# Qalculate

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/qalculate/

7 people recommended Qalculate in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, very powerful calculator that people reach for daily, especially through KRunner integration on KDE.

Summary written by Claude from 7 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Favorite everyday calculator (3 comments in the sample): "I found it recently and have been happy with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47199512)) "Just had to check my goto, Qalculate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46398613)) "is my favourite REPL-like calculator" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46866067))

## Other calculator apps people recommend

- [SpeedCrunch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/speedcrunch-1-1/): 10 recommend, 3 mixed, 7 criticize
- [Free42 by Thomas Okken](https://hackerapproved.com/p/free42/): 7 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Windows Calculator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-calculator/): 5 recommend, 3 mixed, 32 criticize
- [Math Notepad](https://hackerapproved.com/p/math-notepad/): 5 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Qalculate", https://hackerapproved.com/p/qalculate/ (7 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.