RedX Stairs or Stairs-X: which stair building app should you use?

We make MeisterCalc, so read this with that in mind. We have not built a stair with RedX Stairs or Stairs-X. Every fact about them comes from their own pages, read on 1 November 2026: the Google Play listings for RedX Stairs, Stairs-X Lite and Stairs-X Pro, the RedX Stairs App Store page and redxapps.com. Each fact is linked where it is stated. Google Play prices are from the Australian store, in Australian dollars with GST. “Not stated” means the page we read does not say, not that the app can’t do it. MeisterCalc’s prices come from Google Play in your own currency, so none is quoted here.

Which stair building app should you pick?

Pick by the stair you are building. Turns, landings and winders need a stair specialist; a straight flight doesn’t.

• A stair that turns, lands or winds: RedX Stairs or Stairs-X Pro. Both list L- and U-shaped stairs, landings and winders.
• A 3D model, stringer blueprints and a cut list: RedX Stairs, whose site says every design gets a cut list and a printable blueprint.
• Many stair types for one payment: Stairs-X Pro, A$89.99 once on Google Play Australia, with 28 stair types on its list.
• A free try of many stair types, if ads don’t bother you: Stairs-X Lite, which lists 10 stair types and shows ads.
• A straight flight in millimetres, free and with no ads: MeisterCalc’s Stairs. It gives the risers, going, stringer line, incline and stairwell opening, with a live side view, and it sits in an app with 14 other building calculators.

How do RedX Stairs, Stairs-X and MeisterCalc compare?

Price, platforms and units decide most choices before the stair types do. Each cell links the page it comes from.

Offline use: the Stairs-X Lite listing says it works without an internet connection; the RedX Stairs and Stairs-X Pro listings don’t say. Every MeisterCalc calculation runs on the phone, so it works with no signal; purchases need a connection. Last updates on Google Play: RedX Stairs 1 August 2026, Stairs-X Lite 6 April 2026, Stairs-X Pro 28 May 2025.

Which stair types does each app do?

RedX Stairs and Stairs-X Pro list the most shapes; Stairs-X Lite has no winders on its list; MeisterCalc does straight flights only. “Yes” means the app’s own page names it.

MeisterCalc’s Stairs has no landings, winders or turns: plan a stair that turns as two straight flights and work each one, or use one of the specialists.

What is the RedX Stairs app, and what does Pro cost?

RedX Stairs is a stair design app that draws the stair in 3D and makes plans, with a free tier and a Pro subscription. It is made by RedX Technology Inc of Ontario, Canada, shown on Google Play as RedXApps.

• Stair types: the Play listing names straight, L-shaped, U-shaped, spiral, winder and corner deck stairs, curved stairs, hip stringers and stairs with landings, in centimetres, millimetres, feet or inches.
• Plans and 3D: the listing describes 3D views of every stair type, to-scale plans with stringer details, and designs you can print, share, save to photos or store in the app.
• On its site: redxapps.com adds automatic stringer blueprints, a cut list for every design, a baluster spacing calculator, an AI stair designer (RedX AI) and a stair builder that runs in a browser.
• Free or Pro: the pricing page says the free tier gives unlimited free projects with limited access to Pro features. The Play listing says Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription, inside the same app.
• Prices: Google Play Australia shows in-app items from A$4.99 to A$99.99 per item, without saying which item is which. The site’s plans are $9.99 a month billed yearly ($119.99) or $19.99 month to month for one app, and $19.99 a month billed yearly ($239.99) or $29.99 monthly for all RedX apps; the page shows “$” without naming the currency.
• “RedX Stairs Pro” and “Premium”: the US App Store page lists in-app items called RedX Stairs Premium at $59.99 and RedX Stairs Pro at $69.99, and a RedX Apps Bundle at $179.99, without saying what period each covers. There is no separate RedX Stairs Pro app.

What is the difference between Stairs-X Lite and Stairs-X Pro?

They are two separate apps from TinuxSoft. Lite is free and shows ads; Pro is a paid app, A$89.99 once on Google Play Australia, that lists 28 stair types against Lite’s 10, adds winders and emails a PDF with the drawings.

• Stairs-X Lite: its listing names simple, semicircular, stringer, bowstring, L- and U-shaped, spiral, helical and zig-zag stairs and stairs with an intermediate landing. It draws side, top and detail views as you type, emails the calculation, works offline, and takes millimetres, centimetres or inches with fractions. The page shows “Contains ads” and no in-app purchases: 1M+ downloads, 4.2 stars from 6.3K reviews, updated 6 April 2026.
• Ads and the upgrade: in a reply on the Lite page (1 October 2021), the developer says the ads fund the free app and that buying the Pro version removes them. The upgrade is a second app, not an in-app purchase.
• Stairs-X Pro: its listing adds winder stairs on stringers (90° and 180° turns, Z and C shapes, angled U winders), zig-zag stairs with landings and turns, left- or right-handed stairs, and an email with the calculation and drawings as a PDF. It shows A$89.99 with a Buy button, 10K+ downloads, no rating, and its last update on 28 May 2025.

Where are RedX Stairs and Stairs-X better than MeisterCalc?

On anything that isn’t a straight flight, and on drawings. Both are built for stairs alone, and it shows in their lists.

