SpeedCrunch
The most recommended of 7 calculator apps
A fast, keyboard-driven desktop calculator that people use for scratchpad equations, bit operations and radix conversion, with a clean, free design.
A fast, keyboard-driven desktop calculator that people use for scratchpad equations, bit operations and radix conversion, with a clean, free design.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Keyboard-driven scratchpad for quick equations
“always my go-to for quick scratchpad for equations”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “Speedcrunch might finally beat out opening a terminal w/ the R interpreter for me”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” Strong bit shift and bit visualization
“I use speed crunch almost every day mostly to see bits and bit shift operations visually.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “This is the most useful calculator.. bit shifts..radix conversations..”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” Used daily by regular users
“I use speed crunch almost every day mostly to see bits and bit shift operations visually.”
Comment from 24 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “usually I just use Speedcrunch on my computer.”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still physical calculators?” “Huge fan of SpeedCrunch!!”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Input lag and slow startup in new version
“there's now marked input lag that never existed in the original version”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “It's also much slower to start now”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” Bugs and missing functions
“this app has plenty of bugs / missing issues just like everything else”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “to bad all functions dealing with prims are missing”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” Disliked new icon and redesign
“I'm also not a fan of the old one.”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1” “not a fan of the new icon tbh”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “SpeedCrunch 1.1”
Other calculator apps people recommend
The four most recommended other calculator apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpeedCrunchThis page | 13 | 7 | 65% | 4 | — | — |
| Windows Calculator | 9 | 34 | 21% | 5 | — | — |
| Qalculate | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Can I Run AI locally? | 9 | 14 | 39% | 1 | — | — |
| Free42 by Thomas Okken | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's also much slower to start now”
“I want no helpful cleverness that resulted in this bug in the first place.”
“I'm also not a fan of the old one.”
“to bad all functions dealing with prims are missing”
“it had a hardcoded limit of 5 digits before it drops to scientific notation”
“not a fan of the new icon tbh”
“Huge fan of SpeedCrunch!!”
“Speedcrunch might finally beat out opening a terminal w/ the R interpreter for me”
“this app has plenty of bugs / missing issues just like everything else”
“there's now marked input lag that never existed in the original version”
“always my go-to for quick scratchpad for equations”
“This is nice to see, and it looks like this release includes a small order of operations bug fix”
“I use speed crunch almost every day mostly to see bits and bit shift operations visually.”
“This is the most useful calculator.. bit shifts..radix conversations..”
“HexCalc and speedcrunch are my gotos”
“or something like speed crunch to do graphing”
“usually I just use Speedcrunch on my computer.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.