FRED Economic Data vs RLM
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FRED Economic Data
Access a vast collection of economic data from numerous sources on the go. Visualize trends with custom graphs and easily share insights. Stay updated with the latest economic news and research.
- Access 149,000+ economic data series
- Browse data by category, source, or popularity
- Create custom data graphs
- Store favorite data series
- Share data series and graphs
- Receive economic news and updates
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Take the economy with you wherever you go. The FRED app gets you the economic data you need— anytime, anywhere. Enjoy full access to nearly 149,000 economic data series from 59 regional, national and international sources. The graphs and supporting data are housed on the St. Louis Fed’s signature database—FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Database). The FRED app is perfect for students, financial market professionals, academics and anyone else interested in economic data. What you can do with this app: •browse for data by category, release, source and popularity or search by keywords or series ID; •view and create custom graphs; •store your favorite data series for quick and easy access; •share your favorite data series or graphs via e-mail or post them directly to your Twitter or Facebook account; •and receive the latest news on new data series , updates, and St. Louis Fed economic research. The app is free to download. If you encounter problems or have suggestions for improving our app, please contact us at webmaster@research.stlouisfed.org.
RLM
This app offers a comprehensive suite of financial and business calculation tools, inspired by a popular professional calculator. It features specialized worksheets for loans, bonds, options, depreciation, and time value of money, alongside business, cash flow, statistics, and scientific functions.
- Finance Worksheets (Amortization, Bonds, Options)
- Business Calculations (Break-Even, Bill Split)
- Cash Flow Analysis
- Statistical Functions
- Scientific Calculator
- Unit and Currency Conversions
- Equation Solver
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The RLM-BA2 application is a general purpose calculator with a special focus in finance and business. It is inspired by the Texas Instrument BAII+Professional calculator, but specially designed to bring up the most of your iOS devices. The RLM-BA2 has a extensive Menu System: >Finance Worksheets: •Account Balance: Calculates the Balance of cash transactions and interest applied at arbitrary dates. •Amortization: Loan Amortization Schedule for a single or several loan payments. •Bond Price & Yield: Calculates the Price, Yield and Effective Duration of a Bond. •Black-Scholes Options: Calculates the CALL, PUT and “Greeks” values of a Black-Scholes European option. •Depreciation: Calculates depreciation with SL, SOYD, DB or MACRS methods and conventions. •Time Value of Money: Calculates compound Interest problems. >Business Worksheets: •Bill-Tip-Split: Calculates the sharing of a Bill with Tip. •Break-Even: Analyze the following relation: Profit = (Price - Var.Cost) • Units - Fix.Cost •Currency Exchange with on-line rates. •Percents & Margins: Calculates %Change, %Total and Business margins. >Cash Flows Worksheets: •Equal Periods: Calculations with Cash Flows occurring at regular time intervals. •Unequal Periods: Calculations with Cash Flows occurring at arbitrary dates. >Statistics Worksheets: •One-Variable Statistics: Calculations for one variable data samples. •Two-Variable Statistics: Calculations for two variables data samples. •Probability: Combinations, permutations and Normal, Exponential, t-Student and Weibull probability distributions. >Scientific Worksheets: •Angles & Polar: Convert angles and coordinates. •Logarithm functions with common or arbitrary base. •Number Alteration functions •Trigonometric & Hyperbolic functions. >Conversion Worksheets: •Angles & Polar: Convert angles between DEG,RAD,GRAD,DMS or Slope % and Polar-Rectangular coordinates. •Currencies: world currencies conversions with manual input or on-line current rates. •Interest Rates: Nominal and effective interest conversion. •Units: Physical units conversions. >General Worksheets: •Date: Calculates days between dates with Actual, 360 or 365 days calendars. •Time: Calculates time intervals between different times. •Solver: Calculates arbitrary equations entered as text expression to solve any of the variables knowing the others. •Storage Registers: Store and perform operations directly over the calculators storage registers. •Memory Content: Clear, Back-Up or Restore part or all of the Calculator's memory. •General Settings: Customize many aspects of the calculator including formats & feedbacks. •Help Documents: Description and examples of all the calculator worksheets and features. >Editors Worksheets: To create or edit data •(Date,Trx) List: Transactions and the dates they occurs for the "Account Balance Worksheet". •(Date.CF) List: Cash flows and the dates they occurs for the "Unequal Periods Cash Flows Worksheet". •(X,N) List: Cash flows and repetitions for the "Equal Periods Cash Flows Worksheet". •(X,Y) List: X and Y data samples for the Statistics worksheets. •Solver Equation: Algebraic expression for use in the "Solver" worksheet. •Units Database: Customize the "Units" worksheet. System requirements: iOS 15.0 or above. 30 days Free-Trial. In-App-Purchase: One-Payment for life. License Agreement: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A TEXAS INSTRUMENT CALCULATOR, AND IS NOT SPONSORED IN ANYWAY BY TEXAS INSTRUMENT OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: RLM at 100% against FRED Economic Data's 37%. RLM also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.4) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). FRED Economic Data's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (87 vs 2). On price, ads, monetization model 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. RLM sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. FRED Economic Data asks for nothing beyond the download.
