Buyer's guide · September 2026
Facts and Comparisons eAnswers: Drug Facts and Comparisons online access, plans and pricing
The classic pharmacist's comparison reference is no longer a standalone database. Wolters Kluwer now delivers it within UpToDate Lexidrug.
That changes what you are actually buying, and it explains why no price is published anywhere.
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The short answer
What is Facts and Comparisons eAnswers, and how do you get it?
Facts and Comparisons eAnswers is Wolters Kluwer's drug comparison reference for pharmacists, built around therapeutic-class tables rather than one monograph per drug. As of September 2026 the vendor's own product page states that its content and interactive tools are delivered within UpToDate Lexidrug, so it is a content set inside a larger platform rather than a separate database you buy on its own.
There is no published price. Wolters Kluwer runs a pricing page for the product that carries no figure and returns a quote instead. Most people who use it never pay personally, because a hospital or college of pharmacy holds the license and authenticates them by IP address or single sign-on. Sign-in runs through fco.factsandcomparisons.com.
Five ways in, one of them priced
How to get Facts and Comparisons access
Only one row in this table carries a number, and it is not the row most people assume.
| Access route | Price | Who it suits | Where you sign in | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Facts and Comparisons eAnswers, direct subscription | Quoted, not published | Retail and community pharmacies, health systems | fco.factsandcomparisons.com | Wolters Kluwer runs a pricing page for this product that carries no figure. It collects your details and returns a quote. |
| Inside an UpToDate Lexidrug subscription | Depends on the package | Pharmacists who want the wider Lexidrug library too | Lexidrug web and mobile apps | The vendor states eAnswers content and tools sit within UpToDate Lexidrug. Which Facts content you see depends on the content sets your package includes. |
| Institutional or academic library license | Quoted per institution | Hospitals, colleges of pharmacy, university libraries | IP authentication or single sign-on | This is how most students and residents reach it. If your library subscribes, you sign in through the library portal, not through a personal account. |
| Lexidrug mobile app, individual | $29.99 / month | Individual hospital pharmacists | iOS and Android | The one Wolters Kluwer price published anywhere in this family. It buys the Hospital Pharmacist package, not the full library, and not eAnswers as such. |
| Print book and binders | Not currently listed | Historical | The vendor now writes about the book and binders in the past tense and presents eAnswers as the current version. We could not verify a live listing for a current print edition. |
Prices read at each vendor's own listing in September 2026. Quoted means the vendor publishes no figure at all, not that we could not find one.
Facts and Comparisons is now part of Lexidrug, and that is the whole story
If you search for this product you will find a lot of pages describing a standalone drug database that competes with Lexicomp. That description is out of date. Read Wolters Kluwer's current product page and the position is explicit: eAnswers features its drug information and interactive tools within UpToDate Lexidrug. Lexicomp itself was renamed Lexidrug. So Facts and Comparisons, Lexicomp and Lexidrug are not three competing products you choose between. They are one platform and a set of content licenses on top of it.
There is a visible trace of this if you go looking. The login host is fco.factsandcomparisons.com, short for Facts and Comparisons Online, and it forwards to a path containing "lco", which is the old Lexi-Comp Online path. Two brands, one sign-in stack.
This matters commercially, not just historically. It means the useful question on a renewal is never "should we buy Facts and Comparisons or Lexicomp". It is "which content sets are on our contract, and which ones are we paying for twice". Plenty of health systems carry overlapping drug information licenses because two departments bought two brands from the same publisher in different years.
Why no price is published, and what to do about it
Wolters Kluwer maintains a pricing page for Facts and Comparisons. It carries no price. It collects your organization details and hands you to a sales conversation. That is a deliberate choice rather than an oversight, and it is the norm for drug information sold to institutions: the quote depends on your size, your setting, which content sets you take and how many concurrent users you need.
The practical consequence is that you cannot benchmark a quote against the vendor's own list price, because there is not one. What you can do is benchmark against the vendors in this market who do publish. Sanford Guide lists $34.99 a year for its mobile subscription. The Johns Hopkins ABX Guide lists $39.95 a year. epocrates+ lists $179.99 a year, or $24.99 a month, both verified in the App Store's in-app purchase list in September 2026. Those are narrower products, but they establish what an individual professional drug reference costs when a vendor is willing to say.
One published number does exist inside this family. The Lexidrug mobile app sells an individual subscription at $29.99 a month on both app stores. Read the listing carefully before you assume that covers you: it buys the Hospital Pharmacist package specifically, not the full library, and the Lexidrug subscription plans breakdown goes through what that package does and does not include.
What makes it different from a normal drug reference
Almost every drug database is organized one monograph per drug. You look up a drug, you read about that drug. Facts and Comparisons is organized the other way: drugs are grouped into therapeutic and pharmacological classes and presented side by side, with more than 3,000 charts and tables built for comparison across pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and interactions. The database covers over 22,000 prescription and 6,000 over-the-counter products.
