Comparison

Read by QxMD vs IDSA Practice Guidelines

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

Head to head
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.

About

IDSA Practice Guidelines

Access and stay updated with the latest clinical guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. This app offers interactive tools, search functionality, and the ability to bookmark key information and take notes for healthcare professionals.

Highlights
  • Access clinical guidelines
  • Interactive tools
  • Search guidelines
  • Bookmark pages
  • Take notes
Features
Read full description

Access the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines app anytime, anywhere! Download the app today and stay up-to-date on IDSA clinical guidelines, interactive tools, and new resources. The app contains features to search through guidelines, bookmark important pages and take notes on key information. Visit the IDSA app for new guidelines that are released throughout the year and new updates to existing guidelines. Disclaimer: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) provides this app (“App)” for health care professionals only, and not the general public. The App is provided for informational purposes only, and it is not intended to provide medical or treatment advice and may not be treated as such by the user. As such, this App may not be relied upon for the purposes of medical diagnosis or as a recommendation for medical care or treatment. The information on this App is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this App is for general information purposes only.

Screenshots

Read by QxMD4 screens
IDSA Practice Guidelines4 screens

Verdict

The call

Read by QxMD and IDSA Practice Guidelines both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 89% of Read by QxMD's written reviews are positive against 0% of IDSA Practice Guidelines's. Read by QxMD also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (6K vs 559). IDSA Practice Guidelines's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Read by QxMD against 4.8 for IDSA Practice Guidelines. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 559, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Read by QxMD's written reviews are positive against 0% of IDSA Practice Guidelines's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read by QxMD ships an update monthly, IDSA Practice Guidelines every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Read by QxMD versus IDSA Practice Guidelines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead by QxMDIDSA Practice Guidelines
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6K ratings)4.8 (559 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings6K — better559
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size205 MB105 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperWebMDInfectious Diseases Society of America

Customer experience

Read by QxMD

All ratings6,040 ratings
Positive96.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews889 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative8.0%

IDSA Practice Guidelines

All ratings557 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.7%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral33.3%
Negative66.7%

Bugs and 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

IDSA Practice Guidelines

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Read by QxMD

No in-app purchases

None

IDSA Practice Guidelines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Read by QxMD free?
Read by QxMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is IDSA Practice Guidelines free?
IDSA Practice Guidelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Read by QxMD or IDSA Practice Guidelines?
IDSA Practice Guidelines is rated higher. Read by QxMD averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6K ratings, while IDSA Practice Guidelines averages 4.8 from 559 ratings.
Do Read by QxMD or IDSA Practice Guidelines have ads?
Read by QxMD shows ads; IDSA Practice Guidelines does not.
Which is updated more often, Read by QxMD or IDSA Practice Guidelines?
Read by QxMD ships an update monthly, and IDSA Practice Guidelines every 7 months. Most recently, Read by QxMD was updated on October 14, 2026 and IDSA Practice Guidelines on October 16, 2026.

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