UpToDate vs Osmosis
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Expert AI conversational guidance
- Gold standard clinical content
- Practice-changing updates
- Patient education materials
- Drug reference and interactions
- Clinical calculators
- Kidney dosing guidance
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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.
Osmosis
This app helps medical students learn complex concepts faster and retain more information. It offers animated videos, flashcards, notes, and board-style questions to prepare for exams and build clinical skills.
- Animated medical videos
- Spaced repetition flashcards
- Board-style practice questions
- Downloadable notes and videos
- Clinical decision-making trees
- Cross-platform syncing
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Struggling to understand medical concepts or prepare for the USMLE? Osmosis is the medical exam study app designed to help med students learn medicine faster, improve information retention and pass medical board exams with flying colours. Trusted by 8,000,000+ medical, nursing, PA, pharmacy and dental students, this medical learning app turns downtime into productive study time with an expansive library of medical videos, flashcards, quizzes, exam-style questions and more. Instead of memorizing isolated facts, Osmosis helps you learn how medical concepts connect - so that you can retain more information, study smarter and apply what you learn to exams and in clinical practice. And now, you can ask Osmosis AI for instant, evidence-based answers grounded in Elsevier medical textbooks and linked to Osmosis videos. Generate flashcards, quizzes, summaries and mnemonics on demand with AI so you never have to second-guess your source. EXAM PREP FOR EVERY US MEDICAL LICENSING EXAM • USMLE Step 1 & Step 2 • COMLEX-USA Level 1 & Level 2 • NCLEX-RN & NCLEX-PN • PANCE • ABFM / ABIM • UKMLA (UK) With Osmosis, everything in your medical studies connects so nothing gets lost. Flashcards, videos and notes work together to make every study session stress free and every exam prep hour more productive. Ready to learn smarter? DOWNLOAD today to start your FREE 7-DAY TRIAL. STUDY ANYWHERE, ANYTIME Download medical videos and exam questions for offline study on the commute, before rounds or between clinics. Sync across iPhone, iPad and web so you can learn wherever you are. WHY CHOOSE OSMOSIS? • 1000s of concise medical videos that simplify complex medical concepts and support visual learning • Medical flashcards that help you learn and retain key concepts, with concise explanations reviewed by medical experts • A custom quiz builder that transforms your study time so you can master medical material and ace your exams • Board-style practice exam questions with detailed explanations • 450+ high-yield summary notes with key points and diagrams from videos • Printable clinical decision-making trees to learn on the go • Spaced repetition guides what medical concepts to study next, focusing you on the areas where you need it the most YOUR ALL-IN-ONE MEDICAL LEARNING TOOLKIT From concept mastery to clinical reasoning, Osmosis turns complex medical material into clear, digestible learning experiences so that you can study with confidence and pass exams first time, every time. LEARN SMARTER Our videos and High-Yield medical study notes condense everything you need to learn and nothing you don't. Study efficiently and retain the medical knowledge that matters most for board exams and clinical practice. GET A PERSONALIZED, FLEXIBLE STUDY PLAN IN MINUTES Choose your learning goals and set your study hours, Osmosis handles the rest. Your daily study checklist shows which videos, exam questions and topics to learn each day. Add custom tasks like homework, practice exams and reminders to keep your medical studies on track. FOLLOW OSMOSIS ON SOCIAL: YouTube: youtube.com/osmosis TikTok: @learnbyosmosis Instagram: @osmosismed Facebook: @OsmoseIt X: twitter.com/OsmosisMed Bluesky: @osmosismed.bsky.social DOWNLOAD and start your FREE 7-DAY TRIAL today! Subscriptions are charged annually & automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before end of the current period. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Your iTunes Account will be charged the current annual subscription cost each year for renewal within 24-hours prior to end of current period. You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your iTunes Account Settings any time after purchase. Any free trial will be interrupted when a paid subscription is purchased. Terms: www.osmosis.org/terms Privacy policy: www.osmosis.org/privacy Contact support@osmosis.org with any account/purchase queries.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Osmosis at 4.8 against UpToDate's 3.6. Osmosis also leads on review sentiment (47% vs 28%) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 583). UpToDate's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 14). 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
Both are free to download. Osmosis sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $16.99 per month. UpToDate asks for nothing beyond the download.
Osmosis holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmosis has 3.9K ratings behind it against 583, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of UpToDate's written reviews are positive against 47% of Osmosis's.
UpToDate ships an update every 5 weeks, Osmosis monthly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | UpToDate | Osmosis |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (583 ratings) | 4.8 (3.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.2% of reviews | 47.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 583 | 3.9K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #204 | #66 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 70 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | UpToDate, Inc. | Knowledge Diffusion |
Customer experience
UpToDate
Osmosis
User reviews
UpToDate
From 583 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Osmosis
From 3.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great study tool
- 💡 Helpful videos and flashcards
- 👍 Engaging and easy to understand content
- 🚀 Efficient for on-the-go learning
- 👍 Customizable study experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app with crashes and glitches
- 🔋 Offline functionality issues
- 👎 Limited features compared to website
- 👎 Subscription confusion and billing issues
- 👎 Slow and unresponsive app performance
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
Osmosis
Reported bugs
5 issues- Verification email never sent
- Videos won't play or keep restarting
- Inability to access high-yield notes on app
- Flashcards and quizzes not working properly
- App getting stuck on loading/login screens
Requested features
5 requests- Add speech pathology to the platform
- Provide Arabic subtitles for videos
- Implement split-screen functionality
- Allow editing of flashcards on mobile
- Improve search and playlist features
In-app purchases
UpToDate
No in-app purchases
Osmosis
- Osmosis Full Access Monthly3 variants$16.991 Month
- Clinical Sciences Monthly$16.991 Month
- Osmosis Basic Sciences Monthly$16.991 Month
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- Osmosis Suite Access Monthly$49.001 Month
- Clinical Science 6 Month$129.006 Months
- Clinical Science Access Yearly$169.001 Year
- Basic Sciences Access 6 Month$179.006 Months
- Osmosis Full Access 6 Month$179.996 Months
- Osmosis Full Access Yearly$199.991 Year
- Basic Sciences Access Yearly$199.991 Year
- Osmosis Suite Access 6 Month$229.006 Months
- Osmosis Suite Access Yearly$249.001 Year
Questions
Is UpToDate free?
Is Osmosis free?
Which has better reviews, UpToDate or Osmosis?
Do UpToDate or Osmosis have ads?
Which is updated more often, UpToDate or Osmosis?
Which is more popular, UpToDate or Osmosis?
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