Why Decimal Points are a Premium Feature

Of all the features we've launched at calc.company, none has generated more passionate feedback than premium decimal points. Users have called them "essential," "game-changing," and "literally just a dot."

Today, we're pulling back the curtain on why that little dot costs extra.

The Rendering Complexity of "."

A decimal point may look simple, but rendering it correctly is anything but. Consider the following challenges:

Positioning: The dot must appear precisely between digits, not one pixel too high or too low
Font compatibility: Not all fonts handle decimal points the same way. We test across 47 different typefaces
Internationalization: In Germany, that's a comma. In Switzerland, it could be either. In our codebase, it's a headache
Accessibility: Screen readers need to announce "point" at exactly the right moment

Our Decimal Point as a Service (DPaaS) infrastructure handles all of this automatically. You just see a dot. We see months of engineering.

Decimal Point Positioning Algorithms

Where does the decimal point go in 1234.5678? Obvious to you, perhaps. But that's because you're not thinking about edge cases.

What about 0.0001? Or 1234567890.0000000001? Or numbers in scientific notation? Or when the user's browser is zoomed to 150%?

Our proprietary DPP (Decimal Point Positioning) algorithm handles over 10,000 edge cases. We've been refining it for years. We've filed three patents. We dream about decimal points.

Why Integers Are Enough for Most Users

Here's a truth the calculator industry doesn't want you to hear: 94% of calculations don't need decimal points.

Think about your daily math. How many items in your cart? Integer. How many miles to work? Integer (you round anyway). How many meetings today? Integer (sadly).

Decimal points are a power user feature. They're for accountants, scientists, and people who split dinner bills to the exact penny. If that's you, we have tiers for you. If it's not, why pay for precision you'll never use?

The True Cost of Precision

Every decimal place you add multiplies our computational burden:

1 decimal: 10x the precision, 10x the storage
2 decimals: 100x the precision, 100x the storage
10 decimals (Pro): 10 billion times the precision. 10 billion times the storage

Those numbers add up. Literally. That's what we do here.

Premium Precision for Those Who Need It

We're not trying to keep decimal points from people who need them. We're trying to price them fairly for what they cost.

Here's how it breaks down:

Free tier: Integers only. Whole numbers for whole people
Plus ($8.25/mo): 2 decimal places. Good for money. Good for most
Team ($14.99/user/mo): 3 decimal places. For teams that need that extra digit
Pro ($24.92/mo): Full 10-digit precision. For professionals
Enterprise: Custom precision. Because sometimes 10 isn't enough

We believe this is the fairest model. Pay for what you use. Use what you pay for.

The Bottom Line

Yes, we charge for decimal points. Yes, your phone calculator gives them away for free. But your phone calculator also sells your data, doesn't encrypt your calculations, and has never once passed a SOC2 audit.

Quality precision costs money. We're just honest about it.