Concrete Estimating Software: A Buyer's Guide
No one concrete estimating software fits every contractor: STACK Free covers one job a month at no cost, Total Takeoffs with its concrete bundle suits a small crew pricing its own pours, PlanSwift suits a contractor bidding plans every week, and HCSS HeavyBid is built for heavy civil and DOT work. Prices below come from each vendor's own pricing page, checked October 14, 2026.
Best concrete estimating software by situation
Match the tool to how often you bid from plans.
Free, one job at a time
STACK Free
$0, no card. One active project a month is enough if you bid one job at a time.
Small crew pricing its own pours
Total Takeoffs
$99 a month or $995 a year per computer, plus a $495 concrete bundle with slab, footing, wall, beam and column assemblies and a bid proposal.
Bidding plans every week
PlanSwift
$2,000 a year for one seat (Essential) or $3,000 (Core); extra seats discounted. Takeoff and estimating in one tool, with a 14-day free trial.
Heavy civil and DOT bids
HCSS HeavyBid
Quote only. Built for self-performing civil contractors and sends bids to owner systems like AASHTOWare and Bid Express.
Takeoff vs estimating vs bidding software
Takeoff software measures the plans and outputs quantities; estimating software turns quantities into a price; bidding tools turn the price into the document the client signs. Some products do all three, others only one.
Bluebeam Revu lists no unit costs or cost database; its Complete and Max tiers link measurements to Excel worksheets, so pricing happens in your spreadsheet. Easy Takeoffs is also measure only: it calculates cubic yards from slab square footage and exports CSV files to your estimate.
Buy for your bottleneck. If measuring plans eats your evenings, a takeoff tool fixes it. If your bids are inconsistent or your margins are guesswork, you need estimating software, because takeoff tools only output quantities.
PlanSwift, On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid are all ConstructConnect products, so they aren't independent rivals. Esticom now belongs to Procore, which bought it in October 2020.
How much concrete estimating software costs
Published prices run from $39 a month for a takeoff-only tool (Easy Takeoffs) to $599 a month for Buildxact's top plan; annual licenses run $260 (Bluebeam Revu Basics) to $3,000 (PlanSwift Core). The most relevant concrete options besides the picks above:
| Product | Price | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Easy Takeoffs | $39/mo or $399/yr | Measure only, concrete slab template |
| Clear Estimates | $59 to $249/mo | Estimating, 13,000+ line items |
| ScopeTakeoff | $100 per person/mo | Takeoff, estimate, proposal |
| Buildxact | $199 to $599/mo, or $169 to $509/mo yearly; unlimited users | Takeoff, estimate, quotes |
| STACK Premium | $299 per user/mo, billed yearly | Takeoff and estimating |
9 more tools with published prices, checked October 2026
| Product | Price | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor Foreman | $49/mo for 1 user to $332/mo unlimited | Job management platform |
| Total Takeoffs | $99/mo or $995/yr per computer, bundle $495 | Takeoff, concrete bundle add-on |
| Square Takeoff | $249/mo, $599/quarter or $1,699/yr | Takeoff |
| Bluebeam Revu | $260 to $590 per user/yr ($590 is an intro price) | Measure only |
| STACK Pro | $349 per user/mo, billed yearly | Takeoff and estimating |
| Togal.AI | $299 per user/mo, billed yearly | AI takeoff |
| eTakeoff Dimension | $795 or $1,495 per user/yr | Takeoff |
| ConstructConnect Takeoff | $1,200 or $2,200 per seat/yr | Takeoff |
| PlanSwift | $2,000 or $3,000/yr for one seat, extra seats discounted | Takeoff and estimating |
Three pricing models, and they suit different offices:
- Per seat or user: STACK, Togal.AI, Bluebeam, ConstructConnect, ScopeTakeoff. Every added estimator adds a license.
- Per company: Buildxact paid plans include unlimited users; Contractor Foreman's top plan does too.
- Per computer: Total Takeoffs licenses each machine.
Quote only, no published price: HCSS HeavyBid, Procore, On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid.
