Questions

Which takeoff and estimating solution should I choose?
How do ConstructConnect Takeoff, PlanSwift, and On-Screen Takeoff (with or without Quick Bid) compare with each other?

Discussion

Although ConstructConnect Takeoff, PlanSwift, and On-Screen Takeoff Professional (with or without Quick Bid Estimating) are all powerful takeoff tools, each excels at some functions, but may not offer the best solution for others. Below is a comparison of the three takeoff products as they compare to each other and to On-Screen Takeoff with Quick Bid Estimating. All our takeoff solutions provide estimators, project managers, and foreman features designed to improve takeoff speed, retain and organize data, and share projects with others. The matrix below helps you understand the major differences between the three takeoff products.

PlanSwift Viewer and On-Screen Takeoff PlanViewer are a minimalistic, plan-viewing and markup utilities, you can use to review a project before investing the time and resources to create full takeoff and an estimate. We don't include them in this article because they are not licensed products, nor do they have advanced takeoff and estimating capabilities. See Related Articles for more details.

Feature Comparison

Capability/Feature	ConstructConnect Takeoff (CCTO)	PlanSwift Professional (PS)	On-Screen Takeoff Professional (OST)	OST w/Quick Bid Estimating (QB)
Bid (Project, Job, Tender, Estimate, etc.) Creation
Create Base Bid	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Create Alternates and Change Orders	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Create Project Versions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Organize Projects in or by Folders	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Supports
Takeoff and Measurements
Access Artificial Intelligence-Powered Takeoff Boost to automate takeoff	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Use Multi-Condition Takeoff(patented) to speed up drawing measurements	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Measure (take off) Linears, Areas, and Counts	Excels	Excels	Excels	Excels
Generate multiple quantity results based on takeoff measurements	Excels	Supports	Supports (a)	Supports (a)
Save takeoff quantities	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
View a Legend of takeoff results per page	Supports	Supports	Excels	Excels
Auto Count	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Create and Save Conditions/Takeoff Items	Excels	Supports	Supports	Supports
Assign Takeoff to Layers and Areas	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Toggle Layers on and off to show/hide various takeoff objects	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Create Custom Layers	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Use Typical Takeoff to speed up takeoff process	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Use Zones to breakout takeoff quantities	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (b)	Excels	Excels
Custom Input Forms & Takeoff Tool Customization	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Duplicate and Reassign Takeoff to Different Conditions	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Use Advanced Pasting Controls to speed up the takeoff process	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Draw/Record with multiple Conditions/Takeoff Items at the same time	Excels	Supports	Excels	Excels
Takeoff curved areas	Excels	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Draw, Copy, and Paste Backouts (area deductions)	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (b)	Supports	Supports
Digitizer (hard board) support	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Supports
Earthwork Pro Plugin for site work, excavating, etc.	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Exports, Reports, and Pricing
Price Materials and Labor	Supports	Supports	Supports	Excels
Use eQuotes to obtain up-to-date Material Pricing from vendors	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels
Price using built-in Worksheet	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Export takeoff results (and the estimate) to sharable file	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Supports
Export takeoff bid to create project in Quick Bid	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Export takeoff quantities to Excel or CSV	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Export priced Condition/Takeoff Item quantities to Excel or CSV	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Drag-and-Drop Assemblies and Parts onto takeoff	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Customize formulas	Supports	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports
Link takeoff results directly to Excel	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports (c)
Link bid to work interactively with Quick Bid Estimating	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Generate bid reports for analysis	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Excels
Generate bid proposals and quotations	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels
Export to various Accounting packages	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (b)	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels
Manage the project in Digital Production Control (DPC)	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Plan Organization
Access AI-powered Auto Naming to speed setup of Pages	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Download plans from ConstructConnect's Platform	Excels	Supports	Supports	Supports
Download plans from other planrooms	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
View plans in color	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
View raster images (tiff, cal)	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
View vector and CAD images (pdf, dwg, dwf, etc.)	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
View photo images (jpg, png)	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Organize and match up drawing revisions	Excels	Supports	Supports	Supports
Compare revisions using Overlay feature	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Compare multiple revisions using Overlay feature	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Annotation Tools
Add text to the drawing	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Using electronic ink to markup drawing	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Highlighter tool	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Create Hot Links, Named Views, Bookmarks	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Create Punch Lists and Punch Items	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Stamps annotation	Supports	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Attach a file directly to a Page	Supports	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Turn Image Legend on and off	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Ungroup, move, or edit the Image Legend	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Excels
Collaboration
Allow multiple estimators to work on takeoff concurrently	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (d)
Allow employees within the organization to see each other's work	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
Export and share bids with other users over the internet	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Supports
Share bids with users outside your organization	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Excels	Excels
Share bids between home office and field	Supports	Supports	Supports	Supports
View projects in ConstructConnect's Web Takeoff app	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available
Data Access
Set permissions	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Custom permissions	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Access data from MS Access or SQL Database	Not Supported/Not Available	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Backup and restore information	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (e)	Supports	Supports
Store and access your data in the Cloud	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available (f)	Supports (f)	Supports (f)
Onboarding
Training Videos, Webinars, Online Help	Excels	Excels	Excels	Excels
Custom training	Supports	Supports	Excels	Excels
Custom training in Spanish	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
On-Site Classroom Training	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports	Supports
Unlimited Estimator Assistance (How Do I...?)	Supports	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports	Supports
Sample takeoff projects	Supports	Supports	Excels	Excels
Sample estimating Items & Assemblies	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels
Trade-specific Items and Assemblies	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (b)	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels (b)
Manufacturer Items and Assemblies	Not Supported/Not Available	Supports (b)	Not Supported/Not Available	Excels