Comparison

ESC Pocket Guidelines vs MedCalX

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

Head to head
About

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Access a comprehensive library of the latest cardiovascular disease guidelines and consensus statements from the European Society of Cardiology. Features include interactive algorithms, full-text search, bookmarking, note-taking, and content sharing capabilities for quick reference and study.

Highlights
  • Latest ESC Guidelines (2023-2025)
  • Interactive algorithms
  • Full-text search
  • Bookmarking and notes
  • Content sharing
  • Printable pages
Features
Read full description

The ESC Pocket Guidelines app now contains the following ESC Pocket Guidelines: ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2025 Cardiovascular disease and pregnancy (Guidelines) Mental health and cardiovascular disease (Consensus Statement) Myocarditis and pericarditis (Guidelines) Valvular heart disease (Joint Guidelines with EACTS) Focused update of the 2019 dyslipidaemias guidelines ESC Guidelines published in 2024 Elevated blood pressure and hypertension Atrial fibrillation Chronic coronary syndromes Peripheral arterial and aortic diseases ESC Guidelines and documents published in 2023 Acute coronary syndromes Cardiomyopathies Cardiovascular disease in diabetes Endocarditis Focused update of the 2021 heart failure guidelines The ESC Pocket Guidelines app also contains interactive tools in the form of algorithms. Additional features: Perform „full text", „index" or „filtered" searches through the entire downloaded content of the app, bookmarks and the notes. Bookmark specific sections or create a personal note and access bookmarks and notes from the „Library“ section. Share links to specific areas of the app via communication channels, e.g. AirDrop, Mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and many others. Print pages. Please follow the link below to register for a new MyESC account: https://escol.escardio.org/MyESC/login.aspx

About

MedCalX

This medical calculator app provides healthcare professionals with a comprehensive tool for complex medical formulas, scores, and classifications. It offers an extensive library of over 300 medical calculations, patient management features, and sharing capabilities.

Highlights
  • Extensive medical formula library (300+)
  • Patient management and data saving
  • Customizable workflows
  • Multiple result sharing options
  • Detailed information and references
  • US and SI unit support
  • iCloud synchronization for favorites
Features
Read full description

MedCalX is a tool that enables medical professionals to easily use complicated medical formulas, scores and classifications. 25 years of experience developing this tool for mobile platforms makes MedCalX the leading medical calculator, with an unparalleled user interface and powerful features. MedCalX is free to download and use, but you have access only to a subset of formulas. In-app purchase lets you unlock the whole range of formulas that MedCalX has to offer; more than 300 in total! Main features: • A very large selection (more than 300) of relevant formulas, scores, scales and classifications. • Workflows: create your own series of formulas, text, links and images • Many different ways to share results (and data): copy to clipboard, email report, print via AirPrint, save to patient database... • Exclusive patient management feature for saving and accessing results, as well as images and notes. Results can be exported to the desktop as CSV files and shared between your and your colleaugues iOS devices. • Detailed information and bibliographic references for each formula. • Support for US and SI units, with easy switching from the keypad. • Search for entries by name, keywords and categories. • Takes advantage of iOS 9 – you can now use Spotlight to search for formulas • Customizable list of favorite equations, synchronized via iCloud. • Ability to add notes to individual formulas. • Full support for external (hardware) keyboards Formulas, scores and classifications include, amongst others: • Anesthesiology (ASA, Bromage, Charlson, Cormack, Dermatome, Goldman) • Cardiology (CC/AHA ASCVD, CHADS, EuroSCORE, GRACE, HAS-BLED, Killip, PROCAM, QT-c, TIMI) • Electrolytes (Corrected Ca, Corrected Na, FENa, Osmolal gap) • Evidence-Based Medicine (NNT, Odds, Sample size, Two-way table) • ICU (ABCD2+3, APACHE, CAM-ICU, GCS, Parkland, SAPS, many PE-criteria and trauma scores) • Neurology (AMTS, Aphasia, Canadian rules, NIHSS, WFNS) • Obstetrics (APGAR, Bishop, Malinas, Pregnancy Wheel) • Pediatrics (Age, Target Height, Centor and McIsaac, PRAM, WETFAG) • Respiratory (BODE, Epworth, GOLD, SMART-COP, Spirometry, Thoracoscore) • Renal (Cockcroft, MDRD and more Creatinine/GFR calculators, KDIGO and RIFLE) • ABG analyzer worth $5 in other apps • Complete infusion management tool, great for ICU nurses • Complicated scores (CAM-ICU, CDAI, APACHE, POSSUM, SAPS, Euroscore) If you like MedCalX, we’d appreciate it if you took the time to give us a nice review.

