Calca vs Taskmator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Calca
This app is an advanced symbolic calculator and text editor. It solves equations, simplifies expressions, and allows you to explain your work alongside calculations. Calculations update instantly as you type, and all data is stored as plain text for easy sharing and device syncing.
- Symbolic calculation
- Equation solving
- Expression simplification
- Markdown text editor
- Real-time updates
- Unit and currency conversion
- Matrix operations
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Calca is a powerful symbolic calculator that gives you instant answers as you type. It solves equations and simplifies complex expressions - it's a computer algebra system in your pocket! It's also a rich Markdown text editor so that you can explain your ideas alongside your calculations. Calca is perfect for professionals and students - anyone who works with numbers and equations. Variables and functions can be created with only a few keystrokes and can be manipulated with a rich library of operators and functions. Calca updates as you type - just like a spreadsheet. You can declare variables, edit their values and watch everything update before your eyes. Since everything is calculated on the device - no network needed - you get answers instantaneously. All calculations are stored as plain text so you can easily share them with other editors and move them from device to device. Calca has been designed to work with iCloud documents so all your devices can access your calculations - you'll always have the latest files ready for viewing and editing. Calca comes with a suite of examples to help you get started covering topics from home mortgages to kinetics. All these examples are fully explained within Calca itself. Are you still using a desktop calculator? Are you using the calculator with the giant buttons that came with your OS? Computers are much more capable than doing simple one-line arithmetic - put your machine to work with Calca! Calculation Features: • Variables `x = 42` • Functions `f(c) = 9/5*c + 32` and even recursive functions • Units `42 mph in kmph` and currency `¥599 in $` • Solves equations (`x + 2x + 4x = 42`, what is x?) • Matrices with inverses so you can solve linear equations • Sum, prod, map, and reduce operations on lists, matrices, and ranges • Trigonometry and complex numbers • Derivatives of functions • Logic operations and if statements • Binary math (& and |) and support for binary and hex number (`0xA9` and `0b1010`) • Keeps track of units (m, s, m/s, m/s^2, etc.) so you can verify your equations as you compute Please visit http://calca.io to see lots of examples. Thank you for looking!
Taskmator
This app allows you to create and manage to-do lists, projects, and notes using a simple plain text format. It offers robust integration with Apple Reminders and Files, along with powerful organizational features like tags and outlining. Enjoy a productive workflow with customizable themes and extensive font options.
- Plain text task formatting
- Apple Reminders integration
- Files App integration
- Live search with saved filters
- Dropbox sync
- Customizable themes and fonts
- Outlining and drag & drop
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◉ "The Best TaskPaper app for iOS" — Macdrifter ◉ "Excellent Task Manager"— Cult of Mac ◉ “Taskmator, a powerful TaskPaper client for iPhone and iPad, has received full Reminders Integration” — Federico Viticci, MacStories ◉ "Taskmator is really neat and great" —Merlin Mann ◉ "I love using the TaskPaper format, with TaskPaper on Mac and Taskmator on iOS" —Brett Terpstra Taskmator ( Next-Generation of renowned task management app called TaskPaper ) takes full advantage of iOS/ iPadOS technologies, gives you speedy, powerful tools that let you more productive. • Based on the open source code of TaskPaper for iOS/ iPadOS. • Type your lists into Taskmator and each line is quickly formatted into a Project, Task, or Note. • Apple Reminders Integration. • Built-In Files App Integration. • Local Notifications. • Live Search with Saved Filters. • Dropbox Sync API V2. • Multiple Window, Split View Support for iPadOS. • System Dark Mode. • Touch ID/ Face ID support. • Document Picker Support. • Custom Task Symbol. • Colored Tags, Tags Suggestion, Links Detections, Tag Formatting. • Print with custom task symbol. • Full Screen Mode. Scroll Headings to have more space. • Organize notes, tasks, or projects by tags. • Support Outlining. Drag & Drop items from another app and vice versa. • UI elements respond to the cursor on iPadOS when connecting a mouse or trackpad. • Statistics. • TextExpander (TETouch Snippet Expansion) support. • Re-use a file on a single tap. Little expensive method. • Review all your projects using "Go to Project.." feature. • URL Schemes. • Customize extended keyboard keys, themes, dark mode, fonts, colors. • Export file as PDF. • Approx. 150 beautiful fonts are available. • Total 9 app icons available. If you have any questions/ suggestions/ issues related to Taskmator then please contact me via email (taskmator@gmail.com) or on twitter (@Taskmator).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Taskmator at none against Calca's 2. Taskmator also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 months) and price ($4.99 vs $9.99). Calca's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 59%) and rating (4.5 vs 4.3). On ratings volume, 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
Calca costs $9.99 and Taskmator $4.99 up front. Calca sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Taskmator asks for nothing beyond the download.
