Comparison

ImmGen vs Read by QxMD

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

Head to head
About

ImmGen

Explore gene expression data across various immune cell types in mice and humans. Visualize expression levels with interactive heatmaps and bar charts. Discover correlated genes to understand cellular relationships.

Highlights
  • Gene expression heatmap barcodes
  • Visualize expression in cell lineages
  • Toggle between mouse/human datasets
  • Bar chart visualization
  • Gene constellation view
  • View correlated genes
Features
Read full description

Explore gene expression levels in different mouse and human immune system cells. Start by entering a gene name (or alias) in the search bar to see a list of hits you can swipe through. Searching will display a "heatmap barcode" that shows how hot or cold expression of that gene is across different immune system cell lineages (B cells, T cells, Myeloid cells, etc). Toggle between 3 different datasets: mouse RNA-seq, mouse microarray, and human RNA-seq. Press down on a cell lineage icon to see the same expression data visualized as a bar chart. Use the settings menu in the top right to toggle between a log and linear axis. In the microarray data, low expression values are partially occluded. Back on the main "heatmap barcode" screen, if you instead press the "Show related genes" button, you'll see a "gene constellation" view. This shows its most correlated genes within certain population groups. By default, correlation is shown with respect to key populations — these are key populations across the entire immune system. Please reach out to immgen@gmail.com for feedback or feature requests! The data are generated by the Immunological Genome Project, an international consortium supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIAID).

About

Read by QxMD

Access and organize the latest medical research and topic reviews in a personalized digital journal. Stay updated with new scientific findings and easily retrieve full-text PDFs from PubMed and other sources.

Highlights
  • Personalized digital medical journal
  • Access latest medical research
  • Read topic reviews
  • Search PubMed
  • Full-text PDF access
  • Organize article collection
Features
Read full description

'Read by QxMD' provides a single place to keep up with new medical & scientific research, read outstanding topic reviews and search PubMed. This iPhone & iPad app provides a simple interface that drives discovery and seamless access to the medical literature by reformatting it into a personalized digital journal. Praise for Read: 5 stars: "Stellar. The future of medical literature review... This could be the best application to stay up-to-date in medicine since, well, UpToDate." - User Review 4¾ stars: "The Flipboard for medical journals has arrived" and among "...the most innovative medical apps" - iMedicalApps.com On Apple's 'What's Hot' list in >60 countries, as well as Medical Essentials & Apps for Healthcare Professionals. Featured in Apple iBook: "iOS in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Healthcare Productivity"   Features: - Get full text PDFs with one tap - Keep up with the latest new research that will impact your practice - Browse through 1000s of outstanding topic reviews - Search millions of articles from PubMed and our database of outstanding topic reviews - Read your favorite journals or browse article collections. - Access full text through your university/institutional subscription or via open access publishers - Share articles with colleagues over email, Twitter and Facebook - Organize and review your personal collection of articles Why did we build 'Read by QxMD'? Health care professionals need to stay up to date on the latest medical research and topic reviews to provide optimal care. Unfortunately, the process of content discovery is broken with research artificially compartmentalized by publishers and hidden behind countless institutional pay walls. At QxMD, we believe that knowledge translation– the process by which new knowledge is incorporated into clinical practice – is an important and unsolved challenge for our health care system. We hope that ‘Read by QxMD’ will be a part of the solution. Seamless 1-tap access available at thousands of institutions. Sources: From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Founded by medical professionals, QxMD is dedicated to creating high quality point-of-care tools for practicing health care professionals.

Screenshots

ImmGen4 screens
Read by QxMD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: ImmGen at none against Read by QxMD's shown. ImmGen also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). Read by QxMD's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (6K vs 13). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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

ImmGen holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of ImmGen's written reviews are positive against 89% of Read by QxMD's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ImmGen ships an update every 7 months, Read by QxMD monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ImmGen versus Read by QxMD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterImmGenRead by QxMD
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (13 ratings) — better4.8 (6K ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews89.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings136K — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB205 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperChristophe BenoistWebMD

Customer experience

ImmGen

All ratings13 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

Read by QxMD

All ratings6,040 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews889 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative8.0%

Bugs and requests

ImmGen

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Read by QxMD

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login and authentication problems
  • Inconsistent app performance after updates
  • Inability to access full-text articles
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Unreliable article refresh functionality

Requested features

6 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to annotate and highlight PDFs
  • Improved article organization and collections
  • Integration with reference managers (e.g. Zotero, Mendeley)
  • Enhanced search and filtering capabilities
Show 1 more
  • Offline access to saved articles

In-app purchases

None

ImmGen

No in-app purchases

None

Read by QxMD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ImmGen free?
ImmGen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Read by QxMD free?
Read by QxMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ImmGen or Read by QxMD?
ImmGen is rated higher. ImmGen averages 5.0 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Read by QxMD averages 4.8 from 6K ratings.
Do ImmGen or Read by QxMD have ads?
Read by QxMD shows ads; ImmGen does not.
Which is updated more often, ImmGen or Read by QxMD?
ImmGen ships an update every 7 months, and Read by QxMD monthly. Most recently, ImmGen was updated on October 8, 2026 and Read by QxMD on October 21, 2026.

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