American Family Physician subscription cost, $295 digital or $330 in print, and who gets AFP included
American Family Physician costs a nonmember physician $295 a year digital or $330 in print, and $180 or $215 for other health professionals such as NPs and PAs. AAFP members get it with membership. Here is the full 2026 rate card, what the CME is worth, when the free archive is enough, and how AFP compares with NEJM, JAMA and Journal Watch.
By the Prescriber.io team
September 2026 · 7 min read
Press Run check for the interaction, contraindication, dosing and alternatives on this pair.
Not matched, so not checked: .
Nothing on this pair matched a row in the reference tables behind this check. That is not a clearance: it means these references do not name this combination.
Guideline-based alternatives
That was your demo check, run on the same references the desk uses. The desk adds renal dosing against an estimated clearance, hepatic review, unlimited checks, saved history and your sign-off on every card.
The on-page check covers five prescribing scenarios and never invents clinical output, so it will not produce a card for this pair.
The full Prescriber.io desk checks any regimen against interactions, contraindications, and renal or hepatic dosing, with cited sources for you to verify.
Interaction
Contraindication / allergy check
Dosing guidance (renal / hepatic)
Guideline-based alternatives
Decision support. You verify against official sources and sign.
Clinician in the loopDecision support for licensed clinicians. Prescriber.io does not diagnose or prescribe and is not a substitute for professional clinical judgment.
In short
An American Family Physician subscription costs a US nonmember $295 a year for digital access or $330 for print plus digital, according to the AAFP subscription page in September 2026. Other health care professionals, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, pay $180 digital or $215 print. AAFP student members pay $60 for print, and AAFP members get AFP as part of membership. Subscriptions bill annually and can be cancelled anytime; a single issue is $59.95.
An American Family Physician subscription costs a US physician who is not an AAFP member $295 a year for digital access, or $330 for print plus digital. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health professionals pay less, $180 digital or $215 print, and AAFP student members pay $60. Those are the rates on the AAFP subscription page in September 2026. AAFP members do not buy AFP separately at all: it comes with membership.
So the real decision is not the sticker price. It is whether you should pay the nonmember rate, join the AAFP, get by on the free archive, or spend the money on a different clinical reference. Here is the full rate card and how AFP stacks up against the other journals a primary care clinician pays for.
American Family Physician subscription rates for 2026
| You are | Digital only | Print plus digital | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAFP member | Included, log in | Included, arrives mid-month | Part of membership |
| AAFP student member | Not listed | $60 a year | Student rate is print plus digital |
| Nonmember physician | $295 a year | $330 a year | The rate most readers of this page will see |
| Other health care professional (NP, PA, PharmD) | $180 a year | $215 a year | About 39% less than the nonmember physician rate |
| Foreign print address | Not listed | $540 nonmember, $420 other HCP, $130 member | Canada pays US rates |
| Single issue | $59.95 | Useful for one review article you need now | |
Every paid option bills annually and, per the AAFP page, can be cancelled anytime. A subscription covers 12 issues and unlimited access to the AFP website for the year, including the most recent 24 months of gated content. Print copies take six to eight weeks to start arriving. Sales tax may apply.
What the $295 actually buys
AFP is the most practical journal in primary care, and that is why people pay for it. Each issue is built around review articles written for the clinic: diagnosis, workup, first-line treatment and when to refer. Around them sit practice guideline summaries, point-of-care guides, diagnostic and treatment algorithms, photo quizzes, STEPS drug reviews (new drugs with cost and place in therapy) and POEMs.
A subscription also brings the Clinical Answers e-newsletter, issue alerts, the AFP Podcast (with a Spanish edition, Revista Médica AFP) and AAFP Audio. The piece that moves most buyers is CME: the AAFP says subscribers can earn more than 125 CME/CE credits a year. That is AAFP Prescribed credit, which the AMA accepts as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, and which AAPA, NCCPA, ANCC, AANPCB and AAMA accept too. For an NP or PA on the $180 rate, that is a large share of a renewal cycle's CE for less than the price of one live course.
Is American Family Physician free?
Older issues are. The AAFP says online access to new issues is restricted to members and paid subscribers, with selected items free, and that all content of each issue is made freely available approximately two years after publication. If you want AFP for background reading, or you are studying topics that do not change year to year, the open archive may be enough and you should not pay.
The gated window is the part that matters for practice. Updated guidelines, new STEPS drug reviews and the CME quizzes all live in the last 24 months. A clinician who uses AFP to stay current, or who counts on its credits, needs a subscription or membership.
Nonmember rate or AAFP membership?
For a family physician, the AFP subscription is really a question about AAFP membership. Members get AFP in print and online, the digital edition of FPM free, and member pricing on AAFP's CME catalog, where on-demand courses run into the hundreds of dollars. AAFP dues depend on your membership class and your state chapter, and the AAFP does not publish one national figure on its public pages, so check your chapter's rate before deciding.
A practical rule: if you are a family physician who would pay $330 for AFP and also buys AAFP CME, price membership first, because the subscription is only one of several things it replaces. If you are an internist, pediatrician, emergency physician or hospitalist who wants AFP as a second journal, the $295 digital rate is simpler. NPs, PAs and pharmacists should take the $180 or $215 "other health care professional" rate, which is the lowest paid price on the card apart from students.
Print or digital?
Digital saves $35 a year for nonmembers and for other health professionals alike. Print is worth it only if you genuinely read on paper, because both options include the same immediate online access. Outside the US the gap widens sharply: a nonmember pays $540 for print to a foreign address, so international readers should take digital.