Calca holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 153 and 231 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Calca's written reviews are positive against 59% of Taskmator's.
Calca ships an update every 5 months, Taskmator weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Calca | Taskmator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $4.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (153 ratings) — better | 4.3 (231 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews — better | 59.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 153 | 231 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 78 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Krueger Systems, Inc. | Amit Chaudhary |
Customer experience
Calca
Taskmator
User reviews
Calca
From 153 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Unique blend of text editor and calculator
- 📝 Markdown support for documentation
- 🔄 Dynamic recalculation of all values
- ⚙️ Powerful mathematical and algebraic capabilities
- 📊 Unit conversion and unit-aware calculations
Room to improve
- 🐛 Magic Keyboard input bugs on iPad
- ⚠️ Appears abandoned or poorly maintained
- 🐛 Text selection issues with external keyboards
- 📱 iPad landscape mode problems
- 🐛 Cursor jumping and screen jumping during editing
Taskmator
From 231 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful, flexible, and customizable
- 👍 Excellent integration with Reminders app
- 👍 Distraction-free plain text interface
- 👍 Extensive customization options
- 👍 Responsive developer
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 👎 Confusing and unintuitive user interface
- 👎 Difficulty with scrolling and moving tasks
- 👎 Dropbox sync problems and data loss
- 👎 Lack of iCloud support
Bugs and requests
Calca
Reported bugs
12 issues- Magic Keyboard causes number input to overwrite instead of append
- Text selection before numbers triggers increment/decrement instead of selecting
- Cursor jumps forward and backward with external keyboards
- iPad Pro keyboard truncation in portrait mode
- Arrow key (=>) doesn't work in landscape mode
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- App crashes on startup on some devices
- File saving is temperamental and causes data loss
- Folders don't persist unless calculations created within them
- Large number calculations lose precision (10^100 + 1 - 10^100 returns 0 instead of 1)
- Keyboard focus issues on iPad with Magic Keyboard
- iOS 13+ button adaptation issues
- Spinning beach ball on very large calculations
Requested features
15 requests- Files app and document browser integration
- Dropbox and Google Drive support
- Date calculation functionality
- Looping and iteration support
- User-defined function storage in separate files
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- Temperature unit support (Celsius, Fahrenheit)
- Logarithmic and non-proportional unit definitions
- Multiple parametric plots simultaneously
- Landscape mode optimization
- Tabular data and multi-row markdown table support
- Dark mode (now implemented)
- Subscription model option for ongoing development
- Decimal place formatting control
- Charting and financial functions
- Better document management interface
Taskmator
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes on launch or when switching apps
- Deleting or modifying files causes data loss
- Syncing issues with Dropbox and iCloud
- Unreliable task management and completion
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to collapse/expand sub-tasks
- Improved keyboard shortcuts and navigation
- Better visual indication of task completion
- Smoother drag-and-drop functionality
- iCloud sync support
In-app purchases
Calca
- 6-Month Optional Patronage$4.99
- 12-Month Optional Patronage$7.99
Taskmator
No in-app purchases









