Free and low-cost construction takeoff software, compared (2026)
Few construction takeoff tools are free for real work. Most paid tools cost hundreds to thousands of dollars a year per seat. The table below shows what each tool gives you free, the lowest paid price we could verify, the platforms it runs on, and who it suits. Prices checked September 24, 2026.
What you get free, and what the first paid plan costs
| Tool | Free option | Lowest published paid price with takeoff tools | Platforms | Drawings uploaded to the vendor? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRACEBUILD Lite | Free during early access | $4.99 per user per month at launch (pricing) | Browser | No, processed on your device by default | Small subs and estimators who want low-cost browser takeoff |
| STACK | Free version | From $249 per user per month (source) | Web-based | Yes, cloud | Takeoff plus estimating in one hosted tool |
| Bluebeam | 14-day trial | $260 per user per year, Basics (length and area); counts from Core at $330 (source) | Windows desktop, web, mobile | Not for Revu desktop; yes for web and Studio | Markup-heavy teams |
| zzTakeoff | 14-day trial | $49.99 per user per month, or $549.89 per year, Pro (source) | Cloud-based | Yes, cloud | Low-cost cloud takeoff with templates |
| Kreo | 7-day trial | $70 per user per month billed annually, Plus (source) | Cloud, browser | Yes, cloud | Manual takeoff now, AI tools on a higher plan |
| ConstructConnect Takeoff | "Try it free" offer | $1,200 per seat per year, Starter, 25 pages per project (source) | Browser, Mac or Windows | Yes, cloud | Browser takeoff from the On-Screen Takeoff company |
| Square Takeoff | 14-day trial | $1,699 per year, or $249 per month (source) | Online, Windows and Mac | Yes, you upload plans | Trades that want simple online takeoff on an annual plan |
| PlanSwift | 14-day trial | $2,000 per seat per year, Essential (source) | Windows desktop | No, local | Assembly-based takeoff and pricing |
| Togal.AI | None listed | $299 per user per month, billed yearly, Growth (source) | Browser | Yes, cloud | Automated area takeoff |
| Beam AI | None listed | From $8K per trade per year, do-it-yourself (source) | Cloud platform or done-for-you service | Yes, cloud | High-volume trades that want takeoffs done for them |
| On-Screen Takeoff | 14-day trial | Quote only (source) | Windows desktop | No, local | Condition-based, high-volume bidding |
| Autodesk Forma Takeoff (formerly Autodesk Takeoff) | Not listed on the pricing page | Quote only (source) | Cloud (Autodesk Forma, formerly Autodesk Construction Cloud) | Yes, cloud | Teams already on Autodesk Forma or Autodesk Construction Cloud |
All prices are in US dollars from each vendor's public pricing page on September 24, 2026, for the lowest plan whose listed features include takeoff or measurement tools. Taxes, add-ons, onboarding and multi-seat discounts are not included. Prices change; follow the source links before you buy.
Each tool in a paragraph
TRACEBUILD Lite
Our tool, so read this one with that in mind. It runs in the browser and does PDF markup, measurement to scale and quantity takeoff, with Detect Spaces and Trace Walls proposing rooms and walls for you to review, and Excel and CSV export. It is free during early access and becomes $4.99 per user per month at launch. Watch out for: there are no Studio-style live sessions, and estimating with costs and labor is part of TRACEBUILD Pro, a Windows app that is coming soon at $19.99 per user per month. See it on a real sheet in our worked takeoff example.
STACK
The only other tool here with a free version rather than a trial: STACK's pricing page lists a free version of Takeoff & Estimate alongside paid plans that start at $249 per user per month. It is web-based, so it runs on Windows or Mac. Watch out for: the free version's limits are not spelled out on the pricing page; confirm what it allows on a real project.
Bluebeam
Bluebeam sells four annual plans. Basics at $260 per user per year measures length and area; perimeters, counts, angles and volume start at Core ($330); Quantity Link to Excel is in Complete ($440); Max is $590 at an introductory price. Every plan includes Revu for Windows plus Bluebeam on web and mobile. Watch out for: Revu 20 perpetual licenses are losing Studio on December 31, 2026; see Revu 20 end of support and our list of Bluebeam alternatives.
zzTakeoff
A cloud-based tool with two plans. The Pro plan, which includes the takeoff tools, templates, assemblies and reports, is $49.99 per user per month or $549.89 per year. Watch out for: the cheaper $19.99 Collaborator plan is annotation only; its own pricing page says "No takeoff tools".
