Guide.md vs Healthgrades
Healthgrades is a consumer review site. Guide.md is your registry record, corrected by you.
Pick Healthgrades if patient reviews and consumer traffic from a large health brand matter most to you, and you are comfortable that the profile cannot be removed. Pick Guide.md if you want a free profile built on your own NPI record, that you control, that carries no reviews, and that AI assistants read. Many clinicians keep both.
Search your name. Claim only if you want to change what it says.
Have your NPI? Search by NPI · Claiming is free · no ID for a practice or institutional email · about 2 minutes
Side by side
| Guide.md | Healthgrades | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the profile data comes from | The federal NPI registry (NPPES), refreshed weekly. A claimed profile is edited by the clinician and the refresh never overwrites it. | Mixed: the NPI Registry, patient surveys, government and third-party claims data, and information from professionals or practices. |
| Who is listed | Every record in the NPI registry: individual clinicians and organisations. | Every doctor with an active NPI Registry profile; nurses, PAs, optometrists and more are named. |
| Cost to claim | Free. A practice or institutional email confirms in a minute; any other address is reviewed by a person. | Free ("claim your free Healthgrades for Professionals profile"). |
| Paid tiers and prices | Optional. Pro $20 a month ($200 a year); Premium $49 a month ($490 a year). | Premium placement is offered to large group practices. Prices not published. |
| What the clinician can edit | Biography, photo, specialties, conditions, procedures, locations, phone, telehealth, accepting-patients status, languages, FAQs, media, affiliations, consulting, lien and expert-witness listings. | Photo, specialty, conditions, procedures, insurance, hospitals, locations, new-patient status, bio, education, languages. Provider-entered data is not overwritten by other sources. |
| Booking or appointment requests | Appointment requests to the office's email on Pro and Premium; no per-request fee. No real-time booking. | Online scheduling and appointment requests. No per-booking fee published. |
| Patient reviews | None. Guide.md publishes the clinician's record, not reviews. | Shown. The reviewer certifies they or a family member received care. Providers can reply (500 characters, moderated) and flag; Healthgrades decides removal. |
| Industry consulting availability | Yes, a listing the clinician switches on. | Not stated. |
| How to correct or suppress a profile | Claim and edit, free. Street and phone can be hidden from a link on every profile, confirmed by email. A whole profile can be suppressed on a verified request to [email protected]. | Correct by editing after you claim. "Healthgrades' policies prohibit complete removal of this information from Healthgrades.com." |
| Visibility to AI assistants | Structured profile data on every page; the live count of AI-assistant reads is published at guide.md/ai-reads/. | Sells an AI-visibility product ("AIQ") to health systems. Nothing stated about AI for individual profiles. |
How often AI assistants read Guide.md is a live number, not a claim: see guide.md/ai-reads/. Our prices are the ones on guide.md/upgrade/ today.
Choose Healthgrades if
- Patient reviews are central to how you want to be found, and you want to reply to them.
- You want consumer traffic from a large, long-established health brand.
- You run a large group practice and want to buy premium placement.
- You want online scheduling handled inside the directory.
Choose Guide.md if
- You want a profile built on your own registry record, free, that you control and that the weekly refresh never overwrites once claimed.
- You do not want patient reviews attached to your name.
- You want to be able to hide a home address or personal phone, or have the whole profile suppressed on a verified request.
- You want AI assistants to read an accurate, structured record, and you want to see how often they do.
Who this fits
A solo clinician, a small practice, or anyone whose NPI record carries a home address: Guide.md costs nothing to claim, the address and phone can be hidden in one confirmed click, and no reviews ride along. A large group buying consumer reach is Healthgrades' stated market, and that is where its paid placement is aimed.
Questions
Can I remove my profile from Healthgrades?
Healthgrades' own help pages say its policies prohibit complete removal; corrections are made by claiming and editing. On Guide.md, a whole profile can be suppressed on a verified request through [email protected], and a home address or personal phone can be hidden from a link on the profile itself.
Does Guide.md show patient reviews?
No. Guide.md publishes the clinician's record: specialties, conditions, procedures, locations, consulting and the rest. Healthgrades shows patient reviews and lets providers reply.
What does each cost?
Claiming is free on both. Guide.md's optional plans are Pro at $20 a month ($200 a year) and Premium at $49 a month ($490 a year). Healthgrades offers premium placement to large group practices and does not publish its prices.
Where does the data come from?
Guide.md mirrors the federal NPI registry and refreshes weekly; a claimed profile is yours and is not overwritten. Healthgrades draws on the NPI Registry, patient surveys, claims data and provider-entered information, and says it does not overwrite provider-entered data.
Do I have to leave one for the other?
No. They do different jobs. Many clinicians keep a Healthgrades profile for reviews and consumer search, and claim their Guide.md profile so the registry record AI assistants read is correct.
Claim the profile first. Decide what else you need afterward.
See what Guide.md already says about you. Search your name; claim only if you want to change it.
Have your NPI? Search by NPI · Claiming is free · no ID for a practice or institutional email · about 2 minutes
Plans & pricing · Referral program · Conditions · Procedures · Doctors on lien · Expert witnesses · Industry consultants · How ordering works