Plumbing Formulator vs InSight Countdown
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.
InSight Countdown
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Keep what matters in sight. InSight Countdown turns the wait for what matters into something you actually look forward to seeing. Set a countdown to an exact date and time — your flight, an exam, a birthday, a deadline — not just a vague duration. A huge, glanceable countdown fills your screen, ticking down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to the precise moment. FEATURES • Count down to an exact date & time Pick the exact calendar date and time of your event — or a simple duration when that's all you need. The closest event is always front and center. Add a note — flight number, gate, address — shown in small type under the name. • Synced across your devices Your countdowns stay in sync between iPhone, iPad, and Mac through your private iCloud — the same events, each keeping its own visualization, follow you everywhere. Your countdowns are yours — their content is never sent to us. • Choose how time looks Watch time melt away in a draining hourglass, a progress ring, a rounded bar, a Time-Timer-style shrinking disc, a dot grid, a dot dial, a solar eclipse, an unwinding spiral, or a sun along its day arc — plus themed styles: a Christmas tree lighting up branch by branch, a birthday cake whose candles flicker on, a beach parasol opening as the sun rises, a cocktail glass that fills, a car climbing a mountain road, a plane arcing around a globe, and lit-up landmarks (the Eiffel Tower, Burj Khalifa). Pick a look that fits the occasion — a parasol for a trip, a cake for a birthday — so a glance tells you what's coming. Swipe to switch right on the countdown; each remembers its own, synced across your devices. Landscape keeps a sleek linear bar. • Make it yours Pick a digit font — from a clean system face to a retro seven-segment LCD — and tint the whole app with a preset accent color or any color you choose. • Many countdowns, one glance The nearest event takes the main screen; the rest sit in a quick-access bottom bar. Choose per countdown when it takes the main screen — always, only when it's near, only on its day, or never — so a far-off event doesn't crowd out nearer ones. On iPad and Mac, watch several at once — a small or large grid, a zoomed layout that enlarges the nearest event, or Duo, which puts two side by side or one above the other to fit your screen. • Daily & weekly repeats Set a countdown to repeat every day, or on the weekdays you choose (say Mon/Wed/Fri), and it rolls forward automatically after it finishes — great for routines, classes, standups, and recurring reminders. • Beat procrastination — and have fun doing it A deadline you can see is harder to ignore. Keep the countdown in front of you — full screen or on the Lock Screen — and watch the remaining time melt away. Visible time is a classic focus technique: an abstract deadline feels real. Better yet, the task you kept putting off becomes a screen you want to watch. • Lock Screen & Dynamic Island Show your countdowns as Live Activities on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Choose per countdown whether it appears always, only when it's near, only on the event day, or never. • Doubles as an alarm across your devices The instant a countdown hits zero, an alert breaks through silent mode and Focus — and on iOS 26 it rings until you dismiss it, so any countdown works as a full alarm. Add an early reminder (from 10 seconds to a day before), or ring the alarm a few seconds ahead. Because your countdowns sync through iCloud, the same alarm can ring on whichever device is with you. • iPhone, iPad & Mac The full-screen countdown adapts to any size and rotation — a phone in your pocket, an iPad propped up as an always-on display, or a resizable Mac window. The controls fade away when you're not touching the screen, leaving just the countdown. • Stays awake when you want Optional screen-lock control keeps the display on — always or only while charging — so your countdown stays in sight. Free. No account needed. Your countdowns are yours.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: InSight Countdown at none against Plumbing Formulator's 4. InSight Countdown also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). Plumbing Formulator's advantage is iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Plumbing Formulator sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. InSight Countdown asks for nothing beyond the download.
Plumbing Formulator ships an update every 2 months, InSight Countdown monthly. The most recent releases landed on August 23, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Plumbing Formulator | InSight Countdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 9.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 123 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Historycentral.com | Aliaksandr Harbavets |
In-app purchases
Plumbing Formulator
- Pro Version$1.99
- Pro Purchase$3.99
- Starter$5.99
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- Growth$9.99
InSight Countdown
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Plumbing Formulator free?
Is InSight Countdown free?
Do Plumbing Formulator or InSight Countdown have ads?
Which is updated more often, Plumbing Formulator or InSight Countdown?
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