The Blockpad story

We’re engineers who felt the need for better calculation software.

Our story may sound familiar to you—

Of course, we would use Excel a lot, and we were proud of our clever spreadsheets. Whether for organizing data or for calculations, it is such a powerful tool. We knew it wasn’t perfect—Excel files quickly become too messy to maintain or check—but we accepted the downsides.

In every engineering office, we knew a person or two who loved Mathcad. Intrigued, we would play with it, and we would appreciate its units and math features but find it too cumbersome.

We liked to extend Excel with VBA, although our colleagues were scared by the warnings from sharing macros, so we would stick to regular formulas if possible.

Surprisingly, well into the 21st century, there wasn’t a better option.

Blockpad has a simple premise. Engineers should have calculation software that is powerful and clear. We should not have to make compromises between quality and convenience, clarity and efficiency. We need the benefits of Excel and Mathcad (and also bigger calculation modules and modeling software) at the same time, not to choose between the pros and cons.

Development for Blockpad began over 13 years ago, and now it has a growing user base all around the world. Engineers are discovering that it is possible to have calculation software without compromises.

Blockpad is at its most powerful when you discover its depth of features. You can build files with spreadsheets, documents, and drawings, mixing them freely. No longer are formulas limited to spreadsheets or are equations limited to worksheets. Blockpad readily produces documents and drawings powered by spreadsheet-type formulas, and it calculates systems of equations within spreadsheets. You can build files however you want, and it produces beautiful results.

Spreadsheeting becomes even more fun, and calculations become clear and easy to check.

In the future, our system for blocks and models will be able to run even the most complex models within our calculation system. Even the biggest models will be easy to check and document.

We are looking forward to hearing what you build with Blockpad!