Comparison

PCalc vs Maculate

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

Head to head
About

PCalc

A powerful calculator designed for professionals and students, offering advanced features like RPN mode, multi-line display, and extensive unit conversions. It supports various number systems and includes an Apple Watch app for on-the-go calculations.

Highlights
  • Optional RPN mode
  • Multi-line display
  • Extensive unit conversions
  • Paper tape
  • Multiple undo/redo
  • Hexadecimal, octal, binary support
  • Apple Watch app
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

PCalc is the powerful choice for scientists, engineers, students, programmers, or indeed anybody looking for a feature rich calculator. It includes an optional RPN mode and multi-line display, a choice of button layouts, an extensive set of unit conversions and constants, a paper tape, multiple undo and redo, engineering and scientific notation, as well as support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. Includes an Apple Watch app, so you can calculate on your wrist!

About

Maculate

Features
Read full description

Maculate is a native frontend for Qalculate, an advanced calculator program with support for units. It supports just about anything you could imagine, and then some: - Hundreds of units and dozens of constants - Unit conversions - Solve for unknown values - Factorize equations - Calculus: Differentiate and Integrate - Calculate in different base systems - Calculate with time - Uncertainty Propagation - Economics - Matrices and Vectors - Combinatorics - Complex Numbers - Variable Assignment For a full list of features, refer to the Qalculate documentation. Please note that Maculate does not currently support plotting, dataset i/o, and realtime currency conversion.

Screenshots

PCalc4 screens
Maculate3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Maculate at none against PCalc's 4. Maculate also leads on price ($4.99 vs $9.99). PCalc's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 22 months) and chart position (#68 vs unranked). On ads 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

PCalc costs $9.99 and Maculate $4.99 up front. PCalc sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Maculate asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PCalc ships an update every 6 weeks, Maculate every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
PCalc versus Maculate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPCalcMaculate
Price$9.99$4.99 — better
Rating4.7 (779 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews83.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings779 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 22 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#68 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size83 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTLA Systems Ltd.Toastcat

In-app purchases

4 purchases

PCalc

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$1.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Enormous Tip$9.99
None

Maculate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PCalc free?
PCalc costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Maculate free?
Maculate costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do PCalc or Maculate have ads?
Neither PCalc nor Maculate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PCalc or Maculate?
PCalc ships an update every 6 weeks, and Maculate every 22 months. Most recently, PCalc was updated on November 10, 2026 and Maculate on November 8, 2026.

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