4.9 against mobilePDR's 3.2. Davis's Drug Guide also leads on review sentiment (72% vs 32%) and ratings volume (9.3K vs 107). mobilePDR's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). 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. Davis's Drug Guide sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $34.99 per year. mobilePDR asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Davis's Drug Guide holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Davis's Drug Guide has 9.3K ratings behind it against 107, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Davis's Drug Guide's written reviews are positive against 32% of mobilePDR's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Davis's Drug Guide ships an update every 6 weeks, mobilePDR every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Davis's Drug Guide versus mobilePDR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDavis's Drug GuidemobilePDR
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (9.3K ratings) — better3.2 (107 ratings)
Positive reviews71.5% of reviews — better31.7% of reviews
Number of ratings9.3K — better107
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
Best chart rank#10 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB112 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUnbound Medicine, Inc.PDR Equity, LLC

Customer experience

Davis's Drug Guide

All ratings9,278 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews130 reviews
Positive71.5%
Neutral3.8%
Negative24.6%

mobilePDR

All ratings101 ratings
Positive51.5%
Neutral11.9%
Negative36.6%
Written reviews60 reviews
Positive31.7%
Neutral13.3%
Negative55.0%

User reviews

Davis's Drug Guide

From 9.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Convenient mobile access
  • 🚀 Helpful for nursing students and professionals
  • 🚀 Reliable and trusted resource
  • 👍 Comprehensive drug information

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔍 Missing information on some drugs
  • 🔒 Difficult to cancel subscription
  • 🔍 Not up-to-date with new drugs

mobilePDR

From 107 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great information resource
  • 👍 Useful for medical professionals
  • 👍 Detailed drug information
  • 👍 No subscriptions needed
  • 👍 Quick and accurate descriptions

Room to improve

  • ⚫ Unreadable in dark mode
  • ⚫ Dark text on black background
  • ⚫ Poor contrast issues
  • 🐛 Buggy at times
  • 🐛 App crashes frequently

Bugs and requests

Davis's Drug Guide

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes or freezes
  • Login/access issues
  • Compatibility problems with new devices/OS
  • Incorrect or incomplete drug information

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to add custom drugs
  • More calculators and tools
  • Improved search functionality
  • Better integration with other systems

mobilePDR

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Text unreadable in dark mode
  • Black text on black background
  • App crashes during comparison
  • App crashes on launch
  • Login errors
Show 4 more
  • Drug identification incorrect
  • Cannot read description after upgrade
  • App not communicating with password manager
  • Random black background behind text

Requested features

9 requests
  • Add dark mode option
  • Improve readability in dark mode
  • Allow landscape orientation
  • Fix drug identification errors
  • Add DEA/drug scheduling tab
Show 4 more
  • Add related drugs tab
  • Improve drug comparison tool
  • Add favorite drugs tab
  • Add flashcard feature

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Davis's Drug Guide

Subscriptions3
  • Drug Interactions$34.991 Year
  • Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses14 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Davis's Drug Guide Subsription1 Year trial$39.991 Year
None

mobilePDR

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Davis's Drug Guide free?
Davis's Drug Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is mobilePDR free?
mobilePDR is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Davis's Drug Guide or mobilePDR?
Davis's Drug Guide is rated higher. Davis's Drug Guide averages 4.9 out of 5 from 9.3K ratings, while mobilePDR averages 3.2 from 107 ratings.
Do Davis's Drug Guide or mobilePDR have ads?
Neither Davis's Drug Guide nor mobilePDR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Davis's Drug Guide or mobilePDR?
Davis's Drug Guide ships an update every 6 weeks, and mobilePDR every 2 months. Most recently, Davis's Drug Guide was updated on October 27, 2026 and mobilePDR on October 22, 2026.

Other comparisons