Comparison

RPN vs RLM

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

RPN

This app simulates a legendary 1970s programmable calculator, offering advanced features for scientists and engineers. It allows users to run programs, manage virtual cards, and access hundreds of free program cards from its website.

Highlights
  • Virtual program and data cards
  • Virtual paper tape printer
  • Database-driven card manager
  • Create, label, and organize unlimited cards
  • Effortless saving of card collections
  • Formatted program listings
  • Live display of stack and registers
Features
Read full description

A dream calculator of the 70's, priced at $3,200 in today's dollars, now affordable for everyone! RPN-97 Pro is the first complete simulation of Hewlett-Packard's legendary HP-97 programmable calculator for iOS. Produced from 1976 to 1984, the HP-97's features coupled with its capability to store programs on magnetic cards made it a huge success among scientists, engineers and other professionals. Thousands of programs were written for it. Now you can run them right on your iPad, with more ease and faster than ever before. To get you started quickly, download hundreds of program cards from our website for free. What users said: “The most delightful app I possess. The magnet card reader emulation rocks. Would have paid much more for this." "As the owner of an actual working HP 97 calculator, I am blown away with this new simulator. Simply fabulous." "Whoever coded this my hat goes off to you - what a professional piece of work, incredible app." RPN-97 Pro is fully compatible with RPN-67 Pro, its companion simulator of the HP-67 calculator. Features: • Virtual program and data cards • Virtual paper tape printer • Powerful database-driven card manager • Create, label, and organize a virtually unlimited number of cards • Use iTunes to effortlessly save entire card collections on your Mac/PC • Sharing: e-mail, AirDrop, Dropbox, copy, paste, print • Formatted listing clearly showing labels and targets of branches • E-mail listings and let the recipient paste the text right into RPN-97 • Print listings on any AirPrint-compatible printer • Program listing on paper tape shows subroutine nesting • Edit paper tape • E-mail paper tape, or print it via AirPrint • Cut/copy/paste displayed value or program steps • Paste HP-67 or HP-97 listings from other sources into RPN-97 and run them • "Live" display of stack, memory registers, program counter, flags • Show program usage notes • 30 selectable background images, even add your own • Much faster than a real HP-97 • Low-battery indicator (iPad charge 10% or less) • Compatible with RPN-67 Pro and RPN-67 SD, CuVee Software's HP-67 simulators • Supports hardware keyboard While RPN-97 Pro can work exactly like a real HP-97, changing a simple setting will turn the app into a super-charged HP-97: • Up to 999 program steps, 8 subroutine levels, 6 additional flags (F4...F9) • 100 additional registers • 100 additional labels • 100 built-in constants and conversions • More than 150 additional powerful operations and functions Plus: • 15 commands to print and manipulate any range of extended registers • Unrestricted register arithmetic • Exchange x with any register • Complex numbers mode, hyperbolic functions • Non-volatile memory - stack, registers, program, flags, paper tape • Status indicators for prefix keys (EXT, f, LBL, GTO, etc.) • Display showing thousands separators (optional) • Text output on paper tape in 10 colors, even simple plotting • Stack-of-stack: push/pop the entire stack on internal stack (4 levels) • Single-step into subroutines (optional) • Powerful debugging aids, including 10 breakpoints with counters • Keycodes translated to command name while entering or single-stepping a program • Change the duration of the PAUSE command • Cancel SST or BST operation by simply sliding your finger off the depressed key • Compress constants in programs into a single step (reversible) • Use existing programs in text format by a simple paste operation RPN-97 Pro comes with more than 130 programs pre-installed, including HP Standard Pac, HP Business Decisions Pac, HP Math Pac I, HP Stat Pac I, and HP Surveying Pac I. The simulator has been verified to correctly run the examples given in HP Civil Engineering Pac I, HP Clinical Lab Pac, HP E.E. Pac I, HP Games Pac I, HP M.E. Pac I, HP Navigation Pac I, as well as large number of programs published in Users' Library Solutions. For more information and free program downloads visit the RPN-97/67 website: cuveesoft.ch/rpn67

About

RLM

This scientific calculator offers a comprehensive suite of tools for finance, business, statistics, and complex scientific calculations. It emulates a classic calculator while leveraging modern iOS device capabilities for ease of use and advanced functions.

