CME buyer's guide
MDCalc CME cost, credits and gift card plans from $49 to $1,499
MDCalc CME costs $299 a year for 30 credits, $499 for 50, $999 for 100 and $1,499 for unlimited. That is about $10 per AMA PRA Category 1 credit on every tier but the last.
Below is every plan, who is allowed to buy, the refund rule and the point where Unlimited starts to pay.
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.
The short answer
How much does MDCalc CME cost?
MDCalc CME is sold in four annual tiers: Plus 30 at $299 for 30 AMA PRA Category 1 credits, Plus 50 at $499, Plus 100 at $999 and Unlimited at $1,499. A set-your-budget option starts at $49 for 5 credits. You earn 0.5 credit per calculator you review, with no quiz, and only US attending physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants can buy it.
Prices, eligibility and refund terms read on MDCalc's own CME pages and FAQ. No reseller figures.
MDCalc CME rate card
MDCalc CME price by tier
Four annual plans. The price per credit barely moves until you reach Unlimited.
Plus 30
$299
per year
- Credits
- 30 a year
- Per credit
- $9.97
- Work involved
- 60 calculators
Tops up a year that is mostly covered by conferences or grand rounds.
Plus 50
$499
per year
- Credits
- 50 a year
- Per credit
- $9.98
- Work involved
- 100 calculators
Covers a 50 credit annual requirement on its own. The tier MDCalc marks as recommended.
Plus 100
$999
per year
- Credits
- 100 a year
- Per credit
- $9.99
- Work involved
- 200 calculators
A two year cycle of 100 credits bought in one year, if you will open 200 calculators.
Unlimited
$1,499
per year
- Credits
- Unlimited
- Per credit
- Depends on use
- Work involved
- Every eligible tool
Only cheaper per credit than Plus 100 once you pass 150 credits in the year.
MDCalc list prices in USD for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, read in October 2026. Using the calculators without CME stays free.
Set your budget
How many MDCalc CME credits does your budget buy?
MDCalc does not make you pick one of the four tiers. Its CME page has a set-your-budget box, and the schedule behind it is simple: $49 buys 5 credits and each further $50 adds 5 more. So $99 is 10 credits, $199 is 20, and the pattern runs straight into the named tiers at $299, $499 and $999.
That makes the pricing unusually flat. There is no volume discount to chase between 5 and 100 credits, so the right purchase is the number of credits you are short, rounded up to the next 5. The only jump in value is Unlimited, covered in the next section.
Stroke credit is sold separately for clinicians with a stroke-specific requirement. It costs more per credit because the pool is small: up to 37 stroke calculators.
Credits for a CME budget
Credits a year
50
Calculators to review
100
Follows the credit schedule in MDCalc's published plan data: 5 credits at $49, then 5 more per $50, Unlimited at $1,499. Confirm the figure in MDCalc's own budget box before paying.
5 credits
The floor of the set-your-budget option.
10 credits
Each further $50 adds 5 credits.
15 credits
Same $10 a credit as the big tiers.
20 credits
Enough for a small year-end gap.
4 stroke credits
For a stroke-specific requirement. $24.75 a credit.
10 stroke credits
Up to 37 stroke calculators. $14.90 a credit.
The $1,499 question
Is MDCalc Unlimited CME worth it?
What you would pay by the credit against the flat Unlimited price. Shorter bar wins.
50 credits in a year
Unlimited costs $1,000 more for the same result.Cheapest route: Plus 50.
100 credits in a year
Unlimited costs $500 more.Cheapest route: Plus 100.
125 credits in a year
Still $250 cheaper to pay by the credit.Cheapest route: Plus 100 plus a $250 upgrade.
150 credits in a year
The break-even point at $10 a credit.Cheapest route: Either.
Unlimited is priced like 150 credits. Below that number you are paying for credits you will not redeem, and MDCalc lets you upgrade mid-year for the difference, so there is no penalty for starting on Plus 50 or Plus 100 and moving up if you need to.
