Medwise.ai vs OpenEvidence (2026)
Both are clinical search tools free to individual clinicians, built for different health systems. Medwise.ai is a UK product from Leeds for NHS clinicians and students. It answers through selectable modes, including one that reads UK summaries of product characteristics and the drug tariff, beside a hub of articles on changes in guidance and MHRA safety updates. The company reports use across more than 2,000 NHS organizations. OpenEvidence answers from the literature under named journal partnerships, free to verified US and Canadian clinicians and paid for by advertising. It ended access across the UK and the European Union in April 2026, so the two no longer meet in the same market. For a UK clinician, Medwise is the one available. OpenEvidence carries far more published evaluation.
- Built for NHS clinicians, with a drug mode that reads UK product characteristics and the drug tariff.
- Terms that say plainly what it is not: not a regulated medical device, and not for patient specific diagnosis or treatment.
- Free for individual clinicians within use limits, with a 69.99 pound App Store subscription above them.
- Independent peer reviewed studies of its current answers, where Medwise's one published pilot tested an earlier engine.
- A public trust center carrying its SOC 2 Type 2 report, where Medwise publishes no certification.
- Deployments inside the record at named US health systems.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Medwise.ai and OpenEvidence 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 | Medwise.ai | OpenEvidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Clinical Reference & Evidence | Clinical Reference & Evidence |
| Founded | 2019 | 2021 |
| Headquarters | Leeds, England | Miami, Florida |
| Website | medwise.ai | openevidence.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.
OpenEvidence
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Product / capability
OpenEvidence added the American Society of Addiction Medicine's clinical guidelines, guidance and implementation resources to the content behind its answers.
Source -
Product / capability
OpenEvidence launched Patient Take-Homes, a new feature allowing clinicians to optionally turn AI-generated answers into educational materials for their patients.
Source -
Clinical evidence
A systematic review published in npj Digital Medicine evaluated 11 studies assessing OpenEvidence's clinical question-answering capabilities.
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.
Clinical search and answer platform for UK clinicians and students, from Medwise AI Ltd, registered in England and Wales and based in Leeds, having started in Cambridge. Cofounded in 2019 by Dr. Keith Tsui, a doctor, and Luis Ulloa, who came from applied machine learning; the home page says it launched from the Mount Sinai Elementa Labs program.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
AI medical search and clinical decision support used at the point of care, free to verified United States and Canadian clinicians and funded by pharmaceutical and medical device advertising shown inside the product, with enterprise deployments embedded in the electronic health record at named health systems. The published model family is Osler for direct answers in seconds, Sackett for a more thorough survey.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do Medwise.ai and OpenEvidence work with the EHR?
For Medwise.ai, the platform is a standalone web application and mobile app reached by an individual clinician's own login, with NHS mail sign in as one route; that is authentication, not integration.
With OpenEvidence, the first party evidence is recent. On 22 September 2026 the company and the University of Texas Medical Branch announced a collaboration putting cited clinical evidence inside the electronic health record, live at UTMB since March 2026, with adoption reported as growing since launch. 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 Medwise.ai and OpenEvidence priced and sold?
In Medwise.ai's case, the terms of use set out two routes: open access free of charge for an individual healthcare professional or student, subject to use limits, and a paid subscription the company may require above certain thresholds or on other criteria. The company's App Store listing, a field the developer controls, shows the app as free with in app purchases and names one: Medwise AI subscription at 69.99 pounds.
For OpenEvidence, the named health system collaborations announced through 2026 carry no commercial terms. It is also not stated whether free individual use by a health system's clinicians creates any institutional obligation before a contract exists. 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 Medwise.ai and OpenEvidence handle patient data?
With Medwise.ai, the privacy notice (last updated 8 April 2025) lists conversation content and interaction data (prompts, messages, uploaded content, outputs, timestamps and metadata) among what the company collects.
In OpenEvidence's case, the scope is narrower than it first looks. The exclusion is drawn around protected health information, not around everything a clinician types. 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 Medwise.ai and OpenEvidence cover?
For Medwise.ai, the terms prohibit use by the public and by anyone under 18. The one published evaluation (JMIR Human Factors, 2025) covers acute medicine at one Welsh hospital and an earlier version of the engine, so it does not validate the current product in any setting.
With OpenEvidence, the product now covers the consultation, the encounter through Visits, and patient contact through the Dialer, with an education platform carrying continuing education and maintenance of certification credit added on 28 July 2026. 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.
Both records were reviewed on this site in September 2026. OpenEvidence's terms now prohibit use from the UK and the European Union. Medwise's peer reviewed pilot found fewer searches and similar satisfaction, with searches taking 43 seconds longer, on an engine that predates its current AI modes.
Ask Medwise what has been measured about its current answers, and ask OpenEvidence whether UK access will return.