That structure is why it stuck in retail and community pharmacy. When a prescriber asks which agent in a class is reasonable for a patient who cannot tolerate the first one, a comparison table answers faster than four separate monographs. The product availability tool goes further and tells you which products the patient can actually obtain, with labeler, market status and the FDA Orange Book AB rating, which is a supply question a clinical monograph will never answer.
It is worth being clear about what that does not cover. Reference tools of this kind answer questions about one drug or one class at a time, after you have already worked out which drug to ask about. Screening a whole medication list for interactions, contraindications and renal dosing problems is a different job, and it is the one our drug interaction checker is built for.
What is inside
Every Facts and Comparisons content set
Ask which of these are on your quote. They are licensed separately, and assuming you get all of them is the most common contract mistake here.
Drug Facts and Comparisons
The core database. Over 22,000 Rx and 6,000 OTC products, grouped side by side within therapeutic class, with more than 3,000 charts and tables for comparing pharmacology, kinetics and interactions.
Off-Label Drug Facts
More than 1,000 monographs on uses the FDA has not approved, each with a documentation rating for strength of evidence and links to the primary literature.
Briggs' Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation
The standard reference on medication use in pregnant and lactating patients. Summary text appears inside core monographs with links through to the full entry.
Review of Natural Products
More than 350 peer-reviewed monographs on natural products and nutraceuticals, with an evidence-based herb and drug interaction appendix.
Black Box Warnings
A reference page linking to more than 600 boxed warnings, each landing inside the relevant monograph rather than in a separate list.
REMS
Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy detail per program: purpose, prescriber and pharmacy training duties, ETASU components and dispensing requirements, folded into each affected monograph.
Medication Guides
Manufacturer-written, FDA-approved patient guides, linked from the monograph. The vendor notes this set may not include every guide the FDA requires.
Do not crush or chew
An alphabetical list of products that must not be crushed or chewed, with the dosage-form reasoning behind each and options when a patient cannot swallow whole.
Immunizations
Reprinted CDC adult and pediatric schedules, pediatric catch-up tables, and vaccine guidance for special populations.
Manufacturer index
An alphabetical list of labelers and repackagers with contact details and links, which is what makes the NDC lookups usable.
Patient assistance programs
Links into manufacturer and third-party assistance programs, discount lists and coupons, for patients who cannot afford a prescription.
Additional information links
Outbound links into ASHP Drug Shortages, the FDA Orange Book, ISMP, FDA recalls and the National Library of Medicine.
The interactive part
The three tools that are not just monographs
These are what a comparison reference gives you that a monograph library does not.
Product availability
Type a drug and see which products a patient can actually get, with dosing, labeler, market status and the FDA Orange Book AB rating. This is the tool that separates it from a plain monograph reference.
Drug comparisons
Put up to four drugs side by side and choose which fields to compare: adverse effects, pregnancy considerations, contraindications, precautions, drug interactions and more.
Drug reports
Search by clinical parameter rather than by drug name: what is indicated or not indicated for a condition, what is contraindicated in it, and what may cause a given adverse reaction.
What the vendor reports
Wolters Kluwer's own customer figures
These four numbers come from Wolters Kluwer's own product page and describe its own surveyed users. They are not independent research, and we report them as the vendor's claims rather than as findings.
98%
say they are satisfied with the quality of the content
92%
say it helps them reduce medication errors
94%
report improved patient outcomes
98%
say it saves them time every day
What else you are choosing between
Facts and Comparisons against the rest of the market
Every figure is that vendor's own published number, read at source in September 2026.
| Product | Vendor | Published price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facts and Comparisons eAnswers | Wolters Kluwer | Quoted | Retail and community pharmacy, comparative drug tables, product availability |
| UpToDate Lexidrug | Wolters Kluwer | $29.99 / mo (one package) | Hospital pharmacists who want the wider content-set library |
| Micromedex | Merative | Quoted | Tertiary referencing, IV compatibility, toxicology |
| epocrates+ | Epocrates | $179.99 / yr, $24.99 / mo | Prescribers who want a fast phone lookup |
| Sanford Guide | Sanford Guide | $34.99 / yr mobile | Antimicrobial selection and dosing |
| Johns Hopkins ABX Guide | Unbound Medicine | $39.95 / yr | Infectious disease at the bedside |
| Medscape | WebMD | Free, ad funded | A no-budget fallback reference |
| OpenEvidence | OpenEvidence | Free to verified clinicians | Literature questions, not product-level drug data |
If you need access today
Getting in, in the right order
1
Check your institution first
Most people who reach Facts and Comparisons never pay for it personally. Search your hospital library or college of pharmacy database list before you request a quote. Academic and health-system licenses authenticate by IP address or single sign-on.
2
Go to the right host
Individual and institutional users sign in at fco.factsandcomparisons.com, which forwards to the Lexi-Comp Online login path. If your access came bundled with Lexidrug, sign in through Lexidrug instead and look for the Facts content sets.
