Comparison

Epic Canto 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

Epic Canto

Securely access patient information, schedules, and notes from Epic's Electronic Health Record. Supports dictation and In Basket for authorized clinical users.

Highlights
  • Secure EHR access
  • Clinic schedules
  • Patient lists
  • Health summaries
  • Test results
  • Dictation support
  • In Basket access
Read full description

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.

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

Read by QxMD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Read by QxMD at 89% against Epic Canto's 9%. Read by QxMD also leads on rating (4.8 vs 1.9) and ratings volume (6K vs 124). Epic Canto's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, 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

Read by QxMD holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 1.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 124, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 9% of Epic Canto's written reviews are positive against 89% of Read by QxMD's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Epic Canto ships an update every 3 weeks, Read by QxMD monthly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Epic Canto versus Read by QxMD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEpic CantoRead by QxMD
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.9 (124 ratings)4.8 (6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews8.9% of reviews89.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1246K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size559 MB205 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperEpicWebMD

Customer experience

Epic Canto

All ratings124 ratings
Positive12.9%
Neutral11.3%
Negative75.8%
Written reviews79 reviews
Positive8.9%
Neutral16.5%
Negative74.7%

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

Epic Canto

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

Epic Canto

No in-app purchases

None

Read by QxMD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Epic Canto free?
Epic Canto 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, Epic Canto or Read by QxMD?
Read by QxMD is rated higher. Epic Canto averages 1.9 out of 5 from 124 ratings, while Read by QxMD averages 4.8 from 6K ratings.
Do Epic Canto or Read by QxMD have ads?
Read by QxMD shows ads; Epic Canto does not.
Which is updated more often, Epic Canto or Read by QxMD?
Epic Canto ships an update every 3 weeks, and Read by QxMD monthly. Most recently, Epic Canto was updated on October 24, 2026 and Read by QxMD on October 24, 2026.

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