AFP vs NEJM, JAMA and the other references primary care pays for
| Publication | Individual US price | What it is | CME included |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Family Physician | $295 digital, $330 print; $180 or $215 for NPs and PAs | Practical primary care reviews, 12 issues | 125+ credits a year |
| FPM (Family Practice Management) | $140 digital, $169 print; free digital for AAFP members | Coding, billing and practice operations, 6 issues | Up to 30 credits a year |
| NEJM | $189 online, $219 print; $89 trainees | Original research and reviews, weekly | Online CME exams included |
| JAMA | $238 online | Original research, weekly | JN Learning access included |
| NEJM Clinician (formerly Journal Watch) | $99 a year or $9.99 a month | Summaries of new research | Not listed in the 2026 inclusions |
| The Medical Letter | $179 a year; $65 trainees | Independent drug evaluations | Up to 52 credits a year |
| 5 Minute Clinical Consult app | $99.99 a year | Point-of-care topic reference | No |
AFP and NEJM are not substitutes. NEJM and JAMA publish the research; AFP turns it into what to do on Monday in clinic. If you can only fund one, AFP is the better buy for outpatient primary care and NEJM is the better buy if you need to read trials at the source. Our guides to the NEJM subscription cost and the JAMA subscription cost cover those two in detail, including trainee rates and cancellation terms.
On price per credit, AFP is hard to beat for NPs and PAs, and The Medical Letter is strong for anyone whose CE requirement includes pharmacology hours. The Medical Letter subscription cost guide lays out its 52 included credits and the $65 trainee rate. For a quicker scan of new studies at a third of the price, see what changed with the NEJM Journal Watch subscription after its rename.
Who should pay for AFP, and who should not
- Nurse practitioners and PAs in primary care: yes, at $180 digital. The content matches the job and the credits count toward ANCC, AANPCB and NCCPA requirements.
- Family physicians: usually through membership rather than the $330 rate. Price your chapter dues first.
- Family medicine residents preparing for boards: AFP review articles are standard board reading. Residents who also study from recorded board review lectures can turn those videos into practice questions and test themselves on the same topics.
- Specialists and hospitalists: only if outpatient primary care is part of your week. Otherwise the two-year-old free archive covers occasional reading.
- Students: join the AAFP as a student member and take print for $60.
What a journal will not do at the point of prescribing
AFP is excellent at teaching you the right first-line drug for a condition. It cannot tell you whether that drug is safe for the patient in front of you, with their full medication list, their eGFR and their allergies. That check happens at the moment you write the order, which is where a prescribing error is either caught or missed.
That is the gap Prescriber.io fills. You enter the prescribing scenario once and it checks interactions across every medication, flags contraindications and allergy blockers, and surfaces renal and hepatic dose adjustments with cited sources, for $24 to $37 per clinician a month. You review every flag and sign. If you are also pricing a desk drug reference, our page on the Drug Information Handbook price explains why the Lexicomp handbook is hard to find in 2026 and what replaces it, and the 5 Minute Clinical Consult app guide covers the most common point-of-care topic reference in family medicine.
Before you subscribe
Check three things. First, whether your employer, residency or hospital library already provides AFP; if it does, a personal subscription then only buys print. Second, which rate you qualify for, since the jump from $180 to $295 is just a question of your profession. Third, whether you will actually complete the CME quizzes, because the credits are what make the price easy to justify. If the answers point to yes, the digital subscription is the one to buy.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a subscription to American Family Physician?
For a US nonmember, $295 a year for digital access or $330 a year for print plus digital. Other health care professionals, including NPs and PAs, pay $180 digital or $215 print. AAFP student members pay $60 for print, and AAFP members receive the journal with membership. A single issue costs $59.95.
Is American Family Physician free?
Partly. New issues are restricted to AAFP members and paid subscribers, with some items free. The AAFP makes each issue free approximately two years after publication, so the archive is open but the current 24 months are not. Anyone who needs this year's guideline reviews or the CME quizzes has to subscribe or join.
Do nurse practitioners get a discount on AFP?
Yes. The AAFP lists an "Other Health Care Professional" rate of $180 a year for digital access or $215 for print plus digital, against $295 and $330 for nonmember physicians. That rate is what NPs, PAs and pharmacists pay, and the CME is accepted by ANCC, AANPCB, AAPA and NCCPA.
How many CME credits come with an AFP subscription?
The AAFP says subscribers can earn over 125 CME/CE credits a year. The credit is AAFP Prescribed credit, which the AMA accepts as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, and which AAPA, NCCPA, ANCC, AANPCB and AAMA also accept.
Can I cancel an American Family Physician subscription?
The subscription page says you are charged annually and can cancel anytime. Renewals are handled by logging in to your AAFP account, or through the AAFP Member Resource Center at (800) 274-2237. Read the subscription terms before assuming a partial refund, because the page does not state one.
What is the difference between AFP and FPM?
AFP is the clinical journal: 12 issues a year of reviews, guidelines and point-of-care guides. FPM, Family Practice Management, covers coding, billing and running a practice, with 6 issues and up to 30 CME credits a year. FPM costs nonmembers $140 digital or $169 print, and AAFP members get the digital edition free.
See Prescriber.io check a prescription
The assistant surfaces interactions and contraindications for review, flags renal and hepatic dose adjustments, and suggests guideline-based alternatives with cited sources. You review, verify and sign every prescription.