Comparison

Pediatric Emergency Guide 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

Pediatric Emergency Guide

Quickly calculate pediatric emergency medicine dosages and equipment sizes based on patient weight or age. Organized by clinical situation or alphabetically, it's a vital tool for healthcare professionals treating critically-ill children.

Highlights
  • Dose pediatric emergency medicines
  • Calculate equipment sizes
  • Organized by clinical situation
  • Alphabetical list of medications
  • Includes PALS algorithms
  • Clinical protocol section
Features
Read full description

This app allows users to dose pediatric emergency medicines and equipment to patient weight or age, organized by clinical situation or alphabetical list. It is ideal for paramedics, emergency physicians, urgent care physicians, pediatric residents, transport team members, and other health care professionals who care for critically-ill children. This app was designed by a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses, transport team members, and pharmacists affiliated with Children's National Health System. The updated version contains med-dosing within PALS algorithms, improved style, error corrections, a new improved menu screen, and clinical protocol section. The original release won the Blue Aster award and was an adaptation of the popular "blue card" that was disseminated in the DC metropolitan area for years before mobile health.

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

Pediatric Emergency Guide4 screens
AHA PALS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pediatric Emergency Guide at none against AHA PALS's 1. Pediatric Emergency Guide also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.1). AHA PALS's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months) and chart position (#184 vs unranked). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. AHA PALS sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.99 per year. Pediatric Emergency Guide asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Pediatric Emergency Guide against 4.5 for AHA PALS. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 21 and 54 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Pediatric Emergency Guide's written reviews are positive against 55% of AHA PALS's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pediatric Emergency Guide ships an update every 11 months, AHA PALS every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Pediatric Emergency Guide versus AHA PALS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPediatric Emergency GuideAHA PALS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (21 ratings) — better4.5 (54 ratings)
Positive reviews61.9% of reviews — better54.5% of reviews
Number of ratings2154 — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterSubscription
Best chart rank—#184 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB48 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperChildren's National Medical CenterMassachusetts General Hospital

Customer experience

Pediatric Emergency Guide

All ratings20 ratings
Positive85.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive61.9%
Neutral2.4%
Negative35.7%

AHA PALS

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

In-app purchases

None

Pediatric Emergency Guide

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

AHA PALS

Subscriptions1
  • PALS3 Days trial$3.991 Year

Questions

Is Pediatric Emergency Guide free?
Pediatric Emergency Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is AHA PALS free?
AHA PALS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pediatric Emergency Guide or AHA PALS?
Pediatric Emergency Guide is rated higher. Pediatric Emergency Guide averages 4.6 out of 5 from 21 ratings, while AHA PALS averages 4.5 from 54 ratings.
Do Pediatric Emergency Guide or AHA PALS have ads?
Neither Pediatric Emergency Guide nor AHA PALS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pediatric Emergency Guide or AHA PALS?
Pediatric Emergency Guide ships an update every 11 months, and AHA PALS every 2 months. Most recently, Pediatric Emergency Guide was updated on November 1, 2026 and AHA PALS on November 3, 2026.

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