Comparison

Calculate by QxMD vs ESC Pocket Guidelines

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

Head to head
About

Calculate by QxMD

This clinical calculator and decision support tool offers over 200 medical calculators and tools for diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. It adapts to your practice and provides detailed references, integrating with PubMed and Read by QxMD.

Highlights
  • Over 200 medical calculators
  • Clinical decision support tools
  • Cardiology, internal medicine, and more
  • Knowledge translation from research
  • Question Flow technology
  • PubMed & Read integration
  • SI and Imperial units
Features
Read full description

From the developer of 'Read by QxMD', 'The ECG Guide' and 'Pedi STAT' comes 'Calculate', a next-generation clinical calculator and decision support tool, freely available to the medical community. "We recommend medical users try the free Calculate by QxMD first..." -from iMedicalApps review "The best free Medical Calculator apps for the iPhone" 'Calculate' highlights tools which impact clinical practice either by simplifying diagnosis, clarifying treatment options or displaying prognosis. Helping you make decisions, not just calculate numbers... Features • Developed by a collaboration of clinician experts from diverse backgrounds • Point-of-care tools in the areas of cardiology, internal medicine, primary care, nephrology, hematology, hepatology, gastroenterology, emergency medicine, oncology, orthopedics, critical care/ICU, ENT, radiology, rheumatology, mental health, respirology, neurology, pediatrics, infectious disease, neurosurgery, general surgery, vascular surgery, and obstetrics. • Converts recent research publications into practical handheld tools - knowledge translation at its best • Automatically adapts to your clinical practice • Unique ‘Question Flow’ technology gets you answers, fast • Detailed references with PubMed & Read integration • Comprehensive and insightful results • Elegant design and intuitive interface • SI and Imperial units More than 200 unique calculators and decision support tools While too extensive to list them all, here is a small sampling of included content: Guide treatment • Determine cardiovascular risk using ACC/AHA, Framingham, Gupta and VQI Cardiac Risk Index • CHADS2 & CHA2DS2-VASc to guide treatment in atrial fibrillation • Understand bleeding risk in atrial fibrillation using HAS-BLED & OBRI • TIMI risk score in ACS • CIWA in alcohol withdrawal • Rule of 9s & Parkland formula in burns • Water deficit in hypernatremia • Timing of surgery with Aortic Stenosis Risk Score • Risk stratify pneumonia (CURB-65, PORT) • NIH Stroke Scale in acute stroke • Imaging in possible subarachnoid hemorrhage with Ottawa SAH Rule Determine Prognosis • Cirrhosis (MELD, Child-Pugh) • Chronic Kidney Disease (Kidney Failure Risk Equation) • Heart failure • Lymphoma (NCCN-IPI, IPI24, R-IPI) • Myelodysplastic Syndrome (IPSS-R, WPSS) • Myeloma (ISS, R-ISS) • Hemodialysis • COPD (Bode) • Pancreatitis (BISAP, Ranson's) • Cardiac surgery (Euroscore II, Cleveland Clinic, Mehta) • Critical care (APACHE II, SOFA) • Neurologic outcome (DRAGON, CAM-ICU, modified Rankin, FOUR score, Hunt & Hess) Calculate • Ideal body weight, BMI and BSA • Due date and gestational age • Extensive formula used in echocardiography and invasive hemodynamic monitoring • Kt/V in dialysis patients • eGFR with CKD-EPI, MDRD & Schwartz • A-a gradient Classify • Angina (CCS) • Congestive heart failure (NYHA) Screen • Diabetes • Breast cancer Reduce and predict perioperative complications • WHO Surgical Safety Checklist • Predictive models for cardiac surgery, vascular surgery and coronary angiography • Postoperative Respiratory Failure Risk score Manage • Head, neck, ankle and knee injuries (NEXUS, Ottawa ankle/knee, Canadian C-spine and CT head rules) • DVT and PE (PERC, Wells, PESI) • Pulmonary nodules • TIA (ABCD2) Stage • Lung cancer • Renal cell carcinoma • Head & neck cancers Understand • TTKG in hypokalemia and hyperkalemia • Dermatomes Diagnose • Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia • Infective Endocarditis • ARDS • Autoimmune Hepatitis • Sleep disorder (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) And much, much more... Researchers, contact us to see your research in our app at contact@qxmd.com Founded my medical professionals, QxMD Software is dedicated to creating high quality, point-of-care tools for practicing health care professionals. Recognized as a leading developer of free medical software for mobile devices, QxMD develops content in cooperation with expert physicians from their respective fields.

About

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Access a comprehensive library of the latest cardiovascular disease guidelines and consensus statements from the European Society of Cardiology. Features include interactive algorithms, full-text search, bookmarking, note-taking, and content sharing capabilities for quick reference and study.

