Comparison

STAT!Ref vs Access

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

Head to head
About

STAT!Ref

Access a vast library of evidence-based medical resources on your mobile device. Search across hundreds of titles, bookmark key information, and define medical terms instantly. Features text-to-speech and news alerts for the latest healthcare updates.

Highlights
  • Cross-searchable medical resources
  • Bookmark specific paragraphs
  • Instant medical term definitions
  • Text-to-Speech functionality
  • Evidence Alerts and news feeds
  • Customizable content access
Features
Read full description

PLEASE NOTE: Access to an existing STAT!Ref Online subscription is required in order to use this app. STAT!Ref is a reputable healthcare e-resource enabling users to intuitively cross-search full-text, evidence-based and authoritative resources. With 300+ resources currently offered in over 50 healthcare disciplines, STAT!Ref provides the latest healthcare information in a customizable and convenient format. STAT!Ref is used by millions of professionals and over 90% of medical universities. This free app ensures that iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch users will get the most from STAT!Ref database content, provided courtesy of your library. STAT!Ref Mobile enables you to: • Access all of your core STAT!Ref content in a convenient format designed specifically for your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. • Search your library's entire database, or search only in a specific title. • Bookmark specific paragraphs so you can quickly find that exact spot again later. • Quickly define unknown medical terminology using your included medical dictionary simply by highlighting the word and tapping "Define". • Quickly jump around large documents using the local "Contents" panel. • Pick up right where you left off, even after the application is closed. • Listen while your device reads the text to you aloud using Text-to-Speech. • View the latest Evidence Alerts and Reuters® Medical News Feed articles, and optionally receive push notifications when new articles become available. Use Your Preferences Account as a Temporary STAT!Ref Login If you do not have a username and password for your STAT!Ref subscription, you can set up your Preferences Account as a temporary STAT!Ref login username and password in order to access STAT!Ref from mobile devices or from home. This may be useful if you normally log in to STAT!Ref using IP based authentication or a proxy server. Log in to STAT!Ref as you normally do, log in to your Preferences and activate the login as a temporary full login account under the "Temporary Login Account" tab.

About

Access

Access medical learning resources like videos, podcasts, and textbooks on the go. Search for specific topics, save content to collections, and personalize your dashboard. Offline viewing and specialty-specific content are available for subscribed institutional users.

Highlights
  • Search diverse medical resources
  • Save and organize content
  • Refine by content type
  • Offline viewing
  • Personalized dashboard
  • Specialty-specific content
Features
Read full description

Learn when you want, where you want, and how you want. Access is your personal medical resource that makes studying easier and more efficient. Search across a number of medical resources such as videos, podcasts, images, infographics, and textbooks, including Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine or Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine, so that you can learn in a way that suits your style and time constraints. • Find and save resources - search anything from symptoms to procedures and then favorite, or save to a collection. • Refine by content type - get the type of content you want to suit your learning style or time constraints. • Search within content - find the fine details you need. • View figures and tables - view content in its entirety, or just the images and tables. • View content offline - whether it’s a case of bad wifi, or you are traveling, you can always take your content with you. • Curate new collections - save content into your own personal reference library, so you always know where your favorite resources are. • Personal dashboard - create and personalize your own dashboard, allowing you to tailor the Access experience to your needs. • Caters to your specialty - This app has content from the full Access suite of sites, which cater to the following specialties; general medicine, anesthesiology, biomedical science, cardiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, hematology medicine, neurology, advanced practice nursing, ObGyn, pediatrics, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and surgery. This app's content is only fully accessible to users that are linked to an institution that subscribes to a McGraw Hill Access product. All users are offered seven days to link their profile to their subscribing institution.

Screenshots

STAT!Ref4 screens
Access4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Access at 4.3 against STAT!Ref's 2.8. Access also leads on ratings volume (132 vs 5) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). STAT!Ref's advantage is review sentiment (36% vs 8%) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 26). 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

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

Access holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Access has 132 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of STAT!Ref's written reviews are positive against 8% of Access's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

STAT!Ref ships an update every 3 months, Access monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
STAT!Ref versus Access: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSTAT!RefAccess
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.8 (5 ratings)4.3 (132 ratings) — better
Positive reviews36.4% of reviews — better8.3% of reviews
Number of ratings5132 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better26
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB59 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperTeton Data SystemsMcGraw-Hill

Customer experience

STAT!Ref

All ratings5 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive36.4%
Neutral18.2%
Negative45.5%

Access

All ratings132 ratings
Positive80.3%
Neutral3.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive8.3%
Neutral13.9%
Negative77.8%

Bugs and requests

STAT!Ref

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Access

Reported bugs

32 issues
  • Infinite login loop
  • App won't log in
  • App broken or glitched
  • Unable to access content
  • Appendix and introduction absent
Show 27 more
  • Cannot search all chapters at once
  • Cannot access last sections of chapters
  • Text-to-speech mispronounces words
  • Text-to-speech requires app to be open
  • Does not remember last read position
  • Search function unusable
  • Accounts do not sync properly
  • Books, collections, and favorites not added appropriately
  • Crashes and logs out
  • Hard to navigate within textbook
  • Flash cards won't load
  • Cannot open books
  • Search bar shows technical difficulties
  • Cannot log in after password reset
  • App crashes when highlighting content
  • Copying text crashes the app
  • Lost highlight data after update
  • Lost keyword search ability after update
  • Favorites are erased
  • Books show error message of item not available
  • Search function won't find books
  • Favorites don't sync from desktop
  • Top bar heading obstructs reading
  • Book does not appear in the whole screen
  • Cannot find books by author or ISBN
  • No robotic audio option
  • Username difficult to find

Requested features

10 requests
  • Option to search all chapters at once
  • Improve text-to-speech functionality
  • Allow text-to-speech to continue when app is in background
  • Remember last read position
  • Sync favorites across devices
Show 5 more
  • iPad optimization
  • Browse all books by subscribed module
  • Toggle option for top bar heading
  • Full screen book display
  • Implement robotic audio option

In-app purchases

None

STAT!Ref

No in-app purchases

None

Access

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is STAT!Ref free?
STAT!Ref is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Access free?
Access is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, STAT!Ref or Access?
Access is rated higher. STAT!Ref averages 2.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Access averages 4.3 from 132 ratings.
Do STAT!Ref or Access have ads?
Neither STAT!Ref nor Access shows ads.
Which is updated more often, STAT!Ref or Access?
STAT!Ref ships an update every 3 months, and Access monthly. Most recently, STAT!Ref was updated on October 1, 2026 and Access on October 16, 2026.

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