Every way an independent pharmacy gets DSCSA ready, on the same five criteria

FDA’s own DSCSA pages

Pick it instead of this when. You want the requirement from the body that wrote it, before anybody sells you an interpretation of it. FDA publishes a page addressed to pharmacists that sets out the duties in four blocks: confirm your trading partners are licensed and registered, receive and store product tracing documentation, investigate and handle suspect product, and notify FDA when a product is illegitimate. It costs nothing, it asks for no account, and every other entry on this grid is selling help with what is on it.

What you receive: The duties themselves, in FDA’s words. Its pharmacists page states the retention duty in one sentence: "Store the product tracing documentation you receive for six years." It also tells a pharmacy to accept only drugs accompanied by product tracing documentation and to work with the trading partner to get the documentation when it is missing.

Subscription or one time: Nothing to buy, and nothing to file. The exemptions page is explicit that relying on the small dispenser exemption creates no paperwork with the agency: small dispensers and their trading partners who use the exemptions "do not need to submit anything to FDA or inform the agency." There is no form, no registration and no fee.

What it costs: Free. A government page with no purchase route. It carries no fee, no account and no login, and the pharmacists page is the one FDA addresses to dispensers directly.

What it asks of the pharmacy: You write every document yourself. The page states the obligation and leaves the procedure to you: "Pharmacies must have a process to investigate and handle suspect and illegitimate prescription drugs." It says a process is required. It does not contain one, and it cannot contain yours.

What it does not cover: Nothing on it is a record about your pharmacy. The exemptions page carries the test that decides which track you are on: a dispenser qualifies if, as of November 27, 2026, the company that owns it has "25 or fewer full-time employees licensed as pharmacists or qualified as pharmacy technicians." Reading that sentence is not the same as holding a dated determination that applies it to your own headcount, and the second is what an inspection asks to see.

Read on: The DSCSA compliance checklist for an independent pharmacy in 2026, or fda.gov, which is the authority on its own product.

DispenserEDU

Pick it instead of this when. You want the requirement explained by the pharmacy profession rather than by a company with something to sell. DispenserEDU is built by the supply chain trading partners together, it carries a dated milestone timeline from 2015 forward, and it is the place to start before paying anybody on this grid anything.

What you receive: Educational material about the requirement. Its own description of itself: "A resource page developed collaboratively among supply chain trading partners to house educational information dispensers may find useful to assist in implementation of the DSCSA."

Subscription or one time: Nothing to buy. The page read carries one call to action, "VIEW EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES", and no purchase route, no account and no demo booking anywhere on it.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. The page carries no fee and no purchase route of any kind. That is not the same statement as a published price of zero, so the cell records what the page read did and did not carry.

What it asks of the pharmacy: You read it, then write the documents yourself. It houses "educational information dispensers may find useful to assist in implementation of the DSCSA". Implementation is the reader’s, and the page says so.

What it does not cover: It is about the rule, never about your pharmacy. What it publishes is a timeline of the statute under the heading "Overview of DSCSA Milestones", from lot level traceability in 2015 to the phased exemptions. It cannot contain your exemption determination, your named trading partners or your staff’s training attestations, because none of those facts are known to it.

Read on: Who can prepare DSCSA documentation for your pharmacy: the six options in 2026, or dscsa.pharmacy, which is the authority on its own product.

PRS Pharmacy Services with Advasur

Pick it instead of this when. Your gap is continuing rather than finished. DSCSA360 is the only entry on this grid that bundles the written material and an ongoing transaction data feed into one subscription, and it is the only one that publishes a fee table at all, so it is the one option here you can price without booking a call. Its product page also states an endorsement: "This product is endorsed by FPN and NCPA, representing over 15,000 Independent Pharmacies."

What you receive: SOPs, forms, training and a data feed, in one program. Its product page: "PRS and Advasur have partnered to provide DSCSA 360". The program page lists a compliance guide, required policies and procedures, required forms, employee training, alerts, and the electronic transaction data from authorized trading partners on one website.

Subscription or one time: Monthly subscription, charged per location. The fees are not on the product page. They are published in Attachment B of the service agreement on the sign up portal that page links to, under the heading "SERVICE MONTHLY FEE TABLE", and every line in it is a monthly per location fee.

What it costs: $115 a month per location, $83 discounted. Read off Attachment B on the sign up portal on 2026-09-19: community pharmacy $115/month standard and $83/month discounted, COMBO pharmacy $250/$188, long term care or specialty $350/$293, each per location. There is also a one off line underneath the subscription: "The cost of obtaining a GLN is $50." The table gives no condition for the discounted column.