Highlights
  • Latest ESC Guidelines (2023-2025)
  • Interactive algorithms
  • Full-text search
  • Bookmarking and notes
  • Content sharing
  • Printable pages
Features
Read full description

The ESC Pocket Guidelines app now contains the following ESC Pocket Guidelines: ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2025 Cardiovascular disease and pregnancy (Guidelines) Mental health and cardiovascular disease (Consensus Statement) Myocarditis and pericarditis (Guidelines) Valvular heart disease (Joint Guidelines with EACTS) Focused update of the 2019 dyslipidaemias guidelines ESC Guidelines published in 2024 Elevated blood pressure and hypertension Atrial fibrillation Chronic coronary syndromes Peripheral arterial and aortic diseases ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2023 Acute coronary syndromes Cardiomyopathies Cardiovascular disease in diabetes Endocarditis Focused update of the 2021 heart failure guidelines The ESC Pocket Guidelines app also contains interactive tools in the form of algorithms. Additional features: Perform „full text", „index" or „filtered" searches through the entire downloaded content of the app, bookmarks and the notes. Bookmark specific sections or create a personal note and access bookmarks and notes from the „Library“ section. Share links to specific areas of the app via communication channels, e.g. AirDrop, Mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and many others. Print pages. Please follow the link below to register for a new MyESC account: https://escol.escardio.org/MyESC/login.aspx

Screenshots

Calculate by QxMD4 screens
ESC Pocket Guidelines4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: ESC Pocket Guidelines at none against Calculate by QxMD's shown. ESC Pocket Guidelines also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Calculate by QxMD's advantage is review sentiment (86% vs 53%) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, 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

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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Calculate by QxMD against 4.8 for ESC Pocket Guidelines. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calculate by QxMD has 5.1K ratings behind it against 841, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Calculate by QxMD's written reviews are positive against 53% of ESC Pocket Guidelines's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calculate by QxMD ships an update every 6 weeks, ESC Pocket Guidelines every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Calculate by QxMD versus ESC Pocket Guidelines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalculate by QxMDESC Pocket Guidelines
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (5.1K ratings)4.8 (841 ratings) — better
Positive reviews86.5% of reviews — better52.9% of reviews
Number of ratings5.1K — better841
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size118 MB44 MB
Age rating17++17
DeveloperWebMDESC - European Society of Cardiology

Customer experience

Calculate by QxMD

All ratings5,100 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews776 reviews
Positive86.5%
Neutral5.5%
Negative8.0%

ESC Pocket Guidelines

All ratings841 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews68 reviews
Positive52.9%
Neutral2.9%
Negative44.1%

User reviews

Calculate by QxMD

From 5.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⭐ Excellent app
  • 📋 Comprehensive set of calculators
  • 🔍 Helpful references and explanations
  • 🔧 Useful for daily practice
  • 🧠 Great for students and trainees

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App freezes or crashes
  • 🔍 Some calculators not working
  • 🔑 Repeated login requests
  • 🔍 Outdated or missing features
  • 🚫 Ads can be intrusive

ESC Pocket Guidelines

From 841 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Practical and handy for clinical use
  • 📚 Valuable medical information and guidelines
  • ⭐ Excellent content quality
  • 🎯 Easy to use interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and stability issues
  • 🔐 Sign-in system problematic and unnecessary
  • 📖 Small font size and poor design readability
  • ❌ Missing content topics after updates
  • ⚪ Blank white page display issues

Bugs and requests

Calculate by QxMD

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App freezes when using multiple calculators
  • Unable to add items to favorites list
  • Unable to see calculation results after input
  • App crashes on startup without internet connection
  • Landscape mode not working on iPad

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to save/favorite frequently used calculators
  • Integration with electronic health records
  • Metric to imperial unit conversion
  • More specialized calculators (e.g., opioid equivalence, pediatric BP)

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App crashes on iPad and iPhone devices
  • Login authentication failures
  • White blank page display
  • App crashes when opening pathways
  • Guidelines not appearing in downloaded folder
Show 3 more
  • App incompatible with older iOS versions
  • Slow and sluggish performance
  • Full screen not supported on iPad Mini 6

Requested features

5 requests
  • Update to support iPad Mini 6 resolution
  • Include 2023 ESC Congress updates
  • Remove or make sign-in optional
  • Improve font size and design for better readability
  • Add new guidelines (e.g., 2013 stable angina guidelines)

In-app purchases

None

Calculate by QxMD

No in-app purchases

None

ESC Pocket Guidelines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Calculate by QxMD free?
Calculate by QxMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ESC Pocket Guidelines free?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Calculate by QxMD or ESC Pocket Guidelines?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is rated higher. Calculate by QxMD averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5.1K ratings, while ESC Pocket Guidelines averages 4.8 from 841 ratings.
Do Calculate by QxMD or ESC Pocket Guidelines have ads?
Calculate by QxMD shows ads; ESC Pocket Guidelines does not.
Which is updated more often, Calculate by QxMD or ESC Pocket Guidelines?
Calculate by QxMD ships an update every 6 weeks, and ESC Pocket Guidelines every 4 months. Most recently, Calculate by QxMD was updated on November 1, 2026 and ESC Pocket Guidelines on November 1, 2026.

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