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Can a phone app help you find cheaper drugs?

We compared four and found only one that worked well

Published: May 2012

A few apps promise to help you find the best prices on medications. To find out whether they really work, we tried four of them—GoodRx, LowestMed, Mobile Rx Card, and Pocket Doctor—to price a month’s supply of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (40 milligrams) and its generic equivalent, atorvastatin, using a ZIP code near our offices in Yonkers, N.Y.

We also tested whether the app would tap into generic discount plans by pricing another cholesterol drug, pravastatin (Pravachol and generic). And we priced Advil and its generic, ibuprofen. GoodRx worked well, but we suggest that you skip the other three. Here’s why.

APP Map
GoodRx shows you where to find the best prices in your area.

One to try

GoodRx

Prices and devices: Free for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Why we like it: This app was best at finding the lowest prices in stores and online. For example, when we checked Lipitor, we got prices ranging from $134.98 to $157.80 for 30 pills. Ibuprofen prices ranged from $5.67 to $10.15 for 90 pills. The app also offers money-saving tips, such as joining the Lipitor For You program, a $4 co-pay deal.

Three to skip

LowestMed: This much-hyped app didn’t find online prices or common drugs like Pravachol and Advil.

Mobile Rx Card: It only lists prices at brick-and-mortar stores. And the app’s search found certain providers that always topped the list, even though they didn’t always have the lowest prices.

Pocket Doctor: The pricing tool is hard to find (it’s listed under “search,” which is unclear to new users). Only online prices are given. The results aren’t in order, plus reconfiguring “low to high” didn’t fix it.

Editor's Note: This article and related materials are made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by the multi-state settlement of consumer-fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).