Hex vs Bit Alchemist
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Hex
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Hex is a developer toolkit for iPhone and iPad: 21 small utilities for the jobs that interrupt real work, like decoding a token, pretty-printing a payload, testing a pattern or checking a file hash. Everything runs on your device. ENCODE ⢠Base64: encode text, or decode standard, URL-safe (base64url), line-wrapped (MIME) and unpadded input. Bytes that aren't UTF-8 text are shown as a hex dump. ⢠URL Encode: percent-encode a value so & = ? / # + : @ are escaped, or decode it (+ reads as a space). Malformed escapes are flagged. ⢠HTML Entities: encode ampersands, angle brackets and quotes, or decode every HTML 4 named entity (nbsp, copy, mdash and the rest) plus decimal and hex references. ⢠JWT Decode: header and payload as readable JSON, with claim order kept. ⢠Hash Generator: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 of any text. FORMAT ⢠JSON Formatter: prettify, minify and validate. Your key order, numbers and escapes stay exactly as written, and top-level values like "text" or 42 are accepted. ⢠XML Formatter: indents and validates. Comments, CDATA, processing instructions and the XML declaration are kept, and the output is re-escaped so it stays valid XML. ⢠SQL Formatter: puts SELECT, FROM, WHERE, JOIN, GROUP BY and ORDER BY clauses on their own lines and uppercases keywords. Strings, quoted names and -- or /* */ comments pass through unchanged. ⢠Markdown Preview: headings, bullet and numbered lists, block quotes, fenced code blocks and rules, with bold, italic, inline code and links. ⢠HTML Preview: renders your HTML offline. Remote images, scripts, styles and frames are blocked, and links don't navigate away. GENERATE ⢠UUID Generator: version 4 UUIDs, 1 to 100 at a time, upper or lower case. ⢠Lorem Ipsum: words, sentences or paragraphs. ⢠Password Generator: 4 to 128 characters from uppercase, lowercase, digits and symbols, with at least one from each set you pick. The strength meter shows entropy in bits. ⢠Color Converter: HEX (3 or 6 digits), RGB and HSL, each editable with sliders. ⢠Checksum: MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 of a file from Files, read in chunks so large files work, and a check against an expected hash. TIME ⢠Unix Timestamp: timestamp to date and back. Seconds, milliseconds and microseconds are recognised. ⢠Cron Parser: standard five-field cron with ranges, lists, steps and month or weekday names, a plain-English description and the next five run times. ⢠Timezone Converter: pick a time and the zone it's in, then see it in any of the listed zones. TEXT ⢠Diff Checker: line-by-line comparison that lines up inserted and deleted lines. ⢠Regex Tester: matches highlighted in your text, a numbered match list, and case-insensitive, multiline and dot-matches-newline options. ⢠Text Inspector: characters, words, lines, sentences, paragraphs and UTF-8 bytes, with a character breakdown. WORKFLOW ⢠Clipboard detection: copy JSON, a JWT, Base64, a URL, XML, HTML, a Unix timestamp, a hex color or SQL, and Hex offers the matching tool with your text already in it. iOS may ask permission before Hex reads the clipboard. ⢠Deep links: hex://json, hex://jwt, hex://base64, hex://cron and the other tools open directly from Shortcuts or other apps. ⢠Copy any result, or export it as a file (.json, .xml, .sql, .txt and more) through the share sheet. WHAT HEX DOESN'T DO ⢠No network tools: no HTTP client, no API testing, no DNS lookups. ⢠JWT Decode reads tokens but does not verify signatures. ⢠Cron Parser doesn't support the L, W or # extensions or a seconds field. ⢠The SQL Formatter changes layout only. It doesn't run or validate queries. ⢠No sync and no history beyond your five most recent tools. PRIVACY Nothing leaves your device. Hex makes no network requests, has no analytics, no tracking and no accounts. Text you paste and files you hash stay on your iPhone or iPad. PRICE A one-time purchase. No subscription, no in-app purchases and no ads. Made by SHYGUY LLC.
Bit Alchemist
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Bit Alchemist is a fast, native programmer's calculator built for people who think in hexadecimal, binary, and bits ā developers, embedded engineers, reverse engineers, and CS students. Switch instantly between hex, decimal, octal, and binary. Choose 8-, 16-, 32-, or 64-bit word sizes with signed or unsigned interpretation, and watch every base update live as you type. Enter full C-style expressions with parentheses and correct operator precedence, or work in immediate/chain mode ā one engine, one result. FREE ⢠Hex / decimal / octal / binary conversion, side by side ⢠8, 16, 32, and 64-bit word sizes; signed and unsigned ⢠Arithmetic and the core bitwise operators: AND, OR, XOR, NOT ⢠Logical and arithmetic shifts: SHL, SHR, SAR ⢠C-style expressions with parentheses and correct precedence ⢠Hardware keyboard support ⢠Display tuned your way: digit grouping, prefixes, uppercase hex, leading zeros ⢠Recent history UNLOCK PRO (one-time purchase) Take it to the full workbench: ⢠CPU flags ā live carry, zero, negative, overflow, and parity ⢠Rotate operations ā ROL, ROR, and rotate-through-carry RCL / RCR ⢠Bit editor ā tap individual bits to toggle, set, clear, or test ⢠Bitfields & masks ā sign/zero-extend, mask to width, extract and build masks ⢠Explain mask ā break any value into its set-bit ranges ⢠Registers R0āR7 ā eight labelled registers with cross-word-size recall ⢠Full, unlimited history ⢠Copy as code ā export values as C, Swift, Python, or JavaScript literals ⢠ASCII view ā read a value as its byte sequence ⢠iPad workbench ā a full-screen layout with every panel at once Pro is a single one-time purchase. No subscriptions. No ads. No account. Everything runs offline on your device. Bit Alchemist ā turn raw bits into gold.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bit Alchemist at Free against Hex's $2.99. Hex's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Bit Alchemist is free to download; Hex costs $2.99 up front. Bit Alchemist sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hex asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Hex | Bit Alchemist |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free ā better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | ā |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No ā better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chad Neal | Medasis Corporation |
In-app purchases
Hex
No in-app purchases
Bit Alchemist
- Bit Alchemist Pro$14.99
Questions
Is Hex free?
Is Bit Alchemist free?
Do Hex or Bit Alchemist have ads?
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