Comparison

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool vs Cost Companion

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Easily manage your swimming pool's water chemistry by tracking key levels like chlorine and pH. This app calculates the precise amounts of chemicals needed to maintain clear, algae-free water, offering a cost-effective alternative to pool store advice.

Highlights
  • Chemical level calculators (pH, Chlorine, Alkalinity, etc.)
  • Track pool maintenance tasks
  • Log chemical additions
  • Weather condition tracking
  • Chemical addition effect calculations
  • Bleach price comparison
  • Data backup and export
Features
Read full description

PoolMath makes swimming pool care, maintenance and management easy by tracking chlorine, pH, alkalinity and other levels to help calculate how much salt, bleach and other chemicals to add. Keep swimming in your TroubleFreePool with Pool Math. Crystal clear algae free pool water is what Trouble Free Pool Math is committed to. Pool Math performs all the calculations you need to keep your chlorine, pH, calcium, alkalinity, and stabilizer levels balanced. Why choose Pool Math over the others? Other apps claim to make testing easy by using test strips and your phone's camera. Unfortunately, this is simply too good to be true. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate and end up costing you much more money in both chemicals and the tests themselves in the long run. Trouble Free Pool believes using a proper test kit is much easier, effective, and economical in the long run. By following these calculations the pool owner achieves and maintains crystal clear water without reliance on the often unproductive advice and unneeded expense from pool stores. Pool Math's great features include: • Calculators for pH, Free Chlorine, Calcium Hardness, Salt, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, Borates, CSI • Track Maintenance: Backwashing, Vacuuming, Filter Cleaning, Filter Pressure, SWG Cell %, Flow Rate • Track Chemical Additions • Track Weather conditions with your logs • Calculate the Effects of Adding chemicals to your pool • Bleach Price Calculator - Find the best deals on bleach easily • Summary page to see an overview of test results and chemical additions • Data backup / Export Premium Subscribers get access to these additional features: • Unlimited Test Log History Storage • Maintenance Reminders • Cloud Sync/Backup • Sync across multiple devices • Unlimited Pool / Spa Configurations • Test Log CSV Import / Export Pool Math Premium Subscription details: • Auto-renewable subscription • 1 year for $7.99 USD • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration of 1 year) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Current subscription may not be cancelled during the active subscription period; however, you can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use: http://poolmathapp.com/privacy/

About

Cost Companion

Easily calculate discounts on clearance items or tips for services. This utility app offers a simple interface to determine sale prices and tip amounts, with options to split bills among multiple people. It also accounts for sales tax for accurate final totals.

Highlights
  • Tip calculator
  • Split tip/bill
  • Sale discount calculator
  • Switch between tip and sale modes
  • Large display
  • Sales tax entry
  • Locale-based currency display
Read full description

'Cost Companion' offers a quick solution to two of the most asked for calculations, 'clearance sales' and 'tips.' Quickly calculate how much a clearance item costs, or if you prefer, with a tap of a button switch to calculating tips. 'Cost Companion' focuses on ease of use and quick results. Features: • Tip calculator - Easy to use, just input the cost of your meal and/or drinks, the percent tip you want to pay, and quickly see the tip amount and total for the bill. • Split the tip/bill between multiple parties (up to 12). Quickly see how much each party owes for both the tip and for the total bill. • Sale discount calculator - Input cost of the item(s) and the percent discount, and quickly see how much the item(s) costs with the discount applied. Clearance shopping has never been easier. • Quickly switch between 'tip' and 'sale' modes with a tap of a button. • Large display for fast and easy reading. • Entry of sales tax from your check to get accurate totals for splitting among friends etc. • Displays currency based on your locale setting of your iPhone.

Screenshots

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool4 screens
Cost Companion4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pool Math by TroubleFreePool at Free against Cost Companion's $0.99. Pool Math by TroubleFreePool also leads on ratings volume (287 vs 6). Cost Companion's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 63%). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool is free to download; Cost Companion costs $0.99 up front. Pool Math by TroubleFreePool sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per year. Cost Companion asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cost Companion holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pool Math by TroubleFreePool has 287 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Pool Math by TroubleFreePool's written reviews are positive against 100% of Cost Companion's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool ships an update fortnightly, Cost Companion every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Pool Math by TroubleFreePool versus Cost Companion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPool Math by TroubleFreePoolCost Companion
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating3.6 (287 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews63.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings287 — better6
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size314 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTroubleFreePoolAngela Mcarthur

Customer experience

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

All ratings262 ratings
Positive66.0%
Neutral7.3%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive63.4%
Neutral11.4%
Negative25.2%

Cost Companion

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Subscription issues and inability to restore purchases
  • App crashes and freezes on certain actions
  • Incorrect chemical recommendations and calculations
  • Disappearing historical data after updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Custom target ranges and alerts
  • Ability to log non-standard chemical additions
  • Export options for data analysis
  • Apple Watch integration
  • Improved user guidance and on-boarding

Cost Companion

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pool Math by TroubleFreePool

Subscriptions1
  • Pool Math Premium Subscription$7.991 Year
None

Cost Companion

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pool Math by TroubleFreePool free?
Pool Math by TroubleFreePool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cost Companion free?
Cost Companion costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pool Math by TroubleFreePool or Cost Companion?
Cost Companion is rated higher. Pool Math by TroubleFreePool averages 3.6 out of 5 from 287 ratings, while Cost Companion averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Pool Math by TroubleFreePool or Cost Companion have ads?
Neither Pool Math by TroubleFreePool nor Cost Companion shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pool Math by TroubleFreePool or Cost Companion?
Pool Math by TroubleFreePool ships an update fortnightly, and Cost Companion every 3 days. Most recently, Pool Math by TroubleFreePool was updated on October 24, 2026 and Cost Companion on October 9, 2026.

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