What it asks of the pharmacy: A signed agreement and a card on file. The agreement on the portal: "Dispenser shall enter credit card information during the secure, online sign-up process or give credit card information to VENDORS over the telephone." The first monthly payment has to be received before access to the program is granted.

What it does not cover: The fee multiplies by store. The agreement states the dispenser is responsible for purchasing the program for each individual location, and that products "are not permitted to be shared among Pharmacy locations". A three store owner is buying three subscriptions, and it recurs every month for as long as the pharmacy dispenses.

Read on: What DSCSA compliance actually costs an independent pharmacy, or prsrx.com, which is the authority on its own product.

Advasur 360

Pick it instead of this when. The receiving process itself is what is broken and you want it fixed and kept fixed. Advasur sells to pharmacies and to nobody else, and its own page argues the position this site argues: "It should help the pharmacy show the work was done." A pharmacy persuaded by that sentence should read their material.

What you receive: A thirteen step readiness process. The page read is a checklist under the heading "Thirteen practical steps to prepare before the deadline." The steps run from confirming small dispenser status and knowing your suppliers through documenting missing data and exceptions to training staff, retaining records and practising retrieval.

Subscription or one time: Entered through a readiness review. The page’s own entry point is a booking rather than a purchase: "Schedule Your 30-Minute Readiness Review". There is no self serve sign up on the page read.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. A scan of the page fetched on 2026-09-19 returns no dollar figure anywhere on it. The fee table quoted against DSCSA360 above is published by PRS, its partner on that program, not by Advasur.

What it asks of the pharmacy: A thirty minute review before anything starts. Both of the page’s calls to action are the same booking, headed "Request Readiness Review". The first answer arrives after a conversation rather than before one.

What it does not cover: A process to run, not a finished document set. Its own framing is a repeatable process: the page says DSCSA readiness "is about having a repeatable process that helps the pharmacy show what happened when someone asks." That is a wider thing than a document set and it is also an ongoing one, so it is bought and maintained rather than finished.

Read on: Who can prepare DSCSA documentation for your pharmacy: the six options in 2026, or advasur.com, which is the authority on its own product.

InfiniTrak

Pick it instead of this when. Serialized transaction data arrives from several wholesalers in several shapes and never reaches your dispensing system. InfiniTrak is the entry here built around that exact problem, and the claim it leads with is integration: its own page says it is "the only DSCSA software integrated with BestRx, PrimeRx, PioneerRx, Liberty Software and 30 more leading pharmacy management systems". If you run one of those systems, this is the shortest route to the data half.

What you receive: A dispenser track and trace platform. Its own home page describes InfiniTrak as "an all-in-one compliance solution designed specifically for dispensers", with no touch implementation and automated compliance workflows.

Subscription or one time: Not stated on the page read. The page read routes to a demo rather than to a billing page: its buttons read "Get Compliant Now". It names no billing period anywhere on it, so whether it is a subscription is not something the page states.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. A scan of the home page fetched on 2026-09-19 returns no dollar figure anywhere on it. That is normal for platform software, where the number depends on store count, systems and modules, and it means a like for like comparison would be invention.

What it asks of the pharmacy: A pharmacy management system to integrate with. The integration is the product’s own distinguishing claim: "the only DSCSA software integrated with BestRx, PrimeRx, PioneerRx, Liberty Software and 30 more leading pharmacy management systems". The unit it is built around is a dispensing system, so what you run decides how short the route is.

What it does not cover: It writes no policy document. What its page describes is data: "real-time product verification, automated tracking, and complete visibility across your supply chain." A platform can hold the transaction information. It cannot state who in your pharmacy answers a tracing request on a Tuesday, from which system, inside what turnaround, or evidence that the person was trained.

Read on: DSCSA software or a readiness binder: what an independent pharmacy is actually buying, or infinitrak.us, which is the authority on its own product.

LSPedia

Pick it instead of this when. You need more than receiving: authorized trading partner connections, suspect order monitoring, a verification router service, returns, or trading across more than one country. LSPedia is the widest platform on this grid and it carries modules a dispenser only product does not have.

What you receive: A serialization platform with a dispenser product inside it. Its own title for itself is "DSCSA Compliance Software and EPCIS Solutions". The dispenser facing product is OneScan Pharmacy Pro, described on the page read as "Powered by OneScan, dispensers solution for pharmaceutical supply chain compliance".

Subscription or one time: Not stated on the page read. The page read carries one commercial route, "Contact Sales", and names no billing period. Whether it is a subscription is not something the page states.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. A scan of the home page fetched on 2026-09-19 returns no dollar figure anywhere on it, and the only commercial route on the page is a sales conversation.

What it asks of the pharmacy: A sales conversation, then onboarding. The dispenser product has its own name and its own sign in: "OneScan Pharmacy Pro", reached through OneScan Sign In. A pharmacy is one customer type on a platform whose menu also runs manufacturers, wholesalers, 3PL and hospitals.

What it does not cover: The subject is the data, not the paperwork. Its module list is a data list: authorized trading partners, API integration, "EPCIS Serialization", suspect order monitoring, verification router service, returns. None of those is a dated exemption determination, an SOP or a training attestation.

Read on: DSCSA software or a readiness binder: what an independent pharmacy is actually buying, or lspedia.com, which is the authority on its own product.

SureCost

Pick it instead of this when. You are already changing how the pharmacy buys. SureCost is a procurement platform first and DSCSA is a module inside it, so if you want vendor pricing, one purchase order ordering and shortage intelligence anyway, the compliance workflow arrives attached to a purchase you were making regardless.

What you receive: DSCSA workflows inside a purchasing platform. Its page lists "DSCSA Compliance Packages" alongside Purchase Manager, Inventory Manager and Drug Shortage Insights. The compliance work it describes is scanning, serialization and receiving inside the purchasing process.

Subscription or one time: Not stated on the page read. The page read routes to a booking, "Book a Meeting", and names no billing period.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. The page fetched on 2026-09-19 carries figures about its own scale, such as annual drug spend savings, and no price for the platform. The only route to a number is the meeting.

What it asks of the pharmacy: That you move procurement onto it. The platform is the product and the compliance package sits inside it: its own line is "The Smarter Pharmacy Supply Platform", connecting purchasing, inventory and shortage intelligence. DSCSA is not sold on its own here.

What it does not cover: It reaches the order, not the written procedure. The page argues the point itself when it sets its platform against an analytics only tool, on the grounds that such a tool has "No DSCSA compliance tools" and that serialization and receiving need a separate solution. What a purchasing platform can reach is the transaction data arriving with an order, which is a fair description of its half and not a description of a policy document.

Read on: DSCSA compliance software in 2026: which platforms actually serve an independent pharmacy, or surecost.com, which is the authority on its own product.

RedSail Technologies

Pick it instead of this when. You would rather buy DSCSA through the company that already supplies your dispensing system, on one invoice and one support line. RedSail owns PioneerRx, BestRx, PrimeRx and NRx, so for a large share of independent pharmacies this is the route of least friction even though the software underneath is somebody else’s.

What you receive: Two other companies’ platforms, resold. Its own compliance menu names them rather than a product of its own: under DSCSA Compliance Solutions the entry reads "Pharmacy Pro and InfiniTrak", which are LSPedia’s dispenser product and InfiniTrak. The question "does my dispensing system cover DSCSA" collapses into the same two platforms everybody else is comparing.

Subscription or one time: Not stated on the page read. The page read is a product menu for pharmacy management systems, switches, payments and claims. It names no billing period for the compliance entry.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. A scan of the home page fetched on 2026-09-19 returns no dollar figure anywhere on it, for the compliance entry or for anything else.

What it asks of the pharmacy: That you are already its customer. The route runs through the dispensing system: its own systems are PioneerRx, "BestRx", PrimeRx and NRx, and the compliance entry sits in the menu beside them. A pharmacy on another vendor’s system reaches the same two platforms directly instead.

What it does not cover: It writes nothing itself. Its DSCSA answer is under the heading "Compliance Solutions" and it is a pointer to two data platforms. Whatever those two do not produce, this route does not produce either, because it is the same software with a different invoice.

Read on: DSCSA compliance software in 2026: which platforms actually serve an independent pharmacy, or redsailtechnologies.com, which is the authority on its own product.

RxScan

Pick it instead of this when. You want the serialized records held in one place that is not tied to a wholesaler you might leave. RxScan makes that the argument on its own page: keeping the data from several suppliers in one database removes what it calls being supplier locked by the six year retention requirement. It sells into hospitals and health systems, medical clinics and retail pharmacy.

What you receive: A web based DSCSA record store. Its own description: RxScanPI is "an all in one DSCSA solution that simplifies complying with the DSCSA Title II regulations and at the same time increases your operational efficiency." It receives and stores serialized information, flags incorrect quantities and missing data, and reports by location, NDC, lot, expiry, serial and GTIN.

Subscription or one time: Not stated on the page read. The page read carries a quote route, "Get a Quote", and names no billing period.

What it costs: Not stated on the page read. A scan of the page fetched on 2026-09-19 returns no dollar figure anywhere on it. The page routes to a quote and to a representative by telephone.

What it asks of the pharmacy: A demonstration first. The page’s own route in is "Request a Demonstration", and the product is reached through a sales conversation rather than a sign up. Its client list is led by hospital and health systems, with retail pharmacy named separately.

What it does not cover: It stores the records, and writes none of the procedures. Its own statement of what it meets is storage and retrieval: "Storing the Transaction Information (TI), and Transaction Statement (TS) information for 6 years", replying to an FDA information request inside two business days, and storing serial level information. Being able to reply is a system. Who replies, from where, and the evidence that they were trained, is a written procedure the page does not claim to produce.

Read on: rxscan.com, which is the authority on its own product.

What are my options for getting a pharmacy DSCSA ready?

Five shapes, and this grid holds ten named examples of them. Read it yourself off FDA’s own pages or DispenserEDU and write the documents, which costs nothing and costs your time. Buy track and trace software, which is InfiniTrak, LSPedia or RxScan, or reach the same thing through a purchasing platform such as SureCost or through your dispensing system vendor such as RedSail. Buy a compliance program that bundles the written material with a data feed, which is DSCSA360 from PRS with Advasur, or Advasur 360 on its own. Have the documents prepared, which is what this product does for a flat $99. Or engage a healthcare regulatory attorney, which is the right answer in three specific situations set out on the preparers guide. Which shape fits depends on whether your gap is a transaction record or a written record.

Which DSCSA options publish a price?

One of the ten, on 2026-09-19. The PRS and Advasur DSCSA360 program publishes a fee table in Attachment B of the service agreement on its sign up portal: $115 a month per location for a community pharmacy, $83 discounted, rising to $350 and $293 for long term care or specialty, plus $50 once if the pharmacy has no Global Location Number. DoseTrace publishes $99, charged once. InfiniTrak, LSPedia, SureCost, RedSail, Advasur and RxScan were each fetched on 2026-09-19 and none of their pages carried a dollar figure for the product, which is not a claim that no figure exists. FDA’s pages and DispenserEDU carry no purchase route at all.

Can a DSCSA software platform produce the written documents an inspector asks for?

None of the five platforms on this grid says it does. What their own pages describe is data: receiving, storing, reconciling and retrieving serialized transaction information. A platform can hold the records and answer a retrieval. It cannot state who in your pharmacy responds to a tracing request, from which system, inside what turnaround, or evidence that the person was trained, because those are facts about your pharmacy that have to be written down. The full version of that argument, obligation by obligation with FDA’s own wording attached, is on the software or readiness binder guide.

Is there a free way to get DSCSA ready?

Yes, and a pharmacy that takes it owes nobody anything. FDA publishes a page addressed to pharmacists that sets out the duties, and DispenserEDU is a resource page built collaboratively by the supply chain trading partners. Both are free and neither asks for an account. The line where they stop is structural rather than a matter of quality: educational material explains what the statute asks for, and it cannot contain your pharmacy’s exemption determination, your named trading partners or your staff’s training attestations, because none of those facts are known to it. What is bought from anyone further down this grid is the writing time, not the knowledge.

When does the small dispenser exemption end?

FDA’s exemptions page, read on 2026-09-19, states the exemptions run "until November 27, 2027", and that a dispenser counts as a small dispenser if, as of November 27, 2026, the company that owns it has "25 or fewer full-time employees licensed as pharmacists or qualified as pharmacy technicians". The count is taken across the whole owning company rather than per store, and the same page states that small dispensers using the exemptions "do not need to submit anything to FDA or inform the agency". Those two sentences are the only dates stated anywhere on this page, and both were read off that page on 2026-09-19.

How current are the figures on this grid?

Every cell carries the day it was read, and a job re-reads them rather than a person promising to. On 2026-09-19, scripts/verify-compare.mjs re-fetched every source cited on this page and every source the nine guides cite through this site’s claim register, and checked that the literal string each figure came from is still on its page. What it found on its last run is printed at the foot of this page rather than left in a log. Five organisations could not be fetched at all on that date and are named there too, with the outcome, rather than quietly left off.