Comparison

PCalc Lite vs Digits Tape Calculator

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

Head to head
About

PCalc Lite

This free scientific calculator offers essential features like RPN mode, unit conversions, and multiple undo/redo. It provides a taste of a more powerful version, with optional in-app purchases for expanded functionality.

Highlights
  • Optional RPN mode
  • Multiple undo and redo
  • Unit conversions and constants
  • Two stylish themes
  • Apple Watch app
Features
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.PCalc Lite is a fully functional and free taste of our very popular scientific calculator. It includes an optional RPN mode, multiple undo and redo, unit conversions and constants, as well as two stylish themes and our highly praised design. A great choice for your new iPad! If you like what you see, the full version has many more settings and themes, a paper tape, engineering and scientific notation, and full support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations. You can also now purchase extra features directly from inside PCalc Lite. Buy them individually, or buy everything. Includes an Apple Watch app, so you can calculate on your wrist!

About

Digits Tape Calculator

This app offers a calculator with an editable, line-by-line tape history, combining spreadsheet-like functionality with calculator simplicity. Easily correct mistakes, add comments, and share or print your calculations.

Highlights
  • Editable line-by-line tape history
  • Correct and insert entries
  • Add labels and comments
  • Email or print tapes
  • Store tapes as documents
  • Dark Mode and customization
Features
Read full description

Get organized! Conquer numbers on the go. Digits 3 is a top-to-bottom rewrite made for the latest iOS and devices. We're human. We're busy. We make mistakes. So we designed a calculator for humans, from the ground up. Digits combines the editability of a spreadsheet with the simplicity of a calculator. Digits is a calculator a human can love. So, why do so many humans love Digits? Its uniquely correctable tape means never worrying if you entered a calculation correctly. Make a mistake? Tap any entry on the tape to correct it (or edit, insert, copy and more). Then, add a label/comment and email or print the tape. Digits is Shift’s highly-rated iOS calculator app that features an intuitive, fully correctable and editable line-by-line tape history. It uniquely provides spreadsheet-like editing with calculator-level simplicity. Tapes are stored as documents so groups of calculations can be stored and edited conveniently. Comments can be added to each calculation line, making the app ideal for expense tracking and budgeting. --- Digits 3 highlights: • An updated, polished user interface with buttery-smooth interaction. • Dark Mode and detailed color and sound customization. • Multi-threaded processing for desktop-level performance. • In-app upgrades, starting with Tape Document sharing (via Messages, Mail, Dropbox and other popular file sharing services). • Built from the ground up with support for 64-bit and the latest iOS/hardware. • Designed to maximize resolution on devices like the iPhone X. • Split View support on iPad for side-by-side work. • Expanded in-app help. • Accessibility VoiceOver support. How Digits earned its stars: • Spreadsheet-like editing with calculator-level simplicity. • Fully correctable and editable line-by-line tape history. • Fluidly enter values, label and email or print. • Double-check and correct entries with ease. • Export Tape Documents in a variety of formats. Button functions: Delete row, backspace, clear all, clear, memory, memory plus, memory minus, plus or minus, tape browser, percent, export, settings, shop, tips, help, edit, insert, total, copy, use, comment, flag, sin, cos, tan, square, cube, exponent, square root, cube root, root, inverse, Euler, Pi, add, subtract, multiply, divide, total.

Screenshots

PCalc Lite4 screens
Digits Tape Calculator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PCalc Lite at Free against Digits Tape Calculator's $1.99. Digits Tape Calculator's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (1.1K vs 214). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Lite is free to download; Digits Tape Calculator costs $1.99 up front. PCalc Lite sells 11 one-off in-app purchases and Digits Tape Calculator sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Digits Tape Calculator holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Digits Tape Calculator has 1.1K ratings behind it against 214, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of PCalc Lite's written reviews are positive against 87% of Digits Tape Calculator's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, Digits Tape Calculator every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PCalc Lite versus Digits Tape Calculator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPCalc LiteDigits Tape Calculator
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.4 (214 ratings)4.8 (1.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.5% of reviews86.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2141.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTLA Systems Ltd.Shift

Customer experience

PCalc Lite

All ratings214 ratings
Positive83.6%
Neutral6.5%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews530 reviews
Positive82.5%
Neutral7.0%
Negative10.6%

Digits Tape Calculator

All ratings1,124 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews1,000 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral4.0%
Negative9.2%

User reviews

PCalc Lite

From 214 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
  • 💡 Customizable themes and settings
  • 🚀 Efficient performance
  • 👍 Useful conversion tools

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional lags and crashes
  • 🔒 Lack of dark mode support
  • 🔒 Inconsistent icon appearance after upgrades
  • 🔒 Limitations in RPN mode on Apple Watch
  • 🔒 Lack of financial calculator functions

Digits Tape Calculator

From 1.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Best tape calculator
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 💡 Editable and commentable saved tapes
  • 🚀 Resizes well on iPad
  • 👍 Customizable color scheme

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bug with iOS 26 where number pad doesn't return after adding comments
  • 🐛 Slow to load and unresponsive on some devices
  • 👎 Lack of iCloud sync between devices

Bugs and requests

PCalc Lite

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Calculations sometimes produce unexpected results
  • Upside-down text censorship feature is problematic
  • Purchased features not always accessible on Apple Watch

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to display thousands separators
  • Implement a history function to review past calculations
  • Provide more customization options for the widget
  • Add support for sexagesimal angle input and conversion

Digits Tape Calculator

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Number pad disappears after adding comments on iOS 26
  • App crashes on startup for some users after iOS updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add scientific calculator functions
  • Ability to import/export CSV files
  • Option to change font size of tape section
  • Add date/time stamp for calculations

In-app purchases

11 purchases

PCalc Lite

One-time11
  • Theme Pack$0.99
  • Power User Pack$0.99
  • Multiple Line Pack$0.99
Show 8 more
  • Conversion Pack$0.99
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$1.99
  • Programmer Pack$2.99
  • Engineer Pack$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
  • Complete Pack$9.99
  • Enormous Tip$9.99
2 purchases

Digits Tape Calculator

One-time2
  • Pro Export and Sharing$0.99
  • Pro Design$0.99

Questions

Is PCalc Lite free?
PCalc Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Digits Tape Calculator free?
Digits Tape Calculator costs $1.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PCalc Lite or Digits Tape Calculator?
Digits Tape Calculator is rated higher. PCalc Lite averages 4.4 out of 5 from 214 ratings, while Digits Tape Calculator averages 4.8 from 1.1K ratings.
Do PCalc Lite or Digits Tape Calculator have ads?
Neither PCalc Lite nor Digits Tape Calculator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PCalc Lite or Digits Tape Calculator?
PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, and Digits Tape Calculator every 4 weeks. Most recently, PCalc Lite was updated on October 26, 2026 and Digits Tape Calculator on October 26, 2026.

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