Comparison

Read by QxMD vs Elna

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

Elna

This clinical intelligence app provides doctors and nurses with quick, concise answers based on trusted medical sources and guidelines. It's designed for fast decision-making at the point of care, offering glanceable insights to support clinical judgment during busy shifts.

Highlights
  • Instant, glanceable answers
  • Evidence-grounded insights
  • Trusted medical sources
  • Mobile-first design
  • Fast decision-making support
Features
Read full description

Elna is a clinical intelligence app built to help doctors and nurses get the right evidence in seconds, right when they need it. Instead of digging through long articles and guidelines or wading through verbose summaries, Elna gives you clear, concise, and glanceable answers designed for real-world clinical work.Each response highlights the essentials, surfaces what matters most, and keeps you moving during consultations, rounds, or on-call shifts.Every answer is built from trusted medical sources and authoritative clinical guidelines, with clear references. Why clinicians choose Elna: - Instant, glanceable answers built for fast decision-making at the point of care. - Actionable, evidence-grounded insights drawn only from reliable, independent clinical sources. - Mobile-first design so high-quality evidence is always within reach: across wards, clinics, or home visits. Elna is built for healthcare professionals who need to make better decisions, faster, while maintaining high standards of safety and evidence quality. It is not intended for patients or for self‑diagnosis and should always be used to support, not replace, clinical judgment.

Screenshots

Read by QxMD4 screens
Elna4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Read by QxMD at 89% against Elna's 0%. Read by QxMD also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.0) and update cadence (monthly vs every 10 months). Elna's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (ad-supported vs free with in-app purchases). On price, 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

Read by QxMD holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Read by QxMD's written reviews are positive against 0% of Elna's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Read by QxMD ships an update monthly, Elna every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Read by QxMD versus Elna: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRead by QxMDElna
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6K ratings) — better3.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews89.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings6K — better1
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 10 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size205 MB28 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperWebMDElna

Customer experience

Read by QxMD

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

Elna

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Elna

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Read by QxMD

No in-app purchases

None

Elna

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Read by QxMD free?
Read by QxMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Elna free?
Elna is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Read by QxMD or Elna?
Read by QxMD is rated higher. Read by QxMD averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6K ratings, while Elna averages 3.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Read by QxMD or Elna have ads?
Read by QxMD shows ads; Elna does not.
Which is updated more often, Read by QxMD or Elna?
Read by QxMD ships an update monthly, and Elna every 10 months. Most recently, Read by QxMD was updated on October 29, 2026 and Elna on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons