Soulver is the app most people think of when they hear "notepad calculator." You type a problem in plain words, like 20% of $1,480 or $100 in EUR, and the answer shows up next to the line. It's a lovely app. It's also sold for Mac, iPad and iPhone, so if you split your day between a Mac and a Windows PC, your scratch pad can't come with you. And Soulver 4 is a $59 purchase after the free trial.
CalX does the same everyday job. Each line is a calculation, the answer appears live in a column on the right, and you write it the way you'd say it: 5 ft 9 in to cm, today + 2 weeks, 10am NYC in Tokyo. It runs on Mac and Windows, and it's part of a membership you might already have.
Light, quick, and on Mac and Windows
- Small download. CalX for Mac is 14.2 MB, a little under Soulver's 18 MB. On Windows, CalX is 4.4 MB, and 3.9 MB on Windows on ARM.
- There when you reach for it. A global shortcut brings CalX to the front from any app, and Keep on top floats it above your other windows. Answers update as you type.
- Same app on both systems. CalX has builds for Mac, Windows and Windows on ARM.
What you can do in it
- Math in plain English. Write sqrt(2) or 5% of 240 with no equals sign and no special syntax.
- Live currency and crypto. Rates refresh every hour, so $9 in EUR or 1 BTC just work.
- Units, dates and timezones. Convert 500 GB in TB, count today - 30 days, or check now in London, with 80+ cities and the usual short codes.
- Totals without a spreadsheet. Put sum, avg or prev on its own line to pull values from the block above.
- Click to copy. Tap any result and it lands on your clipboard.
- Notes that stay put. Your document is right where you left it next time, with no save button.
Who it's for
Freelancers sending invoices in two currencies. People who book calls across timezones. Developers converting bytes during a code review. Students doing homework that mixes units. And anyone with a Mac at home and a Windows PC at work who wants the same calculator on both.
When to stick with Soulver
If you do your sums on an iPhone or iPad, keep Soulver: it has apps for both and syncs your sheets over iCloud. It also goes further on power features, with multi-word variables, financial functions like mortgage repayments and compound interest, Wolfram|Alpha lookups, and export to PDF. And if you'd rather pay once and own it, Soulver's one-time price is the simpler deal.
What it costs
CalX isn't sold on its own. It comes with a getapps.cafe membership, from $1.99 a month on the annual plan, and that includes every other app on the menu too. A Solo plan covers one device, Family covers five. There's a 7-day free trial, so you can try your own sums in it before paying anything.
