Construction takeoff software

Every price, owner and free trial below was read on the vendor’s own site on 1 October 2026 and is quoted as the vendor prints it. Nothing here is taken from a directory or a search-result summary. One section shows figures that another site prints, and it is labelled as such: each of those figures sits beside what the vendor’s own page said on the same day.

Public reviews of PlanSwift were read for a separate product profile. They are reviewers’ reports, not findings, and nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Takeoff is one of three purchases that share a vocabulary. Takeoff gets quantities off a drawing. Estimating prices them, with labor, material, equipment and markup; that is the subject of the guide to construction estimating software, and heavy-civil bids built from unit prices and equipment have their own guide. Bid management, which finds projects and sends invitations to bid, is a third purchase. Several products here do both takeoff and estimating; the table of what each vendor describes says which.

What each vendor prints as its price

Each row is the vendor’s own figure, as printed on its own page, with the words printed beside it. The units are not the same, and this page does not convert them: turning a monthly “As Low As” figure into a yearly one, or a price per seat into a price per user, needs assumptions about billing, seats and discounts that the vendors do not print beside the figure. Listed alphabetically; the order is not a ranking.

Who owns which tool

Ownership as each vendor’s own site states it, with the page it is stated on.

Two of the products whose own sites appeared in Google’s US results for this search on 1 October 2026 belong to one company. PlanSwift’s About page says “PlanSwift is a product of ConstructConnect”, and On Center’s homepage brands the company “On Center Software® by ConstructConnect®”. Both sell their AI takeoff tools under the same name, Takeoff Boost (PlanSwift styles it Takeoff BOOST). On Center’s maintenance renewals go to a constructconnect.com address, and an old link to its knowledge base now leads to ConstructConnect’s help center, which serves On-Screen Takeoff, Quick Bid and PlanSwift. If you price PlanSwift against On-Screen Takeoff, both quotes come from the same parent company. BuildVision’s comparison list, which appeared seventh in those results, names ConstructConnect beside On-Screen Takeoff but not beside PlanSwift.

Bluebeam’s footer says it is part of the Nemetschek Group. HCSS, the maker of HeavyBid, which is covered in the earthwork estimating software guide, states on its own site that it is part of the Nemetschek Group’s Build & Construct segment. Togal.AI sells its own plans, and eTakeoff also sells Togal.AI as an add-on to an eTakeoff Dimension license; the two prices are in different units and are shown as printed. Beam AI is made by Attentive.ai. Forma Takeoff is the product Autodesk sold as Autodesk Takeoff: the old product address now redirects to the Forma Takeoff page.

Free trials and free tiers, in each vendor’s words

What each vendor says you can use before paying, as its own page states it. None of the eight gives its full product away.

Three kinds of takeoff, sold under one name

2D takeoff on screen

The core of every product here: open the plans as a PDF or image, set the scale, and measure areas, lengths and counts by clicking on the drawing. How much of that you get can depend on the plan you buy. Bluebeam’s price list is the plainest example: its Basics plan measures length and area only, and counts, perimeters and volume start at Core. Drawing comparison, which shows what changed between two versions of a sheet, is described by Bluebeam (from Core), eTakeoff, On Center, STACK (in Premium) and Togal.AI.

3D models and earthwork

Quantities from a 3D model are a different job from measuring a PDF. Autodesk describes Forma Takeoff as doing both 2D takeoff and “automated quantities from 3D models”. Earthwork is different again: it needs existing and proposed surfaces and the volume between them. Some tools here describe a way to do it. STACK has a sitework page (cut and fill, trench volumes, topsoil removal); PlanSwift sells a plugin, EarthWork Pro V3 (cut/fill, spot elevations, trench takeoffs); Beam AI sells utility and earthwork takeoff as a done-for-you service; and On Center’s help center has a 2016 article that measures cut and fill as areas grouped by average elevation difference, taken off existing and finished grade plans laid over each other. Tools built around surfaces, volumes and machine control are covered in the earthwork estimating software guide.

