Trout vs Elemental
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Trout
This app helps you organize thoughts and ideas non-linearly using words and images. You can categorize concepts with color and shape, and enhance your maps with sketches and photos. Share your organized ideas as images or PDFs, or export them in OPML or markdown formats.
- Associate words and images
- Organize ideas non-linearly
- Categorize by color and shape
- Add sketches and photos
- Share as image or PDF
- Export OPML or markdown
- Freeform or automatic layout
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Trout is a mind mapping application that allows you to rapidly associate words and images, and help you organise your ideas in a non-linear way. It could assist you with organising an event, writing a document or solving a problem. Your ideas can be categorised by color and shape and you can add sketches and photos to your map. Features •Share your map as an image, PDF. •Export OPML or markdown •Freeform or automatic layout. •Basic sketching for quick visual capture
Elemental
This free utility allows users to easily draw chemical structures and reactions on their mobile devices. It offers features like property calculation, file sharing via email and Dropbox, and a built-in periodic table. Users can also export structures as image files or MOL/RXN formats.
- Draw chemical structures and reactions
- Calculate cheminformatics properties
- Tweet chemical structures
- Dropbox integration
- Open MOL/RXN files
- Email structures as files/images
- Built-in Periodic Table
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Elemental from Dotmatics the FREE Chemistry Sketch Utility Elemental is now a Universal App that support iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Elemental is the Dotmatics chemistry sketch utility provided at no charge within many Dotmatics products. We are happy to provide this as a FREE app on the iTunes store. - Tap to draw chemical structures - Calculate cheminformatics properties - Tweet a Molecule! - Dropbox upload support & file association back from the Dropbox App - Open MOL/RXN files from E-mails (tap and hold an attachment) - Copy images to camera roll/clipboard - Double tap to undo - Sketch chemical reactions - Built-in Periodic Table - Email your structure as a MOL/RXN file and PNG image - Emails also contain MW, MolFormula and predicted LogP Draw molecules with ease! Suggestions are really welcome at this time. We intend to add a heap of features over the coming months and to keep this app FREE.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Trout at 4.8 against Elemental's 2.2. Elemental's advantage is review sentiment (73% vs 33%) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). 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. Trout sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per 2 months. Elemental asks for nothing beyond the download.
Trout holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 18 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of Trout's written reviews are positive against 73% of Elemental's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Trout ships an update every 5 months, Elemental every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and July 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Trout | Elemental |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better | 2.2 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 73.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 18 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Digital-Dirtbag | Dotmatics Limited |
Customer experience
Trout
Elemental
In-app purchases
Trout
- 60 Day subscription$2.492 Months
- Free trialFree
- Lifetime Purchase$3.99
Elemental
No in-app purchases









