Comparison

eMPendium vs ESC Pocket Guidelines

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

Head to head
About

eMPendium

This modular medical application provides access to a comprehensive Polish drug reference, a digital handbook of internal diseases, and classifications for medical procedures and diseases. It also includes expert commentary, medical calculators, news, and clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals.

Highlights
  • Comprehensive Polish Drug Reference
  • Digital Handbook of Internal Diseases
  • ICD-10 and ICD-9 Classifications
  • Expert Medical Commentary
  • Medical Calculators
  • Medical News and Guidelines
Read full description

Modular application containing: *Leki* - (Drug Module) - free; Comprehensive Polish Drug Reference, developed by the Medycyna Praktyczna editorial board. Updated daily! Reliable drug descriptions, prices, current availability on the Polish market and much more. The drug database contains: - over 7,000 drug descriptions - over 1,400 drug active components descriptions - over 10,000 drug items with prices The module content is restricted to registered users of Medycyna Praktyczna website (mp.pl). *Podręcznik* - (Handbook Module) - free; digital version of Choroby Wewnętrzne handbook edited by Andrzej Szczeklik and Piotr Gajewski. The module content is restricted to registered users of Medycyna Praktyczna website (mp.pl). Gabinet - (Health Center Module) - free; digital Polish editions of: - ICD-10 - International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Tenth Revision. Vol. 1. and Vol. 3. Under permission of Fundacja Zdrowia Publicznego, Kraków, Poland, the Polish translation copyright holder - ICD-9 - International Statistical Classification of Medical Procedures (ICD-9 PL version 5.19) - eWUŚ - electronic verification of eligibility of beneficiaries. *Ekspert* - (Expert Module) - free; experts’ commentary on various topics from the Cardiology eMP3 website. *Kalkulatory* - (Medical Calculators) *Wiadomości* - (News Module) - free; selected articles from Medycyna Praktyczna webstie (mp.pl). * Algorithms * - mobile version of the "Guidelines for a doctor" useful in everyday practice

About

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Access a comprehensive library of the latest cardiovascular disease guidelines and consensus statements from the European Society of Cardiology. Features include interactive algorithms, full-text search, bookmarking, note-taking, and content sharing capabilities for quick reference and study.

Highlights
  • Latest ESC Guidelines (2023-2025)
  • Interactive algorithms
  • Full-text search
  • Bookmarking and notes
  • Content sharing
  • Printable pages
Features
Read full description

The ESC Pocket Guidelines app now contains the following ESC Pocket Guidelines: ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2025 Cardiovascular disease and pregnancy (Guidelines) Mental health and cardiovascular disease (Consensus Statement) Myocarditis and pericarditis (Guidelines) Valvular heart disease (Joint Guidelines with EACTS) Focused update of the 2019 dyslipidaemias guidelines ESC Guidelines published in 2024 Elevated blood pressure and hypertension Atrial fibrillation Chronic coronary syndromes Peripheral arterial and aortic diseases ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2023 Acute coronary syndromes Cardiomyopathies Cardiovascular disease in diabetes Endocarditis Focused update of the 2021 heart failure guidelines The ESC Pocket Guidelines app also contains interactive tools in the form of algorithms. Additional features: Perform „full text", „index" or „filtered" searches through the entire downloaded content of the app, bookmarks and the notes. Bookmark specific sections or create a personal note and access bookmarks and notes from the „Library“ section. Share links to specific areas of the app via communication channels, e.g. AirDrop, Mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and many others. Print pages. Please follow the link below to register for a new MyESC account: https://escol.escardio.org/MyESC/login.aspx

Screenshots

eMPendium4 screens
ESC Pocket Guidelines4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ESC Pocket Guidelines at 4.8 against eMPendium's 3.4. ESC Pocket Guidelines also leads on ratings volume (841 vs 5). eMPendium's advantage is review sentiment (60% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (13 vs 15.1). On price, update cadence, 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

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

ESC Pocket Guidelines holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ESC Pocket Guidelines has 841 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of eMPendium's written reviews are positive against 50% of ESC Pocket Guidelines's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

eMPendium ships an update every 3 months, ESC Pocket Guidelines every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
eMPendium versus ESC Pocket Guidelines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametereMPendiumESC Pocket Guidelines
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (5 ratings)4.8 (841 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5841 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB44 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperMEDYCYNA PRAKTYCZNA SP Z O OESC - European Society of Cardiology

Customer experience

eMPendium

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

ESC Pocket Guidelines

All ratings841 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative46.8%

Bugs and requests

eMPendium

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App crashes on iPad and iPhone devices
  • Login authentication failures
  • White blank page display
  • App crashes when opening pathways
  • Guidelines not appearing in downloaded folder
Show 3 more
  • App incompatible with older iOS versions
  • Slow and sluggish performance
  • Full screen not supported on iPad Mini 6

Requested features

5 requests
  • Update to support iPad Mini 6 resolution
  • Include 2023 ESC Congress updates
  • Remove or make sign-in optional
  • Improve font size and design for better readability
  • Add new guidelines (e.g., 2013 stable angina guidelines)

In-app purchases

None

eMPendium

No in-app purchases

None

ESC Pocket Guidelines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is eMPendium free?
eMPendium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ESC Pocket Guidelines free?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, eMPendium or ESC Pocket Guidelines?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is rated higher. eMPendium averages 3.4 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while ESC Pocket Guidelines averages 4.8 from 841 ratings.
Do eMPendium or ESC Pocket Guidelines have ads?
Neither eMPendium nor ESC Pocket Guidelines shows ads.
Which is updated more often, eMPendium or ESC Pocket Guidelines?
eMPendium ships an update every 3 months, and ESC Pocket Guidelines every 4 months. Most recently, eMPendium was updated on September 27, 2026 and ESC Pocket Guidelines on October 12, 2026.

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