3
Ask which content sets are included
This is the question that decides whether the subscription is worth it. Off-Label Drug Facts, Briggs and Review of Natural Products are separate sets. Get the list in writing on the quote rather than assuming the whole library.
4
Price it against the alternatives
Because there is no published rate, the only way to judge a quote is to hold it against vendors that do publish. Sanford Guide, the Johns Hopkins ABX Guide and epocrates all list their individual prices openly.
Frequently asked
Facts and Comparisons questions, answered
Is Facts and Comparisons the same as Lexicomp?
They are now the same product family. Wolters Kluwer owns both, and its current Facts and Comparisons page states that eAnswers delivers its drug information and interactive tools within UpToDate Lexidrug. Lexicomp was itself renamed Lexidrug. So the practical question is not which one to buy but which content sets your subscription includes.
What is Drug Facts and Comparisons used for?
It is used to compare drugs within the same therapeutic class side by side. That is its distinguishing feature. Rather than one monograph per drug, it groups related agents together with more than 3,000 charts and tables covering pharmacology, kinetics, interactions and product detail, which is why retail pharmacists reach for it when choosing between similar products.
How do I log in to Facts and Comparisons online?
Sign in at fco.factsandcomparisons.com, which forwards to the Lexi-Comp Online login page. If your access comes through a hospital or university library, do not use that page directly. Start from your library portal so the IP authentication or single sign-on applies, otherwise you will be asked for a personal account you do not have.
How much does Facts and Comparisons cost?
Wolters Kluwer does not publish a price for it. The pricing page for the product carries no figure and collects your details for a quote instead. The only published number anywhere in this family is the $29.99 a month Lexidrug mobile subscription, and that buys the Hospital Pharmacist package rather than eAnswers.
Is Facts and Comparisons free?
No. It is a paid professional subscription with no free tier and no public trial. Many pharmacists and students do use it without paying personally, because their hospital, health system or college of pharmacy holds an institutional license. If you have lost access, that license lapsing is the usual explanation.
What is FCO in Facts and Comparisons?
FCO stands for Facts and Comparisons Online, and it is the subdomain the product logs in through: fco.factsandcomparisons.com. The path it forwards to still contains "lco", short for Lexi-Comp Online, which is a visible trace of the two products running on one platform.
Does Facts and Comparisons have a drug interaction checker?
Yes. Interaction data sits in the monographs and in the comparative charts, and the drug comparisons tool lets you select drug interactions as one of the fields when placing up to four drugs side by side. It is built around comparing products rather than screening a full medication list at once.
Does Facts and Comparisons have a do not crush list?
Yes. A "do not crush or chew" set is one of the named content sets. It gives an alphabetical list of affected products, explains which dosage form types must stay intact and why, and covers the options available when a patient genuinely cannot swallow a tablet whole.
Does Facts and Comparisons have a pill identifier?
It carries the underlying data rather than a consumer-style identifier. Product tables include NDC numbers plus image and imprint detail, with sorting and filtering, and the product availability tool adds labeler, market status and FDA Orange Book AB rating. That is aimed at a pharmacist verifying a product, not at a patient identifying a loose tablet.
Is Drug Facts and Comparisons still available as a book?
Wolters Kluwer now writes about the book and binders in the past tense and presents eAnswers as today's version. We could not verify a live vendor listing for a current print edition in September 2026. If you need print, ask the vendor directly rather than trusting a reseller listing, because old editions stay on sale long after they stop being updated.
How do you cite Facts and Comparisons in AMA format?
Cite it as an online database rather than a book: the resource name, the publisher (Wolters Kluwer Clinical Drug Information), the URL you used, and the date you accessed it, because the content is updated continuously and has no fixed edition. Check your school or journal style guide, since several require the specific monograph title as well.
Does Facts and Comparisons include IV compatibility?
Monographs carry administration information including product compatibilities, but dedicated IV compatibility referencing is not what this product is built around. Pharmacies that need full Y-site and admixture data usually license it separately, which is the most common reason a hospital ends up paying two drug-information vendors.
Go deeper
What the rest of the drug information market charges
Lexidrug subscription plans
The platform Facts and Comparisons now runs inside, and what $29.99 a month really buys.
Lexicomp subscription price
The full cost breakdown, including what drives an institutional quote.
Sanford Guide subscription cost
A published rate card, for contrast, from a vendor that sells to individuals.
Micromedex cost
The other quote-only tertiary reference a pharmacy usually prices alongside this one.
IV compatibility checker
The lookup this product does not cover, and the usual reason for a second license.
Best drug reference apps
Every published price in the category, side by side.
The part a comparison table cannot do
A table compares the drugs you thought to compare.
Facts and Comparisons is very good at showing you a class side by side. It still needs you to know which class to open, and which of your patient's other fourteen medications matters. We run the interaction, contraindication and renal dosing checks across the whole list, then hand you the flags to sign off.