Kreo
Kreo's cheapest plan, Lite at $35 per user per month, is for viewing, comments and markups; manual measurement tools start with Plus at $70, and automated measuring and counting are in Pro at $175, all per user per month billed annually, with a 7-day trial. Watch out for: pick the plan by the tools you need, not by the headline price.
ConstructConnect Takeoff
A browser takeoff app that ConstructConnect says runs on Mac or Windows with nothing to install. Starter is $1,200 per seat per year with a 25-page limit per project; Professional is $2,200 with unlimited pages and additional seats at $1,700. Watch out for: annual contracts, and the pricing page says there are no refunds for unused time.
Square Takeoff
Online takeoff that its site says works on Windows and Mac, priced at $249 a month, $599 a quarter or $1,699 a year with unlimited jobs and storage, plus a 14-day trial. Watch out for: the annual plan is where the price makes sense; month to month it is $249, the same as STACK's entry price.
PlanSwift
A long-established Windows takeoff and estimating tool built around assemblies. Essential is $2,000 and Core $3,000 per seat per year, with a 14-day free trial. Watch out for: it is designed for and tested only on Windows Professional or Enterprise; Mac users need Boot Camp or a virtual machine. More in PlanSwift vs TRACEBUILD.
Togal.AI
AI-driven automated takeoff in the browser. Growth is $299 per user per month billed yearly, with unlimited automated takeoffs; teams of four or more get custom pricing. Watch out for: no free plan is listed, and the trial path is a demo booking.
Beam AI
Priced as annual licenses by trade and bid volume: do-it-yourself software from $8K per trade and done-for-you takeoffs from $25K. Watch out for: this is a volume product; it only pays off if you bid a lot of work in that trade.
On-Screen Takeoff
ConstructConnect's condition-based desktop takeoff, with a 14-day free trial and pricing on request. Watch out for: ConstructConnect lists Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise, and there is no published price to budget against. Our page on On-Screen Takeoff alternatives goes deeper.
Autodesk Forma Takeoff
Formerly Autodesk Takeoff. Autodesk says Autodesk Construction Cloud is now part of Autodesk Forma, and its pricing page lists Forma Takeoff in the Preconstruction bundle with a "Get a Quote" button rather than a price. Watch out for: it makes most sense if your projects already live in Autodesk Forma, formerly Autodesk Construction Cloud.
When a free tool is enough
A free or low-cost tool is enough when your takeoffs are areas, lengths and counts on PDF plans and you price in your own spreadsheet. It is not enough when you need assemblies that turn one measurement into a priced material list, live collaboration on the drawings, or integration with an estimating system your office already runs.
If you are not sure, run the same sheet through two tools and compare the numbers and the time it took. The cost of takeoff software page works through first-year totals for a one-person and a three-person shop.
How we checked
- Prices come from each vendor's public pricing page, visited on September 24, 2026. We list the lowest plan whose features include takeoff or measurement tools, not a viewer or annotation-only plan.
- Free options are what the vendor's own site offers: a free plan, a free version or a time-limited trial.
- Platforms and uploads come from vendor product and system-requirement pages. Cloud products store your drawings on the vendor's servers by design.
- What we did not do: score, rate or rank the tools. We have not tested competitors' accuracy, so we make no claims about it.
Common questions
Is there free construction takeoff software?
Yes, a little. TRACEBUILD Lite is free during early access and becomes $4.99 per user per month at launch. STACK lists a free version of its takeoff product. Most other takeoff tools, including PlanSwift, On-Screen Takeoff, Bluebeam, Kreo and Square Takeoff, offer free trials of 7 to 14 days rather than free plans.
How much does takeoff software cost?
Published entry prices we checked in September 2026 run from free, through $260 to $840 per user per year for markup-first and low-cost cloud plans, to $1,200 to about $3,600 per seat per year for dedicated takeoff products. Several tools are quote only. Our takeoff software cost page breaks it down.
Is there takeoff software for Mac?
Yes, mostly in the browser. TRACEBUILD Lite, STACK, ConstructConnect Takeoff, Square Takeoff, Kreo and Togal.AI run in a browser, so a Mac can use them. PlanSwift and On-Screen Takeoff are Windows programs that need Boot Camp or a virtual machine on a Mac. See our Mac takeoff guide.
Can I do a takeoff in Excel?
You can record and total a takeoff in Excel, but Excel cannot measure a drawing. Measure on paper or in a PDF takeoff tool, then enter one row per item with its unit, quantity and waste factor. Our free construction takeoff template does exactly that, with a tab for each trade.