Plumbing Formulator vs HyTools
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Plumbing Formulator
This professional calculator app provides over 200 formulas, calculators, and reference materials for plumbers, HVAC technicians, and mechanical contractors. It covers a wide range of calculations for water flow, piping, drainage, water heaters, pumps, and more, all in one pocket-sized tool.
- Over 200 formulas and calculators
- Water flow and supply calculations
- Pipe and piping calculations
- Drainage and venting calculations
- Water heater and pump calculations
- Reference charts and code books
- Pipe cut list optimizer
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PLUMBING FORMULATOR is the ultimate professional calculator for plumbers, HVAC techs, and mechanical contractors. Over 200 formulas, reference charts, code books, and pro tools in your pocket. CALCULATORS AND FORMULAS Water Flow and Supply: pipe velocity, flow rate, GPM, fixture unit demand, and supply sizing. Pipes and Piping: area, volume, and weight for copper, steel, cast iron, and plastic. Hazen-Williams friction loss, pressure ratings, and 45 degree offsets. Drainage and Venting: drain sizing, slope and fall, vent sizing, fixture units, and wet vents. Water Heaters: BTU requirements, recovery rates, tank sizing, first hour ratings, and hot water demand. Pumps and Pressure: water and brake horsepower, efficiency, head pressure, velocity head, and PSI to feet of head. Storm Drainage: roof drains, rainfall intensity, gutter and leader sizing, and retention. Gas Piping: size natural gas and propane lines, BTU loads, pressure drop, and appliance demand. Medical Gas: size oxygen, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, and medical air. Vacuum demand and manifolds per NFPA 99. Swimming Pools: volume, fill time, pump sizing, turnover, evaporation loss, and main drains. Septic and Sewage: septic tanks, leach fields, and sewage pump capacity. Thermal Expansion: expansion tank sizing, system pressure, and pipe length changes. REFERENCE MATERIALS Charts and Tables: dozens of reference charts including pipe sizing, fixture units, and materials in PDF. Massachusetts Plumbing Code: complete 248 CMR reference with all chapters. Plumbing Design Guide: a 24 chapter design and installation guide. Technical Drawings: professional diagrams and installation details. TOOLS AND FEATURES Pipe Cut List Optimizer: enter lengths and stock sizes for an optimized cutting plan that cuts waste. Unit Conversions: length, area, volume, flow, pressure, temperature, weight, and power. Geometry Calculators: area and volume for circles, rectangles, triangles, cylinders, spheres, cones, and more. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT More than a calculator. Tap Business to run your service company from the same app. Customers: contacts, service addresses, job history, and outstanding balances. More than a calculator. Tap Business to run your service company from the same app. Customers: contacts, service addresses, job history, and outstanding balances. Quotes and Estimates: build quotes on site and turn an approved quote into an invoice with one tap. Invoicing: branded invoices with your logo, parts and labor, taxes, and terms. Send by email, print, or PDF. Payments: cash, check, card, ACH, or credit. Apply one payment across invoices and manage credit automatically. Scheduling: book service calls, track jobs, and set up recurring contracts that auto-generate invoices. Business Reports: balances, receivable aging, revenue, and payment history. Export as CSV or PDF. Business features are a separate one-time upgrade, discounted for existing Bill-Craft and ServiceBoss customers. PLUMBING PRO FEATURES Upgrade to Plumbing Pro to save calculations with full detail, export results, keep unlimited history, and remove ads. One time purchase with lifetime access. A modern dark interface built for the job site, with breakdowns showing the steps and formulas behind every result. Perfect for plumbers, apprentices, HVAC techs, mechanical engineers, and building inspectors. Download Plumbing Formulator today and put professional plumbing calculations at your fingertips.
HyTools
This app provides HVAC professionals with a comprehensive suite of hydronic calculation tools. It assists with tasks like valve sizing, pressure drop calculations, and radiator power estimation. The tool offers unit conversion and language selection for user convenience.
- Hydronic calculator
- Valve sizing and presetting
- Radiator power estimation
- Pipe sizing
- Unit conversion
- Pressure maintenance calculation
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IMI Hydronic Engineering proudly presents HyTools, the user-friendly hydronic calculator App for HVAC professionals. Features include: - Hydronic calculator (enter any two values and get the third one): - flow - Kv/Cv - pressure drop - power - flow - temperature difference - flow - valve setting - pressure drop - Dirt and air separator pressure drop calculation - Valve sizing and presetting - Radiator power estimation (panel and column) - Radiator valve sizing and presetting - Pipe sizing - Unit conversion - Run-time selection of localisation - Run-time selection of language - Pressure maintenance and vacuum degassing calculation and selection for heating, cooling and solar systems Stay tuned for great upcoming updates adding further hydronic calculation functions. Please visit www.imi-hydronic.com for more information and contact details. Phone numbers to local support can be found here: http://www.imi-hydronic.com/en/contact/ IMI Hydronic Engineering International SA is the leading global provider and expert in hydronic distribution systems and room temperature control, with experience in more than 100,000 projects worldwide. We help our customers everywhere optimise HVAC systems so they deliver desired comfort with optimal efficiency. IMI Hydronic Engineering is part of the international engineering group IMI plc which is listed as a member of the FTSE 100 on the London Stock Exchange.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Plumbing Formulator at 4.6 against HyTools's 4.0. HyTools's advantage is review sentiment (50% vs 9%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and 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
Both are free to download. Plumbing Formulator sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. HyTools asks for nothing beyond the download.
Plumbing Formulator holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 9% of Plumbing Formulator's written reviews are positive against 50% of HyTools's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Plumbing Formulator ships an update every 2 months, HyTools every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Plumbing Formulator | HyTools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7 ratings) — better | 4.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 9.1% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 123 MB | 114 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Historycentral.com | IMI Hydronic Engineering International SA |
Customer experience
Plumbing Formulator
HyTools
In-app purchases
Plumbing Formulator
- Pro Version$1.99
- Pro Purchase$3.99
- Starter$5.99
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- Growth$9.99
HyTools
No in-app purchases









