Comparison

PCalc Lite vs Tydlig

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

Tydlig

This app reimagines the calculator experience with a freeform canvas, dynamic results, and linked numbers. It allows for easy everyday calculations, real-time graphing, and annotation, making complex math visualization intuitive.

Highlights
  • Freeform canvas for calculations
  • Responsive and linked results
  • Real-time graphing
  • Infinite scrolling history
  • Annotate numbers with text
  • Slider for tweaking values
  • Export as PDF or image
Features
Read full description

Calculators have changed very little since the 1970s - while phones from that era look ancient. Why should calculators cling to a 40 year old design with a wall of buttons and one row for results in the age of retina displays? We deserve something better. Tydlig brings the calculator to the next level for iPhone & iPad with innovations like freeform canvas, responsive results and linked numbers. Tydlig is perfect for calculating everyday things like tips and discounts, showing the entire history and allowing you to change any number with instant updates. For deeper calculations real-time graphing is an excellent way to explore and visualize things like bank interest rates and trigonometric functions. Features: * Responsive results: Edit any number on the canvas and see all results update automatically. Let your calculator work for you, not the other way around. * Linked numbers: With a result selected, press any operation to create a linked number below. Responsive results will cascade down these links. * All history is stored on an infinite scrolling canvas. Drag numbers around and reuse them as you wish. * Annotate any number with an attached text label, like a freestyle spreadsheet. * Real-time graphing: Link numbers to a graph and any change to the expression will instantly update the graph. Perfect when trying to explore how functions work and behave. * Use the Slider to tweak any number and see results and graphs update in real-time. Combined with the graph it is an excellent way to visualize and teach math. Tap the slider to toggle between discrete and continuous modes. * Share the entire canvas by printing, or exporting as a high quality PDF. You can also copy calculations as text, or save the visible area as an image which can be used in other applications like Pages or Word. * Undo support. * Supports external Bluetooth keyboards for really quick digit and basic operations entry (+, -, *, /). * Tydlig works completely offline, no need to be connected to the internet. * Lots of power under the hood with a lightning fast calculation engine, over 20 mathematical functions and scientific notation formatting options.

Screenshots

PCalc Lite4 screens
Tydlig4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PCalc Lite at Free against Tydlig's $1.99. Tydlig's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and rating (4.8 vs 4.4). On update cadence, 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

PCalc Lite is free to download; Tydlig costs $1.99 up front. PCalc Lite sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Tydlig asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tydlig holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tydlig has 2.6K ratings behind it against 214, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of PCalc Lite's written reviews are positive against 91% of Tydlig's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, Tydlig monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
PCalc Lite versus Tydlig: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPCalc LiteTydlig
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.4 (214 ratings)4.8 (2.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews91.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2142.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTLA Systems Ltd.Tydlig Software AB

Customer experience

PCalc Lite

All ratings214 ratings
Positive83.6%
Neutral6.5%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews528 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral7.0%
Negative10.4%

Tydlig

All ratings2,619 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews1,228 reviews
Positive91.4%
Neutral3.8%
Negative4.7%

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

Tydlig

From 2.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🚀 Powerful and flexible
  • 💡 Innovative approach to calculations
  • 🔍 Ability to see calculation history
  • 📊 Helpful graphing capabilities

Room to improve

  • 🔀 Lack of ability to save/load multiple canvases
  • 🔀 No way to organize calculations into separate sheets/pages
  • 🔀 Inability to add notes or labels to calculations
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔀 No support for fractions or complex math functions

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

Tydlig

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when trying to use graphing feature
  • Calculation history disappears after app restart
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
  • Labeling calculations with non-Latin characters causes display issues

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add support for multiple canvases/sheets to save and load calculations
  • Implement ability to add notes, labels, and annotations to calculations
  • Expand math functions to include fractions, combinations, permutations, etc.
  • Introduce iCloud/cloud sync to access calculations across devices
  • Add option to snap objects to a grid for better organization
Show 1 more
  • Implement templates or preset calculation layouts

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
None

Tydlig

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PCalc Lite free?
PCalc Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tydlig free?
Tydlig costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PCalc Lite or Tydlig?
Tydlig is rated higher. PCalc Lite averages 4.4 out of 5 from 214 ratings, while Tydlig averages 4.8 from 2.6K ratings.
Do PCalc Lite or Tydlig have ads?
Neither PCalc Lite nor Tydlig shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PCalc Lite or Tydlig?
PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, and Tydlig monthly. Most recently, PCalc Lite was updated on October 13, 2026 and Tydlig on October 18, 2026.

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