Report updated May 14, 2026
StuffThatWorks
For individuals managing chronic conditions and researchers seeking real-world patient data.
StuffThatWorks is a well-regarded medical app that is completely free. With a 4.6/5 rating from 900 reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate community-driven support networks provide essential validation for users managing rare or chronic health conditions, though survey and data entry functions fail to register input, preventing users from contributing their health information remains a common concern.
What is StuffThatWorks?
StuffThatWorks is a medical community platform for chronic condition management, providing peer-derived data and AI-driven treatment insights on iOS.
Users hire the platform to reduce the isolation of chronic illness and find actionable treatment efficacy data that traditional medical channels often lack.
Current Momentum
v0.20 · 33mo ago
Zombie- Launched OpenStuff.com AI health search.
- Fixed Dynamic Type issues.
Active Nemesis
SMART Recovery
By SMART Recovery USA
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
MedicalNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Executes analytical queries on 1.3 billion structured patient data points.
Interactive visual map identifying members with similar health profiles.
How much does it cost?
- Free access for all patients
Monetizes through B2B services for Pharma and Life Sciences organizations.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does StuffThatWorks make?
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 73 of 82 total reviews analyzed · Based on 82 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a excited sentiment. Users appreciate community-driven support networks provide essential validation for users managing rare or chronic health conditions, but report survey and data entry functions fail to register input, preventing users from contributing their health information.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for StuffThatWorks?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Medical Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
Which niche is StuffThatWorks in?
to share and analyze chronic condition experiences
Explore the full Mental Health Communitys niche
Every app in this space — 44 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
SMART Recovery competes directly for the chronic condition management audience by offering structured, community-driven support and verification tools that mirror StuffThatWorks' focus on peer-led health outcomes.
Differentiators
- Offers formal meeting attendance verification which provides clinical-grade accountability missing from StuffThatWorks' social-first model.
- Provides a structured 'Recovery Toolbox' that offers actionable, evidence-based exercises rather than just observational data sharing.
- Maintains a highly specialized focus on addiction recovery, creating a stronger sense of community identity.
Head to head
StuffThatWorks should prioritize adding structured, evidence-based 'action modules' to complement its data-sharing, preventing users from migrating to more prescriptive platforms.
Contenders(1)
This app is a direct contender because it facilitates peer-to-peer health data sharing and clinical research participation, directly overlapping with StuffThatWorks' core value proposition.
Differentiators
- Integrates direct clinical research participation opportunities, allowing users to contribute to formal medical studies.
- Focuses heavily on structured health data tracking to provide personalized insights for specific chronic conditions.
Same space(4)
MindShift competes by offering specialized CBT tools for mental health, capturing users who prioritize symptom management over general community discussion.
Differentiators
- Includes a 'Fear Ladder' feature that gamifies exposure therapy, providing a clear path for anxiety reduction.
- Offers a dedicated thought journal that guides users through cognitive restructuring, unlike the open-ended community forums.
Chronic Insights targets the same chronic condition demographic but focuses on granular, sensor-based data correlation rather than social community features.
Differentiators
- Utilizes 3D pain mapping to provide a visual, intuitive way for users to log localized symptoms.
- Correlates health outcomes with external environmental factors like weather and air quality, offering unique data insights.
This app competes for the health-conscious user segment by providing specialized coaching and tracking for alcohol consumption habits.
Differentiators
- Provides access to specialist coaching sessions, offering a human-led service layer that StuffThatWorks currently lacks.
- Features a dedicated drinking tracker that provides specific, actionable feedback on consumption patterns over time.
Kubios competes by offering physiological data tracking that helps users manage their daily health readiness, appealing to the data-driven chronic condition user.
Differentiators
- Provides sensorless HRV measurement, allowing users to track physiological stress without needing external wearable hardware.
- Focuses on daily readiness scores, offering a predictive health metric that is more immediate than community-based insights.
New entrants(2)
This newcomer targets a specific niche by blending traditional CBT techniques with faith-based support, potentially siphoning users seeking value-aligned mental health tools.
Differentiators
- Integrates biblical principles directly into CBT skill-building, creating a unique value proposition for faith-oriented users.
This app enters the space by offering a high volume of professional CBT techniques, appealing to users who want a comprehensive, self-guided toolkit.
Differentiators
- Provides over 200 professional techniques across 18 categories, offering significantly more breadth than standard community-based apps.
Compare StuffThatWorks against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for StuffThatWorks
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Proprietary structured dataset from 750+ conditions
- AI-native similarity mapping for personalized matching
Critical Frictions
- High-frequency survey input failures
- Persistent login and verification blockers
Growth Levers
- Expand B2B partnerships for clinical trial recruitment
- Integrate prescriptive action modules
Market Threats
- Technical regressions eroding data-collection loop
- Clinical-grade competitors capturing accountability-seeking segment
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild survey input engine because input failures block the core data-collection mechanism → restore data integrity
Survey failures are the top-cited complaint in user sentiment analysis.
Trade-off: Pause the wearable integration roadmap — data collection is the primary value driver.
Ship evidence-based action modules because users are migrating to prescriptive CBT tools → increase retention
Competitors like SMART Recovery and MindShift CBT offer structured exercises that StuffThatWorks lacks.
Trade-off: Deprioritize community forum UI tweaks — functional utility outweighs navigation ease.
A counter-intuitive read
The platform's reliance on manual patient data entry is not a bug but a high-barrier-to-entry moat, as competitors cannot easily replicate the depth of 1.3 billion structured patient experiences.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Formal meeting attendance verification (available in SMART Recovery)
- Prescriptive CBT toolkits (available in MindShift CBT)
Key Takeaways
- Prioritize stability of the survey input engine to protect the proprietary data-collection moat.
- Pivot from pure social sharing toward evidence-based 'action modules' to prevent user migration to prescriptive rivals.
- Leverage the 1.3 billion data point repository to deepen B2B clinical trial recruitment partnerships.
StuffThatWorks holds a strong position through its proprietary patient-data repository, but technical instability in the survey engine threatens the very data that fuels its AI, so the PM must prioritize stability over new feature expansion to protect the platform's moat.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The chronic condition management market is shifting toward prescriptive, evidence-based tools that offer immediate utility. StuffThatWorks remains exposed to this shift as long as its core data-collection loop suffers from stability issues, so the PM must stabilize the platform to prevent user churn to more prescriptive rivals.
Technical regressions in the latest update prevent survey completion, which directly reduces the volume of structured patient data collected.
Login and verification blockers prevent new user acquisition, which stalls the growth of condition-specific community network effects.