Free concrete estimating software
STACK Free is the only free tool here that does real plan takeoff with no time limit; the rest are free measuring, free pricing credits, or calculators.
STACK Free
$0
1 active project a month, up to 300 plan pages and 50 measurements per project.
PDF-XChange Editor
$0
Distance, perimeter and area measurements are marked free, with CSV export. Paid Editor starts at $62.
Buildxact Go
$0
AI estimating and proposals on pay-as-you-go credits, 5 free to start. No digital takeoff.
Our calculators
$0
If you already know the dimensions, the slab calculator and concrete cost calculator give yards and dollars.
Free Adobe Acrobat Reader is not a dependable option: Adobe says its measuring tools work in Reader only if the PDF creator enables measuring. For a wider list, the CSULB library keeps a construction cost estimating resource guide that includes free and browser-based programs.
Rebar takeoff software
General takeoff tools give you rebar length or tonnage to bid with, not the bar bending schedules a fabricator cuts from. Fabricators and detailers use rebar-specific systems: aSa, Soulé (built for fabricators, placers and distributors) and RebarCAD, which creates bar bending schedules to US and UK standards. A concrete contractor bidding a slab needs none of them; the rebar calculator gives bar count, lap splices and weight.
How accurate is estimating software?
Software doesn't remove estimate error; accuracy depends on how complete the design is. Under AACE International's Recommended Practice 18R-97 (written for process industry projects), actual cost on even a Class 1 estimate can land 3 to 10 percent below or 3 to 15 percent above the estimate.
Software can't move a job into a tighter class; only a more complete design does. Built-in cost data still needs localizing: RSMeans indexes its prices against a national average of 30 major US cities, so load your own labor and material rates.
Speed claims such as STACK's "4x faster" and Togal.AI's "5x faster" appear on their own sites with no study cited. Time your own trial instead.
How to choose concrete estimating software
Five checks, in order:
- Name your bottleneck. Decide whether measuring plans or pricing consistently costs you more time, and shortlist takeoff tools or estimating tools to match.
- Check the concrete assemblies. Confirm the tool handles slabs, footings and walls by area, length and volume, ideally with concrete templates already built.
- Load your own rates. Replace every preloaded labor and material cost with your local numbers, and make sure waste and markup can be set per job.
- Match the pricing model to headcount. Per-seat pricing suits one estimator; a per-company plan with unlimited users gets cheaper per head as more people use it.
- Trial it on a finished job. Re-estimate a job you already built and know the real cost of, and compare the software's number and time against yours.
When a spreadsheet is enough
If you bid from dimensions a client gives you or from your own site measurements, you don't need takeoff software; a template and a calculator do the job. Software pays off when you price from plan sets every week.
- Price the job: concrete estimate template and concrete cost estimator.
- Get quantities: slab, footing, rebar and driveway cost calculators.
- Learn the method: worked slab estimate example, the full concrete estimate guide and concrete cost per cubic yard.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best concrete estimating software for a small contractor?
For a small crew pricing its own pours, Total Takeoffs with its $495 concrete bundle ($99 a month or $995 a year per computer) covers slab, footing and wall assemblies and a bid proposal. If you bid one job a month, start with STACK Free.
How much does concrete estimating software cost?
Published prices in October 2026 run from $39 a month for Easy Takeoffs to $599 a month for Buildxact Master, and annual licenses run $260 (Bluebeam Revu Basics) to $3,000 (PlanSwift Core). HCSS HeavyBid, Procore, On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid are quote only.
Is there free concrete estimating software?
Yes. STACK Free allows one active project a month with up to 300 plan pages and 50 measurements, and PDF-XChange Editor measures distance, perimeter and area for free. If you already know your dimensions, a free concrete calculator is enough.
What is the difference between takeoff and estimating software?
Takeoff software measures plans and gives quantities such as square feet, linear feet and cubic yards. Estimating software adds unit costs, labor and markup to those quantities to reach a price, and some tools such as STACK and Buildxact do both.
Do I need software to estimate concrete jobs?
No. If you bid from dimensions a client gives you or from your own site measurements, a spreadsheet template and a calculator work well. Software pays off when you price from plan sets every week.