Skip to content
Medical AI ReportIndependent evaluations

1 shared rubric · Updated August 2026

Epocrates vs MDCalc

Epocrates and MDCalc share one scored category, iOS apps for doctors. MDCalc scores higher in the shared category — 32–40 for iOS apps for doctors out of 50. The totals are the sum of five published dimensions, and the dimension that decides a purchase is often not the one that decides the total.

Reviewed by Abishek Shahi, MD · Last reviewed August 2026

Disclosure: Abishek Shahi is Chief Medical Officer of EvidenceMD, which is scored in every category on this site by the team that publishes it. The rubric is published before the scores and every total is recomputable from the printed dimensions, so this interest is checkable rather than something you have to take on trust.

Epocrates

iOS apps

32/50

Full Epocrates review

MDCalc

iOS apps

40/50

Full MDCalc review

Side by side

Epocrates and MDCalc, dimension by dimension

Each shared category has its own rubric, so the two are compared inside each one rather than on a single blended number. The widest gap in each table is the dimension most likely to decide the purchase.

iOS apps for doctors

32 – 40MDCalc by 8

iOS apps for doctors rubric, ordered by the size of the gap. Each dimension is scored out of 10.
DimensionEpocratesMDCalcGap
Access & eligibilityWho can actually install and use it, weighted as heavily as what it costs: App Store and in-app subscription price, the size of the free tier, and the gates in front of it — clinician-verification requirements, country availability and language coverage. An app that is free but closed to most of the world's clinicians scores below a paid app anyone can buy.610-4
Clinical scope & reasoningHow much of the clinical job the app does, and whether it reasons or only retrieves. A single-purpose reference scores lower here than a tool that carries a case from question to differential to note, regardless of how good it is at its one job.45-1
iPhone & iPad experienceWhether the iPad build is a real tablet layout rather than a stretched phone app: multi-column reading, Split View and Stage Manager behaviour, one-handed iPhone reach, and typography you can read at arm's length on a ward round.78-1
Apple platform integrationUse of what iOS actually offers: on-device dictation quality, Shortcuts and widgets, Handoff between iPhone and Mac, Apple Watch presence, Face ID locking and Universal Search.78-1
Offline & on-device privacyWhat still works in a basement reading room with no signal, how much content is stored locally, and whether protected health information stays on the device or is discarded after processing.89-1

Epocrates

Best for
Fast prescribing checks: monographs, an interaction checker across multiple drugs, pill identification by imprint and colour, and formulary coverage — the reason it sits on more than a million clinicians' phones.
Limitation
Drug information only: no clinical reasoning, no differential, no documentation. The free tier is open to any clinician, but the deeper content and the US-centric formulary data sit behind the premium upgrade, which is why it scores 6 out of 10 on access.
Price
Free tier; premium around $175/year

MDCalc

Best for
Any clinician who needs a validated score at the bedside. Roughly 700 calculators, each with the original paper, the creator's own commentary and the caveats that decide whether the score applies — and it works with no signal.
Limitation
Deliberately single-purpose: it computes scores and does not answer questions, draft notes or reason about a case, which is why it scores 5 out of 10 on clinical scope despite being the best app on this page at its own job.
Price
Free; optional CME subscription

The decision

Which one should you buy?

Choose Epocrates when

  • iOS apps

    Fast prescribing checks: monographs, an interaction checker across multiple drugs, pill identification by imprint and colour, and formulary coverage — the reason it sits on more than a million clinicians' phones.

What it cannot do

Drug information only: no clinical reasoning, no differential, no documentation. The free tier is open to any clinician, but the deeper content and the US-centric formulary data sit behind the premium upgrade, which is why it scores 6 out of 10 on access.

Every Epocrates score

Choose MDCalc when

  • iOS apps

    Any clinician who needs a validated score at the bedside. Roughly 700 calculators, each with the original paper, the creator's own commentary and the caveats that decide whether the score applies — and it works with no signal.

What it cannot do

Deliberately single-purpose: it computes scores and does not answer questions, draft notes or reason about a case, which is why it scores 5 out of 10 on clinical scope despite being the best app on this page at its own job.

Every MDCalc score

Limits

What this comparison cannot tell you

Neither tool has been benchmarked here against live patient data. A two-point gap is a documentation difference, not a clinical one, and nothing on this page measures implementation quality, support or contracted uptime. This rubric scores the iOS build specifically, so an app with a weaker iPhone experience can rank below a lesser product with a better one; scores are not transferable to the same vendor's web or Android version, which we score separately. Access is scored as eligibility and not only as price, which means an app that costs nothing but admits only verified US clinicians ranks below a paid app any clinician can buy — a US physician who clears that gate should re-rank by the other four dimensions, where Doximity scores 8, 8, 8 and 6. Clinical scope is weighted heavily, which penalises excellent single-purpose apps — MDCalc and Epocrates are both stronger at their one job than their totals suggest, and a reader who wants only a calculator should read MDCalc as the winner. App Store pricing, iOS version requirements and feature availability change without notice; verify current terms in the App Store listing. No app here is a diagnostic device, and none replaces your institution's EHR companion app for chart access.

Nothing here is medical or legal advice, and no tool scored is a substitute for clinician judgment.

Common questions

Epocrates vs MDCalc: common questions

Is Epocrates or MDCalc better?

Epocrates and MDCalc share one scored category, iOS apps for doctors. MDCalc scores higher in the shared category — 32–40 for iOS apps for doctors out of 50. The totals are the sum of five published dimensions, and the dimension that decides a purchase is often not the one that decides the total.

What is the biggest difference between Epocrates and MDCalc?

For iOS apps for doctors the widest gap is access & eligibility: 6/10 for Epocrates against 10/10 for MDCalc. That dimension measures who can actually install and use it, weighted as heavily as what it costs: App Store and in-app subscription price, the size of the free tier, and the gates in front of it — clinician-verification requirements, country availability and language coverage. An app that is free but closed to most of the world's clinicians scores below a paid app anyone can buy.

When should you choose Epocrates over MDCalc?

Fast prescribing checks: monographs, an interaction checker across multiple drugs, pill identification by imprint and colour, and formulary coverage — the reason it sits on more than a million clinicians' phones. The case against it: drug information only: no clinical reasoning, no differential, no documentation. The free tier is open to any clinician, but the deeper content and the US-centric formulary data sit behind the premium upgrade, which is why it scores 6 out of 10 on access.

When should you choose MDCalc over Epocrates?

MDCalc scores higher for iOS apps for doctors. Any clinician who needs a validated score at the bedside. Roughly 700 calculators, each with the original paper, the creator's own commentary and the caveats that decide whether the score applies — and it works with no signal. The case against it: deliberately single-purpose: it computes scores and does not answer questions, draft notes or reason about a case, which is why it scores 5 out of 10 on clinical scope despite being the best app on this page at its own job.

How do Epocrates and MDCalc compare on price?

Epocrates: Free tier; premium around $175/year MDCalc: Free; optional CME subscription Pricing comes from each vendor's published pricing page; where a vendor publishes no rate, that is recorded rather than estimated.

Keep reading

The full rankings behind this comparison