At a glance: 2026 pricing
Indicative prices as of May 2026. Subscription/rental prices are per user, per year. Perpetual prices are one-time per seat; annual support is typically additional.
| Product | Vendor | Subscription / rental | Perpetual | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BidScreen XL | Vertigraph | $400/yr | $799 + $199/yr Full Serve | Excel-integrated takeoff |
| SiteWorx/OS | Vertigraph | $1,499/yr | $2,999 + $199/yr Full Serve | Earthwork cut/fill |
| Bluebeam Revu Basics | Bluebeam | $260/yr | Not offered | PDF + basic measurement |
| Bluebeam Revu Core | Bluebeam | $330/yr | Not offered | PDF + measurement |
| Bluebeam Revu Complete | Bluebeam | $440/yr | Not offered | PDF + Quantity Link to Excel |
| PlanSwift | ConstructConnect | $1,749/yr | Retired for new customers | Standalone takeoff |
| STACK | STACK Construction | $2,988/yr Premium · $3,588/yr Pro | Not offered | Cloud takeoff |
| On-Screen Takeoff | ConstructConnect | Quote-only (~$1,850/yr single-user) | Retired for new customers | Takeoff + Quick Bid bundle |
| AGTEK Gradework | AGTEK | $7,300/yr | $22,000 + $1,200/yr support | Heavy-civil earthwork |
| ProEst (Autodesk) | Autodesk | Quote-only | Not offered | Estimating + takeoff (cloud) |
| Sage Estimating | Sage | Quote-only | Quote-only + annual maintenance | Enterprise estimating suite |
| Procore Estimating | Procore | Bundled in Procore (quote-only) | Not offered | Estimating module add-on |
Vertigraph and Bluebeam prices verified against current vendor pages. PlanSwift and STACK prices verified against vendor pricing pages. AGTEK pricing per Vertigraph's 2022 research and a 2026 Carlson Construction comparison; AGTEK does not publish pricing directly. OST pricing is an industry estimate. ProEst, Sage Estimating, Procore Estimating, and Trimble WinEst are quote-only enterprise products; figures shown are industry estimates and real quotes vary by region, bundle, volume, and negotiation. Always request a current vendor quote before sizing your budget.
What changed since 2022
Several major shifts in the last four years:
- Subscription became default at most vendors. PlanSwift retired perpetual for new customers. STACK was always subscription. OST is now bundle-only at ConstructConnect. Bluebeam moved to subscription-only with Revu 21. ProEst was acquired by Autodesk and consolidated into Autodesk Construction Cloud's subscription-only model.
- Bundle pricing replaces standalone. ConstructConnect bundles OST + Quick Bid (no standalone OST). Procore bundles Estimating with the rest of the Procore platform. AGTEK introduced a $7,300/yr subscription tier alongside its $22,000 perpetual product.
- Vertigraph held the line on perpetual. BidScreen XL and SiteWorx/OS still offer perpetual licenses at the published prices. Subscription/rental is also available for users who prefer lower upfront cost. Full Serve maintenance ($199/yr per seat) covers updates and support for perpetual customers.
- Cloud-only products gained. STACK and ProEst require constant cloud access. For customers in field offices with unreliable internet, this is a real friction point.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
Subscription products feel cheaper at the start but compound. A $1,749/yr subscription for 5 years is $8,745. A perpetual SiteWorx/OS license at $2,999 with $199/yr Full Serve for 5 years is $3,795 (year 1 Full Serve is included with the purchase). The break-even between subscription and perpetual is fast — usually 2-3 years for any product where both options exist.
Rough 5-year totals (one user, current pricing, year-1 Full Serve bundled with perpetual purchase, ignoring future price inflation):
- BidScreen XL — perpetual $1,595 ($799 + 4 × $199 Full Serve), rental $2,000 (5 × $400)
- SiteWorx/OS — perpetual $3,795 ($2,999 + 4 × $199 Full Serve), rental $7,495 (5 × $1,499)
- Bluebeam Revu Complete — rental only, $2,200 (5 × $440)
- PlanSwift — rental only, $8,745 (5 × $1,749)
- STACK Pro — rental only, $17,940 (5 × $3,588)
- AGTEK Gradework — perpetual $26,800 ($22,000 + 4 × $1,200), subscription $36,500 (5 × $7,300)
- ProEst, Sage Estimating, Procore Estimating — quote-only enterprise pricing
Best-for-X
Best for Excel-based estimators
BidScreen XL. The only product on this list that adds PDF measurement directly into Microsoft Excel. If your estimating workbook is already in Excel, BidScreen XL is the cheapest and most natural fit. $400/yr rental or $799 perpetual.
Best for earthwork bidding
SiteWorx/OS for general and commercial sitework. AGTEK Gradework for heavy-civil contractors bidding multi-million-dollar grading projects who need every feature of a specialty product. SiteWorx/OS gets you 90% of the capability at 5% of the price.
Best PDF tool with light measurement
Bluebeam Revu Basics.$260/yr — cheapest entry on the list. Solid PDF tool with measurement features. Quantities don't flow into a structured estimating workbook (you'd need Bluebeam Revu Complete at $440/yr for Quantity Link to Excel), but for plan review and basic measurement it's fine.
Best for trade-specific commercial takeoff
PlanSwift ($1,749/yr) or STACK ($2,988/yr Premium, $3,588/yr Pro). Both target specialty contractors with library-based pricing for materials and assemblies. PlanSwift is desktop; STACK is cloud-only.
Best for large GCs with full estimating workflows
Sage Estimating or Procore Estimating. Both are enterprise products integrated with broader construction-management ecosystems. Significant investment, slower to deploy, but full-team support and integration with project management and accounting.
Best free option
STACK Free. Limited features but no cost. Good for a small contractor testing whether cloud takeoff is the right category. Upgrade to STACK Pro at $2,000+/yr when feature limits bite.
Hidden costs to ask about
- Implementation fees. Enterprise products often quote $1,000-$5,000 for implementation, in addition to the license. Ask for total first-year cost including implementation.
- Training packages. Some vendors mandate paid training ($500-$2,000). Others include training in the license (Vertigraph does — free training videos plus optional 1:1 screen-sharing).
- Annual price increases. Subscription products typically raise prices 5-15% per year. Multi-year lock-in contracts can hold rates flat — ask.
- Concurrent vs named licenses. Some products (Vertigraph) offer concurrent-license pools where N users share M licenses. Cheaper for teams with intermittent usage. Most subscription products only sell named-user licenses.
- Discontinuation risk. PlanSwift no longer offers perpetual; OST is now bundle-only. Standalone products can get folded into larger suites at any time, changing your buying picture overnight.
Bottom line
The cheapest takeoff software that does real estimating-workbook integration is BidScreen XL at $400/year. The cheapest standalone takeoff with full library support is PlanSwift at $1,749/year. The category gap between “PDF tool with measurement” (Bluebeam Revu Basics at $260/year, or Complete at $440/year with Quantity Link to Excel) and “Excel-native takeoff” (BidScreen XL, $400/year) is small in dollars but significant in workflow value: BidScreen XL lives inside the workbook your estimators already use rather than exporting quantities into it.
Run your own numbers through the takeoff ROI calculator. For most contractors, the payback on any of the products in this list is measured in weeks, not months. The bigger question is which product fits your existing workflow.