There is also a ceiling to think about. Each calculator is worth 0.5 credit and MDCalc lists a little over 270 eligible tools. Reviewing every one of them once comes to roughly 137 credits, which is short of the 150 where Unlimited breaks even. MDCalc does not say on its pricing page whether a calculator can be claimed again in the same year, so ask before you buy Unlimited on the assumption that it can.
Who should still buy it? A clinician whose allowance must be spent, who wants a year of certificates without counting, or who is buying a promotional bundle where the plan comes with a gift card. For everyone else, pay by the credit.
Earning the credit
How do I get CME through MDCalc?
Four steps, half a credit per calculator, and no post-test.
Buy an annual plan
Certificates need a paid CME subscription. Using the calculators stays free with or without one.
Open a CME-eligible calculator
More than 270 of MDCalc's tools qualify: the ones with substantial contributor-written content behind the score.
Read the five tabs or click Earn CME
Reading all five content tabs (When to Use, Next Steps and the three others) earns 0.5 credit for that calculator. There is no quiz.
Redeem in the CME Dashboard
Certificates for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit are issued from the dashboard in the menu, on the web or in the app.
Is MDCalc CME accredited?
Yes. The activity is planned with the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, which is jointly accredited by the ACCME, the ACPE and the ANCC. The credit you redeem is AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, and the plan also covers a list of specialty topics that some state boards require by name, including pain management, addiction and controlled substances, geriatrics, pediatrics, stroke and end-of-life care.
The speed is the selling point. A calculator you were going to open anyway for a CHA2DS2-VASc or a creatinine clearance becomes half a credit once you read the content behind it. A 50 credit year is 100 calculators, which most hospitalists and emergency clinicians pass without trying.
Who can buy MDCalc CME
What a gift card bundle is made of
- Card choices in MDCalc's plan data
- Apple, Amazon, Visa
- Plans that carry a card option
- Unlimited and custom
- Gift amount on the standard page
- None shown
- If you ask for a refund
- Gift amount deducted
Read on MDCalc's CME pages in October 2026. The split in the bar is illustrative, not a quoted offer.
MDCalc CME gift card
Does MDCalc CME come with a gift card?
It can, but not on the standard price list. MDCalc runs gift card bundles as promotions on separate landing pages and through CME marketplaces. Its plan data names Apple, Amazon and Visa as the card choices, and Google's listing of MDCalc's gift card page reads "Amazon Gift Card or Visa Card up to $3,000", with the card emailed within one to two business days of purchase.
The mechanics are the same across the CME-with-gift-card market. You pay a bundle price well above the plain plan, you receive the CME plus a card, and the receipt shows a CME purchase. The appeal is obvious if you have an allowance that vanishes on December 31.
Three cautions before you buy one. The card value changes by promotion, so only trust the figure on the page where you check out. MDCalc deducts the gift amount from any refund. And MDCalc states that the purchase may have tax reporting implications, which is also why some employers will not reimburse the gift card portion. Ask your CME office in writing first.
Before you pay
Six MDCalc CME terms worth reading first
From MDCalc's own FAQ. The first two decide whether you can buy and whether you can back out.
Attendings, NPs and PAs in the US only
MDCalc limits its CME to US attending physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Residents, fellows, pharmacists, nurses and clinicians outside the US cannot buy it, even though the accreditor also covers pharmacy and nursing.
The refund window closes at 4 credits
A refund is available within 30 days only if you have redeemed no more than 4 credits. Any promotional gift amount is deducted, and a previous refund claim excludes you from asking again.
Upgrades are prorated, downgrades wait
You can move to a higher plan at any point in the billing cycle and pay the difference. A downgrade only takes effect at your next renewal, and both are done by email.
Credits are sold per year
Every tier is priced per year of credits, and the purchasing FAQ refers to a billing cycle and a next renewal. Buy the tier you will finish, since the page offers no rollover.
Five or more clinicians get a group rate
A practice signing up five or more physicians is told to email for a discounted bulk subscription. No group price is published.
A gift card changes the tax picture
MDCalc itself notes that a CME purchase may have tax reporting implications. If an employer reimburses the plan, ask whether the gift card portion is covered before you submit the receipt.
