Epic Canto vs BackpackEMR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Epic Canto
Securely access patient information, schedules, and notes from Epic's Electronic Health Record. Supports dictation and In Basket for authorized clinical users.
- Secure EHR access
- Clinic schedules
- Patient lists
- Health summaries
- Test results
- Dictation support
- In Basket access
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Canto provides authorized clinical users of Epic’s Electronic Health Record with secure access to clinic schedules, hospital patient lists, health summaries, test results and notes. Canto also supports dictation and In Basket access. Your organization needs to license Canto and will determine the exact feature set and any applicable charges for your use of Canto. If you are unsure whether you can use Canto, please contact your administrative staff.
BackpackEMR
This lightweight electronic medical records system is designed for remote areas with limited internet and power. It enables offline data sharing between devices, ensuring continuous operation and no data loss during power outages. Features include streamlined workflows, specialty modules, and secure, encrypted data storage.
- Offline data-sharing network
- Streamlined patient flow
- Specialty modules
- Voice-to-text integration
- Secure, encrypted data
- Integrated patient photos
- Multi-language support
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BackpackEMR is a light-weight, electronic medical records (EMR) system for use in rural areas. Our app is often used for medical outreaches to remote communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where access to the internet and electricity is often limited. This is the first EMR to share data with other clinic devices without using a local server, which requires electricity, or cloud server, which requires the internet. BackpackEMR enables a "no single point of failure" system where data is stored on each device, and data is shared without consistent power or the internet. So in a clinic where the power goes out, the clinic seamlessly continues to run, and no data is ever lost. Key features: • Offline data-sharing network • Easy-to-use screens • Low-clicks and less typing with: - Streamlined flow - Modules by specialty - Custom drop-down values - Voice-to-text integration • Secure, encrypted data • Integrated patients and exam photos • Available in multiple languages • Patients flow through station queues
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BackpackEMR at 4.0 against Epic Canto's 1.9. BackpackEMR also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Epic Canto's advantage is ratings volume (124 vs 4) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
BackpackEMR holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 1.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Epic Canto has 124 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 9% of Epic Canto's written reviews are positive against 0% of BackpackEMR's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Epic Canto ships an update every 3 weeks, BackpackEMR every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Epic Canto | BackpackEMR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.9 (124 ratings) | 4.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 8.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 124 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 559 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Epic | Binary Bridge |
Customer experience
Epic Canto
BackpackEMR
In-app purchases
Epic Canto
No in-app purchases
BackpackEMR
No in-app purchases









