ASCO Guidelines Assistant vs UpToDate (2026)
Both put a generative assistant on top of a trusted body of content, and the content differs in scope. The ASCO Guidelines Assistant, announced in May 2025 and built with Google Cloud, answers only from the American Society of Clinical Oncology's published practice guidelines, which rest on systematic reviews and expert panels. UpToDate covers all of clinical medicine. Its Expert AI, launched in September 2025, answers from content written and curated by more than 7,600 physician authors and editors. For an oncologist asking what ASCO recommends, the Guidelines Assistant answers from the source itself and comes with membership; for questions across specialties, UpToDate is the broader tool.
- A chat interface over ASCO's own oncology practice guidelines only.
- Built with Google Cloud on the Vertex AI platform with Gemini models.
- Included with ASCO membership at no separate charge.
- A reference across the whole of clinical medicine, not one specialty.
- Expert AI, answering only from UpToDate's own authored content.
- Subscriptions for individuals and trainees online, with enterprise terms quoted.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. ASCO Guidelines Assistant and UpToDate are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | ASCO Guidelines Assistant | UpToDate |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Clinical Reference & Evidence | Clinical Reference & Evidence |
| Headquarters | Alexandria, Virginia | Waltham, Massachusetts |
| Website | asco.org | wolterskluwer.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Product updates
The latest logged changes from each vendor, newest first, each linked to its source.
UpToDate
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Pricing / packaging
UpToDate Expert AI's iOS app version 2.5.0 is now available as a 14 day free trial, up from the 7 day trial added in August, and the listing shows an in app personal subscription at $89.
Source -
Product / capability
Wolters Kluwer expanded its generative AI solution, UpToDate Expert AI, by integrating comprehensive medication data from UpToDate Lexidrug.
Source
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Generative chat interface over the American Society of Clinical Oncology's own library of clinical practice guidelines, announced in May 2025 and developed by ASCO and Google Cloud on the Vertex AI platform with Gemini models. Chief executive Clifford Hudis. Based in Alexandria, Virginia.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Clinical reference and decision support published by Wolters Kluwer Health and in market for more than thirty years, with content curated by over 7,600 physician authors and editors and reported use by more than three million clinicians across thousands of hospitals worldwide.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do ASCO Guidelines Assistant and UpToDate work with the EHR?
For ASCO Guidelines Assistant, the assistant is a web application reached through the society's site and a member mobile app.
With UpToDate, patient education material is offered in up to nineteen languages, which is a real interoperability property in a multilingual health system. The company's release of 3 June 2026 states that more than half of United States Enterprise Edition customers, approximately 2,000 hospitals, had signed up for the Expert AI version by 30 April 2026, so the generative layer is reaching the chart through the same route. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 29, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How are ASCO Guidelines Assistant and UpToDate priced and sold?
The assistant carries no separate charge: the product page says it is available to ASCO members through asco.org and the member app and requires an ASCO account.
For UpToDate, enterprise pricing, which is what a health system buys and the tier that reaches most clinicians, is gated behind a sales conversation. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 29, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How do ASCO Guidelines Assistant and UpToDate handle patient data?
With ASCO Guidelines Assistant, the product page adds that user feedback will be used to refine the tool. Nothing states how long prompts and feedback are retained, whether prompt content is used to train or tune any model, or what deidentification applies.
The terms of use state that UpToDate and its licensors are not intended to receive, transmit, store or process protected health information under HIPAA, which places the product outside the patient data relationship by contract. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 29, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Which settings and specialties do ASCO Guidelines Assistant and UpToDate cover?
For ASCO Guidelines Assistant, the assistant covers the society's full library of clinical practice guidelines, which is broad within oncology and narrow by design outside it, for oncology professionals who are society members, reached through the website and member app.
With UpToDate, the trainee and medical university segments are substantial, and continuing medical education accrues inside the AI product, so the product serves workforce and training as well. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 29, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Clinical Reference & Evidence page.
Both records were reviewed on this site in September 2026. The ASCO Guidelines Assistant comes with membership, with dues from $0 to $695 by role and country; UpToDate is sold by subscription.
Ask both how quickly an answer reflects a guideline update after it is published.