Comparison

UpToDate vs Micromedex

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
Currently charting
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

Micromedex

Access evidence-based clinical insights at the point of care with this comprehensive medical reference app. It provides daily updated drug information, pediatric and neonatal references, IV compatibility, and drug interaction checks, along with clinical calculators.

Highlights
  • Drug Reference Summary
  • NeoFax and Pediatric Reference
  • IV Compatibility
  • Drug Interactions
  • Clinical Calculators
  • Automated Content Updates
Features
Read full description

The Micromedex suite is a current, reliable, and robust solution to support informed clinical decisions with fast access to the latest evidence-based insights at the point of care. The impartial clinical content is updated daily and vetted through an accredited review process. The Micromedex app provides Drug Reference summary, NeoFax and Pediatric reference, IV Compatibility, and Drug Interactions information along with a set of clinical calculators and access to the Micromedex Assistant. What you will experience: – Unified Access: Access to all essential drug information from a single, comprehensive app – Ease of Navigation: User-friendly interface for easy access to information – Ease of Maintenance: Experience automated content updates so you can stay focused on your workflow App Activation Instructions: To successfully activate, your device needs to remain online. For quick and efficient downloading, remain within your facility Wi-Fi network. 1. Download the “Micromedex” app. The app will download to your app library or directly to your device. 2. Open the app, an activation code and an activation link will display on your device. a. Follow the link from your app. Enter your Micromedex login credentials, if required. OR b. Enter www.micromedexsolutions.com/activate in your desktop browser c. In your Micromedex desktop application, navigate to the Mobile Application Access tab and open the Mobile app access instructions and follow the provided link to the activation page. 3. Enter the provided activation code and tap “Activate Device” to begin using the app.

Screenshots

UpToDate4 screens
Micromedex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Micromedex at free against UpToDate's subscription. UpToDate's advantage is ratings volume (579 vs 35) and rating (3.6 vs 3.4). 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

UpToDate holds the better App Store score, 3.6 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: UpToDate has 579 ratings behind it against 35, 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 24% of Micromedex's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UpToDate ships an update every 5 weeks, Micromedex every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and August 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
UpToDate versus Micromedex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUpToDateMicromedex
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (579 ratings) — better3.4 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews28.3% of reviews — better23.8% of reviews
Number of ratings579 — better35
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
Best chart rank#169 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB30 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperUpToDate, Inc.Merative

Customer experience

UpToDate

All ratings579 ratings
Positive60.4%
Neutral10.4%
Negative29.2%
Written reviews381 reviews
Positive28.3%
Neutral9.7%
Negative61.9%

Micromedex

All ratings35 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive23.8%
Neutral4.8%
Negative71.4%

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

Micromedex

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

UpToDate

No in-app purchases

None

Micromedex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is UpToDate free?
UpToDate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Micromedex free?
Micromedex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, UpToDate or Micromedex?
UpToDate is rated higher. UpToDate averages 3.6 out of 5 from 579 ratings, while Micromedex averages 3.4 from 35 ratings.
Do UpToDate or Micromedex have ads?
Neither UpToDate nor Micromedex shows ads.
Which is updated more often, UpToDate or Micromedex?
UpToDate ships an update every 5 weeks, and Micromedex every 2 months. Most recently, UpToDate was updated on September 22, 2026 and Micromedex on August 29, 2026.

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