PCalc Lite vs Gratuity | Tip Calculator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Optional RPN mode
- Multiple undo and redo
- Unit conversions and constants
- Two stylish themes
- Apple Watch app
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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!
Gratuity | Tip Calculator
Effortlessly calculate tips, split bills with friends, and scan receipts to get accurate totals. This app simplifies everyday tipping scenarios at restaurants, bars, and for various services, ensuring you never have to guess again.
- Instant tip calculation
- Split bills across groups
- Tip before tax
- Round totals
- Scan receipt totals
- Custom tip presets
- Multiple currency options
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Tip Calculator by Gratuity helps you calculate tips instantly, split bills, and scan receipts—no guesswork required. Designed for real-world use at restaurants, bars, delivery, salons, and more, Gratuity makes tipping fast, accurate, and effortless. --- Calculate the right tip in seconds, split bills across any group, and scan receipt totals with your camera. - Calculate tips instantly - Split bills across groups - Tip before tax when needed - Round totals for cleaner payments - Scan receipt totals automatically --- FEATURES --- SMART TIP CALCULATOR - Instant tip, total, and per-person calculations - Clear, real-time updates BILL SPLITTING - Split bills evenly across any group - Fast and simple for shared payments TAX-AWARE TIPPING - Tip before tax for more accurate results ROUNDING CONTROLS - Round tips or totals for easier payments RECEIPT SCANNER - Scan receipts and extract totals automatically CUSTOM PRESETS - Save tip percentages by service (restaurant, bar, delivery, salon, spa) CUSTOMIZATION - Multiple currency options - Choice of phone-style or calculator-style numpad iCLOUD SYNC (PREMIUM) - Sync settings and presets across devices --- PRO --- Unlock advanced tools with a one-time purchase. Gratuity Pro includes all premium features and future updates in one unlock. --- Clean, fast, and built for everyday use. No ads in the experience. Featured by The Wall Street Journal, Lifehacker, Apppicker, and iMore!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Gratuity | Tip Calculator at every 4 days against PCalc Lite's every 2 months. PCalc Lite's advantage is device support (4 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. PCalc Lite sells 11 one-off in-app purchases and Gratuity | Tip Calculator sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Gratuity | Tip Calculator holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 214 and 208 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 82% of PCalc Lite's written reviews are positive against 75% of Gratuity | Tip Calculator's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, Gratuity | Tip Calculator every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PCalc Lite | Gratuity | Tip Calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (214 ratings) | 4.6 (208 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.4% of reviews — better | 75.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 214 — better | 208 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TLA Systems Ltd. | Carl Banks |
Customer experience
PCalc Lite
Gratuity | Tip Calculator
User reviews
PCalc Lite
From 214 App Store ratingsWhat 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
Gratuity | Tip Calculator
From 208 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 🚀 Fast and quick calculations
- 💡 Effortless bill splitting
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Clean design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Calculation bugs
- 🐛 Inconsistent results
- 🐛 No pre-tax calculation option
- 🐛 Small font and bad contrast
- 🐛 Round up total option doesn't work
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
Gratuity | Tip Calculator
Reported bugs
13 issues- White screen after update
- Doesn't load after update
- Can't input price amount
- No decimal point for tax input
- App doesn't fill screen on large displays
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- Calculation errors
- Inconsistent calculations
- Save Settings & Reset Settings buttons too low
- Number pad is huge
- Round up total option doesn't work
- App doesn't add bill and gratuity correctly
- Doesn't consider tax
- Rate your service button needs to be pressed twice
Requested features
14 requests- Add tax function
- Add pre-tax calculation option
- Allow tip on pre-tax amount
- Option to round total amount
- Default establishment type
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- Choice of background colors
- Adjustable font size
- Fix calculation bugs
- Support for smaller screens
- Add decimal point for tax input
- Dark mode option
- Ability to round tip to a dollar amount
- Tip on/off with tax option
- Faster access to rounding functions
In-app purchases
PCalc Lite
- Theme Pack$0.99
- Power User Pack$0.99
- Multiple Line Pack$0.99
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- 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
Gratuity | Tip Calculator
- Keyboard Layout$0.99
- Tax Options$1.99
- Rounding Options$1.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Venue Presets$1.99
- Currency Options$1.99
- Gratuity Pro$9.99
Questions
Is PCalc Lite free?
Is Gratuity | Tip Calculator free?
Which has better reviews, PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator?
Do PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator have ads?
Which is updated more often, PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator?
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