• Stair types. RedX Stairs and Stairs-X Pro do turns, landings, winders, spirals and curved stairs. MeisterCalc does none of these.
• Drawings you can build from. RedX gives a 3D model, stringer blueprints and a cut list; Stairs-X draws side, top and detail views. MeisterCalc draws one live side view of the flight and gives the stringer line length, not a cut stringer template.
• Deck corners. RedX lists wrap-around corner deck stairs with hip and jack stringer blueprints.
• More places to use it. RedX Stairs works on Android, iPhone, iPad and in a browser, and its pricing page says plans work across web and mobile.
• Track record. Stairs-X Lite has 1M+ downloads and 4.2 stars from 6.3K reviews, and RedX Stairs 100K+ downloads. MeisterCalc is new: 100+ downloads and no rating yet.

Where is MeisterCalc’s Stairs better?

For a straight flight, it is free with no ads and no time limit, and it works the stairwell opening as well as the steps.

• Free, without ads. Stairs is one of three free calculators, with Concrete and Check Square, and the app shows no ads.
• Three ways in. Rise Only (total rise and going), Rise + Run (total rise and total run, for a stair that must fit a fixed space) and Run Only (it estimates the rise that suits a run). Our guide to stairs in a tight space shows when the run decides.
• The opening above. Under Advanced, enter the floor or joist thickness and the headroom, and it gives the length of the stairwell opening; how big a stairwell opening needs to be works the formula by hand. Riser Limited rounds the riser count up so no riser is taller than the height you set.
• Millimetres first. Fields are in millimetres by default, with feet, inches and sixteenths under Settings ▸ Units ▸ Default units.
• Offline, and shareable. Every calculation runs on the phone, and results go out as text or a PDF from the share button.
• The rest of the job. The same app has Baluster Spacing for the balustrade, Concrete for the footings and 13 more calculators, and this site has all the construction calculators free in a browser.

How does MeisterCalc work out a straight deck stair?

Give it the height and the run you have, and it shares both out evenly. A deck 1050 mm above the path, with 1250 mm of run to the bottom step, takes 6 risers of 175 mm and 5 goings of 250 mm. This is the app’s Rise + Run mode, worked through with its formulas:

1. Risers: 1050 ÷ 190 (the desired riser height, the default under Advanced) = 5.53, which rounds to 6 risers. Each is 1050 ÷ 6 = 175.0 mm.
2. Treads: 6 − 1 = 5, because the deck itself is the top step. Going: 1250 ÷ 5 = 250.0 mm.
3. Stringer line: √(1050² + 1250²) = √2,665,000 = 1632.5 mm, from the foot of the first riser to the top of the last.
4. Incline angle: arctan(1050 ÷ 1250) = 40.03°, along that same line.

Worked by hand, not shown by the app: 2R + G = 2 × 175 + 250 = 600 mm, the figure the rule aims for (the 2R + G stair formula), and the nosing line rises at arctan(175 ÷ 250) = 35.0°. Against the NCC 2025 Housing Provisions for a house in Australia (riser 115 to 190 mm, going 240 to 355 mm, 2R + G 550 to 700 mm), every figure falls inside. A deck 1 m or more above the ground also needs a barrier under Part 11.3; the baluster gap rules cover it. The code, the drawings and your council decide what is allowed, not a calculator.

In MeisterCalc: open Home ▸ Stairs, choose Rise + Run and enter Total Rise 1050 mm and Total Run 1250 mm, with Desired Riser Height at 190 mm under Advanced. It shows Number of Risers 6, Actual Riser Height 175.0 mm, Number of Treads 5, Actual Tread Width 250.0 mm, Total Run 1250.0 mm, Stringer Length 1632.5 mm and Incline Angle 40.03°, and draws the flight as you type. It also shows a Stairwell Opening from the floor thickness and headroom under Advanced, which an open deck stair doesn’t need. Stairs is free. For a whole floor-to-floor stair, see how many steps a 2.7 m or 3 m floor needs, and for setting out the stringer, how to lay out a stair stringer.

What are the limits of this comparison?

• We did not install RedX Stairs or Stairs-X. Everything about them is what their own pages said on 1 November 2026, and listings change: check before you pay.
• Google Play prices are from the Australian store in Australian dollars, GST included; App Store prices are from the US store in US dollars; the RedX pricing page shows “$” without a currency. Your store may show different prices.
• “Not stated” means the page we read does not name it, not that the app lacks it.
• An app is a calculator, not an inspector. Stair rules come from the NCC in Australia, the NZ Building Code in New Zealand, the Approved Documents in England and the local code in the US, and your council or building department has the final say.

Facts about RedX Stairs and Stairs-X on this page were checked on 1 November 2026 against each app’s Google Play listing, the RedX Stairs App Store page and redxapps.com. Spotted something out of date? Write to meruappsdev@gmail.com.

Questions people ask

Is the RedX Stairs app free?

The download is. The RedX pricing page gives free users unlimited projects with limited Pro features; Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription.

Is Stairs-X Pro a subscription?

No. Stairs-X Pro is a paid app, A$89.99 on Google Play Australia, with no in-app purchases shown.

Does Stairs-X Lite have ads?

Yes. Its Play page shows “Contains ads”, and the developer points people who want no ads to the Pro app.

Which stair app does winders and landings?

RedX Stairs and Stairs-X Pro list both; Stairs-X Lite lists landings only. MeisterCalc does neither.

Does a stair app make my stair comply?

No. It does the arithmetic. The code, the drawings and your council or building department decide.

So which stair app should you download?

If your stair turns, lands or winds, get RedX Stairs for 3D and cut lists on a subscription, or Stairs-X Pro for one payment. If it is a straight flight, MeisterCalc works it free, in millimetres, with the opening above and no ads, alongside 14 more building calculators. All our comparisons are on the compare page.

Related

• All MeisterCalc comparisons
• Stair maths: risers, treads, stringer and opening
• Calculators for stair builders
• How big a stairwell opening needs to be
• Best construction calculator apps for Android