ClinicalKey AI vs UpToDate (2026)
Both are large publishers' AI layers over their own clinical content, and they draw on different kinds of source. ClinicalKey AI, launched by Elsevier in February 2024, answers from a copyright cleared knowledge base refreshed daily, and since February 2026 includes full text journal content alongside Elsevier's reference material. UpToDate's Expert AI, launched by Wolters Kluwer in September 2025, answers only from UpToDate's own content, written and curated by more than 7,600 physician authors and editors. ClinicalKey AI reaches further into the primary literature; UpToDate keeps its answers inside one edited reference. Choose by whether a team wants breadth of source or a single synthesized view.
- A generative layer on Elsevier's ClinicalKey, drawing on a copyright cleared knowledge base refreshed daily.
- Full text journal content added in February 2026.
- A 90 day free trial for clinicians, and a free year for US and Canadian medical students.
- Physician authored reference content from more than 7,600 authors and editors.
- Expert AI, answering only from UpToDate's own content.
- Personal and trainee subscriptions sold online, enterprise terms quoted.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. ClinicalKey AI 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 | ClinicalKey AI | UpToDate |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Clinical Reference & Evidence | Clinical Reference & Evidence |
| Headquarters | New York, New York | Waltham, Massachusetts |
| Website | elsevier.com | 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.
ClinicalKey AI
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Product / capability
Elsevier launched ClinicalKey Nursing AI, a conversational clinical decision support tool built specifically for nurses.
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.
ClinicalKey AI is a generative clinical decision support layer built on ClinicalKey, Elsevier Health's point of care content platform. It launched in February 2024 and was expanded in February 2026 with full text journal content and new features. Elsevier's wider portfolio spans scientific publishing and research analytics.
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 ClinicalKey AI and UpToDate work with the EHR?
For ClinicalKey AI, the product page states SMART on FHIR single sign on for access inside the EHR, an API so the product can be integrated into tools beyond the EHR, and link resolver support connecting to an institution's own full text holdings.
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 ClinicalKey AI and UpToDate priced and sold?
In ClinicalKey AI's case, clinicians and residents can try the product free for 90 days, medical students in the United States and Canada get one year of full access free, and institutions are directed to request institutional access or speak with an Elsevier sales representative.
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 ClinicalKey AI and UpToDate handle patient data?
The ClinicalKey AI FAQ adds that all user data is encrypted in transit and at rest, that access is limited to authorized personnel under pseudonymization for product support only, and that no access is granted to cloud providers or third party AI partners for training. Users can save, search, share or remove past queries in a privacy panel.
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 ClinicalKey AI and UpToDate cover?
For ClinicalKey AI, the corpus spans cardiology, internal medicine and pediatrics reference texts, society guidelines covering cardiology, endocrinology, emergency medicine, chest medicine and oncology, drug information, and full text journals, and responses can take a patient's age, comorbidities and medications into account when the clinician supplies them.
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. Neither publishes enterprise pricing.
Ask both whether their AI can cite a source outside their own content, and how a reader can tell when it does.