The wider market
MDCalc CME cost per credit against other point-of-care CME
Each vendor's own published price, and what one Category 1 credit works out to.
| Source | How credit is earned | Published US price | Cost per credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| MDCalc CME | 0.5 credit per calculator reviewed, no quiz | $299 for 30, $499 for 50, $999 for 100, $1,499 unlimited | About $10 |
| The Medical Letter | Exam per issue, up to 52 credits a year | $179 a year | About $3.44 |
| NEJM | Online CME exams included with the subscription | $189 a year online | Falls with every exam taken |
| ClinicalKey AI | 0.5 credit per AI response you review | $349 a year | Under $10 after 35 credits |
| UpToDate | Credit accrues from the topics you search | Not published | Cannot be worked out |
| OpenEvidence | Credit from reviewed searches plus a short assessment | Free for verified US clinicians | $0 |
| ChatGPT for Clinicians | Credit on eligible clinical questions | Free for verified US clinicians | $0 |
| ACP MKSAP | 0.25 credit per question answered correctly | $415 to $849 a year | Varies with questions done |
| Prescriber.io | Not a CME product. Checks a real prescription | $24 per clinician a month billed annually | No credit |
At $10 a credit MDCalc is not the cheapest Category 1 credit you can buy. It is the least effort. A subscriber to The Medical Letter gets up to 52 credits for $179, which is about $3.44 each, but has to read an issue and pass an exam for every two credits. Our Medical Letter subscription cost page has the detail, and the NEJM subscription cost guide covers the journal route.
Two free options now sit under all of them. OpenEvidence and ChatGPT for Clinicians both award credit to verified US clinicians at no charge for questions they were already asking. If you pay for UpToDate, credit accrues from your searches at no extra cost, and the UpToDate CME credits guide explains how to claim it. Clinicians comparing the calculators themselves, not the CME, should read MDCalc vs ClinCalc.
So the honest case for paying MDCalc is narrow and real: you already live in its calculators, you want certificates without tests, and $499 is less than the hours it would cost you to earn 50 credits another way.
The other half of the allowance
A calculator gives you a number, not a checked prescription
MDCalc tells you the creatinine clearance is 28 mL/min. It does not tell you that the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole you are about to add needs a dose change at that clearance, raises potassium alongside the patient's lisinopril, and is the wrong pick at 81. That step, from a score to a decision about this patient's list, is where prescribing errors happen and where no certificate helps.
Prescriber.io does that step. Enter the medication list, age, weight, kidney and liver function and the drug you are about to prescribe. One card comes back with the interactions across every medication, contraindications and allergy blockers, and the renal or hepatic dose adjustment, each with a cited source. You review every flag and sign. It costs $24 per clinician a month billed annually, less than the Plus 30 tier over a year.
If your employer's professional allowance covers clinical tools as well as CME, it is worth splitting it: credits for the license, a check for the prescriptions.
Calculator
Cockcroft-Gault, 81 y, 58 kg, SCr 1.6
28
mL/min
The decision is still yours to work out.
Prescription check
- Renal dose adjustment needed at CrCl 28
- Hyperkalemia risk with lisinopril
- Age 81, monitor potassium and creatinine
- Cited source on every flag
You review, verify and sign.
Which plan to buy
The right MDCalc CME plan by buyer
Six common situations and the cheapest sensible answer to each.
You are 10 to 20 credits short in December
Use the custom budget. $99 buys 10 credits and $199 buys 20 at the same $10 a credit as the large tiers, and you can finish them in an evening because there is no test.
You need 50 Category 1 credits a year
Plus 50 at $499 does it with 100 calculators. If you already read a journal, The Medical Letter or NEJM gets you there for under $200, with more reading and an exam per issue.
Your employer gives you a CME allowance
Spend to what you will actually redeem. An allowance that expires makes Unlimited tempting, yet below 150 credits it is the most expensive way to buy MDCalc CME.
You want the gift card
Read the offer page you are buying from, not this one, for the card value. Then check two things first: your employer's reimbursement policy and the refund rule, which subtracts the gift.
