BuildCalc vs Trig Solver
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BuildCalc
This app enhances traditional construction calculators with advanced functions for layout, material estimation, and complex calculations. It offers interactive features, customizable material sizes, and streamlined results presentation to reduce complexity and improve accuracy for professionals.
- Advanced baluster and stair layout
- Fence post and material estimation
- Interactive calculation adjustments
- Customizable material sizes
- Miter saw vs. protractor rafter calculations
- Streamlined results display and saving
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What if you could take the best construction calculator and fix it. That’s right ... you love it, it has served you well, and you stand by it ... but could it do more? Could it be easier to use? After testing by pros from around the world, BuildCalc is ready to give you more - more function and more answers with less complexity, less hassle, and less confusion. MORE FUNCTIONALITY: • Advanced Baluster Function: Complete layout of railing and staircase balusters with less guess work - and with all the flexibility you need for every custom job. • Advanced Stair function: Stair layouts for professional results - including dimensioned drawings of your Stringer, Stringer Installation, and Finished Staircase. And you can email a PDF of these drawings right from BuildCalc so you can print them or share them. • Fence Function: Give BuildCalc a fence row length and it will tell you how many posts, rails, pickets, and or panels you need. • Interactive Functions: The Stair, Baluster, Compound Miter, and Rafter functions are now fully interactive. Want to change input values? Change the Run? Switch between Regular and Irregular Hip Roof analysis? You can do this and your results will be updated automatically - without you needing to remember what key to press. MORE ANSWERS: • You are no longer tied down to: only one brick, block or tile size for the masonry function; a fixed number of drywall sheet sizes; only one footer cross sectional area; or one size of shingles and sheathing. If you don’t see the size you want, you can add as many as you need. And for area input, you can store your custom sizes in Length x Width format, so you won’t have to do mental gymnastics to figure out what was the dimensions for that last size you stored. • Want to cut your hip roof rafter using a miter saw ... or a circular saw using a hand-held protractor? With a tap of a button, BuildCalc will automatically switch between Miter Saw and Protractor results. BuildCalc can do this for Compound Miters, too. • Sheathing Angles, Purlin Angles, Gable Area, Backing Angles, Plan Angles, Rough vs. Finished Stair Layout Dimensions, Stringer Throat, Stringer installation dimensions ... and a lot more not found on other construction calculators. LESS COMPLEXITY AND LESS HASSLE: • Tired of having to press and press and press buttons to get the results of a calculation? BuildCalc puts an end to this. For all advanced functions, you get ALL of your results in list form with just one or two key taps. • And, rather than having to write down those results, all advanced functions allow you to save your results - as many times as you want with a label you choose - so you can recall the complete results at your convenience. Now you can do a calculation today and two days, two weeks or two years later, it is there for you. • Less “quirks”. Have you been annoyed by arcane key stroke sequences on other construction calculators? We are too. BuildCalc 2.1 streamlined the keystrokes to do a better job of giving you less “errors” and more results. Don’t remember what you have to enter before a Hip Rafter or Stair calculation? Well, now you don’t have to. BuildCalc will provide you with a check list of inputs and on-the-spot help to get it right. • Drywall and Masonry “Room Mode”: If you have stored a Length, Width and Height for a room, BuildCalc will give you the Drywall or Masonry required for the walls and the ceiling / floor - with only a tap of the Drywall or Masonry button. No more pondering over complex key sequences ... it just works. NOW WITH ADVANCED STAIRS, BALUSTER, AND HIP/VALLEY FUNCTIONS Get more results than you ever could before - including dimensioned Stringer, Stringer Installation and Finished Staircase Drawings. Drawings can then be emailed to others or printed at your convenience. Email us and we'll send you an example!
Trig Solver
This application calculates unknown sides and angles of both regular and right triangles. It supports various input combinations, including two sides and an angle, two angles and a side, three sides, or two sides and an angle for right triangles.
- Regular triangle solver
- Right triangle solver
- Calculate with 2 sides and an angle
- Calculate with 2 angles and a side
- Calculate with 3 sides
- Calculate with side and angle (right triangle)
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A Triangle Solver that has a regular triangle solver as well as a right triangle solver. Regular Triangle - Enter one of the following and hit Calculate: 2 sides and an angle 2 angles and a side 3 sides Right Triangle - Enter one of the following and hit Calculate: 2 sides a side and an angle
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Trig Solver at Free against BuildCalc's $24.99. Trig Solver also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). BuildCalc's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 28 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Trig Solver is free to download; BuildCalc costs $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
BuildCalc holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 71 and 78 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of BuildCalc's written reviews are positive against 74% of Trig Solver's.
BuildCalc ships an update every 3 weeks, Trig Solver every 28 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BuildCalc | Trig Solver |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (71 ratings) — better | 4.3 (78 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.4% of reviews — better | 74.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 71 | 78 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 28 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #68 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 42nd Parallel | Creature Code Mobile, LLC |
Customer experience
BuildCalc
Trig Solver
Bugs and requests
BuildCalc
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Trig Solver
Reported bugs
12 issues- Calculator rounds to '7' and '0'
- Regular triangle calculations not correct
- Answers in the wrong place (angles reversed)
- App doesn't work anymore after update
- Can't see input in dark mode
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- Base hidden behind buttons on older phones
- Fails with small machining angles (gives 90 degrees)
- Wrong values under 'regular triangle'
- Returned wrong values for side angle side
- Incorrect values on irregular triangle
- Paid to remove ads but ads still present
- NaN results
Requested features
8 requests- Rotate the triangle
- Show the work/steps
- Add square root functionality
- Option to pay to remove ads
- Modify single value without reset
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- Graph resultant triangle
- Show more decimal places (3, 4, or 5)
- Add comma as decimal separator option
In-app purchases
BuildCalc
No in-app purchases
Trig Solver
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is BuildCalc free?
Is Trig Solver free?
Which has better reviews, BuildCalc or Trig Solver?
Do BuildCalc or Trig Solver have ads?
Which is updated more often, BuildCalc or Trig Solver?
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