Comparison

Code CPR 5 vs AHA PALS

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

Head to head
About

Code CPR 5

This app helps medical professionals accurately time and log events during emergency procedures like CPR. It provides audio/visual alarms, a metronome, and a detailed logbook that can be exported. Optimized for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Highlights
  • Easy event logging with predefined and custom events
  • Elapsed time tracking
  • Audio and visual alarms
  • Exportable logbook
  • Metronome for cardiac massage
  • Apple Watch support
  • Live Activities and Dynamic Island integration
Features
Read full description

Code CPR allows for the quick and easy timing and registration of events during incidents or medical procedures in the emergency room, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. In this environment it is important, yet very difficult, to maintain a reliable record of what is happening, as well as to accurately record the amount of elapsed time. It was to assist those who are likely to perform these functions that this app was created. Features: • Easy to use event logging. The app comes with around 100 events in several predefined categories (drugs, procedures and other events), with the possibility of adding many more. These can marked as favorites for easy selection, or searched for by name and category. • Logging the amount of time elapsed since activation. • Audio and visual alarms for events. • A log book for past events, with the date and time during the procedure in which they were added. They can be exported in text format to either clipboard or e-mail. • A metronome to facilitate the performance of cardiac massage with the correct frequency on your phone. • Apple Watch Support with glances notifications and event logging. • Support for Live Activities and Dynamic Island for showing the current CPR time, last Events and Vitals in the lock screen. • Lock screen widget so that you could quickly open Code CPR.

About

AHA PALS

This app provides pediatric advanced life support (PALS) protocols and tools for healthcare professionals at the point-of-care. Developed by physicians and vetted by the American Heart Association, it offers intuitive access to algorithms, drug information, and timers for critical care situations.

Highlights
  • PALS pathways and algorithms
  • Drug therapy and dosing
  • CPR and intervention timers
  • Metronome for compression accuracy
  • Critical care references
  • Vetted by AHA and physicians
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

We continue to iterate based on real-time clinician feedback so that you will have the best experience providing life-saving care at the bedside. The AHA PALS app was developed by Harvard-trained physicians, in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA), to help fellow physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and emergency medical technicians (EMT) deliver the highest level of pediatric advanced life support (PALS) at the point-of-care. This project was inspired by the tremendous success of our AHA ACLS app, which has thousands of clinician users in over 180 countries. Importantly, real-time feedback from our clinician users continuously drives improvements in app design, features, and function. AHA PALS is the only app to have all content vetted by both the American Heart Association (AHA) science team (with license to use PALS content) and practicing Harvard-affiliated physicians. We owe it to our patients to use the best digital health tools to give them the highest chance of surviving acute life-threatening illnesses. To this end, we have developed an intuitive and rigorously vetted mobile app to assist healthcare clinicians—at any stage of training—navigate PALS at the bedside. You can purchase a yearly subscription which begins with a 3-day free trial. After completing the free trial, you will be charged for an annual subscription automatically. Features: - Intuitive design to rapidly access PALS pathways (i.e. cardiac arrest , tachycardia with pulse, bradycardia with pulse, post cardiac arrest care, and critical care references) - Includes all PALS content including drug therapy and dosing, reversible causes, etc. - Easy-to-read timers and ability to log rounds of CPR, epinephrine, and defibrillations. There are additional functionalities to log PALS Cardiac Arrest interventions beyond EPI, CPR , and shocks such as lidocaine and more. - We also added a new metronome feature to improve compression accuracy as well as a ROSC button. - Button within cardiac arrest algorithm that allows for rapid transition to post cardiac arrest care checklist once patient achieves ROSC - Relevant critical care references: (1) drugs used in PALS (i.e., medication names, indications, and doses); (2) vital signs in children; (3) pediatric color-coded length-based resuscitation tape (adapted from Breslow tape) ; (4) pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale - All content rigorously vetted by AHA science team and practicing Harvard-affiliated physicians - Regularly updated with the most up-to-date PALS content

Screenshots

Code CPR 54 screens
AHA PALS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: AHA PALS at Free against Code CPR 5's $2.99. AHA PALS also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.7) and review sentiment (55% vs 25%). Code CPR 5's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

AHA PALS is free to download; Code CPR 5 costs $2.99 up front. AHA PALS sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. Code CPR 5 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AHA PALS holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: AHA PALS has 53 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 25% of Code CPR 5's written reviews are positive against 55% of AHA PALS's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Code CPR 5 ships an update every 3 months, AHA PALS every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Code CPR 5 versus AHA PALS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCode CPR 5AHA PALS
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating3.7 (3 ratings)4.5 (53 ratings) — better
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews54.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings353 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid — betterSubscription
Best chart rank—#159 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB48 MB
Age rating+417+
DeveloperRemarkable Edge, LdaMassachusetts General Hospital

Customer experience

Code CPR 5

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral66.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

AHA PALS

All ratings53 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive54.5%
Neutral9.1%
Negative36.4%

In-app purchases

None

Code CPR 5

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

AHA PALS

Subscriptions1
  • PALS3 Days trial$3.991 Year

Questions

Is Code CPR 5 free?
Code CPR 5 costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is AHA PALS free?
AHA PALS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Code CPR 5 or AHA PALS?
AHA PALS is rated higher. Code CPR 5 averages 3.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while AHA PALS averages 4.5 from 53 ratings.
Do Code CPR 5 or AHA PALS have ads?
Neither Code CPR 5 nor AHA PALS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Code CPR 5 or AHA PALS?
Code CPR 5 ships an update every 3 months, and AHA PALS every 2 months. Most recently, Code CPR 5 was updated on October 3, 2026 and AHA PALS on September 28, 2026.

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