Alternatives

oddb.org vs Drug Database — open data, or a managed API.

oddb.org is the long-running open Swiss drug database — free, and built to self-host. Drug Database tracks oddb among its public sources and puts 19 countries’ registers behind one checked, managed API. Here is the honest side-by-side.

Try it free See the comparison

Dimensionoddb.orgDrug Database

Free / open dataYesPartly
Checked ingestion & freshnessPartlyYes
Uptime commitment (SLA)NoNo
Multi-country coverageNoYes
Interaction checksPartlyYes
FHIR R4 Medication outputNoYes
Change feed & webhooksNoYes
Self-host the raw dataYesNo

oddb.org2 yes · 2 partly · 4 no

Drug Database5 yes · 1 partly · 2 no

YesPartlyNo

The 8 rows of the table below, as marks. Where a row goes against us, it is shown the same way.

At a glance

oddb.org vs Drug Database, row by row.

oddb is genuinely free and open. We compete on checked ingestion, multi-country breadth and not having to run the pipeline yourself — not on being cheaper than free, and not on an uptime promise we do not make.

YesPartlyNo

oddb.org224

Drug Database512

oddb.org compared with Drug Database, dimension by dimension
Dimension	oddb.org	Drug Database
Free / open data	Yes:Yes — open data, self-hostable, no fee.	Partly:Free account (10 lookups in total); paid plans for volume.
Checked ingestion & freshness	Partly:Run by its own project; you rely on its update cadence.	Yes:Shape-checked runs; a failing source is flagged stale, never served as current; per-source health on /status.
Uptime commitment (SLA)	No:None published.	No:None — our Terms are “as is”. We publish per-source ingestion health instead.
Multi-country coverage	No:Swiss-focused.	Yes:19 countries’ registers, more than 600,000 products.
Interaction checks	Partly:Some interaction information; no N-way check API.	Yes:Severity for any medication list on every plan (DDInter, non-commercial licence); mechanism and management from Growth.
FHIR R4 Medication output	No:Not offered.	Yes:?format=fhir on a drug record returns an R4 Medication.
Change feed & webhooks	No:No per-row change feed; you re-import.	Yes:GET /v1/changes?since=… on every plan; signed webhooks from Starter.
Self-host the raw data	Yes:Yes — that is the model.	No:No — a managed service only; there is no self-hosted distribution.

oddb.org is one of the public sources we track; /data/sources shows whether it is currently syncing. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by the oddb.org project. oddb is open data you can self-host; the trade-off is running it yourself.

When to pick each

Honest scenarios — no winner-takes-all.

Where oddb.org is the better fit, the table says so: Free / open data; Self-host the raw data.

oddb.org leads

Free / open data
Self-host the raw data

Level

Uptime commitment (SLA)

Drug Database leads

Checked ingestion & freshness
Multi-country coverage
Interaction checks
FHIR R4 Medication output
Change feed & webhooks

The rows of the table above, grouped by which side has the stronger mark.

Pick oddb.org when…

You want free, open Swiss drug data and are happy to self-host and maintain it.
Your needs are Swiss-only and its update cadence suits you.
You prefer owning the pipeline over paying for a managed one.

Pick Drug Database when…

You want checked ingestion, with stale sources flagged rather than served as current.
You need EU and US coverage, interaction severity, FHIR and a change feed beside the Swiss data.
You would rather look medicines up than run a pipeline.

Use them together

Prototype against open oddb data; switch to the API when you would rather not maintain it.
Swiss identifiers (Pharmacode, GTIN) line up, because both read the same public registers.
Subscribe to the change feed to keep your own copy current without re-crawling.

See the change feed

FAQ

Questions buyers ask before they switch.

Other comparisons

Check for yourself

Do you use oddb data?

oddb.org is one of the public sources we track, and /data/sources shows whether it is currently syncing. We are not affiliated with the project; where its data is used, it is credited as the source.

Why pay when oddb is free?

You may not need to — the free account is 10 lookups in total and a one-time 5¢ AI credit. What a paid plan buys is volume and not running the pipeline yourself: shape-checked ingestion with stale sources flagged, EU and US coverage, interaction severity, FHIR output and a change feed, over one API. There is no SLA; we publish per-source ingestion health instead.

Can I self-host Drug Database?

No. oddb is built to self-host; Drug Database is a managed service, and there is no self-hosted distribution.

How fresh is your Swiss data versus oddb?

Every API response carries last_synced_at and schema_state for each source it used, and /status shows thirty days of run history per source — so freshness is a field you can check, not a promise.

Try it on your own case

Try the data before you commit to a contract.

Free: 10 lookups in total and a one-time 5¢ AI credit, no card — enough to point it at your real use case and see whether the coverage and freshness hold up. Pro is $29/month.

Try it free See pricing

Free to try · 10 lookups in total · No card required