Comparison

PCalc Lite vs Gratuity | Tip 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

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.

Highlights
  • Instant tip calculation
  • Split bills across groups
  • Tip before tax
  • Round totals
  • Scan receipt totals
  • Custom tip presets
  • Multiple currency options
Features
Read full description

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

PCalc Lite4 screens
Gratuity | Tip Calculator4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
PCalc Lite versus Gratuity | Tip Calculator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPCalc LiteGratuity | Tip Calculator
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (214 ratings)4.6 (208 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.4% of reviews — better75.3% of reviews
Number of ratings214 — better208
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTLA Systems Ltd.Carl Banks

Customer experience

PCalc Lite

All ratings214 ratings
Positive83.6%
Neutral6.5%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews529 reviews
Positive82.4%
Neutral7.0%
Negative10.6%

Gratuity | Tip Calculator

All ratings208 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral3.8%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive75.3%
Neutral7.8%
Negative16.9%

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

Gratuity | Tip Calculator

From 208 App Store ratings

What 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
Show 8 more
  • 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
Show 9 more
  • 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

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
6 purchases

Gratuity | Tip Calculator

One-time6
  • Keyboard Layout$0.99
  • Tax Options$1.99
  • Rounding Options$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Venue Presets$1.99
  • Currency Options$1.99
  • Gratuity Pro$9.99

Questions

Is PCalc Lite free?
PCalc Lite is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gratuity | Tip Calculator free?
Gratuity | Tip Calculator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator?
Gratuity | Tip Calculator is rated higher. PCalc Lite averages 4.4 out of 5 from 214 ratings, while Gratuity | Tip Calculator averages 4.6 from 208 ratings.
Do PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator have ads?
Neither PCalc Lite nor Gratuity | Tip Calculator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PCalc Lite or Gratuity | Tip Calculator?
PCalc Lite ships an update every 2 months, and Gratuity | Tip Calculator every 4 days. Most recently, PCalc Lite was updated on October 18, 2026 and Gratuity | Tip Calculator on October 19, 2026.

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