AO Surgery Reference vs NCCN Guidelines®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AO Surgery Reference
Access a comprehensive online repository of surgical knowledge for fracture management. It provides detailed guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare for numerous fracture types, supported by extensive illustrations and expert review.
- 353 fracture types covered
- 172 surgical approaches
- 1222 surgical procedures
- Over 30,000 illustrations
- Feline, canine, and equine fracture care
- Powerful search function
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QUICK ONLINE REFERENCE IN CLINICAL LIFE Gain easy access to the award-winning AO Surgery Reference. AO Surgery Reference is an online repository for surgical knowledge. It describes the complete surgical management process from diagnosis to aftercare for all fractures of a given anatomical region, and also assembles relevant material that the AO has published before. It gives access to: • aid in surgical decision making for 353 fracture types • 172 approaches • 1222 surgical procedures • all richly illustrated with more than 30'000 Illustrations and much more. To ensure the quality of the content, it is authored, edited, and peer reviewed by experienced AO Faculty from all over the world, some of which are also well-known textbook authors/editors. This is a relaunch of the AO Surgery Reference app utilizing the same responsive user interface that was released February 2020. The highlights are: • Consistent navigational logic and user experience on all screen sizes • Inclusion of feline, canine, and equine fracture care • Combination of Preparation – Approach – Reduction and Fixation – Aftercare into one step called treatment. • Introduction of a powerful search function, allowing simplifications of the user interface as it replaces previous shortcuts.
NCCN Guidelines®
This app provides healthcare professionals with convenient access to comprehensive clinical practice guidelines for oncology. It aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of cancer care by offering evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis, treatment, and supportive services.
- Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines
- Oncology clinical practice guidelines
- Evidence-based recommendations
- Supports cancer care decision-making
- Covers 97% of US cancer cases
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The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), is pleased to present the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines® app formatted for iPhone & iPad. This easy-to-use and convenient format will further assist health care professionals in their implementation of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), thus improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. NCCN is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. By defining and advancing high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers around the world. Over the past 25 years, NCCN has developed an integrated suite of tools to improve the quality of cancer care. The NCCN Guidelines® document evidence-based, consensus-driven management to ensure that all patients receive preventive, diagnostic, treatment, and supportive services that are most likely to lead to optimal outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines are a comprehensive set of guidelines detailing the sequential management decisions and interventions that apply to 97 percent of cancer cases in the United States. In addition, separate guidelines relate to major prevention and screening topics and another set of pathways focuses on the major supportive care areas. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations based on the best evidence available at the time they are derived. Because new data are published continuously, it is essential that the NCCN Guidelines also be continuously updated and revised to reflect new data and new clinical information. The intent of the NCCN Guidelines is to assist in the decision-making process of individuals involved in cancer care—including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, payers, patients and their families—with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations for appropriate care for most but not all patients; however, individual patient circumstances must be considered when applying these recommendations. Visit NCCN.org to learn more about the NCCN Guidelines as well as other NCCN Content.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: AO Surgery Reference at 86% against NCCN Guidelines®'s 13%. AO Surgery Reference also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.6). NCCN Guidelines®'s advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On price, ratings volume, ads 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.
AO Surgery Reference holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of AO Surgery Reference's written reviews are positive against 13% of NCCN Guidelines®'s.
AO Surgery Reference ships an update every 6 months, NCCN Guidelines® every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AO Surgery Reference | NCCN Guidelines® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (14 ratings) — better | 3.6 (24 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.8% of reviews — better | 12.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 24 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 13.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 118 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | AO Foundation | National Comprehensive Cancer Network® |
Customer experience
AO Surgery Reference
NCCN Guidelines®
In-app purchases
AO Surgery Reference
No in-app purchases
NCCN Guidelines®
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is AO Surgery Reference free?
Is NCCN Guidelines® free?
Which has better reviews, AO Surgery Reference or NCCN Guidelines®?
Do AO Surgery Reference or NCCN Guidelines® have ads?
Which is updated more often, AO Surgery Reference or NCCN Guidelines®?
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