Read by QxMD vs NCCN Guidelines®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Personalized digital medical journal
- Access latest medical research
- Read topic reviews
- Search PubMed
- Full-text PDF access
- Organize article collection
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'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.
NCCN Guidelines®
This app provides healthcare professionals with convenient access to comprehensive clinical practice guidelines for oncology. It aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of cancer care by offering evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis, treatment, and supportive services.
- Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines
- Oncology clinical practice guidelines
- Evidence-based recommendations
- Supports cancer care decision-making
- Covers 97% of US cancer cases
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The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), is pleased to present the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines® app formatted for iPhone & iPad. This easy-to-use and convenient format will further assist health care professionals in their implementation of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), thus improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. NCCN is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. By defining and advancing high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers around the world. Over the past 25 years, NCCN has developed an integrated suite of tools to improve the quality of cancer care. The NCCN Guidelines® document evidence-based, consensus-driven management to ensure that all patients receive preventive, diagnostic, treatment, and supportive services that are most likely to lead to optimal outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines are a comprehensive set of guidelines detailing the sequential management decisions and interventions that apply to 97 percent of cancer cases in the United States. In addition, separate guidelines relate to major prevention and screening topics and another set of pathways focuses on the major supportive care areas. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations based on the best evidence available at the time they are derived. Because new data are published continuously, it is essential that the NCCN Guidelines also be continuously updated and revised to reflect new data and new clinical information. The intent of the NCCN Guidelines is to assist in the decision-making process of individuals involved in cancer care—including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, payers, patients and their families—with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations for appropriate care for most but not all patients; however, individual patient circumstances must be considered when applying these recommendations. Visit NCCN.org to learn more about the NCCN Guidelines as well as other NCCN Content.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Read by QxMD at 89% against NCCN Guidelines®'s 13%. Read by QxMD also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.6) and ratings volume (6K vs 24). NCCN Guidelines®'s advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Read by QxMD holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Read by QxMD has 6K ratings behind it against 24, 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 13% of NCCN Guidelines®'s.
Read by QxMD ships an update monthly, NCCN Guidelines® every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Read by QxMD | NCCN Guidelines® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (6K ratings) — better | 3.6 (24 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 89.0% of reviews — better | 12.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6K — better | 24 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 13.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 205 MB | 118 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | WebMD | National Comprehensive Cancer Network® |
Customer experience
Read by QxMD
NCCN Guidelines®
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
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- Offline access to saved articles
NCCN Guidelines®
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Read by QxMD
No in-app purchases
NCCN Guidelines®
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Read by QxMD free?
Is NCCN Guidelines® free?
Which has better reviews, Read by QxMD or NCCN Guidelines®?
Do Read by QxMD or NCCN Guidelines® have ads?
Which is updated more often, Read by QxMD or NCCN Guidelines®?
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