Highlights
  • Finance and Business calculations
  • Date and Time interval calculations
  • Advanced Statistics and Curve Fitting
  • Complex Numbers and 3D Vectors
  • Unit and Currency Conversions
  • Equation Solver
  • Programmable functions
Features
Read full description

The RLM-10CX is a programmable RPN calculator with a special focus on science and engineering. It is based in the Hewlett-Packard HP-10C calculator. It keeps the classic scientific keyboard you already know and its keystroke programming, and adds a complete set of menus and worksheets designed to bring up the most of your iOS devices and , at the same time, conserving the easy of use and all functions originally provided by the real calculator. >Keyboard: •RPN entry with a four-level stack, LAST X and 20 storage registers with register arithmetic. •Trigonometric, logarithmic and power functions, polar-rectangular and hours conversions, statistics with linear regression and estimates directly from the keys. •Keystroke programs of up to 1000 lines with conditional tests and branches, written in a full-screen editor and saved and loaded by name. >Finance Worksheets: •Account Balance: Calculates the balance of cash transactions and interest applied at arbitrary dates. •Loan Amortization: Amortization schedule for a single payment or several payments at once. •Bonds 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. •Cash Flows: NPV, IRR and related answers for equal periods or for cash flows occurring at arbitrary dates. •Depreciation: Calculates depreciation with SL, SOYD, DB, DBX or MACRS methods. •Interest Conversion: Nominal and effective interest conversion. •Time Value of Money: Calculates compound interest problems. >Business Worksheets: •Bill-Tip-Split: Calculates the sharing of a bill with tip. •Break Even: Analyzes the relation Profit = (Price - Var.Cost) • Units - Fix.Cost •Currency Exchange with manual or on-line rates. •Inventory Turn Over. •Percents & Margins: Calculates %Change, %Total and business margins. •Return on Investment. >Date / Time: •Calculates days between dates with Actual, 360 or 365 day calendars, and time intervals between different times. >Statistics Worksheets: •Probability: 16 probability distributions. •(X,N)-List Statistics: One and two variable statistics and curve fitting. •(X,Y)-List Statistics: Two-variable statistics and curve fitting with six regression models. >Scientific Worksheets: •Angles & Polar-Rectangular conversions. •Complex Numbers: Arithmetic and functions of complex numbers in cartesian or polar form. •Combination & Permutation. •Logarithms, Trigonometric, Hyperbolic and Number Alteration functions. •Quadratic Equation solver. •Triangle Solution: Solves plane and spherical triangles. •Universal Constants: The CODATA physical constants values and descriptions. •3D Vectors: Operations with vectors in cartesian, spherical or cylindrical coordinates. >Convert Worksheets: •Angles & Polar, Currency Exchange, Interest Conversion and Units Conversion: physical units conversion, completely customizable. >General Worksheets: •Solver: Solves arbitrary equations entered as text for any of the variables, knowing the others. •Storage Registers: Store and perform operations directly on the calculator's storage registers. •Memory Content: Clear, back up or restore part or all of the calculator's memory. •General Settings: Customize display format, decimals, date format, angle unit, left-handed layout, sounds, haptics and more. •Help Documents: Description and examples of all the calculator worksheets and features. >Editors: To create or edit data •(Date,Trx) and (Date,CF) Lists: Dated transactions and cash flows. •(X,N) and (X,Y) Lists: Data for cash flows and statistics. •Program, Solver Equation and Units Database. System requirements: iOS 26.0 or above. 30-day free trial, then a single one-time Lifetime Purchase of $9.99 USD. No subscription. License Agreement: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT A HEWLETT PACKARD CALCULATOR, AND IS NOT SPONSORED IN ANYWAY BY HEWLETT PACKARD OR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES.

Screenshots

RLM4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: RLM at Free against RPN's $4.99. RLM also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). RPN's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (11 vs 1). On rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

RLM is free to download; RPN costs $4.99 up front. RLM sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. RPN asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for RPN against 5.0 for RLM. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RPN has 11 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RPN ships an update every 3 months, RLM monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
RPN versus RLM: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRPNRLM
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (11 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCuVee SoftwareR.L.M. Software

Customer experience

RPN

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

RLM

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

RPN

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

RLM

One-time1
  • Lifetime Purchase$9.99

Questions

Is RPN free?
RPN costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is RLM free?
RLM is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, RPN or RLM?
RLM is rated higher. RPN averages 4.9 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while RLM averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do RPN or RLM have ads?
Neither RPN nor RLM shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RPN or RLM?
RPN ships an update every 3 months, and RLM monthly. Most recently, RPN was updated on November 1, 2026 and RLM on November 12, 2026.

Other comparisons