You are a resident, fellow or pharmacist
You are not eligible. OpenEvidence and ChatGPT for Clinicians award credit at no charge to the clinicians they verify, and trainee journal rates (NEJM at $89) are the cheap paid route.
You run a small practice
Email MDCalc for the group rate if five or more of you will buy. Budget CME separately from clinical tools, because a certificate does not check anyone's prescriptions.
Straight answers
Questions people search about MDCalc CME
How much does MDCalc CME cost?
MDCalc CME costs $299 a year for 30 AMA PRA Category 1 credits, $499 for 50, $999 for 100 and $1,499 for unlimited credits. A set-your-budget option starts at $49 for 5 credits and adds 5 credits for each further $50. Every tier works out to about $10 a credit except Unlimited.
Is MDCalc CME free?
No. The MDCalc calculators are free to use, but CME certificates require a paid CME subscription. The lowest price in MDCalc's plan data is $49 for 5 credits. Reading the calculator content without a subscription earns nothing you can submit to a board or employer.
How do I get CME through MDCalc?
Buy a CME plan, open a CME-eligible calculator, then either read the clinical content on all five tabs or click Earn CME on the calculator page. Each calculator is worth 0.5 credit. Certificates are redeemed from the CME Dashboard in the site or app menu. There is no post-test.
Is MDCalc CME accredited?
Yes. MDCalc CME is planned with the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, which is jointly accredited by the ACCME, the ACPE and the ANCC. The credits are designated as AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, the type most state medical boards, the NCCPA and NP certifying bodies accept.
Does MDCalc CME come with a gift card?
Sometimes, as a promotion. MDCalc's plan data lists Apple, Amazon and Visa as card choices on its Unlimited and custom plans, and its gift card landing page has advertised a card of up to $3,000. The standard CME page showed no gift amount on any tier when we read it in October 2026.
Can nurse practitioners and PAs use MDCalc CME?
Yes. MDCalc sells CME to US nurse practitioners, physician assistants and attending physicians. NPs should confirm with their certifying body how Category 1 credits count toward renewal, and note that MDCalc does not label credits as pharmacology hours on its pricing page.
Can residents earn MDCalc CME?
No. MDCalc states that its CME is available to US nurse practitioners, physician assistants and attending physicians only. Residents and fellows can still use every calculator at no charge, and most do not need Category 1 credit until they hold an unrestricted license.
Is MDCalc Unlimited CME worth it?
Only above 150 credits a year. Plus 100 costs $999 and upgrades are prorated at about $10 a credit, so Unlimited at $1,499 breaks even at 150 credits. At 0.5 credit a calculator, 150 credits is 300 calculator reviews, which is more than the 270-plus eligible tools MDCalc lists.
What is the MDCalc CME refund policy?
You can ask for a refund within 30 days if you have redeemed no more than 4 credits. Any promotional gift amount is subtracted from the refund, and a previous refund claim makes you ineligible. Requests go to MDCalc by email.
Go deeper
Other CME and reference subscriptions, priced
UpToDate CME credits
Category 1 credit from the searches you already run.
CompareMDCalc vs ClinCalc
Which calculator site suits which job.
CostMedical Letter subscription cost
$179 a year with up to 52 credits.
CostMKSAP 20 price
$415 to $849 a year, CME and MOC per question.
CostOpenEvidence cost
Free for verified US clinicians, with CME.
ToolDrug interaction checker
Checks the whole medication list before you sign.
Credits keep the license. A check keeps the prescription safe.
Prescriber.io checks interactions, flags contraindications, surfaces renal and hepatic dosing and suggests guideline-based alternatives, with cited sources. You review, verify, and sign.
Decision-support for licensed clinicians. Prescriber.io does not diagnose or prescribe autonomously, is not a CME provider and is not a substitute for professional clinical judgment. MDCalc is a trademark of MDCalc Ltd. Other product names are trademarks of their owners. Prescriber.io is not affiliated with MDCalc, the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine or any vendor named on this page.