Screenshots

ESC Pocket Guidelines4 screens
MedCalX4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ESC Pocket Guidelines at 4.8 against MedCalX's 3.7. ESC Pocket Guidelines also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (841 vs 30). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. MedCalX sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ESC Pocket Guidelines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ESC Pocket Guidelines holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ESC Pocket Guidelines has 841 ratings behind it against 30, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of ESC Pocket Guidelines's written reviews are positive against 46% of MedCalX's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ESC Pocket Guidelines ships an update every 4 months, MedCalX every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ESC Pocket Guidelines versus MedCalX: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterESC Pocket GuidelinesMedCalX
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (841 ratings) — better3.7 (30 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better45.8% of reviews
Number of ratings841 — better30
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB45 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperESC - European Society of CardiologyOssus GmbH

Customer experience

ESC Pocket Guidelines

All ratings841 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative46.8%

MedCalX

All ratings30 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral6.7%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews118 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral7.6%
Negative46.6%

User reviews

ESC Pocket Guidelines

From 841 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Practical and handy for clinical use
  • 📚 Valuable medical information and guidelines
  • ⭐ Excellent content quality
  • 🎯 Easy to use interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and stability issues
  • 🔐 Sign-in system problematic and unnecessary
  • 📖 Small font size and poor design readability
  • ❌ Missing content topics after updates
  • ⚪ Blank white page display issues

MedCalX

From 30 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 📱 Comprehensive collection of medical formulas and scores
  • 🚀 Fast calculations and quick access
  • 📚 Includes PubMed links and background information
  • 🌍 Multi-language support

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paywalls for previously free calculators
  • 🔄 Forced paid upgrades for existing users
  • ❌ Missing many important medical scores
  • ⏱️ Infrequent updates and maintenance
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues

Bugs and requests

ESC Pocket Guidelines

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App crashes on iPad and iPhone devices
  • Login authentication failures
  • White blank page display
  • App crashes when opening pathways
  • Guidelines not appearing in downloaded folder
Show 3 more
  • App incompatible with older iOS versions
  • Slow and sluggish performance
  • Full screen not supported on iPad Mini 6

Requested features

5 requests
  • Update to support iPad Mini 6 resolution
  • Include 2023 ESC Congress updates
  • Remove or make sign-in optional
  • Improve font size and design for better readability
  • Add new guidelines (e.g., 2013 stable angina guidelines)

MedCalX

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App crashes on startup
  • App crashes when taking patient photos
  • App fails to open or becomes unresponsive
  • Unable to restore previous purchases
  • Doximity unlock feature not working
Show 5 more
  • Spotlight search functionality broken
  • NIH scale interface poorly designed
  • Parameter value limits prevent calculations for severe patients
  • Data migration issues between app versions
  • Preferences not carried over during upgrades

Requested features

17 requests
  • SCORE2 and other modern cardiovascular risk scores
  • TRiP(cast) score
  • Valve disease calculations
  • Pediatric medication dosing calculators
  • Electrolyte and fluid replacement calculations
Show 12 more
  • ICU-specific calculations and AHI calculation
  • GUPTA, AWOL, and CAM traditional scores
  • Dermatology scales and classifications
  • RESP and PRESET scores
  • Psychological assessment scores (depression, alcoholism ratings)
  • Gail model and cancer risk calculations
  • Pediatric weight percentiles by age
  • Custom formula creation
  • Unit conversion tool
  • Personal formula addition feature
  • Forrester classification
  • MMSE and other copyrighted scales

In-app purchases

None

ESC Pocket Guidelines

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

MedCalX

One-time3
  • MedCalc 3 UpgradeFree
  • Doximity RegistrationFree
  • MedCalX Unlock$4.99

Questions

Is ESC Pocket Guidelines free?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MedCalX free?
MedCalX is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ESC Pocket Guidelines or MedCalX?
ESC Pocket Guidelines is rated higher. ESC Pocket Guidelines averages 4.8 out of 5 from 841 ratings, while MedCalX averages 3.7 from 30 ratings.
Do ESC Pocket Guidelines or MedCalX have ads?
Neither ESC Pocket Guidelines nor MedCalX shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ESC Pocket Guidelines or MedCalX?
ESC Pocket Guidelines ships an update every 4 months, and MedCalX every 5 months. Most recently, ESC Pocket Guidelines was updated on October 12, 2026 and MedCalX on October 18, 2026.

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