Bluebeam Revu 20 end of support: the dates, what stops, and your options
Revu 20 reached end of support on July 31, 2026. On December 31, 2026 it reaches end of life and loses access to Studio Sessions, Studio Projects and API integrations. A perpetual copy that is already installed keeps running on its computer after that. Academic, not-for-resale and all open or enterprise licenses are deactivated instead.
Every date and license rule below comes from Bluebeam's own pages, checked September 24, 2026. Sources are listed under the timeline. Bluebeam can change its terms, so confirm anything you act on with Bluebeam or your reseller.
The timeline
| Date | What changes | What keeps working |
|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2023 | End of sale for Revu 20. No new Revu 20 licenses are sold. | Existing Revu 20 installations. |
| July 31, 2026 (passed) | End of support. Technical support and self-service license management, including seat releases, are no longer available. Reassigning a license to a different machine is no longer supported. | Revu 20 on the computer where it is installed and activated. Studio still connects until December 31. |
| December 31, 2026 | End of life. Revu 20 loses access to Studio Sessions, Studio Projects and API integrations. Academic licenses, not-for-resale licenses and all open or enterprise licenses (serials starting 96 or 98), whether or not their maintenance is active, are deactivated. Bluebeam says it will contact Studio Enterprise customers directly. | Perpetual licenses (serials starting with 1) keep running locally, without Bluebeam cloud services, support or updates. |
Sources: Bluebeam Revu 20 EOL; Revu 20 End of Life (EOL) effective December 31, 2026 (Bluebeam Technical Support); Bluebeam end-of-life table (end of sale date). Checked September 24, 2026.
For context, the Mac version went first: Revu for Mac reached end of life on June 28, 2023, according to the same Bluebeam end-of-life table. That is why Mac users have been in this position for three years already. What Mac estimators use now.
Which license do you have?
Look at the first digits of your Revu 20 serial number. Bluebeam's key: serials starting with 1 are perpetual licenses, 96 are open licenses, 98 are enterprise licenses and 99 are site licenses. Academic and not-for-resale licenses are their own case. The prefix decides whether Revu 20 keeps running after December 31, 2026.
Perpetual (1…)
Keeps running on its current computer after December 31, 2026, with no Studio, no cloud services, no support and no updates. It cannot be moved to a new machine through Bluebeam.
Open or enterprise (96…, 98…)
Deactivated on December 31, 2026, whether or not maintenance is active (with expired maintenance, possibly sooner). Ask Bluebeam or your reseller about moving to a subscription.
Academic or not-for-resale
Deactivated without access. Bluebeam points academic users to its academic subscription.
Bluebeam's notice lists the site-license prefix (99) in its key but does not spell out a separate rule for it on the pages we checked. Ask Bluebeam directly if you run a site license.
What to do before December 31, 2026
Treat the next weeks as a move, even if you plan to stay on Revu 20. Record what you own, get your project data out of Studio while Revu 20 can still reach it, and decide seat by seat what each person will use in January. Bluebeam's notice gives no download steps, so start early.
- List every seat. Write down each serial number, its prefix, which computer it is activated on and who uses it. This is the record you will need if anyone asks Bluebeam or a reseller about a license later.
- Get your files out of Studio Projects. Download any Studio Project files you need to keep while Revu 20 can still connect. After December 31, 2026, Revu 20 cannot open them.
- Close out open Studio Sessions. Finish any session your team still depends on and keep a local copy of each marked-up PDF, so the markups live in files you control. Markups saved in a PDF are standard PDF annotations that other PDF tools can open.
- Protect the machines that run Revu 20. License reassignment ended with support on July 31, 2026, so a reimaged, replaced or failed computer is the practical end of that seat. Do not wipe those machines without a plan.
- Decide seat by seat. Studio-mandated users need a current Bluebeam subscription. Local-only users can ride the installed copy for a while. Estimators who mainly mark up, measure and take off can test another tool.
- Test any replacement on a copy of a live project. Open a real bid set, do one sheet's takeoff end to end, export it, and compare the numbers with your Revu takeoff before you commit anyone to it.
Your three options, with current prices
- Move to a Bluebeam subscription. The right call if your projects mandate Studio Sessions. Bluebeam publishes four plans billed annually per user: Basics at $260, Core at $330, Complete at $440 and Max at $590 (marked as an introductory price), as of September 24, 2026. Each plan includes Revu for Windows plus Bluebeam on web and mobile, and Bluebeam offers a free trial (trial terms). Prices: bluebeam.com/pricing.
- Keep running the installed copy. Workable for a perpetual license on a stable computer if your work is local. You give up Studio, support, updates and the ability to move the seat. Academic, not-for-resale and open or enterprise licenses do not have this option.
- Move the everyday work to another tool. If what a person actually does all day is mark up plans, measure to scale and run takeoffs, a lighter tool can cover that work. Test it on your own drawings first; the checklist above tells you how.
Most offices will mix these. A common split: keep or upgrade a seat or two for the people who live in Studio, and move estimators and field staff who never open a session to something lighter.
Where TRACEBUILD fits, and where it does not
We make TRACEBUILD, so weigh this section accordingly. TRACEBUILD Lite runs in the browser and is free during early access; it becomes $4.99 per user per month when Lite launches. It covers PDF markup (clouds, callouts, text, stamps and a CAD symbol library), measurement to scale, and quantity takeoff with Excel and CSV export. Drawings are processed on your own device by default, and your files stay ordinary PDFs.
It does not replace Studio Sessions or Studio Projects today. Live collaboration sessions are planned for TRACEBUILD Pro, the Windows app, which is coming soon. It has no Revu API integrations, and it does not have Revu's years of tool sets and plugins. If Studio is mandated on your project, keep a Bluebeam seat for it.
If you want to judge it quickly, follow our worked takeoff on a public-domain plan set, then try the same steps on one of your own sheets. Wall detection accuracy is a published wall-detection benchmark you can rerun yourself. The full head-to-head is on TRACEBUILD vs Bluebeam Revu.
Honesty note: TRACEBUILD does not replace Studio Sessions today. Pro, including live sessions, is coming soon and is not available yet.
Common questions
When does Revu 20 end?
Revu 20 support ended on July 31, 2026, and Revu 20 reaches end of life on December 31, 2026. After that date it can no longer reach Studio Sessions, Studio Projects or API integrations. Bluebeam stopped selling Revu 20 on September 30, 2023. An installed perpetual copy keeps running locally after end of life.
Can I still use Revu 20 if I own a perpetual license?
Yes. Bluebeam says perpetual licenses, with serial numbers starting with 1, can keep using Revu 20 after December 31, 2026. It keeps running locally but no longer connects to Bluebeam cloud services, and there is no support, no updates and no Studio. Academic and not-for-resale licenses are deactivated instead.
Will Revu 20 run on a new computer?
Plan as if it will not. Since July 31, 2026, Bluebeam no longer supports reassigning a Revu 20 license to a different machine and no longer assists with transfers or re-registration, and it warns that licensing processes may not function reliably. Keep the computers that run Revu 20 healthy, or budget for a replacement tool.
Will Bluebeam support Revu 20 after the end of life date?
No. Technical support and self-service license management already ended on July 31, 2026, and Bluebeam says it no longer provides support or updates for Revu 20. After December 31, 2026 the software loses its cloud connections as well. The supported path Bluebeam offers is a subscription plan with Revu 21.