RLM holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FRED Economic Data has 87 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 37% of FRED Economic Data's written reviews are positive against 100% of RLM's.
FRED Economic Data ships an update every 4 months, RLM every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FRED Economic Data | RLM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (87 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 37.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | R.L.M. Software |
Customer experience
FRED Economic Data
RLM
Bugs and requests
FRED Economic Data
Reported bugs
78 issues- App is non-functional
- Graph images are cropped
- Graph images are cropped, only top half visible
- Saving photo only saves top half of graph
- Cannot login with Apple account
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- Cannot remove favorites
- Charts are miniscule and unreadable
- Expanding graph axes go off page
- Graphs are off the screen
- Cannot be viewed properly
- Issues with logging in
- Issues with saving data or comparisons
- Chart is cut off at the bottom
- Doesn’t let you scroll through the graph
- Only see half the charts
- Cannot change settings or parameters in horizontal view
- Select years automatically gives projections instead of actual
- Expanded horizontal view bugged out, did not show half of data
- X axis often isn’t visible
- Bad Request: Account Verification Failed
- Full screen view of saved graphs often glitches and does not show full screen
- Cannot view saved dashboards
- Poor search functionality
- Search bar doesn’t narrow down list
- Doesn’t update
- Doesn’t work
- Search is a disaster
- App runs like it's 2005
- App is buggy
- App is buggy again
- Buggy search
- Charts on iPhone in portrait mode is idiotic
- When rotating phone, chart goes from five-year to max chart
- iPhone keyboard screen covers login page
- Thumbnail charts too small to read
- Cannot be used in landscape mode
- Formatted in a huge image that puts axes off the page
- Still inappropriately formatted in landscape
- Text is almost microscopic in landscape
- Stays in portrait mode on iPad
- iPad Pro charts are clipped
- Cannot zoom on graphs
- Graph scale incorrect to the point of obfuscation
- Cannot share blog posts
- Won’t display in landscape
- No value add over the website
- Crashes when attempting to add new series to a graph
- App crashes sometimes when comparing two graphs
- Navigation path to current page is unknown
- App is very buggy
- App crashed when attempting to add a graph
- New version needs months of testing
- Older version was more stable and reliable
- Can’t navigate because of screen layout
- App is broken
- Cannot launch app on iOS
- Issa broken
- Unusable as of this date
- Won’t launch on iOS 11
- App is broken, but can get past splash screen with workaround
- App is currently totally broken and unusable
- Death upon arrival
- Cannot pass the “New Features” page
- “Get Started” button aligned with home touch button
- App cant load
- Cannot get past the “New Features” screen
- “Get Started” link is outside the usable space
- App freezes
- Fails to load on current iOS and iPhone 8
- Can’t make it past preferences screen
- Screen has a “get started” window over the app that doesn’t allow interaction
- App was useful prior to iPhone X, now broken and useless
- Cannot get past the new features page
- Wouldn’t even start
- App takes forever to load
- App showed splash screen and exited
- Crashed a few times
- App gets crash sometimes
Requested features
12 requests- Include widgets for favorites
- Include all web version edit graph features
- Allow saving and sharing in multiple formats (PDF, Excel)
- View saved dashboards
- Use graphing editor tool
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Add help section with common definitions
- Allow indexing two datasets for comparison
- Add a button for zero-based Y-axis
- Add URL for series on info page
- Ability to add different series to the same graph
- View data in list form as % change
- More detail in descriptions for each data set
RLM
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
FRED Economic Data
No in-app purchases
RLM
- Lifetime Full Access$9.99
Questions
Is FRED Economic Data free?
Is RLM free?
Which has better reviews, FRED Economic Data or RLM?
Do FRED Economic Data or RLM have ads?
Which is updated more often, FRED Economic Data or RLM?
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