AI takeoff: a license or a service

Most of these vendors now sell some automatic measurement, in one of two ways. As a license, the AI runs inside software you operate: Togal.AI is built around it; eTakeoff sells Togal.AI as an add-on and lists its own SnapAI and Autocount; PlanSwift includes Takeoff BOOST tools, with Auto Takeoff in Core; STACK lists AI takeoffs in Premium; On Center sells Takeoff Boost with On-Screen Takeoff. As a service, someone else runs the takeoff and sends back the quantities: Beam AI’s done-for-you plans, which its pricing page says are delivered in 24 to 72 hours and which are priced as annual licenses too. Beam AI also sells do-it-yourself AI software, listed for three trades.

With a service, the questions change: who checks the quantities, and what comes back. Beam AI says its utility and earthwork outputs come as Excel files, PDFs and shareable links. Ask whether you receive a takeoff you can open and edit, or only the numbers.

What each vendor’s pages describe

Described means the vendor’s own page describes the feature. Not stated means at least two of the vendor’s pages that would describe it were read and do not; it is not a no. Not checked means it was not established either way, and the record says why.

Compare any two side by side

Pick two of the eight to line up what each vendor says it does, its price as printed, its free trial and its owner, with the rows where they differ shaded.

The eight, one by one

Listed alphabetically. The order is not a ranking.

Figures other sites print, checked against the vendor

This is the only section of the page where a price comes from somewhere other than the vendor. Each figure is quoted as the other site printed it, with the date it was read, beside what the vendor’s own page said on the same day. None of them is the vendor’s price, and none is used anywhere else on this page.

What to ask on the demo

The differences that change your takeoff are about method and terms, and a demo will not volunteer them. These are the questions worth bringing.

1. Q1Which measurements are in the plan you would buy? Bluebeam’s price list shows why this matters: Basics measures length and area only, and counts, perimeters and volume start at Core. Ask every vendor the same question, plan by plan.
2. Q2Which plan formats does it open? PlanSwift names PDF, CAD and image files; Togal.AI’s FAQ names PDF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF. Ask about the files your architects and engineers actually send, including large scanned sets.
3. Q3How is the scale set and checked? One sheet can carry details at more than one scale; eTakeoff lists multiple scales on a single drawing, and PlanSwift an automatic scale tool. Ask what happens to the measurements already taken when a sheet’s scale turns out to be wrong.
4. Q4Can it overlay a revision and carry the takeoff across? Bluebeam (from Core), eTakeoff, On Center, STACK (Premium) and Togal.AI describe drawing comparison. Ask whether the comparison updates your quantities or only shows you the difference.
5. Q5How do the quantities reach your estimate? Bluebeam’s Complete plan lists Quantity Link with Microsoft Excel; STACK’s Pro plan an Excel integration; eTakeoff names Sage Estimating and 4Clicks among the applications it integrates with; Quick Bid integrates with On-Screen Takeoff. Ask to see the export of a real job.
6. Q6Per user, per seat or per license, and for how long? Bluebeam prices per user, PlanSwift per seat, Beam AI per trade on an annual license, and STACK’s Takeoff & Estimate subscriptions are 12-month terms paid upfront or monthly. On Center says that without an annual maintenance subscription some services, “like Project Express, Accounting Exports, and eQuotes”, stop working. Ask what renewal costs and what stops if you do not renew.
7. Q7Does it work without a connection? On Center calls On-Screen Takeoff a desktop application; eTakeoff marks its trial Windows only; STACK says its plans and takeoffs are reachable with an internet connection; Autodesk calls Forma Takeoff an online solution. Ask what still works on a laptop in a site trailer with no signal.
8. Q8How was the accuracy figure measured? Togal.AI’s homepage claims “up to 98% accuracy” and Beam AI’s “99%+ accurate” takeoffs; neither page read says how that was measured or on which drawings. Ask for the method, and for a takeoff of one of your own jobs that you can check against yours.

Where free calculators stop

Worth being plain, since this site gives its calculators away. Each one is a manual takeoff of one item: you type the dimensions you measured, and it returns the quantity with the arithmetic shown. The square footage calculator adds and subtracts areas; the concrete calculator turns slabs, footings and walls into cubic yards; the brick, paver and stud calculators turn a wall, a patio or a frame into a count; and the board foot calculator turns a lumber list into board feet.

None of them reads a drawing. There is no scale to calibrate, no revision to overlay, no symbol to count across forty sheets and no export into an estimate. When quantities have to come off a plan set rather than a tape, or survive the next revision, that is the work the software above is sold for. When you need one defensible quantity for one item, the calculators do it without an account or a sales call.

Questions