ImmGen vs Read by QxMD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Gene expression heatmap barcodes
- Visualize expression in cell lineages
- Toggle between mouse/human datasets
- Bar chart visualization
- Gene constellation view
- View correlated genes
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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).
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.
- Personalized digital medical journal
- Access latest medical research
- Read topic reviews
- Search PubMed
- Full-text PDF access
- Organize article collection
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'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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
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.
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.
| Parameter | ImmGen | Read by QxMD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (13 ratings) — better | 4.8 (6K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 89.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13 | 6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 74 MB | 205 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Christophe Benoist | WebMD |
Customer experience
ImmGen
Read by QxMD
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
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- Offline access to saved articles
In-app purchases
ImmGen
No in-app purchases
Read by QxMD
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ImmGen free?
Is Read by QxMD free?
Which has better reviews, ImmGen or Read by QxMD?
Do ImmGen or Read by QxMD have ads?
Which is updated more often, ImmGen or Read by QxMD?
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