RetireWhen vs FIRECalc
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RetireWhen
This app helps you plan your retirement by allowing you to adjust various financial factors and instantly visualize their impact on your future savings and depletion age through dynamic charts and interactive sliders.
- Dynamic real-time charts
- Support for 3 user profiles
- Adjust income, savings, and spending
- Visualize depletion age and savings breakdown
- Interactive sliders for real-time adjustments
- Year-by-year results view
- Advanced variable adjustments
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RetireWhen: Plan Your Future, Instantly Take control of your retirement journey with RetireWhen – the intuitive, all-in-one retirement calculator that lets you see your future take shape as you adjust your plans. Features: • Dynamic charts that update instantly as you adjust values • Support for 3 profiles: Partner 1, Partner 2, and the two Combined • Set your income, savings, retirement age, spending, and more • Visualize depletion age and savings breakdown with clear graphs • Interactive sliders to tweak retirement age and spending in real-time • View detailed, year-by-year results in the Results tab • Adjust advanced variables like growth and inflation rates • iPad and iPhone optimized – works great in both portrait and landscape • All features included – no subscriptions or in-app purchases • Save results to Files or share via text, email, etc. • Your personal info stays on your phone. None of it is shared or sold to third parties Plan smarter. Know When you can Retire. Download RetireWhen today and take the guesswork out of your future.
FIRECalc
This app simulates thousands of market scenarios to provide customized retirement planning. It helps you determine your exact retirement age, safe annual budget, and optimal withdrawal strategy across various assets, factoring in potential government aid.
- Thousands of market simulations
- Customized retirement runway
- Smart drawdown strategy
- Government aid factoring
- Multi-asset tracking
- Flexible budget scenarios
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FIRECalc: The Custom Engine for Financial Independence Are you on track to retire early? Or are you just guessing? Most retirement apps rely on elementary math like the "4% Rule," assuming you will withdraw the exact same amount every year. FIRECalc was designed to customize your retirement runway in a way that other calculators miss by running thousands of market simulations against your specific budget, all with a sleek and easy to use interface. WHY UPGRADE TO PREMIUM? The base app includes powerful features like investment tracking, budget tracking, growth plans, 5 year retirement Burndown optimization, and government aid calculators including Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps). But when you upgrade to FIRECalc Premium, you unlock a custom FIRE Burndown Engine that acts as your personal financial pilot: Smart Drawdown Strategy: We don't just tell you if you can retire; we tell you how. Our engine automatically puts your withdrawals in the most effective order (Cash, Roth, 401k, Brokerage, Crypto, HELOC) to minimize taxes and maximize longevity. Prefer your own approach? Switch to Custom and drag accounts into any order you like. Tax-Aware Planning: Every year of your plan is calculated with taxes in mind, so you see what you actually keep, not just what you withdraw. Definitive Answers: Get data-backed answers to your most important questions: What is my exact Retirement Age? What if I work 1 more year, or 1 less? What is my safe Annual Budget? And precisely How Long Will It Last? Unlock Hidden Income: Unlike traditional calculators, we factor in potential Government Aid (like Medicaid and SNAP for all 50 states) during your "gap years," effectively extending your portfolio's life. Just turn on "Include Aid in FIRE?" and FIRECalc plans your withdrawals to keep your income under aid limits. HELOC Strategy: Home equity loan draws don't count as income. When aid is on, FIRECalc can draw from a HELOC to help you stay under Medicaid and SNAP limits without triggering a taxable event. Don't plan to use aid? Turn it off with one tap. Secure Cloud Sync: Your data syncs securely across all your Apple devices via iCloud. Your plan is safe even if you lose your device. KEY FEATURES Multi-Asset Tracking: Full support for 401k, Roth IRA, HSA, Crypto, Metals, and Real Estate. Flexible Scenarios: Test "Lean FIRE" vs "Fat FIRE" budgets instantly. Download FIRECalc today. You may be closer to freedom than you think. NOTE: this app is not intended to impersonate the identity of any government agency. It is not possible to apply for SNAP/EBT Benefits or Medicaid/ACA/Medicare via this app. This app is only intended to give an estimated calculation only based on public information on federal and state websites. Terms of Use: [www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: RetireWhen at none against FIRECalc's 2. RetireWhen also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6). FIRECalc's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 4 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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. FIRECalc sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. RetireWhen asks for nothing beyond the download.
RetireWhen holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 10 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
RetireWhen ships an update every 4 weeks, FIRECalc every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | RetireWhen | FIRECalc |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better | 4.6 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Orestes Melgarejo | Timothy DeGraff |
Customer experience
RetireWhen
FIRECalc
In-app purchases
RetireWhen
No in-app purchases
FIRECalc
- Premium Monthly Access3 Months trial$9.991 Month
- Premium Monthly Access1 Year trial$79.991 Year
Questions
Is RetireWhen free?
Is FIRECalc free?
Which has better reviews, RetireWhen or FIRECalc?
Do RetireWhen or FIRECalc have ads?
Which is updated more often, RetireWhen or FIRECalc?
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