RPN vs DB40X
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RPN
This app simulates a legendary vintage scientific calculator, offering a "live" display of its internal states and a virtual paper tape printer. It allows loading and running original sample programs, with advanced features that can be switched off for an authentic experience.
- Live display of stack and registers
- Virtual paper tape printer
- Email or print paper tape
- Cut/copy/paste display value
- 30 selectable background images
- Non-volatile memory
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RPN-67 NP is the non-programmable version of RPN-67 Pro, the first complete simulation of Hewlett-Packard's HP-67 legendary programmable calculator for iOS. Produced from 1976 to 1982, the HP-67's capability to store programs on magnetic cards, wide array of functions, merged keycodes, indirect addressing and other enhancements made it a huge success among scientists, engineers and other professionals. Thousands of programs were written for it. RPN-67 NP allows you to load and run 25 original HP sample program cards. It lacks the program creation and card management features of the Pro version, as well as its massively expanded array of functions and operations. Apart from these restrictions, RPN-67 NP is a very capable vintage scientific calculator. Features: • "Live" display of stack, memory registers, program counter, flags • Virtual paper tape printer • E-mail or print the paper tape • Cut/copy/paste display value • 30 selectable background images, even add your own. More features the HP-67 never offered: • Non-volatile memory - stack, registers, program • Status indicators for prefix keys (f, g, h, STO, RCL, GTO, DSP) • Keycode-to-command translation while single-stepping a program • Cancel SST or BST operation by sliding your finger off the depressed key All advanced features may switched off with a single setting, allowing you to experience a real HP-67 as closely as possible. For more information visit the RPN-67 website: cuveesoft.ch/rpn67
DB40X
A high-precision scientific calculator inspired by the HP48 series, offering arbitrary precision computations, complex numbers, vectors, matrices, and graphing. It supports RPN and algebraic operations, with over 1000 built-in functions and a hyperlinked help system.
- Arbitrary precision computations
- RPN and algebraic operations
- Complex numbers, vectors, and matrices
- Graphing and plotting
- Engineering units and conversions
- Hyperlinked help system
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DB40X is a high-precision scientific calculator compatible with DB48X and inspired by the legendary HP48 series from Hewlett-Packard. It is not an emulator, but a redesign from scratch, which is faster, and delivers never seen before capabilities like computations in arbitrary precision. Like the original HP48, DB40X supports an unlimited stack, RPN and algebraic operations, complex numbers, based numbers, vectors, matrices, text, symbolic computations, numerical solving and integration, graphing and plotting, statistics, engineering units, and well over 1000 built-in functions. DB40X adds several HP50G capabilities, including a library of equations and constants covering mathematics, physics or chemistry. Using modern technologies, DB40X goes well beyond the original HP48 in many ways: - It is significantly faster, uses less memory, and features a higher-resolution 240x400 pixels graphical display. - Integer and decimal values can have an arbitrarily large number of digits, so you can compute log(pi) with 200 digits in a few keystrokes. - The six function keys feature up to three function per key, giving quick access to up to 18 related functions at a time. - Complex numbers can mix and match polar and rectangular form. - Symbolic operations extend to complex numbers, vectors and matrices. - Based numbers can be in any base from 2 to 36, and support any number of bits, making it easy to emulate a 23-bit or 512-bit processor. - Text is represented using Unicode instead of the proprietary HP encoding, facilitating data exchange with the rest of the world. - Multiple graphs can be distinguished using bitmap patterns. - Engineering units include all the modern evolutions of the SI system, and can be configured by the user, e.g. to integrate currency units with the exchange rate du jour. Converting between USD/hour and EUR/day has never been so easy! - A built-in hyperlinked help system documents functions simply by holding the corresponding key, and combine a quick start guide, a user manual and a reference manual. DB40X will run many user RPL programs as is. However, since it is not an emulator, it will not run any HP binary object, and notably will not run HP48 games or anything involving system RPL. Version 0.7.14 is an early-access release. Please consult https://github.com/c3d/db48x/blob/stable/doc/5-Unimplemented.md for a list of HP48 commands that are not yet implemented. DB40X is part of a family of compatible RPL calculators that include DB48X and DB50X. DB40X lacks the ability to write programs or data to disk, and RPL programs are limited to 40K.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: DB40X at 4.7 against RPN's 3.7. DB40X also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months) and device support (3 vs 1). RPN's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 67%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
DB40X holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 7 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of RPN's written reviews are positive against 67% of DB40X's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
RPN ships an update every 5 months, DB40X every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and June 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RPN | DB40X |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (3 ratings) | 4.7 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CuVee Software | Christophe de Dinechin |
Customer experience
RPN
DB40X
In-app purchases
RPN
No in-app purchases
DB40X
No in-app purchases







