Comparison

UpToDate vs athenaOne

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

Head to head
About

UpToDate

This clinical decision support tool provides healthcare professionals with evidence-based guidance to improve patient care. It features AI-powered conversational answers, continuously updated medical content, and tools for drug reference, calculations, and patient education.

Highlights
  • Expert AI conversational guidance
  • Gold standard clinical content
  • Practice-changing updates
  • Patient education materials
  • Drug reference and interactions
  • Clinical calculators
  • Kidney dosing guidance
Features
Read full description

UpToDate is the clinical decision support solution trusted by over 3M healthcare professionals to help improve care delivery and patient outcomes. Now powered by UpToDate Expert AI, a generative AI experience built on rigorously maintained UpToDate clinical intelligence to delivers fast, clinically grounded answers through a conversational interface. Expert AI, available in select packages and applications, brings together the latest evidence and real-world clinical expertise and provides transparent sourcing, embedded guardrails, and oversight, supporting clinical reasoning and helping clinicians make confident, informed decisions. Key features include: • Expert AI: Conversational guidance that mirrors how clinicians think. • Gold Standard Clinical Content: Clinician-authored clinical intelligence and graded recommendation, enriched with clinical algorithms, graphics, videos, and continuously updated to reflect the latest evidence and clinical care experience. • Practice-Changing Updates: Timely insights that reflect the latest evidence and how it impacts patient care. • Patient Education: Thousands of patient education leaflets in up to 19 different languages to improve patient understanding and support care plan adherence. • Key Points Panels: Quick, clinically actionable guidance to help clinicians avoid common diagnostic and treatment errors embedded in UpToDate search results. • Drug Reference & Interactions: Evidence-based drug monographs and interaction analysis to support safe and informed prescribing decisions. • Clinical Calculators: Over 200 tools to support dosing, risk scoring, and patient assessments. • Rx Transitions: Step-by-step support for switching antidepressants safely. • Kidney Dosing: Drug dosing guidance for patients with renal impairment. Available on mobile, desktop, and integrated into EHRs, ensuring you can access UpToDate’s trusted guidance where and when you need it. Access to features will vary depending on your UpToDate account. Expert AI is now available in personal trainee subscriptions and UpToDate Pro Plus subscriptions in the US, and through select Enterprise Edition accounts. To get access, explore personal subscription options on the UpToDate website or contact your Enterprise account lead. This app is designed for use by medical professionals. If you are not a medical professional, please consult a qualified healthcare provider before making any medical decisions.

About

athenaOne

This secure mobile extension of clinical workflows allows healthcare providers to manage their daily schedules, clinical inboxes, and patient visits. It enables documentation of exams, placement of orders, and creation of new patient cases directly from a mobile device.

Highlights
  • Access daily schedule
  • Manage clinical inbox
  • Prepare for visits
  • Use documentation accelerators
  • Document exams
  • Place orders
  • Create patient cases
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

***Patients: this app is for doctors and healthcare providers. If you’re looking for the athenahealth patient portal, please contact your doctor’s office*** Designed for athenaOne® Providers, the athenaOne® mobile is a secure, extension of athenaOne® clinical workflows designed to help athenaClinicals customers deliver better care. Simply log in with your athenaOne® credentials to get started. - Access your daily schedule - Quickly manage your clinical inbox  - Prepare for upcoming visits ahead of time - Use your existing documentation accelerators - Document exams and place orders - Create new patient cases and order groups

Screenshots

UpToDate4 screens
athenaOne4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: athenaOne at 4.5 against UpToDate's 3.6. athenaOne also leads on monetization model (ad-supported vs subscription) and chart position (#195 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

athenaOne holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 586 and 2.8K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of UpToDate's written reviews are positive against 33% of athenaOne's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UpToDate ships an update every 5 weeks, athenaOne every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
UpToDate versus athenaOne: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUpToDateathenaOne
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (586 ratings)4.5 (2.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews28.2% of reviews33.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5862.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationSubscriptionAd-supported — better
Best chart rank—#195 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB598 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUpToDate, Inc.athenahealth

Customer experience

UpToDate

All ratings579 ratings
Positive60.4%
Neutral10.4%
Negative29.2%
Written reviews386 reviews
Positive28.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative62.2%

athenaOne

All ratings2,788 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews103 reviews
Positive33.0%
Neutral15.5%
Negative51.5%

User reviews

UpToDate

From 586 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Invaluable medical resource
  • 🚀 Quick and easy to use
  • 🔍 Comprehensive and up-to-date content

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing issues
  • 🔌 Unreliable offline functionality
  • 💰 Expensive subscription cost

athenaOne

From 2.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to navigate
  • 🚀 Convenient for reviewing patient info
  • 🚀 Helpful for after-hours calls
  • 🚀 Saves time with chart prep

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and login issues
  • 🔍 Limited functionality compared to desktop version
  • 🔍 Difficult to access old documents and records
  • 🔍 Clunky interface and too many clicks
  • 🔍 Lacks key features like scheduling, billing, and controlled substance prescribing

Bugs and requests

UpToDate

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to download offline content
  • Constant need to re-authenticate
  • Incompatibility with recent iOS updates

Requested features

3 requests
  • Highlight and annotate content
  • Improved institutional login support
  • Dark mode and font size options

athenaOne

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login issues and credential expiration
  • Inconsistent performance and freezing
  • Incompatibility with certain devices and OS versions

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to schedule appointments and visits
  • Integrate billing functionality
  • Support for controlled substance prescribing
  • Improved search and document access
  • Customizable interface and text size
Show 1 more
  • Seamless integration with patient portal

In-app purchases

None

UpToDate

No in-app purchases

None

athenaOne

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is UpToDate free?
UpToDate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is athenaOne free?
athenaOne is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, UpToDate or athenaOne?
athenaOne is rated higher. UpToDate averages 3.6 out of 5 from 586 ratings, while athenaOne averages 4.5 from 2.8K ratings.
Do UpToDate or athenaOne have ads?
Neither UpToDate nor athenaOne shows ads.
Which is updated more often, UpToDate or athenaOne?
UpToDate ships an update every 5 weeks, and athenaOne every 3 weeks. Most recently, UpToDate was updated on November 6, 2026 and athenaOne on November 7, 2026.

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